Valverde's Gold: In Search of the Last Great Inca Treasure

by Mark Honigsbaum

When Mark Honigsbaum discovers an ancient Spanish treasure guide buried in his research notebooks, he cannot help but be drawn into the legend of Valverde, a conquistador with a treasure trail that has proven fatal for the past 400 years. Undeterred by the cursed history of the gold, Honigsbaum embarks on an epic journey into the last uncharted range in the Andes--the Llanganati Mountains of eastern Ecuador. Valverde's Gold is the story of how the lure of gold intoxicates even the most level-headed of historians, and of how men--and women--are seized with the desire to claim treasure from one of the most inhospitable landscapes in the world. Honigsbaum battles through mountains, jungles, and conflicting stories, and, as he draws closer to the hidden cache, illuminates the allure of lost gold and the hold it has on our imagination.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Travel

368 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2004

Reviews

[Wayland Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a few treasure-hunting books this year, by odd coincidence. They seem to boil down to a lot of stories, a lot of shady characters, and a lot of people desperately clutching at secrets for no real good reason. Treasure fever is another recurring theme.

In this book, the author heard of a supposedly lost great Inca treasure while researching a different book. He gradually gets more interested and starts looking into it. Eventually, inevitably, he begins to work towards being part of an expedition to find it.

There are the shady characters I mentioned before, who either know more than they are telling, or pretend they do. Why would you write a book, try and get it published, but refuse to let someone read it? Why would you hold back crucial data to prove background information about the treasure, not even its location?

It's a decently researched book that has convinced me I never want to go to this part of Ecuador. What isn't mountain or river is mud, and has near constant rain. I think I'll pass.

Does the fabled treasure exist? I doubt it at this point. But maybe someone down the road will actually find it.

It was an interesting read which taught me more that I didn't know about Ecuadorian history and the Inca people. Recommended to people interested in that kinda thing.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Llanganati mountain range is a strange extension of the Andes in Ecuador that heads East into the Amazon basin. It is very different from the rest of the Andes, both geologically and biologically, and there is much mythology about the area. The most persistent myth is that at the time of the conquest, the gold treasures of the Inca empire from Quito were taken into the Llanganati mountains and hidden in a secret cave. Many, many expeditions have gone looking for this gold, based on many a bogus map. Valverde's Gold is the story of yet another treasure obsessed individual who is swindled and misled and misinformed throughout his quest. It is an interesting travel story, but anyone who has spent much time in South America should know better than to take stories of cursed Inca gold seriously.

[Caleb Kleveter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the most interesting part of the story is the way the author describes himself digging up old documents. I also think he does a good job describing setting. Had he written novel instead, I think it could have been very good, as it feels like he skimps on the history to make the story more exciting.

As he tells the stories of other treasure hunters before him that meet dead-ends and become disillusioned, you can't help but think how they sound just like himself. And you can never know if the people he is interviewing are telling the truth or not.

[Samantha Jeffree · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourites. Captures the imagination!

[Pascal Blanquer · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good!
Hard to believe it s all real! It's like you become Indiana jones again!!

Great read
Interesting

[DropOfOcean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having already read quite a lot about the famous Inca treasure this book still contained lots of new info to me and I really appreciated all the research author has put into it. While adventuring was not in a very big role in this book, the knowledge of all things related to the treasure is surely much greater now due to this book. It's also a book about many individuals who have spent a big part of their lives looking for this specific treasure and naturally many of them thought they have got close to it - for if nothing else than to feel that their life had some meaning.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in 2010, but revisited after traveling to Ecuador last year and seeing many of the places where this real life/mythological treasure story (and the search for it) took place. A fascinating tale, so well researched and twisty that the amount of detail can be tough to follow. It perfectly captures the mania that takes hold - even of the author - when clues start surfacing and the mystery of a 500-year old, billion dollar treasure gets really good.

[Janet Steffen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a treasure adventure this book is for you. I have been reading books on Peru and the Incas this year and this was a good one to end the series with. Some twists and turns and a knowledge of how treasure hunter's work. A must read if you want to find some gold for yourself.

[Sarah Flaming · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I loved reading the narrative way this book was written, to take us through the authors research along with him. It was fun to journey alongside, through the ups and downs of the investigation.

[Henry Aldaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Increíble leer sobre el sin número de expediciones realizadas en los Llanganates unas montañas tan místicas pero llenas de tanta historia. Y pensar que quedan a pocos minutos de mi casa. Sin duda alguna muy pronto las explorare.

[Jeroen Van de Crommenacker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical quest for the lost civilisation/ Gold/ city type book. Not bad, but quite run of the mill. Didn’t really inspire me.

[Kara Jorges · Rating 2 out of 5]

Few topics fascinate me more than the Inca Empire, so when I found out about this account of a hunt for Atahualpa’s gold, I had to read it. Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have come upon a book about an engrossing subject with only the subject matter to hold my interest. Perhaps the fault is mine, as I don’t often read nonfiction, but when I’m reading a book that promises a riveting story, I guess I’m looking for something, well…riveting. I believe that Honigsbaum did have a fascinating story to tell; he simply failed to tell it.

The man took an expedition across uncharted, inhospitable terrain and could have told anecdote after anecdote about his journey through the Llanganatis range in Ecuador in search of Atahualpa’s gold. Instead, he went on for 300 pages blathering about searching through archives, reading journals, and looking at maps. I think that was all a vital part of the story, just not 300 pages worth. A better book would have contained 100 pages or less of the above and spent the next 228 on the expedition. Any life-threatening episodes or adventure were reduced to a couple of sentences rather than told in any sort of riveting way. Biographies of some of the people he interviewed would also make much better reading. While I appreciate the thoroughness of the author’s research, I don’t think reading about it should be as tedious as the research itself.

I also take issue with the book’s title, as it is NOT Valverde’s gold for which they searched, but Atahualpa’s. It was his in life, and hidden on his behalf after his death, by the most cunning stonemasons the world has ever known. It will be a travesty if anyone ever finds it and unleashes the type of greed from which it was righteously hidden in the first place. I did find the accounts of the curse attached to the treasure and the number of lives lost in search of it to be interesting. Atahualpa’s hidden gold is indeed an intriguing mystery, but this accounting of it was disappointingly dry.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a historian, this book is great in that it tracks down the leads regarding the treasure to find out whether it truly exists. I can imagine that a non-historian might find it boring, as there is quite a bit of Honigsbaum bringing in sources and discussing their validity/what they contribute to the topic.

I read Peter Lourie's "Sweat of the Sun, Tears of the Moon" shortly after, and that gives a much more personal, narrative version of a hunt for this treasure. I enjoyed reading them back-to-back to get a comparison of the books, but Lourie's book is more for people who don't want a discussion of sources.

[Min · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. I'm always up for a good treasure hunt, and this delivered in several ways. But Honigsbaum's tone can be quite dry and focus on very tiny things that don't always matter in the big picture. However, it gave a really nice take on the jungle and the perils of traversing it.

[Tamas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really cool book about an English writer who tries to find Inca gold in Ecuador. Meets a load of obsessed eccentrics, learns about a confusing history/ legend of the gold and finds nothing. Read this on holiday in Spain

[Sarah Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!