I struggled because I was not in nearly good enough shape, and I’d ground my toes into hamburger meat the previous day by walking down 5,000 steep feet of switchbacks wearing new boots. It was almost 90 degrees out and we were traversing a slope that was almost vertical. The hardest moment came on the second day of a three-week trek, as we were climbing to the ruins of Choquequirao. What was the trip’s toughest moment? And its best? What happens is that the material is so fascinating-lost cities, temples of gold, human sacrifices, evil Spanish conquistadors, ambitious Ivy League professors-turned-explorers obsessed with becoming famous- you can’t help but get sucked in. But I have to admit that the Incas and Bingham were largely mysteries to me until I started researching this book. I’ve always had an interest in Peru because my wife’s family is half Peruvian, and we’ve made several trips to Lima to visit relatives. When did your fascination with the Inca world begin and what ignited it? So when the name of Hiram Bingham III-the man who famously located Machu Picchu in 1911-popped up in the news not once but twice in 2008, I immediately thought there might be potential for a story. At an active travel magazine, Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail are subjects that come up in meetings pretty much daily, probably in the same way the British royals are discussed at Vanity Fair. How did you come up with the idea to retrace Bingham’s steps on his search for the Lost City of the Inca?Ībout three years ago, I was working in New York City as an editor at the late, lamented National Geographic Adventure magazine.

Mark adams machu picchu