The Andes of southern Peru . e friendly habita-tions and happy people. I had worked for six weeks between12,000 and 17,000 feet, constantly ill from mountain sickness, andit was with no regret that I at last left the plateau and got down ^ Raimondi (op. cit., p. 109) has a characteristic description of the Camino delPeSon in the department of La Libertad: . . the ground seems to disappear fromones feet; one is standing on an elevated balcony looking down more than 6,000 feetto the valley . . the road which descends the steep scarp is a masterpiece. 112 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU to comfortable
The Andes of southern Peru . e friendly habita-tions and happy people. I had worked for six weeks between12,000 and 17,000 feet, constantly ill from mountain sickness, andit was with no regret that I at last left the plateau and got down ^ Raimondi (op. cit., p. 109) has a characteristic description of the Camino delPeSon in the department of La Libertad: . . the ground seems to disappear fromones feet; one is standing on an elevated balcony looking down more than 6,000 feetto the valley . . the road which descends the steep scarp is a masterpiece. 112 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU to comfortable altitudes. It seemed good news when the guidetold me that there were mosquitoes in the marshes of low, hot land would have seemed like a health resort. I hadbeen in the high country so long that, like the Bolivian miningengineer, I wanted to get down not only to sea level, but below it!If the reader will examine Figs. 65 and 66, and the photographsthat accompany them, he may gain an idea of the more important. Fig. 65—Regional diagram to show the physical relations in the coastal desertof Peru. For location, see Fig. 20. features of the coastal region. We have already described, inChapters V and VII, the character of the plateau region and itspeople. Therefore, we need say little in this place of the partof the Maritime CordiUera that is included in the figure. Itsunpopulated rim (see p. 54), the semi-nomadic herdsmen and shep-herds from Chuquibamba that scour its pastures in the moistvales about Coropuna, and the gnarled and stunted trees at 13,000feet (3,960 m.) which partly supply Chuquibamba with firewood,are its most important features. A few groups of huts just underthe snowline are inhabited for only a part of the year. The de-lightful valleys are too near and tempting. Even a plateauIndian responds to the call of a dry valley, however he may shunthe moist, warm valleys on the eastern border of the Cordillera. THE COASTAL DESERT 113
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