He passed from the Torrid Zone to the Temperate, onward up to the Frigid, until he reached the high Andes.

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For centuries, people who live in the high Andes have chewed coca leaves, whose alkaloids act as a mild stimulant and help to ward off cold and hunger.

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The Canadian company was forced to suspend work recently on its Pascua Lama mine on the Chilean side of the high altitude Andes.

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High up in the Andes Mountains, at an elevation of around 3, 600m in the well-known Cusco region, communities get together for celebrations involving music, dancing, drinking, eating and brightly coloured costumes.

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Professor JOHN WILLIAMS (Geography, University of Wisconsin): Our analyses suggests at places such as regions around the Arctic or high elevation regions such as the Peruvian Andes or the East African Highlands such as Mt.

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So on Tuesday, the companies announced a proposal from McEwen, the chairman, chief executive officer and the largest shareholder of both US Gold and Minera Andes, to combine the companies into a high-growth, low-cost mid-tier silver producer focused in the Americas.

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The Ecuadorian Andes are a fiendish proposition for any transport planner: a three-mile high spine of mountains that runs down the centre of the country, unfolding into high plateaus, fissuring into canyons and sheltering mist-shrouded old towns.

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