| aguarras | turpentine |
| aguardiente | home-distilled spirit |
| amigo | friend |
| antorcha | torch |
| aukis | mountain-spirits (Quechuan) |
| ayllu | Andean tribal community organised on co-op basis |
| bano | bathroom |
| barriadas | shanty town |
| bonito | beautiful |
| burro | donkey |
| Camino Real | royal road |
| campesino | Andean peasant |
| carretera | motor-road |
| carpa | tent |
| casa | house |
| cerdo | piglet |
| cerveza | beer |
| chicha | home-brewed maize beer |
| coca | plant from which cocaine is derived |
| comisariá | police station |
| conquistadores | Spanish conquerors of Latin America |
| curacas | Peruvian Indian tribal chief (Quechuan) |
| cuy | guinea-pig (Quechuan) |
| denuncia | accusation |
| desayuno | breakfast |
| encomendero | Spanish settler in Peru entitled to the produce of a given area of land though the Indians continued to own it |
| fideog | tin whistle (Gaelic) |
| flaco | lean or thin or meagre |
| gringo | white foreigner in Latin America |
| hacienda | country estate |
| hija | daughter |
| hombre | man |
| Inti | the Inca sun-god (Quechuan) |
| lomo saltado | dish of chopped meat, sauce and mixed vegetables |
| malo | lad |
| mercado | market |
| mestizo | mixed Indian and Spanish blood |
| mit’a | labour in the public service required under the Incas from each village as a form of tax (Quechuan) |
| mitayos | men who performed this labour (Quechuan) |
| montana | mountain |
| mula | female mule |
| mulato | mixed negro and white blood |
| niñno | child |
| Ole! | hello |
| paja | straw |
| palo | stick |
| pan | bread |
| peligroso | dangerous |
| pisco | grape brandy (also used to describe various home-distilled spirits) |
| plata | money |
| posada | inn |
| pueblo | small town |
| puna | grassland above approximately 13,000 feet |
| redura | short cut |
| selva | jungle |
| sole | Peruvian unit of currency (at the time of our journey 100 soles equalled approximately 28 pence sterling) |
| tambo | Inca lodging and store house for travellers |