A review by sethcrumrine
Lost City of the Incas by Hiram Bingham

4.0

What a fantastic, engrossing chronicle of the discovery (lets be real here and not disregard that Indians in the area had already been chilling on the mountain and harvesting crops there) of Machu Picchu. Bingham had a hunch that Vitcos, which was mentioned in the histories as a sacred city that housed the Inca royalty, was somewhere in the vicinity of the Andes. He had a made a couple trips before and had found other sites that were very significant, but none that were quite as magnificent as Picchu. The re-telling just blew me away with its rich world-building weaving together the insane tapestry that was the Neo-Incan rule, and their flight from the Conquistadors into the mountain passes. It just seems like such a dreamland and really caters to the active side of me that wants to be running small alpine single track and rivers rushing beneath and valleys opening up below. The moment that Bingham uncovers the city wrapped in jungle must have been the most incredible thing. It's worth mentioning that Bingham, much like Robert Louis Stevenson, had a very respectful relationship towards the culture and people of the area. It makes for a better read.