Along the Inca Road

Author(s): Karin Muller

Location(s): Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru

Genre(s): Travelogue

Era(s): Later 20th Century

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 3200 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.

“Inca roads covered over 40,000 km (25,000 miles), principally in two main highways running north to south across the Inca Empire, which eventually spread over ancient Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina.”

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