What do you think?
Rate this book
Eight Feet in the Andes: Travels with a Mule in Unknown Peru
The eight feet referenced in the title belong to Dervla Murphy, her nine-year-old daughter, and an elegant mule, who together clambered the length of Peru, from Cajamarca near the border with Ecuador, to Cuzco, the ancient Inca capital—traveling over 1,300 miles in high altitudes. Despite extreme discomfort and occasional danger, mother and daughter, a formidable duo, were unflagging in their sympathetic response to the perilous beauty and impoverished people of the Andes.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
45 people are currently reading
1120 people want to read
About the author
Dervla Murphy
52 books277 followersDervla Murphy’s first book, Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, was published in 1965. Over twenty travel books followed including her highly acclaimed autobiography, Wheels Within Wheels.
Dervla won worldwide praise for her writing and many awards, including the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing and the Royal Geographical Award for the popularisation of geography.
Few of the epithets used to describe her – ‘travel legend’, ‘intrepid’ or ‘the first lady of Irish cycling’ – quite do justice to her extraordinary achievement.
She was born in 1931 and remained passionate about travel, writing, politics, Palestine, conservation, bicycling and beer until her death in 2022.
Dervla won worldwide praise for her writing and many awards, including the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing and the Royal Geographical Award for the popularisation of geography.
Few of the epithets used to describe her – ‘travel legend’, ‘intrepid’ or ‘the first lady of Irish cycling’ – quite do justice to her extraordinary achievement.
She was born in 1931 and remained passionate about travel, writing, politics, Palestine, conservation, bicycling and beer until her death in 2022.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
Read
August 13, 2014This was the August book for my book club. It's a travel book and recounts a trip in the Peruvian Andes that Murphy undertook with her 9-year-old daughter and a very handsome mule called Juana in the early 1980s. They start in the North of the country and go all the way to Cuzco, clambering up and down mountains, staying away from the few motor roads and struggling to find food to buy in tiny hamlets that are even more desperately impoverished than they'd expected.
I read a bit under half the book and abandoned it. I don't usually do that with book club books, but it was just so, so boring, and I couldn't see it changing at all. It's the story of what sounds like a great trip, but it's not a great book. Murphy's writing is not very good, but that's not the main problem. The main problem is that what I want from a travel book is to travel with an interesting person who tells good stories, and I didn't get that.
I don't know if Murphy is an interesting person. I don't know her at all, even after reading 130 pages of her book. We get some of her opinions about what she's seeing (which were not unproblematic), but nothing about who she is as a person. By the time I gave up, I felt I knew more about the inner life of Juana the Mule than about Dervla Murphy's. All I knew was that she's an incredibly tough, no nonsense lady, but even that hid as much as it revealed. I mean, at the beginning, she basically walks for days with a nail sticking out inside of her boot and making her foot bleed. She mentions a couple of times that she needs to find a cobbler, but that's it. Is she worried? In pain? Angry that the stupid makers of this shoddy boot are ruining this trip she's been planning for so long? I had absolutely no idea. Her daughter Rachel is an enigma as well. Murphy often quotes things Rachel said or wrote in her diary, but those just didn't ring true. The diary entries, especially, sounded too, too precious, with their careful misspellings.
As for stories... forget about it. Murphy describes everything she sees and does, and it's midly interesting when she and her daughter interact with people. Mostly, though, it's "we left camp at 8.15, went up this mountain, took this path, had to double back, the ground was difficult to walk on". Very tedious. I think part of the problem is that the book is written as a diary, with one entry for each day. I think it might have worked better if she hadn't had to write a full-sized account every day and just concentrated on the interesting bit and summarised the daily grind.
I mentioned her opinions above. The book was originally published in 1983 and it's very dated. Murphy is quite patronising in some of her thoughts about the native Peruvians, and some of her general opinions are just startling, like when she says, just in passing, about a particular village: "It certainly isn't ravaged by disease, violence, drunkenness and homosexuality, as so many of the larger settlements have been in the past."Uhm.. ok.
Finally, I got really annoyed by how bad the Spanish was. If you're going to publish a book about travelling in Peru, at least get your Spanish checked. It's fine if it's "I said X" and X is wrong, because hey, if your Spanish was not great, you would have said some things wrong. My problem was with things in the descriptions, like her referring to a river as the Río Negra quite a few times ('río' is masculine, so it would be "Río Negro", "Black River").
