ca INTRODUCTION THE SEARCH BEGINS Hiram Bingham crawled up the side of a mountain on his hands and knees He barely noticed the rain falling all around him He didn't even care that there were poisonous nearby snakes
The American explorer had arrived in Peru's Andes Mountains in July 1911 He had already crossed thundering rapids on a wobbly bridge He'd thrashed through thick tropical forests And he was climbing cliffs steep enough to send him crashing thousands of feet down with just misstep one
Bingham stands in Pampaconas Peru during his 1911 exploration in the Andes Mountains Why would anyone put himself in so much danger Bingham had learned about the forgotten cities of Peru's ancient Inca people while he was teaching at Yale University in Connecticut He decided he wanted to find some of the cities especially Vilcabamba the
last Inca city that was taken over by conquistadores Then while searching for the ancient ruins Bingham heard about a lost city hidden somewhere high amid the clouds But only a few living in the Andes seemed to know about it Did this mythical place really exist Bingham and his team camped in the Andes Mountains during the expedition 1911
