Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
citement. 'Oh,' she cried, 'do come ovah theah and tell that impudent Indian woman what I
think of har! how dar' she insult me, an English lady!' Upon enquiring what on earth all this
excitement was about the indignant lady told me she had 'hahdly' entered the cathedral when
an Indian woman had come up to her and pushed her out into the street. Not only this, but she
hadactuallyassaultedherandbyforcepulledherhatoff.Iatoncerealisedwhathadcausedall
this trouble, and proceeded to explain to the excited lady, who threatened to do everything but
organiseawarbetweenEnglandandPeru,thatnoIndianwomaneverwearsahatwhenenter-
ing a church, that even the white women are accustomed to wear only the traditional Spanish
mantillas or veils, and that undoubtedly the ignorant Indian woman had thought it sacrilege to
wear a hat in church. However, in spite of all my efforts to smooth out the matter, the almost
hysterical lady now even started to go for me for taking sides with the Indian woman and she
shouted that English customs and traditions were the best; when I meekly suggested that it
was always best to do in Rome as the Romans do, I really thought my eyes and freckled com-
plexion were in danger.
Strange circumstances caused me to meet Mr W., an Englishman who had lived in the Ar-
gentine for many years. He had retired from business and was visiting the Inca ruins in upper
Peru. In the course of our conversation we found out that we had many mutual friends, and
that I had even helped to educate some of his relatives, and although he knew me by name we
had never met before.
Now Mr W. was one of these men who read many of the fascinating topics that are written
about Upper Peru, and having a splash of the adventurer in his blood, he longed to see the
places he had read about. When he heard that I was going to continue my ride towards the
Pacific Ocean by a certain route, he became more enthusiastic than ever, for all along the trail
I proposed to follow were historical relics and ruins. Botanists and natural historians had de-
scribed some of the valleys in vivid colours, and even Pizarro, the conqueror, had penetrated
the mountains towards Cuzco by following almost the same trail.
During one of our conversations Mr W. suddenly turned to me and said he would join me
and that he was determined to cross the second range of the Andes with me. I tried to make
him realise the discomforts and even the possible dangers he would have to face, mildly hint-
ing that he was no longer a spring chicken and that he was not trained to stand the many cli-
matic extremes we would encounter up in the cold mountains and below in the hot valleys.
When I saw that all my warnings, were in vain, we immediately started to make preparations
for the expedition.
Muleshadtobehired,andmanyessentialshadtobepurchased,andwhentheEnglishlady
of the cathedral incident heard about Mr W.'s adventurous plans she insisted on joining the
party as well. I told her that such a thing was out of the question and gave my reasons; she
privately assured me that she was 'any day as “tough” as Mr W.,' but I flatly refused to be re-
sponsible.Shesaidthatmoneywasnoobjecttoher,andthatshewouldhiremenandanimals,
buy tents, provisions, a camp kitchen, etc., but I assured her that if she insisted on making the
