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| Along the Inca Road: A Woman's Journey into an Ancient Empire (Adventure Press) | 
 enlarge | Author: Karin Muller
Publisher: National Geographic
Category: Book
Buy New: $29.77
Buy New/Used from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  (17 reviews)
Sales Rank: 540472
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.7
ISBN: 0792277279
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780792277279
ASIN: 0792277279
Publication Date: September 1, 2001
Release Date: September 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In its heyday, the Royal Inca Highway was an extraordinary feat of engineering. Meriting comparisons to the Great Wall of China, legend has it that the route was built not by men, but by the gods. An essential component of the far-flung Inca Empire, the original course of the 3,200-mile Inca Road remains a source of speculation. Along the Inca Road is the dramatic account of Karin Muller's seven-month adventure following and documenting her experiences along these ancient routes. Affording a rare and revealing glimpse into the present-day descendants of the Inca, Muller's odyssey begins at the border of Ecuador and continues down the Andes, culminating in Santiago, near the southernmost reach of the Inca Empire. Along the way, Muller has a tense encounter with Brazilian soldiers, tries her hand at bullfighting at a festival in the ancient Inca town of Ollantaytambo, joins in the yearly roundup and shearing of the endangered Peruvian vicuna, accompanies the Ecuadorian military on a de-mining patrol through the beautiful Cordillera of the Condors, and much more. A compelling story of a woman's solo journey through the heart of an elusive land, the literally groundbreaking Along the Inca Road will be released in conjunction with a highly touted documentary on National Geographic Explorer and National Geographic channels, airing in fifty-four countries.
Amazon.com Review
What's an American woman doing shaking a pink cape at a bull on a hillside in Peru? Ask Karin Muller, a self-described vagabond who is game for anything, especially if it's a traditionally male task in strictly sex role-divided South America. After years of contemplating the thin red line of the Inca Road on her map of the world, Muller takes off with a grant from the National Geographic Society (which also supplied a cameraman) for a six-month jaunt through Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Chile. Along the way, she searches for remnants of the ancient stone-paved road and jumps headfirst into whatever adventure she can find. First stop, a cuy doctor whacks her on the back and head with a whimpering guinea pig, then offers her a diagnosis based on the quality of the animal's intestines. She's tear-gassed in an indigenous antigovernment protest, and dresses in an orange cloak, gold sparkles, and black face paint (a concoction made of tar and animal fat) to pull a 200-pound roast pig during the Festival of Mama Negra. In a surreal moment, she witnesses the mysterious crash of a Brazilian military helicopter in the Andean highlands, and in a horrific one, crawls through a mole-like tunnel deep into a mountainside where men spend years digging for gold, leaving only to eat, wash, and haul their ore 423 steps to a giant crushing machine. She even watches a military crew clear live mines planted by Peruvians during the Ecuador-Peruvian border war. Throughout her adventures, Muller weaves a lively history of the rise and fall of the Incan empire. While the old road is hard to find, the Incan legacy is everywhere, from curanderismo (shamanism) to roundups of golden-fleeced vicunas by villagers spread in human chains to the farming of coca leaves. Her explication of the coca tradition is particularly interesting: the "quintessential Andean sacrament" and the ultimate marker of indigenous identity, chewing coca leaves is akin to sharing a cup of coffee. Of course, she also joins a Bolivian special forces drug patrol in the Amazon to see the more familiar face of cocaine. While Muller doesn't slow down long enough for introspection or much genuine human connection (and you have to occasionally wonder about her cultural sensitivity), she does have a remarkable knack for putting herself in the middle of events, and an unflagging enthusiasm for taking risks most tourists wouldn't dream of. --Lesley Reed
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 A wonderful read! February 21, 2008
Although this is a National Geographic travel chronicle it reads more like an adventure story. You will not believe what Karin gets herself in to. I don't want to say more for it would spoil your adventure with the book.
