Book Description

It was 1988 - the maiden voyage and the first of nine journeys in the "And There I Was" series. Witness the grandeur of the Incan Empire and their predecessors and the greed and inhumanity of their Spanish conquerors. Experience the breathtaking geography of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia - the steaming jungles, the coastal deserts, the majestic Andes and the desolate moonscape that is the Altiplano - and the people who live there. Chew coca leaves, drink pisco and climb to mysterious mountaintop ruins. Raft the wild Urubamba and listen to the haunting sounds of the Andean panpipes. Encounter the usual suspects in a succession of eccentric gringos, bathe in Atahualpa's bath and march all night through village streets with ragtag Quechua bands. See the Pope in La Paz, climb an active volcano, experience near death in the Amazon and visit communities of escaped African slaves on the Ecuadorian coast. Sleep as guests of island residents on Lake Titicaca, visit the city that gave birth to the Sendero Luminosa, dodge landslides and take a forced march through the Bolivian jungle without water. Finally, wonder at stone statues of the world community of man carved two thousand years in the past. DH Koester has been a farmhand, aerospace engineer, atomic physicist, vagabond, materials engineer, professional photographer, artist, furniture maker, writer and hobo. He holds degrees in both Physics and Mathematics and though a citizen of the United States, spent seven years in the Canadian North.