THATCHED HUTS dot the plains of the Andean plateau around 

 Riobamba where thousands of Quechuas live today in much 

 the same fashion as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago. 

 To the casual visitor it seems an unchanging world. But the 

 Quechuas have known heights of successive civilizations and 

 the depth.3 of disorganization and despair. They struggle on 

 through generations, persevering in privation; a stolid, patient, 

 stalwart people, highly skilled in simple primitive arts. 



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