Anyway, not a success. I might be completely off-base here, but I don't get the feeling Murphy is principally a writer, in the sense of someone for whom the writing comes before the travelling. With my favourite travel authors, I get the feeling they would write about anything, and their travelling just provides them with raw material. Here there was something of a grudging quality to the writing, as if it was only a means to an end, and that end was financing the travel. Like I said, I might be wrong, but that was the vibe I got.
MY GRADE: A DNF.
I read a bit under half the book and abandoned it. I don't usually do that with book club books, but it was just so, so boring, and I couldn't see it changing at all. It's the story of what sounds like a great trip, but it's not a great book. Murphy's writing is not very good, but that's not the main problem. The main problem is that what I want from a travel book is to travel with an interesting person who tells good stories, and I didn't get that.
I don't know if Murphy is an interesting person. I don't know her at all, even after reading 130 pages of her book. We get some of her opinions about what she's seeing (which were not unproblematic), but nothing about who she is as a person. By the time I gave up, I felt I knew more about the inner life of Juana the Mule than about Dervla Murphy's. All I knew was that she's an incredibly tough, no nonsense lady, but even that hid as much as it revealed. I mean, at the beginning, she basically walks for days with a nail sticking out inside of her boot and making her foot bleed. She mentions a couple of times that she needs to find a cobbler, but that's it. Is she worried? In pain? Angry that the stupid makers of this shoddy boot are ruining this trip she's been planning for so long? I had absolutely no idea. Her daughter Rachel is an enigma as well. Murphy often quotes things Rachel said or wrote in her diary, but those just didn't ring true. The diary entries, especially, sounded too, too precious, with their careful misspellings.
As for stories... forget about it. Murphy describes everything she sees and does, and it's midly interesting when she and her daughter interact with people. Mostly, though, it's "we left camp at 8.15, went up this mountain, took this path, had to double back, the ground was difficult to walk on". Very tedious. I think part of the problem is that the book is written as a diary, with one entry for each day. I think it might have worked better if she hadn't had to write a full-sized account every day and just concentrated on the interesting bit and summarised the daily grind.
I mentioned her opinions above. The book was originally published in 1983 and it's very dated. Murphy is quite patronising in some of her thoughts about the native Peruvians, and some of her general opinions are just startling, like when she says, just in passing, about a particular village: "It certainly isn't ravaged by disease, violence, drunkenness and homosexuality, as so many of the larger settlements have been in the past."Uhm.. ok.
Finally, I got really annoyed by how bad the Spanish was. If you're going to publish a book about travelling in Peru, at least get your Spanish checked. It's fine if it's "I said X" and X is wrong, because hey, if your Spanish was not great, you would have said some things wrong. My problem was with things in the descriptions, like her referring to a river as the Río Negra quite a few times ('río' is masculine, so it would be "Río Negro", "Black River").
Anyway, not a success. I might be completely off-base here, but I don't get the feeling Murphy is principally a writer, in the sense of someone for whom the writing comes before the travelling. With my favourite travel authors, I get the feeling they would write about anything, and their travelling just provides them with raw material. Here there was something of a grudging quality to the writing, as if it was only a means to an end, and that end was financing the travel. Like I said, I might be wrong, but that was the vibe I got.
MY GRADE: A DNF.
October 18, 2016
In 1979 Dervla Murphy and her 9 year old daughter walked with their mule Juana from Cajamarca (northern Peru) to Cusco (far to the south) following as much as possible the Camino Real (the Inca Royal road) along the spine of the second highest mountain range in the world. It took them just over 3 months.
Eight Feet in the Andes is a day by day journal of that incredible journey with all its splendour, risks and adventures. The Murphys travel light, most often camping in their small tent and not always sure where their next meal will come from. They endure blizzards, precipitous paths, bogs, heat, theft and find help when most needed and generous (if often taciturn) hospitality.
I will admit that at my first attempt to read Eight Feet in the Andes, I only got about 60 pages in, but taking it up again over a year later, I've raced through the book, enjoying Murphy's deprecating sense of humour, her laconic but stirring descriptions of landscape and people, her musing and reflections. Most of all, I got the best sense of the Andes as a colossal landform and of the people living on its steep slopes and fertile valleys, often (at least at that time) little changed since the arrival of the Spanish some 400 years before. At times Murphy is a bit despairing of the Peruvians but the real concern and respect also shines through as she accepts their often laconic help and advice along the journey. I can't help wondering about taking such risks with her daughter's safety (they were often far from help, one disaster away from tragedy) yet it was another era & a fabulous adventure for a stoical, level-headed girl.
