High as a kite

One thing that took me by surprise in South America is the vast swathes of land dominated by the Andes. It´s not like I didn´t know that there were mountains down here called the Andes, its just that I didn´t quite anticipate the significance of them to geography, climate, culture and mentality. I think that I kinda thought that South America had the Andes in the same way that Europe has the Alps. Sure, the Alps are nice and all, don´t get me wrong. But I wouldn´t say that they have a profound effect on what it means to be European (although admittedly the Swiss are a trifle odd!).

You have to remember that the Andes are a feature of every South American nation barring the Guays (Para- and Uru-), the Guyana's and Brazil. Furthermore, they are the dominating feature of Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia.

This mountain range has functions and effects that reach far beyond its snow-capped peaks. Combined with the Atacama desert for instance, it serves to isolate Chile from the rest of South America in more ways than just geographically. It account for the small stature and big hearts of the Andean Indians and for the tropical sub-zero temperatures of the Bolivian Altiplano (and that's an accurate phrase).

The Andean way of life has a number of qualities that make it so unique and result from the extreme nature of Andean existence.

First of all, travelling in the Andes can be frustrating at the best of times. Whether your preferred method of transport is bus, car, donkey or llama, none of these will ever be able to go from A to B in the same way the crow does (a straight line for those of you who are as thick as two short planks). Unless you´re very lucky, moving between two points will involve a series of near vertical rises and falls and unless you happen to be the owner of a new breed of llama, which comes equipped with a jet engine and wings, you´re going to have to go back and forward along the face of the mountain.

If you say: "I´m going straight from Cuzco to Lima"... what you actually mean is: "I´m going to zig-zag my way from Cuzco to Lima in an intolerably slow and frustrating manner". To travel down here, you need to get used to covering miles in a matter of hours, while progressing only feet towards your stated destination.

Another Andean particularity which I noticed when viewing the majestic Macchu Picchu the other day, is the amount that the locals carry for a living. They appear to spend vast amounts of time lugging shit around (for want of a better phrase). It appears as though this is the same way that their forefathers did it as well. All the Inca ruins I´ve seen so far are very "stone and big-rock dependant" yet almost every tour guide proclaims with pride "that all the rocks used in the construction of this site were taken from a quarry ten miles away / in Uruguay / on the far side of Jupiter".

I think that I had a point when I began this monologue, but I´ve forgotton what it is and I kinda need to use the toilets pretty quickly... If there´s any budding writers reading, then this is a bad example of writing structure and there should really be a conclusion to my babblings. Maybe I´ll put one in the next post.

l8ter