BOOKS --Recent Non-fiction Favorites

I have read several books in the past year that have stuck with me. They left such an impact that I think about them almost daily ---and recommend them to anyone who will listen to my rave reviews.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The author's narrative reminds me of a detective novel, with the writer searching for clues to solve the mystery of the HeLa cells that were taken from Henrietta before she died of cancer in 1951 and how they have aided medical research ever since. Skloot needed to research the lives of Henrietta Lacks and her family members and gain their trust, a difficult task because the family had little reason to trust outsiders.

It was one of those books I could not stop reading. It also brought up issues I had never considered —--that our cells and tissues can be used without our knowledge or approval.

In August, I roamed airport shops while waiting for a flight from Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) to Rio de Janeiro ---and found a Portuguese translation A Vida Imortal de Henrietta Lacks. I'm so glad the book is being sold worldwide, for it was not only an entertaining read, it was an important book about medical ethics.

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At Home by Bill Bryson

Bryson, born in Iowa (coincidentally) the year Henrietta Lacks died, had been living in England for many years in an old house. In this book, he roams from room to room, telling the story or how each room, as well as the things in it, came to be.

Bryson's writing is informative but also compelling and extremely witty. It is history, archeology, etymology, sociology, science, invention, and humor all rolled into one.

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Turn right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams

I visited Machu Picchu in 1969 and ever since, I have been fascinated by its history and its mysteries.  I have read several accounts of Hiram Bingham III's life and his "discovery" of what many termed the Lost City of the Incas.  (We all know that Bingham discovered the archeological site in the same manner that Columbus "discovered" America, as if no indigenous people ever lived in either place.)  This book caught my eye at the library because of my prior interest in the subject.

Author Mark Adams worked for several adventure publications, but never engaged in any adventure of his own. But after reading the controversy over whether Bingham,  the "discoverer" of Machu Picchu had stolen important Peruvian artifacts and whether or not Yale was obliged to return them to Peru, he decided to research the matter and follow in Bingham's footsteps.

"Have you ever seen Mr. Travel Guy? He's the fellow who strides through international airports dressed like he's flying off to hunt wildebeests - shirt with dozens of pockets, drip-dry pants that zip off into shorts, floppy hat with a cord pulled tight under the chin in case a twister blows through the baggage claim area. All of this describes exactly what I was wearing. I could have been trick-or-treating as Hemingway."

The book tells the tale of Adam's physically-demanding trek through Peru with an Australian guide, John Leivers, who seemed to be Bingham's kindred spirit. Adams interspersed his own story with the history of the Spanish takeover of the Incan Empire and Bingham's own treks through Peru in search of important archeological finds.

Adams has an entertaining writing style and seems to have adopted Bill Bryson's humor to make this an informative and humorous read.

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Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell

I haven't finished reading this book yet, so I will withhold a review of it (although I have greatly enjoyed Vowell's previous works.)  Vowell, much like Bryson and Adams, has a quirky style of humor which makes her take on history engaging.

This book tells how New England missionaries, led by none other than Hiram Bingham (yes, that Hiram Bingham's grandfather,) attempted to Christianize the paradise then known as the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii, and make it into an uptight version of New England. Missionaries strived to prevent the native women from having sex with seamen ---and thus prevent the obvious diseases they would contract ----yet the natives believed that it was the missionaries who would "pray us all to death."

I mention this book here because the day I returned Turn Right at Machu Picchu to the library, Vowell's book was waiting for me on the hold shelf.  As soon as she mentioned missionaries, I wondered if Hiram Bingham's grandfather and father (Hiram Bingham II) would come up ---and there they were.

Hiram III was expected to become a missionary, too, but he had other plans.  He married Alfreda Mitchell (of the Tiffany family) which allowed him to become an adventurer on his meager university salary and father 8 sons between expeditions.

TETHER THE SUN - my trip to Machu Picchu

In response to a writing prompt on Mama’s Losin It blog:

Time for a trip? Where are you headed this summer?...

Or where would you go if you COULD?

Probably we will not be taking a trip this year. But if I COULD travel this summer, I would love to go back to Machu Picchu in Peru. Below is one of the first posts I wrote for this blog, but since no one seemed to have noticed it when I was a newbie, I am re-posting it. Enjoy!

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT.

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Sharyn trying a flute at the market in Pisac.

        If I had to recommend one place to visit in South America, it would be Machu Picchu in Peru.

        In July 1969, after exploring the museums in Lima, Don, Sharyn, and I took the one-hour flight to Cuzco where we spent several days acclimating ourselves to altitudes exceeding two miles.      
        We hired a guide with an automobile to take us to spectacular Inca sights near Cuzco and spent one day shopping in nearby Pisac before moving on to the acclaimed ruins at Machu Picchu.

