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Cut Stones and Crossroads: A Journey in the Two Worlds of Peru
The author recounts his travels through the two worlds of Peru--from the remains of the Inca Empire to the emerging modern nation of economic and social pressures
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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131 people want to read
About the author
Ronald Wright
47 books158 followersRonald Wright is a Canadian author who has written books of travel, history and fiction. His nonfiction includes the bestseller Stolen Continents, winner of the Gordon Montador Award and chosen as a book of the year by the Independent and the Sunday Times. His first novel, A Scientific Romance, won the 1997 David Higham Prize for Fiction and was chosen a book of the year by the Globe and Mail, the Sunday Times, and the New York Times.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 8, 2020
Just out of university having studied archaeology, Ronald Wright had a whole world that he wanted to explore, but what piqued his interest was the history and architecture of Peru. It seems like the place to go and he could then find out about the ancient civilisations of the Incas and go and see royal cities of Cusco and Machu Picchu.
It wasn’t quite as was he was expecting though, what he found was a land of contrasts. They may have been suppressed by the Spanish invaders, but the spirited character of the people still shone through. He avoided the tourist routes, instead, taking the local transport or caging a lift in some very dubious cars and trucks, staying in seedy hotels and at other times camping.
He is endlessly fascinated by the ancient buildings and towns that are still visible in the landscape, spending time in amongst the stones to gain the most elementary of understandings as to why they are built. His descriptions of these places are very detailed and almost academic at times, but he is careful to link what he is seeing to the cultural and historical records of the people. His passage on the Saywite Stones is an excellent example of this.
The shadows lengthen now as evening approaches; around me the oblique lighting brings more and more of the strange, half natural landscape to life.
What really makes this book for me is the way that he takes to the people he encounters on his travels. His curiosity is boundless and it doesn’t matter if he is talking to a blind musician, crushed in a bus with 42 other people and a variety of animals watching two passengers slowly chew their coca leaves. I another moment, he is feeling ill and starts swaying from side to side, so sits down. Then he notices that the Land Rover is swaying too, it is a gentle earthquake.
Throughout all of this book you never feel that you get to know the man writing the book, he is to a certain extent elusive, reporting on events and interactions as he sees them and describing the people with empathy and places and architecture with an expert eye. He can see through the culture that the Spanish draped over the society and glimpses the strong spirit of the people that still shines through. I liked the way he has selected songs and poems from the people there and included them in the book, they add a touch of authenticity that you don’t always get in other travel books. Well worth reading and highly recommended. 4.5 stars
It wasn’t quite as was he was expecting though, what he found was a land of contrasts. They may have been suppressed by the Spanish invaders, but the spirited character of the people still shone through. He avoided the tourist routes, instead, taking the local transport or caging a lift in some very dubious cars and trucks, staying in seedy hotels and at other times camping.
He is endlessly fascinated by the ancient buildings and towns that are still visible in the landscape, spending time in amongst the stones to gain the most elementary of understandings as to why they are built. His descriptions of these places are very detailed and almost academic at times, but he is careful to link what he is seeing to the cultural and historical records of the people. His passage on the Saywite Stones is an excellent example of this.
The shadows lengthen now as evening approaches; around me the oblique lighting brings more and more of the strange, half natural landscape to life.
What really makes this book for me is the way that he takes to the people he encounters on his travels. His curiosity is boundless and it doesn’t matter if he is talking to a blind musician, crushed in a bus with 42 other people and a variety of animals watching two passengers slowly chew their coca leaves. I another moment, he is feeling ill and starts swaying from side to side, so sits down. Then he notices that the Land Rover is swaying too, it is a gentle earthquake.
Throughout all of this book you never feel that you get to know the man writing the book, he is to a certain extent elusive, reporting on events and interactions as he sees them and describing the people with empathy and places and architecture with an expert eye. He can see through the culture that the Spanish draped over the society and glimpses the strong spirit of the people that still shines through. I liked the way he has selected songs and poems from the people there and included them in the book, they add a touch of authenticity that you don’t always get in other travel books. Well worth reading and highly recommended. 4.5 stars
September 3, 2020
I really enjoyed the dual timelines in this book, having somebody so knowledgeable take on this modern day journey through Peru whilst walking us through the history of the Incas and their eventual downfall at the hands of the Spanish made for some very interesting reading. This was Wright's first book, being inspired by another book whilst ill he decided to publish his travels, he was brave to republish this edition without doing any editing. It doesn't feel like a debut, these are the words of an adept author.
Wright fully immerses himself in the culture, sleeping wherever he can, eating local food and chatting with everybody he meets. Without doing that he wouldn't get the stories and local history included in this book. He has a real love of the country and it's indigenous people and that really comes across in the book, getting angry and lashing out at those who are racist and being heartbroken at the damage caused by tourists, it really is depressing the lack of care humans can have for each other.
