Friday photo – A Wika tattoo in Ecuador

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Here you see me having a snake tattoo painted on my arm by the children in the village of Sarayacu in Ecuador, on my Amazon river trip last October. The black dye is made by roasting a local fruit in the embers of the fire and grinding up the pulp to make a black ink called Wika, which is painted on with a palm stalk.

In days gone by this was used as war-paint to scare the enemy but now children and grown-ups use it for decorating their faces & bodies, a bit like henna. These children painted a snake curving up my arm which lasted for a couple of weeks. I was so sad when my Wika snake tattoo faded away – it represented my happy memories of my time in the village of Sarayacu.

You can see some of more photos from Ecuador on my Flickr site here

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This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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