I lived in Quito, Ecuador from 1950 through 1952, and remember reading a book about an orphan boy, possibly on crutches, who lived in colonial Quito. The illustrations were in black, white and yellow (I think!)
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
Maybe this one? Chico of the Andes by Christina von Hagen. (1943) A story of Ecuador, and of a small mountain lad who learns that he is an unknown orphan, and who sets out to find the solution to the mystery of his birth. There is a vocational background here — the weaving of fine Panamas — and Chico seems to have inherited not only that gift, from the unknown parents, but a true Latin ability to make a good bargain. His puzzle is almost too easily solved -but the solution is capped when he decides to go back to his mountain home and to the old man who has been in loce parentis — and who turns out to be his real grandfather. Rather an overplayed succession of coincidences make a forced story, but the feel of the country is well handled.
Thanks so much for your message, but unfortunately, I do not think that this is the book I remember. I have a vivid memory of it being set in old Quito, with some elegant drawings of the colonial buildings.