Peru has a fascinating history and this book is jam packed with great account of it's people, certainly one to read again in the future.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2020...
Wright fully immerses himself in the culture, sleeping wherever he can, eating local food and chatting with everybody he meets. Without doing that he wouldn't get the stories and local history included in this book. He has a real love of the country and it's indigenous people and that really comes across in the book, getting angry and lashing out at those who are racist and being heartbroken at the damage caused by tourists, it really is depressing the lack of care humans can have for each other.
Peru has a fascinating history and this book is jam packed with great account of it's people, certainly one to read again in the future.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2020...
November 16, 2013
Despite the fact that this book was written over thirty years ago, Cut Stones and Crossroads: A Journey in the Two Worlds of Peru is still worth reading if, like me, you are interested in traveling to Peru. Years ago, I had read the same author's equally excellent Time Among the Maya and find in both books not only a genuine empathy for the native peoples of the New World, but a desire to learn more about them while their badly fragmented cultures still survive in some form.
Ronald Wright went to considerable trouble to learn Quechua and to present to us samples of lyrics and short poems in that language to give us a feeling of its continuing vitality.
The journey described in this book begins around Cajamarca, where Pizarro encountered Atahuallpa, the site of the beginning of the end of Inca civilization, and ends at the islands in Lake Titicaca, where Incan religion had its mythical origins. Along the way, he travels through Lima, Cusco, and the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu.
Ronald Wright went to considerable trouble to learn Quechua and to present to us samples of lyrics and short poems in that language to give us a feeling of its continuing vitality.
The journey described in this book begins around Cajamarca, where Pizarro encountered Atahuallpa, the site of the beginning of the end of Inca civilization, and ends at the islands in Lake Titicaca, where Incan religion had its mythical origins. Along the way, he travels through Lima, Cusco, and the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu.
August 4, 2020
Ronald Wright traveled Peru in the 1970’s and 80’s, fresh from university with a degree in archaeology, feeding an obsession with the Inca Empire sparked by a random adventure novel he’d read in his teens.
He expected to spend his time wandering ruins, but the ancient world of the Andes was alive all around him in the Quechua still spoken by its people, through the handwoven clothing they continue to wear, and in the traditions and festivals they’ve never stopped practicing.
That world never died; it was just eclipsed.
“I saw that the pre-Columbian civilizations had not disappeared,” he writes. “They have millions of modern descendants still speaking the Inca, Maya, Aztec, and other native languages, still waging a cultural resistance against national elites of mainly European origin. These survivals came to interest me as much as the deep past […]”
Wright captures those “two worlds” of Peru through the slow-motion clash of two incompatible civilizations: the indigenous Inca and their precursors who mainly inhabit the highlands, and the invading Spaniards who morphed over the centuries into the westernized Latin American elites that dominate the Pacific seaboard and the main cities.
His journey traces the story of the Inca in reverse. From Cajamarca, where Atahualpa was captured by Pizarro’s invading conquistadors in 1532, marking the beginning of the end, he travels south, slowly and by way of ruins.
Through stone reminders of the older Chavin civilization and the pre-Inca ruins of Kuelap to Ayacucho, where the blind harpist Antonio Sulca plays him a harawi (melancholy music invoked to lament departures, tragedy and death since Inca times) in a windowless room of his home, with thick adobe walls painted a peeling pastel green.
Details accumulate through a gradual peeling away of layers, material culture and song.
Wright passes through the Inca capital of Cusco, centre of their world, political and religious nexus, stopping to examine minor ruins and quarries along the way.
His encounters prompt quotes from verses and songs; they’re always presented in both Runasimi (or Quechua, the Inca language) and English, because that language preserves the Inca worldview in a living form which compliments their cut stone dwellings and walls.
“Languages describe the world; like art styles, they emphasize some facets of reality, ignore others, and create categories of their own for which there may be no “objective” reason and no parallels in another tongue. Languages shape, and are shaped by, culture as a whole. When people lose their language for another, profound distortions may affect their vision of the world: as if Hieronymus Bosch were suddenly forced to paint in the style of John Constable.”
Throughout his journey, Wright crosses paths with a range of travelers, from a masochistic German who slept under a plastic sheet in a downpour rather than accept space in a tent — “This is all I bring, so this is all I use” — to an elderly American who drove his ancient Dodge van down from Ohio — “…you know the trouble with this country? Latins. They move in: the neighbourhood goes down — we got the same trouble in the States” — and backpackers, hikers, and gringos of every assortment.
