In the hot and humid Sepic region of Papua New Guinea, two of us were hiking through a dense jungle trying to locate the Nokway people who lived up-river.

We were a short way into their territory when we came upon a human skull on top of a pole, right in the middle of our trail.

We stopped!

This was not a welcome sign; it was a definite "stay out" sign.

Later we risked making a contact and re-routed our entrance into their village.

The few people in the village were dirty and thin. The Nokways were former cannibals. The village met us with indifference. Warm hospitality? No. "Now that you have visited us, be on your way."

We have stop signs and stoplights in our culture ... in the jungle on the other side of the world they have their stop signs too, and I might add, they’re rather impressive.