Treasure Seekers: Lost Cities of the Inca Page #3

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It did seem too cruel for words

that I should be

leaving you all alone.

But soon he was back in Peru doing

what he loved most.

In July 1911, he set off

from Cuzco northwards

on the long journey to

Espiritu Pampa.

Back in his element,

Hiram was overjoyed.

He was also extraordinarily lucky.

After less than three weeks easy

trekking down a newly opened road,

a local farmer told him about some old

stone terraces

on a mountain nearby.

Hiram asked the man

what the place was called.

He scribbled down the answer

in his notebook Machu Picchu.

He decided to have a quick look at it

the next day.

A young Indian boy led the party up

onto a plateau a few hours away.

Hardly had we rounded

the promontory

than we were confronted by

an unexpected sight:

a great flight of beautifully

constructed stone faced terraces,

perhaps a hundred of them.

I could scarcely believe my senses.

Would anyone believe

what I had found?

Fortunately, I had a good camera.

He knew he'd found an Inca ruin of

exceptional beauty,

but I think because of his

lack of experience,

he didn't fully appreciate

how unique the discovery was.

It was an entire city

which had lain untouched

since the Incas had abandoned it

almost 400 years before.

Not understanding what he had found,

Hiram left two of his team

to start clearing

and mapping the site

while he pressed on to his

real goal, Vilcabamba.

He forged on northwards

pushing his team through tangled...

jungle and perilous ravines

sure he was heading toward

greater discoveries

a fabulous lost city of

temples and palaces

that would put any other Inca ruin

to shame.

Finally, after weeks of

arduous trekking,

he approached the area where he knew

Vilcabamba must be.

For days his team hacked through

dense underbrush and tangled vines.

To their great astonishment,

they found nothing.

Espiritu Pampa was a desolate

upland plateau

with a few unimpressive stone

foundations and a lot of dense jungle.

It was a far cry from the magnificent

city Bingham had imagined.

He was disappointed and confused.

Could this be Vilcabamba?

Or had his calculations been wrong?

A perplexed Hiram turned back

the expedition.

The men were exhausted and supplies

were running out.

As his team trudged back to

civilization, morale hit rock bottom.

I often wonder why under the sun

I picked out a career

that would force me to spend so much

of my time away

from my dear ones.

The future is not clear to me.

As Hiram headed back to

the U.S. and Alfreda,

gloom and uncertainty hung over

his whole project.

Once back in the U.S.,

Hiram's spirits revived,

and with them his dreams of

Vilcabamba.

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