Back-packing in the high Andes and exploring the Peruvian jungle on
foot may not be everybody's idea of a great holiday, but Parris
managed to persuade three friends to accompany him on his fourth
such Peruvian venture. Ian, the youngest on the trip, had recently
graduated in geography from Sheffield Polytechnic. John was a keen
bird-watcher and naturalist, while 52-year-old Mick, the only
Spanish-speaker among them, turned out to be the chief
hypochondriac of the group. Their trip, travelling as far as
possible on local transport, was planned to introduce the newcomers
to a variety of Peruvian terrain, while avoiding those areas under
the control of the Shining Path guerrillas. They start with a
walking tour in the mountains north of Lima, where John suffers
from severe altitude sickness, and Mick reveals himself as
dangerously unfit. Next it is Ian's turn to succumb to acute
stomach poisoning following the ingestion of a violet jelly. Yet
despite the physical discomforts, which are described with a
pleasantly wry humour, all four travellers eventually succumb to
the beauty of the Peruvian landscape, and the quiet charm of the
people. Matthew Parris, who was a Member of Parliament for seven
years under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, is well-known in
the UK as a parliamentary sketch writer and television personality.
It comes as a surprise to find him enjoying a hazardous five-day
journey as a 'passenger' in the open back of a smelly diesel truck
along with thirty or so impoverished Peruvians, from the dizzy
heights of Cuzco to the jungle of Puerto Maldonado. He writes
extremely well, and his descriptions of the magnificence of Peru's
mountain scenery and Inca architecture will inspire even the
laziest armchair traveller to consider a visit. (Kirkus UK)
A modern classic of travel and adventure. INCA KOLA is the funny,
absorbing account of Matthew Parris's fourth trip to Peru, on a
bizarre holiday which takes him among bandits, prostitutes,
peasants and riots. He and his three companions seem to head into
trouble, not away from it, and he describes the troubles,
curiosities and wonders they meet with the spell-binding
fascination of a traveller relating adventures over the campfire.
'A backpacker's classic: atmospheric, touching, instructive and
compulsively readable' THE TIMES
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