Adams should not return to Peru or writing about it until he takes an Anthropology course, preferably several, and human rights course dealing with the indigenous peoples of Peru and their sad legal state. It was, however, fairly good as a hiking guide and as a guide to taking native peoples for granted. I'd love to read a real book on the importance of Machu Picchu and of travelling through Peru, and I really hope to hike the Inca Trail someday. This book left me with so many questions, but mostly if Mark Adams knew what privilege is and decided to ignore it, or was just blissfully ignorant.
Why was he so fascinated with Bingham, explorer of 100 years ago, in the first place? The guy was a jerk. Why couldn't Adams censure Yale for keeping artifacts when they really, really shouldn't? Why did Mark Adams take so long to build up the beauty and importance of the Inca, only to never spend a sentence on the modern day Inca, those who descended from the original peoples by building lives in the jungle? The indigenous peoples of Peru knew of it the entire time. Why did it take 250 pages for Mark Adams to admit Machu Picchu was never lost? With a crusty, antisocial Australian survivalist and several Quechua-speaking, coca-chewing mule tenders as his guides, Adams takes readers through some of the most gorgeous and historic landscapes in Peru, from the ancient Inca capital of Cusco to the enigmatic ruins of Vitcos and Vilcabamba.Īlong the way he finds a still-undiscovered country populated with brilliant and eccentric characters, as well as an answer to the question that has nagged scientists since Hiram Bingham's time: Just what was Machu Picchu? Mark Adams has spent his career editing adventure and travel magazines, so his plan to investigate the allegations against Bingham by retracing the explorer's perilous path to Machu Picchu isn't completely far- fetched, even if it does require him to sleep in a tent for the first time. Nearly a century later, news reports have recast the hero explorer as a villain who smuggled out priceless artifacts and stole credit for finding one of the world's greatest archaeological sites. For on that rainy morning, the young Yale professor Hiram Bingham III climbed into the Andes Mountains of Peru and encountered an ancient city in the clouds: the now famous citadel of Machu Picchu. July 24, 1911, was a day for the history books. What happens when an adventure travel expert-who's never actually done anything adventurous-tries to re-create the original expedition to Machu Picchu?
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