Synopsis
A woman's journey along the ancient "Inca Road" follows the high-altitude spine of an empire across the Andes from Ecuador to Brazil, where she documents the descendents of the Inca with words and images. By the author of Hitchhiking Vietnam.
Reviews
Hoping to embark on a "hero's journey," Muller (Hitchhiking Vietnam) makes the most of a National Geographic grant to explore the ancient Inca Highway that runs through the Andes. Explaining her intention, Muller writes that heroes "are not the strongest nor the bravest, nor even the most deserving. But they all share one trait: They are traveling into the unknown." In this spirit, Muller travels over 3,000 miles through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile for "six unscheduled months to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my wayAto spend time with farmers plowing their fields and cross the high plains with a llama caravan." Muller's enthusiasm and interest are unflagging whether in the midst of a dangerous political protest in Quito or undergoing a traditional guinea-pig healing session elsewhere in Ecuador. ("A razor blade materialized and the animal was slit from chin to tail, its skin pulled off like a glove.") While Muller admits difficulty in abiding by some cultural practices encounteredA"the trouble was my own upbringing," she admits, "the only real religion in my family was science"Ashe proves fearless and open-hearted, loath to pass up any experience. Muller even goes out of her way to join a physically and emotionally grueling patrol to remove land mines in the Cordillera mountain range, never complaining that what was said to be a "demonstration" was actually a field of live mines. "That night I dreamt of wandering through a field of exquisite purple flowers," she writes. "I leaned down to pluck one and vaporized." Muller weaves substantial bits of South American history, geography and current events throughout the text, a fitting tribute to an extraordinary odyssey. 16 photos. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The multilingual Muller is best known for Hitchhking Vietnam, a book and PBS Special based on seven months of traveling around Vietnam. For her next challenge, Muller decided to follow the ancient Inca Road from Ecuador to Chile, this time with the help of National Geographic, which provided her with funding and a cameraman. The results of the trip are an upcoming documentary and this thorough and enjoyable book, which paints an interesting portrait of the people the author meets. Despite the often rough and very uncomfortable conditions on the trip, Muller never complains. Instead, she focuses on the warm hospitality of the people, the turbulent history of the region, and the beauty of the countryside. Her daring spirit compels her to take part in several adventures, such as participating in ancient festivals, going down into a gold mine, trying her hand at bullfighting, and accompanying the Bolivian army on a cocaine raid. Muller's account is a lot of fun for armchair travelers but would also be worthwhile for anyone interested in learning about the region. Recommended for all travel collections.DKathleen Shanahan, Kensington, MD
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Sometimes people in midlife need to re-create a youthful journey, as Tim Brookes did in Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow [BKL Jl 00]; sometimes their journey is a soul search, as in Debi Holmes-Binny's Desert Sojourn [BKL Je 1 & 15 00]. Muller had a map on her bedroom ceiling of the Royal Inca Highway, or at least where it was thought to have run. Funded by a National Geographic grant, she spent more than six months walking, riding, and wandering along that road through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Her story is funny and tender, and it is told deftly: unlike many travel memoirs, she focuses not on herself but on the people she meets and what they do. In Lima, she sees the flower and sawdust street paintings of Los Milagros; she visits an old couple on the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca who speak Aymara, a language older than the Inca. Mostly she is open: she tries to capture not the otherness of the place or the people but the richness of common and recognizable humanity. GraceAnne DeCandido
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