The town of Santo Tomas is 12,000 feet above sea level, nestled cozily in the vertiginous Peruvian Andes.Hill dwellers and mountain folk alike have had a reputation for hardiness and endurance ever since ancient Greek geographer Strabo described the Thracian people as a “tough bunch of customers.”Being raised on the side of a cliff anywhere tends to favor the strong, sure-footed and stocky, and the environment of the Andes is a particularly punishing place to grow up.
