The Inca, Aztec and Maya people and cultures have always been of great interest to me, so when I saw Mark Adams' "Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time" I knew I had to read it. I loved it. After I finished reading the book I went back through and reread parts I especially liked and I've gone back to the pictures and maps many times to help me recall the story of how the author traveled to Peru to take the same route that that HIram Bingham III did in 1911 when he discovered, high in the Andes mountains, the city of Machu Picchu, thought to be the summer retreat of the royalty of the Incas.
Mr. Adams, the author, was the editor of several travel magazines in New York and held an interest in explorers and travel, but had never slept in a tent except once as a child and had never made his way through a jungle like the one he was about to tackle. The one-hundredth anniversary of Bingham's finding of Machu Picchu and other cities of the Inca people was a perfect time for Adams to go. With the help of an Australian veteran explorer and guide, John Leivers, and with help from an Alaskan explorer named Paolo Greer, Mark Adams started his journey from the ancient Inca capital of Cusco and on the same route that Hiram Bingham had taken one hundred years ago when he discovered the Lost City of the Incas. Mules and mule tenders who spoke the language of Quecha were part of the expedition party, also.
Adams and his expedition party took the Inca Trail to their destination, or as much of it as they could. "The greatest Inca of all, Pachacutec" is believed to be the one behind the road system of the Incas and there were at least a hundred and fifty miles of trails, but there were many more and some that were finding their way under blacktop. Adams' party took the Inca Trail that went right to Machu Picchu.
Archaeology was a new science at the beginning of the twentieth century and while Bingham was looking for the lost city of the Incas, the Mayan city of Chichen Itza was being excavated and in Egypt the Valley of the Kings was expected to reveal wonders. In 1900 Knossos was discovered. Explorers who went to Peru earlier were not so much looking for what would be Machu Picchu but for the legendary El Dorado that was supposed to be the city of gold that people had tried to find since the days of the conquistadores.
For Adams the walking was hard, but he kept up and at times the expedition came to areas where they had to descend nearly a mile by taking an Inca staircase that was 3500 stone steps down. At the bottom it was humid and hot, but they soon saw some signs of people living in the area with small houses and potato fields being plowed by hand with a stick. The ways of farming in this area of Peru hadn't changed much in centuries.
There is a good bit of humor in the book, especially from the viewpoint of the author. The expedition following in the footsteps of Hiram Bingham's 1911 trip was hard-going, but it was worth it when the goal was reached. So much was learned about other cities in the area that the Inca had built and how far their empire went and that it was a very populated empire. The arrival of the Spanish is covered and what happened with the advent of that, and there is quite a bit of information on the climate of the area, foods, and languages.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it fascinating to read about a modern day expedition into the world of the Incas, and I learned an awful lot about them. The guide, John Leivers, was a very nice man who helped Adams in any situation where he was needed and he also had some humorous times. If you enjoy this period in history and the early people of South America, then you should thoroughly enjoy this book. My first three cats were named Inca, Aztec and Maya, so that should give an idea of how much I enjoy reading about these people and their culture.
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Machu Picchu and the Inca Empire had a fascinating role in history and I wanted to learn more. I purchased a slightly used version to save a few bucks and am very pleased with the quality of the book. I will always evaluate this option for books.
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Boring story but good historical facts
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