“El Dorado (Land of the Golden Man) is a fabulous country of immeasurable treasure…..” thus wrote home the Imperial Spaniards of Castile and Leon. Yet, in spite of all the gold pilfered from Peru (estimated to be in the billions) the Spaniards became obsessed with finding the source where all the gold originated—EL Dorado. And many a man followed in their footsteps……
Sir Walter Raleigh, Ordaz, emissary of Cortes, Von Huten, Orellana, Quesada, Coronado, Montejo, Grijalva, Cabeza de Vaca and Leonard Clark!
Fueled by his belief that the Atauhuallpa (Inca Emperor when the Spanish invaded Peru), himself, the incarnation of the Sun, was the owner of El Dorado, Clark set out for Northern Peru.
And like Clark before us “There, too, I must and will search.” As Dan and I head out to Peru next year our quest is not to find the gold but to find what Clark described in his book as the foundations of these 7 ancient cities.
Equally at home in Peru, the mountains, or Seattle, Washington, Tammy Leland has spent the last 18 years exploring every nook and cranny of Peru’s Amazon, its Andes mountains, Southern desert and ancient history. Earning a reputation as a passionate adventurer and explorer, Tammy had wandered over 5 continents, spending her time learning from different indigenous cultures, gleaning important lessons about sustainable tourism and now offers practical guidance as a tourism consultant and environmental educator.
Living on the edge explorer, traveler and climber, Dan Travers has traversed, climbed, scaled, scrambled, skied, trudged, trekked, hiked, biked and kayaked in 6 different continents and over 40 countries. Wilderness First Responder trained and a jungle veteran, lacrosse player, beer drinker, trekker and traveler, diver and climber, but not dancer nor singer. "I want to experience all I can, because if you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space."