On duty: Carib Anguiste as a cannibal and ...
...and off-duty with his wife in their village shop

The island’s Carib Indians play a key role in the sequel of the box office hit. They act as evil cannibals, who first choose Captain Sparrow, the protagonist, to be their chief, but then decide to make a meal of him instead. "Around a hundred members of our community took part," said Irvince Auguiste, member of the Tribal Council of the community of the last Amerindian inhabi- tants, who gave their name to the Caribbean. Their once somewhat idiosyncratic eating habits also gave the word "cannibal" to the world.

The make-up artists sure gave the Indians an appearance so frightening it would probably have driven even the toughest of their ancestors into a state of fear and shock. "I had a skull at my head, a chain made of vertebrae around my neck, a belt made of ribs around my hips and my whole body was painted," reports Raphael Auguiste. The 41 year-old was a member of a 12-man elite troupe used in action scenes: "We had to chase Johnny Depp through the water and hang from rocks shooting arrows," said Auguiste, whose main job is driving a taxi. His wife, who runs a small shop, also had an encounter with stardom: she hands Johnny Depp a chain of human teeth during the cannibalistic "coronation ceremony".

Tourists will soon be able to take home souvenirs along these lines – made of plastic, of course. "We are planning a cannibal village with original huts from the film and guided tours for visitors," reveals council member Irvince Auguiste. Actually, originally the chief of the Caribs and his advisors spoke out against the idea of members of their community playing cannibals. "But," reasoned the tribal leader, "the fact that Johnny Depp plays a pirate in a film does not make him a real pirate either".

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