Turn Right at Machu Picchu Quotes

“Separating fact and fiction in Inca history is impossible, because virtually all the sources available are Spanish accounts of stories that had already been vetted by the Inca emperors to highlight their own heroic roles. Imagine a history of modern Iraq written by Dick Cheney and based on authorized biographies of Sadam Hussein published in Arabic, and you'll get some idea of what historians face.”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

“So the Inca Trail isn’t just a pretty shortcut that Pachacutec took on his way to his summer home?” “Mark, you can’t finish the Inca Trail and not know that this was the end point of a pilgrimage.”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

“On a globe it looks like a swollen California. Within that space, though, are twenty-thousand-foot peaks, the world’s deepest canyon (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon), unmapped Amazon jungle and the driest desert on earth.”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

“If you've ever thought, 'The new Times Square is delightful but would be even better if it were more claustrophobic and nearly impossible to leave', the Aguas Calientes is calling your name”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

“I felt bad for lying to John, who was about as honest as Abe Lincoln on sodium Pentothal.”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

“The ability to arrive uninvited in an alien land and convince one’s hosts that almost everything they believe is wrong requires a rather forceful personality.”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

“Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The Explorer”: Something hidden. Go and find it.
Go and look behind the Ranges—
Something lost behind the Ranges.
Lost and waiting for you. Go!”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

“ama sua, ama llula, ama cheklla. Translated, it means “do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy.”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

“The Sapa Inca—“not only a secular ruler but also the head of the state religion,” according to Reinhard—relied on his status as the son of the sun to support his claim to power. For this reason, the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) were crucial to Inca beliefs, according to the Spanish chronicles.”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

“archaeoastronomy,” or the study of how ancient peoples incorporated the sun, moon and stars into their daily lives.”
― Mark Adams, Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time