This book is also a wonderful exploration of an amazing area. For those who have not been to Peru or neighboring countries, it is a good taste. For those who have visited, it will stir up good memories.
Enjoy!
 not a trek to emulate! June 23, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Like other reviewers, my first complaint about this book is the lack of a map!
The drifts into lectures on the Spaniards invasion of the Inca empire got tiresome because there was nothing new to anyone who has read any history of South America already. I found the jumping into local (mostly men's or government-related) activities sometimes surprising and adventurous, sometimes appalling. And it sounds like everything was dirty and the food mostly unappetizing or disgusting, both of which I find hard to believe.
That said, I admire a woman who would undertake such a trek on a semi-solo basis (having a photographer along takes away much of the solo aspect). I found the first chapter, the brink of the adventure, the most appealing. It would have been interesting to have a little more background on Karin herself and on how National Geographic funded it. Did she have to stay in hovels because there weren't enough funds, or was that a personal choice (likely because she notes her disdain for luxury hotels).
Basically, I was glad I read the library's copy and didn't purchase my own.
Read it for the adventure, not the facts. November 9, 2005
I decided to read this book with much caution; it seemed at best a very superficial account of an adventurous travel narrative. While I applaud the author's courage and willingness to endanger herself for the sake of telling a good story, her willingness to learn about Andean traditions along the Inca road camouflages her ingrained ignorance and arrogance of people and cultures of the Andean region.
I did not expect to read an anthropological analysis of the author's encounters along the Inca Road, but neither did I expect her demeaning attitude of indigenous culture. Muller's treatment of events and traditions she encountered reflects a shallow understanding of Andean cultures. The precise moment where my disgust of the author's vision overcame my interest in her adventures occurred when she described an Aymara person speaking in a mixture of broken Spanish and in the Aymara dialect. This statement completely overlooks the fact that Spanish varieties exist in various forms and that the Aymara language was never a dialect, but a language of a civilization that predates the Incas.
For centuries, the process of translating cultures has exacerbated the conditions of difference, and the wide gap between the "us versus them". While, the author seems to want to avoid further alienation between the materialistically modernized, namely herself, and the Andean world, her contributions fall into this category. She paints herself a heroic woman, challenging social roles and customs, but along the way proves that the stereotypical version of the "ugly American" still exists in ignorant travelers.
While I commend her efforts in her travel narrative, I caution all readers to not read her book for cultural understanding of the region.
Winter Gateway January 29, 2005
This is an exellent book to read, while snow and ice falls from the sky. Heading to South America next year, found it to be a great starting point to plan the trip. She has a some great stories to share with others on the trip.
I don't really know why I didn't like this book that much... August 29, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The strange thing about this book is that theoretically everything's fine about it - looking for and at the remains of a fascinating culture, the author taking part in the local rituals and daily life, writing of acceptable quality. It should be grand - and still I don't like it for some reason. What made this book quite tiresome was Karin Muller's lack of a sense of humor. It is my firm belief that it is very hard to write a breathtaking book about a difficult journey without being able to see the funny side of different situations. Perhaps that was why I can't say I like the author as a person - and since this book is based on her personal experiences, that itself takes away from the fun of reading this book. Also - as another reviewer correctly noted - she constantly tries to do things that are only done by men in this country, ignoring the gender roles there are a part of the local culture. Is it some misguided attempt to show that women are equal to men? It's certainly very out of place in this country of so ancient traditions. Karin Muller's descriptions lack real vividness, and she is considers too many local people to be weird. True, their lifestyle is quite different, but it can be said with absolute certainty that so are the lifestyles of many individuals of her own country. She gives fake respect to the world views of these people, talking about how perhaps that is the right way to live. It is obvious she doesn't have the intention of ever doing so. My review is almost certainly too negative, do not expect the book to be so bad, but I have outlined the main faults simply trying to guess why I instinctively didn't like this book. And - too much amateur philosophy, perhaps?
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