Author Mark Adams delivers a rollicking tale of romantic, high-spirited adventure as he retraces the steps of Hiram Bingham's Peruvian trail to discovering the lost Incan city of Machu Picchu near that discovery's centennial. Led by an Australian guide named John Leivers who acts more like Crocodile Dundee than the original, Adams and their team of coca-chewing muleteers and cook painstakingly follow the tracks laid down by Bingham, whose discovery of the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in 1911 was a dream come true for archaeologists. Indeed, the legendary Bingham was likely the role model for Indiana Jones of Raiders of the Lost Ark fame, according to Adams: both were teachers and archaeologist/adventurers, and both wore fedora hats out in the jungle.
Now a mecca for new agers, psychics, and other tourists who sometimes spend $800 or more to spend the night in a fancy hotel at the base of the mountain, Machu Picchu is the end of the Incan Trail, a roadway made by the ancients on the perilously steep slopes. Adams and his team chose to follow the trail laid by Bingham 100 years ago to experience what he did on his tour from Cusco, rather than take the easy way out and ride the bus in to the cloud-covered city. This is a vastly entertaining story well worth the read.
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