Trail of Feathers powerful hallucinogen? After gathering equipment in London—and advice from the British explorer Wilfred Thesiger—the long quest began. Shah went first to the mountains of Peru and a trek to Machu Picchu, the Incas’ most sacred city, then on to the mountain city of Cusco and a mysterious island on the great glittering expanse of Lake Titicaca. Picking up clues as he went, Shah's trail took him on to the coast and through the desert, to the immense animal-like etchings which form the Nazca Lines, and a remote burial ground for thirty thousand mummified corpses. And finally he took an extended
Machu Picchu then crossed a pass and into the Pampaconas Valley where he found more ruins heavily buried in the jungle undergrowth at Espíritu Pampa, which he named "Trombone Pampa". As was the case with Machu Picchu, the site was so heavily overgrown that Bingham could only note a few of the buildings. In 1964, Gene Savoy further explored the ruins at Espiritu Pampa and revealed the full extent of the site, identifying it as Vilcabamba Viejo where the Incas fled after the Spanish drove them from Vitcos. Bingham returned to Machu Picchu in 1912 under the sponsorship of Yale University and