Andrew Stewart’s Reviews > Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter > Status Update

Mules didn’t live long. They looked 90 but the oldest they lived to be was about 35. Usually they died from being mules, but sometimes they died at the hands of the military are the secret police who liked to use them for torture practice, and then throw their bodies into unmarked graves.

mules were Indian men who waited outside the markets. They had ropes dangling and their feet looked like old shoes. If you accepted the mule bent over and his back became the counter on which you piled your belongings. He would grunt as the load grew, eyes on the ground. After awhile, all you’d see was two brown legs with the feet shifting around. When you were done loading, you kicked the mule in the shins.

“ in Peru, if you wanted to look up the definition of a word, youd need two dictionaries: the Poor Peru dictionary, and the Rich Peru dictionary. If you looked up the word bathroom in the poor peru dictionary, the definition would be “just over the hill there”. If you looked it up in the rich Peru dictionary it would read “marble room with gold taps and its own servant to keep it sparkling”.