After properly introducing himself, Elias takes ‣ out on the town. Elias shares his misgivings about Augustus Larkin and Luis de Mendoza:

• Previously, Larkin tried to convince some of the locals in Puno to “explore” the pyramid, but was unable to find anyone willing to accompany him. Since then, he has turned to trying to find foreigners to flesh out his expedition.
• Prof. Nemesio Sánchez of the National University of San Marcos is interested in joining the expedition, but Larkin has ignored this request to do so.
• Prof. Sánchez believes he has some old documents and artifacts related to the site at the university, and Elias is due to visit him to see them tomorrow. Perhaps the investigators would like to accompany him?
• Some people in Puno warned Elias that de Mendoza is a “kharisiri”—a vampiric monster from local folklore that sucks the body fat from people. Elias is quick to point out that such monsters do not exist and that the stories probably started with the arrival of the conquistadors in the 16th century.

During this exposition, they randomly bump into Trinidad Rizo, who’s out having fun in Lima before she’s heading back to continue translation on an interesting text (Carlyle Papers Peru #3).