The Lost City of the Monkey God

The legend of the Cuidad Blanca has been around for more than five centuries, and in that time, generations of adventurers have risked their lives in search of it. What do you think the appeal is of this kind of quest? What is it about the idea of discovering a lost city that maintains such a perennial grip on the human imagination?

Preston offers a colorful history of the men who had tried to find the Cuidad Blanca over the centuries—many of whom came back with vivid accounts of their discoveries. Do you believe that any of them came across the same city that Preston and Elkins and the expedition found in T1? Why or why not?

In 1940, the New York Times ran a front-page article announcing, “City of Monkey God Believed Located” by swashbuckling explorer Theodore Morde. However, Preston’s research reveals a shocking new twist to this seventyfive-year-old story. How does this new information change our understanding of the history of the legend of the lost city?

Why do you think Morde’s original account remained unchallenged so long?

Preston opens his account of the adventure in Honduras with a scene in which he and his fellow explorers are given a dramatic briefing about the dangers of the rainforest—pit vipers, scorpions, bullet ants, and diseasebearing sandflies. Yet when they first arrive in the jungle, it all seems so benign and Edenic that Preston assumes the leaders were simply being overcautious—until he encounters his first viper. Do you think the team underestimated the challenges that they would face, alone in the jungle? What do you feel the biggest challenges were, and how might the team have prepared for them differently?

If offered the opportunity to go on a similar adventure, would you want go yourself? Why or why not?

After Elkins, Preston, and the team emerge from the jungle and announce their findings, a conflict breaks out in the archeological community. Why do you think this is such a sensitive topic? Do you believe either side is correct? Why or why not? BAM! 3

What do you think modern Latin America would look like if the arrival of the conquistadors hadn’t introduced what Preston terms “Old World” diseases to the indigenous populations?

What can the discovery of the city at T1 teach modern-day archeologists about the past? What are the biggest surprises that surround this discovery? Does it change the way we understand any of the history of the New World?