“None of them seemed to mind sliding around in the faeces and choking in the smoke. They were determined not to miss the opportunity of watching a foreigner make a fool of himself.”

“Buy a house in a foreign country and, it seems, that anything which can go wrong usually does.”

“A cross between a foreign legion boot-camp and a secret-society initiation ritual, the ordeals were grounded in pain. One thing was obvious: the agenda, which was dedicated to grave discomfort, had been drawn up by a passionate sadist.”

“I'm a fool, that I should simply trick the tourists like everyone else. after all, most of them will never come back. and what are tourists for but for tricking?”

“As far as Samson was concerned I was just another foreigner in pursuit of a lunatic quest.”

“In the world of the Machiguenga, sadness could be equated with anger, and anger was a perilous emotion, by which a foreigner could lose his life.”

“Time spent in India has a extraordinary effect on one. It acts as a barrier that makes the rest of the world seem unreal.”