Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'
ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER
'
Quichua Indian women hunting unwelcome visitors.
The Indian women around here wear heavy, large and flat felt hats, and whenever they
greetapassingtravellertheytakethemoff,usingbothhands,andalthoughitisnotthecustom
for men to return their greeting in the same manner, I found it difficult at first to pass them
without doing the same.
We were caught in several storms, but luckily these never lasted long, and the warm sun-
shine soon dried my dripping clothes.
At Chuquibambilla, on a high plain, north of Lake Titi-caca, we came to a Peruvian
Government experimental farm that was being run by Colonel Stordy, an ex-officer of the
British Army. Both he and his charming wife gave me a warm welcome, and as both of them
were great horse-lovers, my animals reaped the benefit. Formerly the colonel had kept a num-
ber of horses which he had imported from England, but owing to the altitude all had died and
his stables were empty.
Itwasatreattobewithrealwhiteandeducatedpeopleoncemore,andIfeltlikeanewman
afteraglorioushotbath,andwhatatreatitwastosleepinasoftandcleanbed,intowhichthe
colonel'skindandthoughtful wife hadevenputtwohot-water bottles. Although Iwouldhave
loved to enjoy a long stay with these hospitable people, we pushed on in a northerly direction,
and entered the valley of Cuzco, the gateway to the ancient capital of the old Inca empire.
The day before we sighted this Mecca of archæologists I had to stay in a filthy inn where
a group of drunkards made sleep impossible. Again I must have been taken for a Chilian,
