Yesterday, June 24, 2011 was the 100th anniversary of Hiram Bingham's rediscovery of Machu Picchu. I stumbled across this book while browsing through the tables at a large chain bookstore and made a note to download it to my Nook. I did not realize at the time that I would be reading the book through the anniversary.
It is a great read, at once both travelogue and history lesson and Mark Adams recounts his desire to retrace Bingham's 1911 route, but having not camped in years and even that was in the back yard. I have to imagine that I would be pretty much in the same (unfit) shape if I took off on an adventure like this. It is the kind of thing I dream of.
Bingham may have been the model on which Indiana Jones was built, he was a Yale professor, not an archaeologist. Today he would be considered a thief and a grave robber, although the concept of stealing artifacts from "savage, uncivilized" people was not yet a crime.
For all his errors, Bingham did bring Machu Picchu back to the rest of the world. After all, it as never really lost, the Peruvians knew where it was, some people were even living there when Bingham arrived.
National Geographic had it's first issue that covered only one story when Bingham's story ran complete with many, many photos he had taken along his travels.
See stunning 1911 versus current photos
If you like travel, history and a guy who can laugh at himself - read this book.
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