Cloud Road: A Journey through the Inca Heartland

by John Harrison

Overview

An intense and deeply personal account of five months spent high in the Andes Mountains, this travelogue combines historical and anthropological details with the thrill of extreme adventure. Hiking at more than 10,000 feet for almost the entire trip, the author follows the great road of the Incas, the Camino Real. Hand-built more than 500 years ago, this road crosses the most difficult and dangerous mountains in all the Americas, and life continues as if Columbus had never sailed. Finding and studying remote villages is central to the quest, and—despite dog attacks, sweltering canyons, floods, and stubborn donkeys—the author makes his way from the equator to Cuzco and on to the most magical city of all: Machu Picchu.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781913640064
Publisher:	Parthian Books
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Harrison comes from a line of aviators and seafarers. He began travel writing after a life-changing trip to Antarctica. Cloud Road won the Wales Book of the Year Award in 2011. He also won the inaugural Alexander Cordell Travel Writing Competition in 2004, and again in 2006. John is a frequent reviewer for New Welsh Review andthe Mail on Sunday, and has written for Planet and the Daily Telegraph.

Table of Contents

Maps xi

1 Walking the Forgotten Country: The Equator to Ingapirca 1

4:03 a.m. - Quito Drowning - Genesis - Quito Shining - The Earth's Belly - The Avenue of the Volcanoes - Into Thin Air - Cotopaxi - When the Earth Trembles - Chimborazo - Riobamba - Sunset with Death - Lost - A Spinning Compass - The Devil's Nose - The Colour of Sorcery - Almost Nothing Remains

2 To Kill a King: Ingapirca to Cajamarca 111

Ingapirca - The Sechura Desert - Lord of Sipán - A Friend and Brother - Cajamarca - No Harm of Insult Will Befall You - The Birdsong Stilled

3 The Land of the Lost: Cajamarca to Cuzco 165

A New Eden - Cajabamba - Cañon del Pato - Huaraz - Chavín - Huari - Bullfight - Dapple - The Night Visitor - City of the Dead - Attacked - Huánuco Viejo - The Iron Age - Lauricocha - Night Walk - A Big Hole in the Ground - Independence Day - Poisoned Earth - Stop Their Eyes

4 Sacred Valley: Cuzco to Pisco 323

Sacred Falcon - The Great Speaker - Sacred City - Qoricancha - Ollantaytambo - Machu Picchu - Nazca - Sunset - Homecoming

Further Information 385

Acknowledgements - Sources - The Quechua Language

Editorial Reviews

"A fascinating book of insight, scholarship, and adventurous travel, fired by childhood dreams perhaps, but fuelled by the skill of a writer from whom, I hope, we shall hear much more."  —Sunday Times

"A glorious roundtrip to desolation and romance."  —Scotsman

From the Publisher