Mark Adams - Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

Hiram Bingham III, photographed during his 1911 search for Vilcabamba, the legendary Lost City of the Incas. He found Machu Picchu instead. (Courtesy of the National Geographic Society)

John Leivers, the authors guide. Hed survived more than one brush with death while indulging his passion for exploring Perus forgotten ruins. (Courtesy of Paolo Greer)

Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conqueror of Peru. His shrewdness was exceeded only by his ruthlessness. (Library of Congress)

After Pizarro captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa in 1532, the prisoner offered one of the richest ransoms in historya large room filled once with gold and twice again with silver. The entire Inca kingdom was mobilized to collect precious metals. (Authors collection)

Pizarro executed Atahualpa, installing Manco Inca Yupanqui as puppet king of the Incas. Their friendly relations were short-livedthis early sixteenth-century illustration shows Manco attempting to burn a Spanish church. (The Royal Library, Denmark)

Many of Cuscos ancient architectural wonders still stand, including the gargantuan walls of the Sacsahuaman complex. (Courtesy of John Leivers)

An example of the precise Inca stonework inside Cuscos Koricancha sun temple. (Courtesy of Pierre Boucher/Wikimedia Commons)

The collision of Spanish and Andean cultures can be seen in this famous eighteenth-century Last Supper painting. Its centerpiece is the traditional mountain delicacy cuy, or guinea pig. (Antonio Zapata Guzmn/Wikimedia Commons)

The mule whisperers: Julian (with his ever-present bag of coca leaves), Mateo and Juvenal, a living legend of Peruvian exploration. (Courtesy of the author)

Justo prepares dinner at Valentins farm in the clouds. (Courtesy of the author)

One section of the very vertical trail to Choquequirao, a six-mile distance that requires two grueling days of walking to cross. (Courtesy of the author)

Choquequirao, often called Machu Picchus sister site, was the original candidate for Lost City of the Incas. (Courtesy of the author)

Only one quarter of Choquequiraos ruins have been excavated; these terraces adorned with llamas were discovered in 2005. (Courtesy of the author)

Justo on the deserted stone path that runs from Choquequirao to Vitcos. John Leivers called it one of the finest stretches of Inca trail in all of Peru. (Courtesy of the author)

One of the clues that aided Bingham in his search for the Lost City of the Incas was a sacred carved boulder, known as the White Rock. He snapped this photo in 1911. (From Inca Land)

The White Rocks backside, as seen today. (Courtesy of John Leivers)

An optical illusion built into the central doorway at the palace of Vitcos (as photographed by Bingham in 1911 and as seen today, occupied by John Leivers) seem to narrow as one enters from either direction. (Archival photo from Inca Land; other courtesy of the author)

The hand-carved welcome sign at Espiritu Pampa, nailed to a matapalo strangler-fig tree. (Courtesy of the author)

Espiritu Pampa was once capital of the Inca empire-in-exile; today machete-wielding teenagers are employed to prevent the jungle from once again swallowing the ruins. (Courtesy of the author)

Government archaeologists at Espiritu Pampa display newly excavated Inca artifacts. (Courtesy of the author)

The overgrown ruins of Machu Picchu were inhabited by farmers when Bingham first saw them. ( H.L. Tucker/National Geographic Society/Corbis)