While this is a travel story, there is plenty of drama (especially towards the end) and I loved learning about little travelled paths in an amazing part of the world.
Eight Feet in the Andes is a day by day journal of that incredible journey with all its splendour, risks and adventures. The Murphys travel light, most often camping in their small tent and not always sure where their next meal will come from. They endure blizzards, precipitous paths, bogs, heat, theft and find help when most needed and generous (if often taciturn) hospitality.
I will admit that at my first attempt to read Eight Feet in the Andes, I only got about 60 pages in, but taking it up again over a year later, I've raced through the book, enjoying Murphy's deprecating sense of humour, her laconic but stirring descriptions of landscape and people, her musing and reflections. Most of all, I got the best sense of the Andes as a colossal landform and of the people living on its steep slopes and fertile valleys, often (at least at that time) little changed since the arrival of the Spanish some 400 years before. At times Murphy is a bit despairing of the Peruvians but the real concern and respect also shines through as she accepts their often laconic help and advice along the journey. I can't help wondering about taking such risks with her daughter's safety (they were often far from help, one disaster away from tragedy) yet it was another era & a fabulous adventure for a stoical, level-headed girl.
While this is a travel story, there is plenty of drama (especially towards the end) and I loved learning about little travelled paths in an amazing part of the world.
November 18, 2008
"Abruptly she swung away from [the bridge] and stood stiff-legged, her rump to the river, displaying every known symptom of equine apprehension." So, the reason this book is so good is because of vivid sentences like this in what might otherwise seem a daunting read -- a day-by-day journal by an Irish woman and her 9-year-old daughter who buy a mule (Juana, described above) and hike the same route the conquistadors did to get to Cuzco -- 1300 miles south through the Andes. Mom is a great writer, an amazingly tough person who does not suffer fools gladly, who loves nature and maize beer, hates cars and views the lives of the campesinos with a surprisingly unaffected eye. I thought she'd romanticize them, but she perceives nuances in all cultures -- conquerors and conquered alike. Weirdly, the day I finished the book marked exactly the 475th anniversary of the taking of Cuzco by the conquerors.
February 2, 2013
As it is likely that I will never travel to South America, I was engrossed to make the journey with one of my favourite travel writers. Never dull, always unique, Ms Murphy continues to take the less-trodden route and report back on what she sees along the way. Her philosophy over the decades is that we can't know another culture until we have slept on the floor with its people. She is fearless and determined in carrying that ideal on all her travels. In a sense she is lucky in that her adventures were undertaken before the world became a more treacherous place; I can't imagine her going through Pakistan today as a single woman on a bicycle! A brave mother and an equally brave daughter.
July 9, 2011
The first travel book I had ever read, but I enjoyed every minute. The narrative is incredibly engaging as you follow a middle-aged mother, her 9 year old daughter and their beloved mule Juana on a groundbreaking journey over the Andes in the mid eighties. Murphy's observations about the local people, the landscape and similar journeys made by her predecessors are fascinating. With moments of unforgettable humour yet with powerful underlying messages this book is one of the best I have read this year.
June 13, 2021
It’s twenty years since I read a Dervla Murphy travel book. I still find her an extraordinary woman. In this book, and two decades later, I am still impressed by her as a person. I was surprised to learn that for all her hardiness and outdoor simple living, she has a real spider phobia! I would have appreciated a little more balance between their daily travels and travails and insight into local history, culture, society. I didn’t learn much about the people of the Andes. So in the end I started to skip sections. Exceptional human being, slightly less impressed with the book. 3 stars for me.
June 10, 2020
An interesting read for those looking for a travel account of the Andes before mass tourism took over (this was written in 1979). The author recounts her travels with her young daughter and a donkey, following a mostly historical track through the area that dates back to 1533 (Francisco Pizarro era).
June 16, 2015
I love her description of mountain travel. Also enjoyed the relationship with her remarkable daughter. What an experience they had.
June 23, 2018
Written in the 80's a wonderful travelogue with a middle aged woman, a 9 year old girl and a mule. Walking for about 4 months in the wilds of peru. I love Dervla Murphy's spirit and wish my daughter of around the same age would be as stoic.
June 17, 2019
I so admire Dervla Murphy. This was a fascinating and often humorous window into her trek across the Andes with her nine year old daughter. I'm in awe of what they did.