He provides a snapshot of these travelers while never losing sight that, though he may have a deeper grasp of the culture, he too is an outsider passing through this ancient land:
“The phenomenon of tourism: the moneyed gringo on a two-week tour who feels as though a National Geographic article has come to life around him; the self-styled adventurer searching for gold and lost cities, but somehow (thank God) his itineraries exist only on napkins scribbled in the Paititi Bar; the hippie mystic on pilgrimage — Cusco, Crete, and Katmandu — seeking the aura of past ages and the local sacrament: cocaine, wine, temple balls; the vagrant scholar (myself?) who turns the pages of this land and thinks perhaps he understands it, but really is looking only at pictures, adding captions gleaned from books. All of us are poaching on a dying civilization to still the hunger of our own.”
The journey ends where the Inca began: on an island in Lake Titicaca, where the sun was said to have appeared on the Rock of the Cat after a period of darkness at the creation of the world.
The Inca appeared here, too — at least in legend — and went on to build one of humanity’s great civilizations.
This deeply empathetic book captures the essence of Inca culture as it clung to mountain peaks and terraced fields for century after century, quietly surviving into the present age.
Cut Stones and Crossroads is now back in print. Buy a copy today from Eland books.
He expected to spend his time wandering ruins, but the ancient world of the Andes was alive all around him in the Quechua still spoken by its people, through the handwoven clothing they continue to wear, and in the traditions and festivals they’ve never stopped practicing.
That world never died; it was just eclipsed.
“I saw that the pre-Columbian civilizations had not disappeared,” he writes. “They have millions of modern descendants still speaking the Inca, Maya, Aztec, and other native languages, still waging a cultural resistance against national elites of mainly European origin. These survivals came to interest me as much as the deep past […]”
Wright captures those “two worlds” of Peru through the slow-motion clash of two incompatible civilizations: the indigenous Inca and their precursors who mainly inhabit the highlands, and the invading Spaniards who morphed over the centuries into the westernized Latin American elites that dominate the Pacific seaboard and the main cities.
His journey traces the story of the Inca in reverse. From Cajamarca, where Atahualpa was captured by Pizarro’s invading conquistadors in 1532, marking the beginning of the end, he travels south, slowly and by way of ruins.
Through stone reminders of the older Chavin civilization and the pre-Inca ruins of Kuelap to Ayacucho, where the blind harpist Antonio Sulca plays him a harawi (melancholy music invoked to lament departures, tragedy and death since Inca times) in a windowless room of his home, with thick adobe walls painted a peeling pastel green.
Details accumulate through a gradual peeling away of layers, material culture and song.
Wright passes through the Inca capital of Cusco, centre of their world, political and religious nexus, stopping to examine minor ruins and quarries along the way.
His encounters prompt quotes from verses and songs; they’re always presented in both Runasimi (or Quechua, the Inca language) and English, because that language preserves the Inca worldview in a living form which compliments their cut stone dwellings and walls.
“Languages describe the world; like art styles, they emphasize some facets of reality, ignore others, and create categories of their own for which there may be no “objective” reason and no parallels in another tongue. Languages shape, and are shaped by, culture as a whole. When people lose their language for another, profound distortions may affect their vision of the world: as if Hieronymus Bosch were suddenly forced to paint in the style of John Constable.”
Throughout his journey, Wright crosses paths with a range of travelers, from a masochistic German who slept under a plastic sheet in a downpour rather than accept space in a tent — “This is all I bring, so this is all I use” — to an elderly American who drove his ancient Dodge van down from Ohio — “…you know the trouble with this country? Latins. They move in: the neighbourhood goes down — we got the same trouble in the States” — and backpackers, hikers, and gringos of every assortment.
He provides a snapshot of these travelers while never losing sight that, though he may have a deeper grasp of the culture, he too is an outsider passing through this ancient land:
“The phenomenon of tourism: the moneyed gringo on a two-week tour who feels as though a National Geographic article has come to life around him; the self-styled adventurer searching for gold and lost cities, but somehow (thank God) his itineraries exist only on napkins scribbled in the Paititi Bar; the hippie mystic on pilgrimage — Cusco, Crete, and Katmandu — seeking the aura of past ages and the local sacrament: cocaine, wine, temple balls; the vagrant scholar (myself?) who turns the pages of this land and thinks perhaps he understands it, but really is looking only at pictures, adding captions gleaned from books. All of us are poaching on a dying civilization to still the hunger of our own.”
The journey ends where the Inca began: on an island in Lake Titicaca, where the sun was said to have appeared on the Rock of the Cat after a period of darkness at the creation of the world.
The Inca appeared here, too — at least in legend — and went on to build one of humanity’s great civilizations.
This deeply empathetic book captures the essence of Inca culture as it clung to mountain peaks and terraced fields for century after century, quietly surviving into the present age.
Cut Stones and Crossroads is now back in print. Buy a copy today from Eland books.
