Note 3 — Chapter VIII · THE CORDILLERA OF THE ANDES
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A little further on, a woman, with a child in her arms, informed us that San Miguel was “cerca”—near. This was too ambiguous for us, as it might mean one league or several leagues. Asking her how near it was, she replied muy cerca—very near. This was still unsatisfactory. She then assured us that it was “cerquita,” “cerquitita”—diminutives of cerca—3 meaning that the place was extremely near, only a few steps farther. “Dando la vuelta de la esquina”—around the corner there—she said, “is San Miguel, the second house you come to.” Peering into the darkness before us, we could barely discern what appeared a projection from the mountain side. We had to be satisfied with this answer as, try as we would, we could elicit nothing more definite from our informant.