When I returned from Perú in 1986, I knew I had done something extraordinary. Together with two friends and a group of fellow travelers, I had ridden a horse for seven days over the Andes and down to a jungle outpost where a train would be waiting to take us to Machu Picchu—a much anticipated destination.

Along the way, one of my friends fell from her horse resulting in injuries. Two pack mules carrying our gear tumbled from the trail into a river. When we finally reached the train station, we learned there was a strike—no train to Machu Picchu, no way to get back to Cusco. What we thought was the end of our journey was the beginning of a new one. Setting off late in the afternoon along the railroad tracks, on foot and on horseback, we had no idea how we would get back over the Andes to Cusco.

During this adventure, as each of us responded to moments of terror and elation, distress and discovery,

we found individual strengths and vulnerabilities we didn’t know we had. Perú, with its great mountains and mysteries, was the perfect setting for a true adventure travel book. But who would read it? For months, friends and family had been telling me, I can’t believe you did that, and Glad you did it, and I don’t have to, or I’d rather read about it than do it.

Now, thirty-six years later, after numerous revisions interspersed with long abandonment in a drawer, I decided to re-visit the manuscript and meet the challenge of re-writing the story for today’s audience.

Convinced that love of adventure and the joy of discovery have no time frame, I returned to my manuscript and to Perú—still in love with the country and grateful for the lessons I learned along the Inca trails, where the mysteries of ancient civilizations continue to confound and delight travelers from around the world.