I wanted to read it in preparation for my own trip to Peru and I did learn a lot about the Incas and the Spanish conquestadores. I appreciated her insight into the current general attitude and state of the campesinos, mestizos and Indians.
Dervla inspires me to be more brave!
I wanted to read it in preparation for my own trip to Peru and I did learn a lot about the Incas and the Spanish conquestadores. I appreciated her insight into the current general attitude and state of the campesinos, mestizos and Indians.
Dervla inspires me to be more brave!
January 26, 2021
Oh, to be a parent in the 1980s! This account of traveling through the Andes on a mule by famed Irish travel writer, Dervla Murphy, put my hair standing on end, thinking of the harm that could have come to her daughter so many times, let alone herself. Trekking 15-25 miles per day with the world's most uncomplaining 9-year old in tow, Murphy scales unimaginable heights along the spine of the Andes, traveling south from Cajamarca to Cuzco. She and her daughter face drought, snow, altitude sickness, food shortages, food poisoning, theft, freezing hail and blazing 110F heat in their 4 month trek but it is all recounted as though it were a mere hiking trip in the hills with Murphy's signature dry wit.
Even one of Dervla Murphy's parenting choices alone would be enough to get a 21st century parent a visit from social services, but this was 1983 so perhaps parenting standards were a little more lax. She nonchalantly leaves her daughter on the steps of a restaurant in a strange town while going off to find fodder for their mule, Juana (the real hero of the trek). She entrusts her daughter to complete strangers while downing beers or chicha in various shebeens along the route. Much of the time, her daughter lacks adequate sleep, shelter or food. It is indeed hair-raising to read as a parent but on the upside her daughter shows remarkable resilience, showing that when we trust children to take risks they can learn the right skills to persevere.
I love Dervla Murphy's travel writing and have read about half of her books so I'm familiar with her writing style and tough attitude. Nonetheless this book surprised me also in its harsh appraisal of indigenous Peruvian people. Murphy openly speaks with patronizing disdain for indigenous Quechua culture as backward or doomed due to its primitiveness. She refers to the locals as being remarkably low IQ, in a way that reminded me most of the way British colonial writers used to describe impoverished, starving Irish people in the 1800s, as a way to justify denying them their civil rights. It's odd to see this kind of colonialist attitude from an Irish writer, who rarely shows this attitude in her other books. She seems puzzled by indigenous people's reticence, reading it as hostility or stupidity, but fails to consider that perhaps these people have experienced so much oppression and cruelty from Europeans that they are justifiably wary of her or any strangers.
I admire Dervla Murphy's tough-minded adventurous spirit and I enjoyed reading this account to her monumental trek through the Andes but I have to admit this is not one of her best works, largely because she fails to form her usual easy rapport with the local people she meets along the way and because, as the parent of a 9-year old, I could scarcely believe the hardships she put her 9-year old daughter through. It's still an interesting read but I think I may stick to reading her more recent books.
Even one of Dervla Murphy's parenting choices alone would be enough to get a 21st century parent a visit from social services, but this was 1983 so perhaps parenting standards were a little more lax. She nonchalantly leaves her daughter on the steps of a restaurant in a strange town while going off to find fodder for their mule, Juana (the real hero of the trek). She entrusts her daughter to complete strangers while downing beers or chicha in various shebeens along the route. Much of the time, her daughter lacks adequate sleep, shelter or food. It is indeed hair-raising to read as a parent but on the upside her daughter shows remarkable resilience, showing that when we trust children to take risks they can learn the right skills to persevere.
I love Dervla Murphy's travel writing and have read about half of her books so I'm familiar with her writing style and tough attitude. Nonetheless this book surprised me also in its harsh appraisal of indigenous Peruvian people. Murphy openly speaks with patronizing disdain for indigenous Quechua culture as backward or doomed due to its primitiveness. She refers to the locals as being remarkably low IQ, in a way that reminded me most of the way British colonial writers used to describe impoverished, starving Irish people in the 1800s, as a way to justify denying them their civil rights. It's odd to see this kind of colonialist attitude from an Irish writer, who rarely shows this attitude in her other books. She seems puzzled by indigenous people's reticence, reading it as hostility or stupidity, but fails to consider that perhaps these people have experienced so much oppression and cruelty from Europeans that they are justifiably wary of her or any strangers.
