“Peru now occupies the same place in the popular imagination as Tibet used to have in the latter days of Empire, before the communist invasion made it more a place of pity than of mystery — a Shangri-La where the imagination is licensed to allow all manner of utopias and adventure.” –from The White Rock: An Exploration of the Inca Heartland, by Hugh Thomson
“This is not a story of heroic feats, or merely the narrative of a cynic; at least I do not mean it to be. It is a glimpse of two lives running parallel for a time, with similar hopes and convergent dreams. In nine months of a man’s life he can think a lot of things, from the loftiest meditations on philosophy to the most desperate longing for a bowl of soup — in total accord with the state of his stomach. And if, at the same time, he’s somewhat of an adventurer, he might live through episodes of interest to other people and his haphazard record might read something like these notes.” –from The Motorcycle Diaries, by Ernesto (Che) Guevara
Those are the first sentences from each of the two books I’ve just bought, books that I’m sure will only further my newfound interest in South America. (Note to Becca — we are so going to visit Emily in Ecuador this year.) Which should I read first??
