‘After befriending a group of Argentineans, he mimicked their every mannerism, while peppering his Spanish with extravagantly-pronounced colloquialisms.’

‘One of my English students was dismayed when I said the Beauty Contest was neither televised in Britain nor likely to warrant a brief newspaper story. Ecuador’s moment in the sun would pass unheeded. When she regained her composure, she defended the competition with the wild-eyed devotion of a religious proselytiser.’

‘Within this captive gerontocracy, the prison teemed with the colour, noise and industry of undiluted womankind.‘

'Overlooking the city’s skyscrapers, my leisurely mornings began on my rooftop terrace with a new chapter of the History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell.'

‘From a distance, he appeared friendly. When we first spoke, he was keen to point out he ‘used to be American’, but was now, contrary to his dress, manner and accent – something altogether different.’

‘After walking several blocks in the cool drizzle, he felt we must be getting close. Our desultory sodden progress was eventually rewarded by serendipity. Based on a whim, we ascended to the third floor of another fading colonial building and blundered into Omar’s flat.’

‘We tossed a coin at the next unmarked junction before continuing our aimless afternoon hike. The searing sun made it no more appetising than our first night’s stroll in a monsoon. I was now more aware of Angelica’s meteorological indifference.’

‘But mainly Luis drank. When we strolled past his front door on a drizzling Sunday afternoon, he had clearly begun early. I thought he was promoting a bar, but it was just his home – into which he lured wandering foreigners like a kind lonely trapdoor spider.’

‘After a 45-minute bus journey, I disembarked into the heat and bustle of what I took to be the city centre. I felt immediately nostalgic for Peru.‘

‘The setting was a giant marquee in a rather unfashionable district. All the elements were ranged against us. Torrential rain poured down throughout the evening. As we approached the venue, scores of armed police – partnered with fierce chained Rottweilers – milled menacingly about. Their brooding presence suggested we were the problem.’

‘‘You are very brave,’ he told me, worryingly. I accepted the compliment – without thinking it true. Danger may have been close on that long, winding road, but a phalanx of heavily-armed soldiers lay between us. Perhaps he meant the danger within the city.’

'But some sixth sense compensated for the conventional one and I found myself wheeling around to find the whole feral pack lunging towards me.' 

'Darkness fell. Rather worryingly, I had no idea where home lay – unfriendly unwelcoming home though it was. If the situation reached critical point, the option of striding off unilaterally was thus rather compromised.'

'The hands of his corpse were hacked off in a ritualistic gesture to stop his soul finding eternal peace. The $8 million ransom was not paid and his hands remain at large. It is not for me to say what’s happening with his soul.'

'I was in the Right Place at the Wrong Time.'