I admire Dervla Murphy's tough-minded adventurous spirit and I enjoyed reading this account to her monumental trek through the Andes but I have to admit this is not one of her best works, largely because she fails to form her usual easy rapport with the local people she meets along the way and because, as the parent of a 9-year old, I could scarcely believe the hardships she put her 9-year old daughter through. It's still an interesting read but I think I may stick to reading her more recent books.
May 2, 2013
Two friends turned me in the direction of Dervla Murphy, an Irish lady who has traveled the world for about five decades, more or less, and financed her wander lust by writing detailed accounts of her various journeys. This trip takes place in the late 1970's, and she makes the journey with her nine year old daughter and a very amenable mule. Don't expect to travel in the shoes of these amazing ladies; they go through the heart of the Andes, preferring the roughest of trails, the most primitive of living conditions, and enduring food, weather, and the occasional ailment that would spoil the trip for most of us. Ms. Murphy also includes detailed history, both ancient and recent, of the land she is seeing first hand. It is a very unusual and fascinating look into the Peruvian countryside, it's often tragic people, and hauntingly beautiful scenery.
Sometimes the details can be difficult to follow, and one may not always agree with Dervla's point of view, but I am hooked and will be following more of her exploits.
Sometimes the details can be difficult to follow, and one may not always agree with Dervla's point of view, but I am hooked and will be following more of her exploits.
July 22, 2014
I read this in preparation for visiting Peru, but I don't think it was very helpful in priming me for what we'll see there. Of course it isn't fair to penalize a book for not being what I want it to be (since that isn't what it was intended to be) I think this book wasn't even that great at it's intended purpose. I'm not a guy who needs constant action in a book, but there are long stretches of this book where barely anything happens. Just walking from town to town, buying food for themselves and for their mule and then moving along. Some of the people they meet are interesting and I do think I received some insight into the ways of the people who live in the Andes but overall this just wasn't a very good reading experience. Also, to trek hundreds of miles through the mountains with a child is completely crazy and I couldn't stop thinking about how irresponsible the whole endeavor was, even while admiring their perseverance and boldness.
March 27, 2018
Eh, so-so. A lot of "ups" and "downs" (the mountains). Really - all in one day? Hmm.
Sometimes perhaps Too Much (personal) Information (like bathing .... )
I got rather turned-off when I thought about the peril she put her daughter (under 10 years old) in as she trekked those isolated trails and non-trails. Irresponsible. Yes, they made it out, but I doubt most parents would expose their children to such truly life-and-death situations. Cell phone for a true emergency? I did not find a mention of emergency contingencies like that. Really lost respect for this "Dervla Murphy".
I wasn't going to finish the book but then reader's guilt eventually got to me and I did finish it, but can't say I would recommend it to anyone.
I wonder, now in 2018, what her daughter thinks of this experience? (first published in 1983)
Sometimes perhaps Too Much (personal) Information (like bathing .... )
I got rather turned-off when I thought about the peril she put her daughter (under 10 years old) in as she trekked those isolated trails and non-trails. Irresponsible. Yes, they made it out, but I doubt most parents would expose their children to such truly life-and-death situations. Cell phone for a true emergency? I did not find a mention of emergency contingencies like that. Really lost respect for this "Dervla Murphy".
I wasn't going to finish the book but then reader's guilt eventually got to me and I did finish it, but can't say I would recommend it to anyone.
I wonder, now in 2018, what her daughter thinks of this experience? (first published in 1983)
April 30, 2007
I read this book while I was traveling in Peru. Dervla Murphy traveled through the Andes with her 9 year old daughter and a mule to Cusco. Though I was traveling as a backpacker, I realized how posh a traveler I was compared to the Murphys. I always stayed in my own room and usually had my own bathroom as well. I always ate three meals a day. I did have similar experiences of meeting amazing Andean people who are so different from urban Peruvians.
August 3, 2019
I really wanted to like it, but after spending ages getting past the first 50 pages I decided to give up. Sorry, but it's boring. The great thing about travel literature is the things that happen on the way. But as far as I got, the main thing was going up the mountain, over the mountain, down the mountain.... And I did not think the descriptions of the most likely stunning scenery were very good either. Very disappointing.
May 11, 2008
"At home I'm both a vegetarian and a devotee of Guinea pigs; walking through the Andes such sensibilities become atrophied. Here one would eat one's grandmother, even if she weren't very well cooked."
