Date: 27 April 2025
Location: Jay & Gina
Most that had gathered had read the book and most enjoyed it. It is the documented tale of the exploration of a very remote part of Honduras known as Mosquitia. There had long been rumors of a White City which was also known as the Lost City of the Monkey God in this remote area. The lack of any scientific exploration of the area led to many rumors of who built it. It was on the edge of the known Maya Empire and it was not known whether the Spanish had visited it or not. By 1933, it had been determined that the earthworks found in the Mosquitia area were not Mayan but an entirely new culture. Expeditions in this area came and went over many years, some in search of the White City, some in search of gold, and some were just cons, with the goal of making money off others interest in the area.
There were things that happened that had nothing to do with the search for these lost cities but did have influence on the ability to mount an expedition. In 1873, Jules Verne introduced Americans to the banana in his novel, Around the World in 80 Days, where he praised it as being “as healthy as bread and as succulent as cream”. In 1885, the Boston Fruit Company was
formed, with the idea of using fast steamships to get bananas to market before they spoiled and it was a success. By 1900, banana plantations in Honduras were the largest employer in the country. This was the beginning of a long and destructive relationship between American banana companies and the country of Honduras, earning it the pejorative nickname, “Banana Republic”. The resulting corruption and exploitation restricted the ability to get permission to mount expeditions into the Mosquitia area. The other incident that affected expeditions occurred on October 29, 1998, when Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras. As much as three feet of rain caused catastrophic floods and mudslides and destroyed two-thirds of Honduras’s roads and bridges.
The next step toward exploring the Mosquitia area was technological – the use of lidar. Permits were granted in October of 2010 to map the area with lidar. The country’s economy was the second poorest in the Americas. Narcotraffickers had taken over large swaths of the countryside and some large cities. Gangs were running brutal extortion rackets and the murder rate was the highest in the world. The country was badly in need of good news and the new government was fully behind the search for the White City. The first lidar flight took off May 2, 2012.
With lidar designating the areas to be explored and full government support, part of the team that would explore the Mosquitia assembled in the capital of Honduras on February 14, 2025. The author was there covering the expedition for National Geographic. From there they moved to Catacamas, the expedition’s base of operations and where they met the rest of the team. They had very well armed Honduras soldiers providing the security since this was still an active narco area. There were three British ex-Special Air Service to handle the logistics and keep the team safe. The lecture they got on the dangers from snakes and disease they would be exposed to would have made most people reconsider whether they really should be going. This expedition was also to be well documented by video and photos, as well as the written word.
Another difference from previous expeditions was the use of helicopters. There were two of them, one for the expedition team and one for the military, who would provide protection for the team. In case they could not set down where they wanted to be, they also received training in leaving a helicopter using a rope. However, to deliver the needed logistics to support the team, the helicopter would have to land and if the landing zone was not where the camp would be set up, it would have to be carried to the camp. A camp was set up just across a stream from where the lidar map showed ruins were located. This was truely an area where people had not been in a long time as evidenced by animals wandering by, paying no attention to them. It was noted that bloodsucking insects they had been warned about were not there, but their comfort was short-lived. When it got dark, they came out in force and one insect, the sand fly, was particularly annoying.
When they finally made the hike over to the ruins, the untrained eye could not see anything but greenery, but the trained eyes uncovered flat stones and structures made of stone. An extensive city had been found with a pyramid, many plazas, a ball court, and many mounds that they call buses because of their size and shape. Another find which seems to be a special feature of these lost cities of ancient Moswuitia was a cache of over five hundred pieces of stone sculptures, buried with just their tops poking out of the ground.
The team only had a total of 10 days to do whatever they could in the way of exploring and mapping because the helicopter they were using had to leave then. It became obvious that the exploration would take years. The work was further hampered by the heavy rains that poured down on the area, turning their camp into a quagmire where the mud was six inches deep, or more. Nevertheless, they were able to locate other ruins in the area, at least one larger than the one they were camped next to and proved that there was a large population in Mosquitia with a sophisticated culture that compares to anything in Central America. It remains to be seen if the government can protect this area for proper scientific investigation or if it will be looted and destroyed before more can be learned about this culture.
The last third of the book was related to what happened to half the members of the team, including the author, after they returned home. Remember the sand flies? They carried a parasite, which, when the infected sand fly bites someone the fly unleashes hundreds to thousands of parasites into the person’s tissue. This infection is called leishmaniasis (leish for short). No one at the Bookers meeting had every heard of it, although it is the second deadliest parasitic disease in the world. It affects twelve million people around the world with one or two million new cases every year and sixty thousand people dying every year. It has been around since the time of the dinosaurs.
When members of the team began to develop sores from the disease and began to compare notes they wound up in the care of doctors at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and were treated for free. NIH has been conducting clinical studies on leish since the early 1970s. The way these parasites infect the body was interesting – they use the bodies white blood cells!
There was also an interesting discussion of why the Old World diseases devastated the New World and not the other way around. Overall, these diseases had a 90% mortality rate – it was the greatest catastrophe ever to befall the human species.
I found this to be a very interesting book and recommend it to anyone who has not read it. The fact that it is a true story makes it all the more interesting.
— Reynolds