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An example of the precise Inca stonework inside Cusco’s Koricancha sun temple. (Courtesy of Pierre Boucher/Wikimedia Commons)

The collision of Spanish and Andean cultures can be seen in this famous eighteenth-century Last Supper painting. Its centerpiece is the traditional mountain delicacy cuy, or guinea pig. (Antonio Zapata Guzmán/Wikimedia Commons)

The mule whisperers: Julian (with his ever-present bag of coca leaves), Mateo and Juvenal, a living legend of Peruvian exploration. (Courtesy of the author)

Justo prepares dinner at Valentin’s farm in the clouds. (Courtesy of the author)

One section of the very vertical trail to Choquequirao, a six-mile distance that requires two grueling days of walking to cross. (Courtesy of the author)

Choquequirao, often called Machu Picchu’s sister site, was the original candidate for Lost City of the Incas. (Courtesy of the author)

Only one quarter of Choquequirao’s ruins have been excavated; these terraces adorned with llamas were discovered in 2005. (Courtesy of the author)

Justo on the deserted stone path that runs from Choquequirao to Vitcos. John Leivers called it “one of the finest stretches of Inca trail in all of Peru.” (Courtesy of the author)

One of the clues that aided Bingham in his search for the Lost City of the Incas was a sacred carved boulder, known as the White Rock. He snapped this photo in 1911. (From Inca Land)

The White Rock’s backside, as seen today. (Courtesy of John Leivers)

An optical illusion built into the central doorway at the palace of Vitcos (as photographed by Bingham in 1911 and as seen today, occupied by John Leivers) seem to narrow as one enters from either direction. (Archival photo from Inca Land; other courtesy of the author)

The hand-carved welcome sign at Espiritu Pampa, nailed to a matapalo strangler-fig tree. (Courtesy of the author)

Espiritu Pampa was once capital of the Inca empire-in-exile; today machete-wielding teenagers are employed to prevent the jungle from once again swallowing the ruins. (Courtesy of the author)

Government archaeologists at Espiritu Pampa display newly excavated Inca artifacts. (Courtesy of the author)

The overgrown ruins of Machu Picchu were inhabited by farmers when Bingham first saw them. (© H.L. Tucker/National Geographic Society/Corbis)

Though Bingham made several important discoveries on his wildly successful 1911 expedition, press reports in the United States zeroed in on the mist-shrouded mountaintop citadel the explorer had found. (The New York Times, December 22, 1911)

National Geographic’s ambitious young editor Gilbert Grosvenor saw potential in the story of Machu Picchu; his magazine made stars of both Bingham and his discovery. (Library of Congress)

The least convenient but cheapest way to reach Machu Picchu is to arrive via the “backdoor” route atop train tracks. The sign to John’s left reads DANGER: DO NOT WALK ON TOP OF RAILS. (Courtesy of the author)

The railway to Machu Picchu follows the same route Bingham followed through the Urubamba Valley in 1911. (From Inca Land)

Hidden on a hillside below Machu Picchu is a giant carved intihuatana, which aligns perfectly with the angle of the sunrise for a few days each year. (Courtesy of the author)

The Torreon at Machu Picchu, a sun temple where a mysterious beam of light shines through a window on the June solstice. (Courtesy of the author)

The Torreon sits atop the Royal Mausoleum, a cave lined with surrealistic masonry; Bingham theorized that this was the birthplace of the Inca civilization. (Courtesy of the author)

The two as photographed by Bingham. (From Inca Land)

The abstract Intihuatana stone sits at the highest point within the main ruins of Machu Picchu. Its shape mirrors the holy peak of Huayna Picchu, which lies due north of the stone; other important peaks stand directly to the south, east and west. (Courtesy of the author)

Bingham surmised that the east-facing Temple of