January 2, 2025
This one took a while to finish because I get easily distracted by books on politics and colourful figures.
I’m on a short break and have taken the opportunity to finish reading this amazing journey.
In 1990 I was booked to go on a trek through Peru but hurt my knee just before and couldn’t make the trip. I’ve not found a way to get there since but this book and its stories of people who have survived modernisation, has reminded me I must get to Peru before I’m too old to.
I’m on a short break and have taken the opportunity to finish reading this amazing journey.
In 1990 I was booked to go on a trek through Peru but hurt my knee just before and couldn’t make the trip. I’ve not found a way to get there since but this book and its stories of people who have survived modernisation, has reminded me I must get to Peru before I’m too old to.
November 29, 2025
I was weeding my library's nonfiction collection in the summer and found this book in my hand, not long after having booked my own trip to Peru. It was published before I was born and reflects on politics from multiple regimes ago (this was pre-Shining Path, pre-a lot of things), but the Wright is sensitive and intellectual about the history and the present of Peru during his travels. His voice is dry, humour hidden in long and objective-looking observations, but he never condemns or sensationalizes the different life and solutions of the people he's among.
There's an intensely Canadian feeling to his writing, reflecting a somewhat older generation, a little less globalized than we are post-Internet. Politely anti-American, moderate in the way he presents himself. As a Canadian studying the indigenous language and history, he's attuned to a parallel sense of colonial destruction of culture through language. He honours the fact that it is the same story and a different story at once. It was a good one to read in bits prior to departure and to finish on the plane, and contributed to my being the Johannes Factotum of the trip. But really, knowing more about a place enriches your visit to that place. Why wouldn't you research?
There's an intensely Canadian feeling to his writing, reflecting a somewhat older generation, a little less globalized than we are post-Internet. Politely anti-American, moderate in the way he presents himself. As a Canadian studying the indigenous language and history, he's attuned to a parallel sense of colonial destruction of culture through language. He honours the fact that it is the same story and a different story at once. It was a good one to read in bits prior to departure and to finish on the plane, and contributed to my being the Johannes Factotum of the trip. But really, knowing more about a place enriches your visit to that place. Why wouldn't you research?
November 1, 2018
This excellent book was written before the regime of the fascist Fujimori (who is now in jail for human rights violations). Its deep, multi-faceted picture of Peru (from the days of the Inca rulers til 1986) forms a backdrop to understanding what's going on today in all of Latin America. Because it's a "travel" book, the reader learns about - and feels - Peru's archeological and intense political history through the author's encounters and conversations with Indigenous and Criollo (white, Latino) Peruvians and fellow travelers. Wright speaks Runasimi, aka Quechua, Spanish and English, and he also knows the left politics that motivates Latin America's most important intellectuals. For example, he extols Jose Carlos Mariategui (1894-1930) as one of the major theorists of the 20th century - someone whom I, with my limited, US-centric education, had never even heard of. The book includes a bibliography and a discography of authentic Indigenous Andean music.
May 24, 2020
Ronald Wright is that rare thing; an anthropologist who can write. As such, he has both access to a wealth of cultural information, and the ability to convey it. This is a fantastic journey along the history of the Inca, and other groups, in Peru. With an anthropologist's eye, he focuses on music and architecture. The one down side is that the book doesn't really feel like it has a narrative, and feels a bit wandering, at times. But perhaps since that was what the author was doing while writing, this is very appropriate.
July 8, 2025
A thrift store find- the author takes you along with him on his hike, hitchhike, bus and flight across Peru from the site of the fall of the Inca to the Spanish (Cajamarca), across the Andes, along the coast, up to Cusco and Machu Piqchu, ending at the rise of the Inca at Lake Titicaca. In the late 1970s.
Fascinating history (parallels and opposites to Canada) is provided along with music, authors and tastes. The Inca’s ‘Cut Stones’ are amazing (I was googling almost every chapter for pictures).
Fascinating history (parallels and opposites to Canada) is provided along with music, authors and tastes. The Inca’s ‘Cut Stones’ are amazing (I was googling almost every chapter for pictures).
April 22, 2016
This was an interesting book. The afterword, however; essentially summed up the whole book. I found that the information given was amazingly detailed and has brought me a deeper understanding of the Inca culture and current political position in Peru. But, there was so much information that I was easily drowning in it. I think some day I'll read this book again, and this time keep track of what's happening and making sure that I am engaged in the information being conveyed.
3.5 stars out of 5.
3.5 stars out of 5.
March 22, 2016
Wright has a gift for describing the Andean landscape, with a sensitivity to the people living there.
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January 14, 2017I enjoyed the way he described the landscape along his travels cross the Aztec and Incas land.
August 21, 2012
Another book to build a vacation around.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews