Book Review: The White Rock - An Exploration of the Inca Heartland

By Hugh Thomson

I spent seven weeks in Peru at the end of 2005. Most of the time I was in Lima but I travelled south for three weeks to Arequipa, Puno, Cusco and finally Machu Picchu.

On the surface Peru is a simple, third world South American country. It’s beautiful scenery and attractions, including the famous buildings and ruins of the Incas, attract thousands of tourists and backpackers each year.

What I didn’t realise until afterwards was just how complex Peruvian politics, history and culture really are.

This is partly because of the geography. Peru has three distinct geographical regions; one of the world’s driest deserts on the coast, thick jungle in the Amazon basin to the east, and the towering peaks of the Andes in the middle.

Peru may look small on a map compared to its giant neighbour Brazil, but in reality it’s a massive country, the distances exaggerated by the inhospitable terrain. Vast areas are uninhabited and unexplored. Just recently, photos were released of an uncontacted tribe on the Brazil/Peru border, along with the startling fact that half of the world’s last 100 or so remaining uncontacted tribes are believed to live in the region.

Hugh Thomson, the author of The White Rock, came to Peru in early 1982 after hearing about an Inca ruin originally found by Hiram Bingham, the discoverer (or perhaps more accurately rediscoverer) of Machu Picchu, then lost again, 70 years earlier. In 1912 Bingham discovered the ruins of Llactapata, failed to record the location properly and was never able to find them again.

Machu Picchu, Peru © Andrew Gibson

At the time a twenty-one year old working in a London pub, Thomson was looking for some sort of purpose and found it in a mission to rediscover the ruins. He was not only attracted by the idea of searching for a lost ruin, but by the pull of the unknown. At the time Eastern Peru was largely unexplored and unmapped.

He formed an expedition with a couple of friends, raised some funds and flew to Cusco, from where they joined an architectural dig at Cushichaca, near the start of the Inca trail. Not only did they find the ruins of Llactapata in pretty quick time, they went on to explore the system of Inca roads around Machu Picchu and beyond, discovering more ruins in the process.

The book took twenty years to write and the author, who went on to become a well known film maker,  looks back on his earlier experiences with the benefit of maturity and experience.  But The White Rock goes beyond a simple travelogue.

Hugh Thomson puts together a fascinating history of the Incas and the Spanish Conquest, starting from the initial expansion of the Inca empire as they conquered neighbouring tribes, to the arrival of the Spanish, the murder of Atahualpa and the final battles, forty years on, in and around Old Vilcabamba, the final hiding place deep in the jungle of the last Inca rulers.

His historical research is interwoven with his real life adventures and tales of his encounters with iconic explorers such as Gary Ziegler and Gene Savoy, and stories of some of less savoury aspects of recent Peruvian history such as the rise of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas.

The book left me with a deep appreciation of the history of the Inca Empire, their culture and the mysteries of the Peruvian Andes and jungle. 

I recommend The White Rock for any traveller to the region who wishes to learn more about its history, the story of the rise and fall of the Inca Empire, the Spanish conquest and the impact of these events upon the modern landscape and Peruvian people.

Links

Read further reviews or buy The White Rock at these Amazon links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

You can also learn more about Hugh Thomson’s latest book on Peru, A Sacred Landscape: The Search for Ancient Peru at these Amazon links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK  

(The book is titled Cochineal Red: Travels Through Ancient Peru in the UK)

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‘The more you knew of South America, the more you would understand that anything was possible – anything.’

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World

I love travel photography and sometimes I see someone’s work that just amazes and humbles me.

Here’s a selection of work from South American photographers that have recently caught my eye:

Claudio Edinger

São Paolo based Brazilian photographer Claudio Edinger has a stunning series of black and white photos of Rio de Janiero. The look of the photos is quite special because they were taken on a 4×5 camera. This unwieldy beast is difficult and time-consuming to use, especially compared to 35mm cameras. The pay off is that the extra-large negatives produce beautiful prints and that the shift and tilt movements of the lens can create some extraordinary selective focussing effects, which can be seen in Edinger’s photos.

I also like his colour photos of Bahia and Old Havana/India.

Martín Chambi

Born in 1891 in Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca in Peru, Martín Chambi moved to Cusco as a young man and became a photographer. His subjects range from the Cusco’s social and political elite to the lives of the local peasants and the landscapes and ruins of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

The eyes of the people he photographed stare out of his hauntingly beautiful black and white photos like ghosts from the past. You can see them here, here and here.

Pablo Corral Vega

Ecuadorian photojournalist Pablo Corral Vega presents his photos on his website in slideshows accompanied by music. I especially like his portfolios The Andes and Tango.

Sebastian Belaustegui

Born in Argentina, now based in Mexico, Sebastian Belaustegui photographs the indigenous peoples of Latin America. In 2003 he published a book called ‘Guardienes del Tiempo’ (Gaurdians of Time) for which he travelled through 10 countries and lived with 25 indigenous communities. Now he’s working on a new project documenting the influence of African culture in the Americas.

You can see his work at his website.

I’ll be exploring the theme of travel photography a little more over the next few weeks. I’ll be writing a little about the story behind the Travel Photographer of the Year Competition and will be interviewing some of the past winners. I’ll also be reviewing some travel books that I’ve recently read including Tim Butcher’s ‘Blood River’ and Hugh Thomson’s ‘The White Rock’.

I’m pleased to announce the launch of the Fine Art Photo Blog, a collaboration between seven Fine Art Photographers (myself included).

The official Press Release sums it up best:

Fine Art Photoblog Launched at www.fineartphotoblog.com

A New Website Providing Unique Services to the Art-Interested Public, Being a Cross Between Gallery, Photoblog and Search Engine

SAN DIEGO, CA February 11, 2008 - Fine Art Photoblog announces the launch of a unique new website, offering the discerning art buyer opportunities that have so far not been available.

In the manner of a photoblog, seven internationally acclaimed fine art photographers work together, publishing a work of fine art photography daily; every day another photographer, each photographer once per week. The works will be up for purchase in two variants, targeting two groups of buyers.

In the manner of a gallery, the website will acquire and permanently display the works of seven great photographers. An extensive search interface completes the offer, providing capabilities to search for artists, keywords, and certain characteristics of the photographs (horizontal or vertical orientation, colors, etc.).

Right from the start, all works will be available in two qualities:

As high-quality but unsigned prints from printing services such as Imagekind.com or RedBubble.com (at the discretion of the photographer). These are printed in sizes and on papers of the customer’s choice. They are shipped matted, framed and glazed, according to the customer’s wishes.

As definitive and collectible signed prints of the highest quality available called The Work. In case of digital prints, The Work will be available in only one size, perfectly fitting the characteristics of the image and printed on exquisite fine art paper of the artist’s choice, either by the artist himself or by a fine art printer under the direction of the artist. The Work is the unique expression of the artist’s creative power.

This is a not just a showcase for our work but a great website for anyone interested in photography. Don’t forget to check out the websites of the contributing photographers to learn more: Brian Auer, Neil Creek, Andreas Manessinger, Cody Redmon, Joseph Szymanski & David Ziser.

You can visit my Imagekind Gallery here.

Hieroglyphics in the Huaca Arco Iris Temple

Inside the ruins of Chan Chan

Fisherman, Huanchaco

Reed Boats, Huanchaco