        Experts have never determined exactly when Machu Picchu was built or why it had been abandoned or why the city was founded in such an inaccessible location with little arable land.
        There are no paved access roads to Machu Picchu and the river at the base of the mountain is too shallow for navigation. Experienced backpackers may chose strenuous hikes along ancient Inca footpaths, but most tourists opt for traveling by train. Trips of three to four hours leave daily from Cuzco. Local trains are reportedly dangerous for foreigners who may be robbed. Yet tourist trains deprive one of experiencing the local culture. Don, Sharyn, and I took the tourist train because we were unaware of the other.

Left: This train carries locals along the Urubamba River valley (not the tourist train.)


Right: Don (left) and Sharyn (middle) and I traveled together in Peru after completing our two-years as Peace Corps Volunteers in Brazil. At the market in Pisac, we ran into Van (middle back) who was also in our Peace Corps group, along with his cousin (right) who joined him to travel through South America.

        A few miles from Cuzco found us on zigzagging tracks designed to navigate steep hillsides. We traveled on one grade forward, then moved backward up the next, traversing five switchbacks out of the Cuzco Valley before descending toward Machu Picchu, lower in elevation than Cuzco by 3,000 feet. We were soon traveling beside the sacred Urubamba River in awe of the steep slopes on both sides which had been cultivated on stepped terraces built hundreds of years ago.

        Machu Picchu is referred to as the “Lost City of the Incas.” Arriving at the foot of the mountain we understood why it had long eluded explorers. Two thousand feet above us, the ruins were invisible. When Hiram Bingham of Yale University discovered them in 1911, the magnitude of his find escaped him at first. The ruins nestled on a saddle between Machu Picchu (Quechua for “old peak”) and the higher Huayna Picchu (“young peak”), had been so overgrown with jungle vegetation, that even from the summit only a few huts were visible. The following year Bingham returned. Without a road, workers transporting provisions found access to the site nearly impossible.
        Although tourists used to be carried up the mountainside on mules, we boarded vans to make the steep ascent. Our driver whipped around hairpin curves making each forbidding turn a frightening memory until we encountered the Turista Hotel below the ancient ruins.
         The cool ancient air from the summit was so clear we could see far-distant, well-defined Andean peaks. The July day (winter south of the equator) was sunny, but crisp. I wore a turtle-neck under a sweater, feeling chilled in the shade and slightly too warm in the sun.
        We passed up an opportunity to join an expedition set to hike extremely steep steps to the Huayna peak. The climb takes about an hour and is supposed to provide a spectacular view.
        We ventured into the archaic ruins. The stone structures were generally intact much as they had been hundreds of years ago, except for their straw roofs which had rotted with time. For hours, we wandered among the ruins, in and out of huts and between them on narrow paths, up and down hundreds of stone stairways. We examined what Bingham had called “the most beautiful wall in America” in the Temple of the Sun. We were astounded by aqueducts carved into the rocks which created a crude form of plumbing as well as an irrigation system.

        Everywhere we found perfect photo opportunities. A trapezoidal opening framed a mountain crest in the distance. A cylindrical observatory was silhouetted against the cerulean-blue sky. A llama posed proudly in the brilliant sun. Precise gray stonework contrasted with the acid-green grass between huts. A Peruvian child in a scarlet cap peaked through a trapezoid-shaped hole. Lush blue-green foliage on nearby mountains created a perfect backdrop. My snapshots of the ruins are some of the best photographs I have ever taken, although most have deteriorated with time.
        There were more than one hundred tourists roaming in and out of the roofless stone temples and shrines, across plazas and open courtyards, climbing terraces, admiring steps carved into the natural rocks. Yet a silence prevailed, with visitors talking in hushed tones, or not speaking at all, as if in a cathedral. The effect was breathtaking, peaceful, arcane ---almost magical.
        Most visitors returned to Cuzco the same day, but we decided to spend the night. Before sunset, we climbed vertical steps to examine Inti Huantana, a carved stone standing sentinel on a high altar-like plateau, resembling a sundial casting a long, abstract shadow on the late afternoon. Scholars believe it was used by Inca priests as a mystical hitching post to tether the sun. An old man in traditional garb played his handmade flute below us. With those eerie tones as a backdrop, I could almost imagine a priest, arms raised upward, chanting an Inca invocation.
        Before retiring to our rooms at the Turista Hotel, we requested a predawn wake-up call so that we could experience the sun rising over the Andes Mountains.
        The morning air was cold and tentative, with clouds hovering in the early stillness. After climbing the trail behind the hotel, we sat on the summit to obtain a bird’s-eye-view of the ruins. The sun inched its way over the tops of distant peaks, slowly turning the stony grayness to yellow-gold while dissolving the mist. Watching the morning awake, I sat transfixed, gradually warmed by the sun, sensing a peaceful connection with the ancient past and engraving the haunting images of Machu Picchu on my mind.

Machu Picchu at dawn.

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW,

        After additional explorations of two square miles of ruins, we braved the hairpin curves downward. Despite our wreckless driver, we arrived safely at the train for our return trip to Cuzco.

       Perhaps the Inca gods were with us.

(text and photos: © 2008 C.J. Peiffer)