Interesting to read while in Ecuador. Many overlaps within the countries. It would be great to find a book on someones travels through the Andes in Ecuador.
Interesting to read while in Ecuador. Many overlaps within the countries. It would be great to find a book on someones travels through the Andes in Ecuador.
August 7, 2007
I started reading this book years ago and had to return it to its rightful owner, my brother, before I finished it. It was, however, wonderfully done.
October 23, 2009
I really should have looked at the published date before I read it. Wow, things have changed in the last 20 plus years in Peru. Unless you particularly like donkeys, I would not recommend this book.
June 23, 2018
Bold themes of female determination and spellbinding natural beauty are what you’ll find in this remarkable libro. The magnitude of the achievement of Dervla Murphy and her young daughter is hard to appreciate; trekking hundreds of miles over unforgiving Andes terrain is a formidable task. A jaw-dropping feat.
In one sense this book is a collection of attempts to put that staggering mountain range into words, “From here the canyon below seemed so far away one illogically gave up worrying about falling in to it: it belonged to another world”. She is also intimately aware of the extent to which humans are indebted to this earth, “We need to be close to, and opposed to, and sometimes subservient to and always reflective of the physical realities of the planet we live on.”
However, Murphy also makes informed and reflective observations on the psyche of the people she encounters. Her passion for history is evident as she examines the impact of both their climate, and the political and economic systems of which they are a part, upon their sense of identity within the Andean, Peruvian, and world-orders. “Political fatalism is endemic; whether ruled from Madrid or Lima, the Andean peoples have passively endured centuries of misgovernment.”
A thoughtful political commentary, a glorious celebration of Peruvianity and natural wonders, and above all, a tale of two determined women of unbreakable resolve.
In one sense this book is a collection of attempts to put that staggering mountain range into words, “From here the canyon below seemed so far away one illogically gave up worrying about falling in to it: it belonged to another world”. She is also intimately aware of the extent to which humans are indebted to this earth, “We need to be close to, and opposed to, and sometimes subservient to and always reflective of the physical realities of the planet we live on.”
However, Murphy also makes informed and reflective observations on the psyche of the people she encounters. Her passion for history is evident as she examines the impact of both their climate, and the political and economic systems of which they are a part, upon their sense of identity within the Andean, Peruvian, and world-orders. “Political fatalism is endemic; whether ruled from Madrid or Lima, the Andean peoples have passively endured centuries of misgovernment.”
A thoughtful political commentary, a glorious celebration of Peruvianity and natural wonders, and above all, a tale of two determined women of unbreakable resolve.
December 4, 2022
I found the book interesting, but occasionally slow. The story was amazing. I can't imagine a woman with a 9 yr. old daughter embarking alone on such a potentially dangerous, incredibly long hike. I was partly angry with her for taking such a young girl on such a physically challenging journey. The girl made it and seemed to get a lot out of it so it worked out ok. But there were several times they could have died from hunger or violence, with no one guiding them who knew more about the trails they were on. They had a charming donkey who the reader grows to love just like they love her, but having the donkey means there is one more mouth to find food for and that proved to be a challenge in an area that had been hit by draught. But the author did a good job of giving the reader a glimpse into the lives of the local people who lived in the desolate regions they were passing through. Despite their own hunger, they offered food to the traveling couple when they needed it. And many times they were assisted when they lost the trail by a local person traveling on the trail or living near it. The locals came across as genuinely decent, caring people. A good read if you are interesting in South America or more generally in hiking long distances.
May 11, 2025
The author and her almost 10 year old daughter trekked 1,300 miles through the Andes with a tent, a few basic items, some food and a mule. While I may be adventurous, this is not an adventure that would interest me. At times, I felt the author was a bit irresponsible to even attempt this with her daughter since there were dangers with climbing the steep mountains, the weather, bandits, and lack of food. They made it though and what an impression this must have made on her daughter for all future things in her life.
I read this book because I am traveling to Peru this summer and I want to learn what I can. I know now to avoid drinking Chicha since it starts with human saliva. Gross!! I enjoyed hearing about the different regions they traveled through, the culture of the people, and their unique experiences. I was disappointed by the abrupt ending. They reached Cuzco, sold their mule and that is it! Book over! I was hoping for an epilogue that told a little bit more about then end of their journey.
I read this book because I am traveling to Peru this summer and I want to learn what I can. I know now to avoid drinking Chicha since it starts with human saliva. Gross!! I enjoyed hearing about the different regions they traveled through, the culture of the people, and their unique experiences. I was disappointed by the abrupt ending. They reached Cuzco, sold their mule and that is it! Book over! I was hoping for an epilogue that told a little bit more about then end of their journey.
March 23, 2018
From Goodreads: "The eight feet referenced in the title belong to Dervla Murphy, her nine-year-old daughter, and an elegant mule, who together clambered the length of Peru, from Cajamarca near the border with Ecuador, to Cuzco, the ancient Inca capital—traveling over 1,300 miles in high altitudes. Despite extreme discomfort and occasional danger, mother and daughter, a formidable duo, were unflagging in their sympathetic response to the perilous beauty and impoverished people of the Andes."
I grabbed this book as a challenge task for a book set in Peru. For me, most the book was meh. Not too much happened to Murphy and her daughter, although I enjoyed some of her experiences with the locals; and the mule, Juana, was endearing.
I grabbed this book as a challenge task for a book set in Peru. For me, most the book was meh. Not too much happened to Murphy and her daughter, although I enjoyed some of her experiences with the locals; and the mule, Juana, was endearing.
July 4, 2019
There's a fair bit of interesting history packed into this book -- and a bit of historical thinking, too, as you very much get the sense that Dervla thinks that homosexuality is gross in some way. I nearly put the book down for the mentions of it as a vice etc.
It's written in diary format, and it suffers for it -- Dervla writes about what she does, but doesn't really tell us about herself so much ... and does tell us about the mule, and I was rather outraged that at the end they just part way with the mule, whom obviously had grown attached to them.
It feels so wrong that you just ... get rid of a creature who doesn't suit you anymore.
At any rate. A slice of what it was like in the hinterlands of Peru back in the early 80s, through the goggles of imperialism.
It's written in diary format, and it suffers for it -- Dervla writes about what she does, but doesn't really tell us about herself so much ... and does tell us about the mule, and I was rather outraged that at the end they just part way with the mule, whom obviously had grown attached to them.
It feels so wrong that you just ... get rid of a creature who doesn't suit you anymore.
At any rate. A slice of what it was like in the hinterlands of Peru back in the early 80s, through the goggles of imperialism.
July 12, 2023
This may be it for me and Dervla Murphy travelogues for a while. This was an interesting premise. She walked 1,300 miles across the Andes on foot with a mule and her 8 year old daughter. But the concept didn't live up in practice. Too many attempts to describe the physical landscape blended together after a while. She has a strange blend of a little racism/homophobia and a lot of judgments about native Peruvian Indians mixed in with a general anti-development, anti-First World bent. I'm not quite sure where that leaves us. The book was monotonous in stretches and I was ready for it to be done.
Read
September 27, 2022I enjoyed this book... it's one I would have loved to write myself! The writing was humorous and engaging. I have to say that reading it 40 years after Murphy's trip, though, I did have some problems with the way she described / looked at the Indigenous people she encountered. Some of the qualities she seems to generically associate with ALL of the people I suspect arose more from their reluctance to speak with her, with her limited Spanish and complete lack of Quechua abilities, not to mention her appearance and the colonial history of Europeans in Peru...
June 1, 2024
Dervla plays it close in her daily diary of 3 months trekking with her daughter through the Andes but her tough, impatient personality comes through. Her daily diary is long-winded, repetitive and could have been simplified but in there are some lovely observations of the beauiful environment alongside problematic, sweeping comments about the campesinos. It's hard to believe the 9yo didnt have more meltdowns compared to the mule, and more information than I ever needed about sourcing alfalfa and the traffic they run into along their way.
December 29, 2025
Loved lots of the book and admired her tenacity, brave reckless will and her relationship with her daughter. I had a hard time w the “ factual, linear, day to day tally writing style “. It was repetitive, non reflective and I got lost in the mountain ranges since every day seemed the same. I know her style is reflective of the time but I wished she brought some of “herself” into the weave of her stride.
January 29, 2018
An endlessly entertaining read. Dervla as mother on a perilous journey with her curious and capable young daughter as they trek the route the Spanish conquistadors took through the Andes. An excellent and captivating book.
March 26, 2018
Although I'm interested in any travel book about Peru and Bolivia, particularly the altiplano, I did get a bit fed up with this, as it was quite repetitive. Not that this was bad writing, it's just they did the same thing most days. Walked a lot, couldn't find food for mule.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews