Jeffrey Keeten's Reviews > The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story
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by
![3427339](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p2/3427339.jpg)
”I peered out the window, transfixed. I can scarcely find words to describe the opulence of the rainforest that unrolled below us. The tree crowns were packed together like puffballs, displaying every possible hue, tint, and shade of green. Chartreuse, emerald, lime, aquamarine, teal, bottle, glaucous, asparagus, olive, celadon, jade, malachite--mere words are inadequate to express the chromatic infinites.”
Douglas Preston was always interested in lost civilizations, so when he got the chance to join an expedition into the mosquitia jungle in Honduras to find the Lost City of the Monkey God, he was more than interested, he was all in. There had been many explorers before who had attempted to find this “mythical” place, but except for the Indiana Jones style journalist Theodore Morde who emerged from the jungle in 1940 with a horde of fascinating objects and a story of finding the fabled White City, there had been nothing to substantiate the legend. Morde committed suicide shortly after returning from his adventures, taking his secrets with him.
Had he been cursed by the Monkey God?
The team focused in on one valley that was isolated and difficult to access easily on foot. They were going to bring new technology to the search by borrowing what is called a lidar machine. It shoots thousands of lasers at the jungle floor from a plane. It records the reflections that bounce off the objects on the ground. The software eliminates leaves, trees, and any other objects that are not part of, hopefully, the man made structures hidden beneath the canopy.
All hell broke loose over the use of this technology. The academic world, outside of the normal petty jealousies, suspicion of success, and paranoias that afflict all centers of higher learning, seemed to be more offended by the use of this technology, as if the expedition were cheating by using it.
See, the problem was the lidar mapping found not one large site of manmade structures, but two. The irrational feeling that they didn’t deserve these finds because they didn’t outfit an overland mission that went blindly slashing through the jungle hoping to stumble upon something interesting, and the fact they didn’t lose about a third of their party to disease, snakebit, and jaguar attack in the process, is frankly ludicrous.
I do have to admit it does take some of the romance out of the whole swashbuckling archaeologist image that I grew up with. The cities were still there unmolested because no one had been able to penetrate the jungle effectively to find them.
Despite being able to drop into the site with a helicopter, and despite having better gear than what most explorers can haul into the jungle in the traditional overland expedition, the group still experienced difficulties with, to name a few, sand fleas, torrential rain, and snakes. Let me share a bit about one particular snake that kept turning up over and over again in the ruins of this civilization.
”The fer-de-lance, he said, is known in these parts as the barba amarilla (Yellow Beard). Herpetologists consider it the ultimate pit viper. It kills more people in the New World than any other snake. It comes out at night and is attracted to people and activity. It is aggressive, irritable, and fast. Its fangs have been observed to squirt venom for more than six feet, and they can penetrate even the thickest leather boot. Sometimes it will strike and then pursue and strike again. It often leaps upward as it strikes, hitting above the knee. The venom is deadly; if it doesn’t kill you outright through a brain hemorrhage, it may very well kill you later through sepsis. If you survive, the limb that was struck often has to be amputated, due to the necrotizing nature of the poison.”
*Shudder* #reason number one why I don’t go into the Honduran jungle.
So why did this civilization abruptly disappear at around 1500? Preston pulls together some pretty good theories regarding that event. Some are based on the greed of the rulers doing to their civilization the same thing that the rich and powerful are currently doing to the United States. Unmitigated greed makes even the most robust economies vulnerable to a similar collapse. The celebrated author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond, has some wonderful examples, and Preston shares that wisdom with us, as well. The one that I found most interesting points to a celebrated event that happened in 1492 when Christopher Columbus “discovered” America.
The foreigners came and ”withered the flowers.”
Preston includes a wonderful chart that show the catastrophic effect of native populations making contact with the disease ridden crews of the Columbus exploration mission. ”What would a 90 percent mortality rate mean to the survivors and their society? It does not just kill people; it annihilates societies; it destroys languages, religions, histories, and cultures. It chokes off the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next. The survivors are deprived of that vital human connection to their past; they are robbed of their stories, their music and dance, their spiritual practices and beliefs--they are stripped of their very identity.”
There is no proof that the diseases that killed so much of the indigenous population of the Americas was also the culprit that killed the civilization of the Monkey God, but the timing does make it a valid consideration. It was unavoidable that the Old World would meet the New World, so it was just more a matter of when.
The Monkey God expedition members returned to their regular life, relieved that they did not come down with any major diseases; the bites and rashes that they all suffered from disappeared, but then weeks later over half the group had a sore appear that would not heal. It became a miniature volcano. After much deliberation by doctors and contagious disease specialists, they determined that they had come down with leishmaniasis. Among the half that came down with this frankly disgusting and alarmingly difficult disease to contain was Douglas Preston. It is called white leprosy if that gives you any indication of what it does to the body once it gains enough control of your immune system.
The curse of the Monkey god?
My signed copy of the book also came with a signed postcard of the author in the mosquitia jungle. Ephemeria is always fun for a collector.
I just finished reading The Lost City of Z, set in the Amazon, a few days ago, and it seemed a perfect pairing to read a similar book about another lost city further north in Central America. Any thoughts of chucking my rather pedestrian job as circulation manager/owner of a farm publication and joining a jungle expedition have been firmly squashed like a blood bloated flea beneath the tread of a kevlar boot. Not to mention, even the thought of tangling with one of those damn Fer-De-Lance snakes makes me break out in hives. I am a firm believer in doing my jungle travelling from the safety of my favorite reading chair.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com I also have a Facebook blogger page at: https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
![photo Hondurus20Jungle_zpsnmag5m6s.jpg](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1532828399i/26044792.jpg)
Douglas Preston was always interested in lost civilizations, so when he got the chance to join an expedition into the mosquitia jungle in Honduras to find the Lost City of the Monkey God, he was more than interested, he was all in. There had been many explorers before who had attempted to find this “mythical” place, but except for the Indiana Jones style journalist Theodore Morde who emerged from the jungle in 1940 with a horde of fascinating objects and a story of finding the fabled White City, there had been nothing to substantiate the legend. Morde committed suicide shortly after returning from his adventures, taking his secrets with him.
Had he been cursed by the Monkey God?
The team focused in on one valley that was isolated and difficult to access easily on foot. They were going to bring new technology to the search by borrowing what is called a lidar machine. It shoots thousands of lasers at the jungle floor from a plane. It records the reflections that bounce off the objects on the ground. The software eliminates leaves, trees, and any other objects that are not part of, hopefully, the man made structures hidden beneath the canopy.
All hell broke loose over the use of this technology. The academic world, outside of the normal petty jealousies, suspicion of success, and paranoias that afflict all centers of higher learning, seemed to be more offended by the use of this technology, as if the expedition were cheating by using it.
See, the problem was the lidar mapping found not one large site of manmade structures, but two. The irrational feeling that they didn’t deserve these finds because they didn’t outfit an overland mission that went blindly slashing through the jungle hoping to stumble upon something interesting, and the fact they didn’t lose about a third of their party to disease, snakebit, and jaguar attack in the process, is frankly ludicrous.
I do have to admit it does take some of the romance out of the whole swashbuckling archaeologist image that I grew up with. The cities were still there unmolested because no one had been able to penetrate the jungle effectively to find them.
Despite being able to drop into the site with a helicopter, and despite having better gear than what most explorers can haul into the jungle in the traditional overland expedition, the group still experienced difficulties with, to name a few, sand fleas, torrential rain, and snakes. Let me share a bit about one particular snake that kept turning up over and over again in the ruins of this civilization.
”The fer-de-lance, he said, is known in these parts as the barba amarilla (Yellow Beard). Herpetologists consider it the ultimate pit viper. It kills more people in the New World than any other snake. It comes out at night and is attracted to people and activity. It is aggressive, irritable, and fast. Its fangs have been observed to squirt venom for more than six feet, and they can penetrate even the thickest leather boot. Sometimes it will strike and then pursue and strike again. It often leaps upward as it strikes, hitting above the knee. The venom is deadly; if it doesn’t kill you outright through a brain hemorrhage, it may very well kill you later through sepsis. If you survive, the limb that was struck often has to be amputated, due to the necrotizing nature of the poison.”
*Shudder* #reason number one why I don’t go into the Honduran jungle.
So why did this civilization abruptly disappear at around 1500? Preston pulls together some pretty good theories regarding that event. Some are based on the greed of the rulers doing to their civilization the same thing that the rich and powerful are currently doing to the United States. Unmitigated greed makes even the most robust economies vulnerable to a similar collapse. The celebrated author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond, has some wonderful examples, and Preston shares that wisdom with us, as well. The one that I found most interesting points to a celebrated event that happened in 1492 when Christopher Columbus “discovered” America.
The foreigners came and ”withered the flowers.”
Preston includes a wonderful chart that show the catastrophic effect of native populations making contact with the disease ridden crews of the Columbus exploration mission. ”What would a 90 percent mortality rate mean to the survivors and their society? It does not just kill people; it annihilates societies; it destroys languages, religions, histories, and cultures. It chokes off the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next. The survivors are deprived of that vital human connection to their past; they are robbed of their stories, their music and dance, their spiritual practices and beliefs--they are stripped of their very identity.”
There is no proof that the diseases that killed so much of the indigenous population of the Americas was also the culprit that killed the civilization of the Monkey God, but the timing does make it a valid consideration. It was unavoidable that the Old World would meet the New World, so it was just more a matter of when.
The Monkey God expedition members returned to their regular life, relieved that they did not come down with any major diseases; the bites and rashes that they all suffered from disappeared, but then weeks later over half the group had a sore appear that would not heal. It became a miniature volcano. After much deliberation by doctors and contagious disease specialists, they determined that they had come down with leishmaniasis. Among the half that came down with this frankly disgusting and alarmingly difficult disease to contain was Douglas Preston. It is called white leprosy if that gives you any indication of what it does to the body once it gains enough control of your immune system.
The curse of the Monkey god?
![photo IMG_1210_zpsdyay5sxu.jpg](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1532828399i/26044791._SY540_.jpg)
My signed copy of the book also came with a signed postcard of the author in the mosquitia jungle. Ephemeria is always fun for a collector.
I just finished reading The Lost City of Z, set in the Amazon, a few days ago, and it seemed a perfect pairing to read a similar book about another lost city further north in Central America. Any thoughts of chucking my rather pedestrian job as circulation manager/owner of a farm publication and joining a jungle expedition have been firmly squashed like a blood bloated flea beneath the tread of a kevlar boot. Not to mention, even the thought of tangling with one of those damn Fer-De-Lance snakes makes me break out in hives. I am a firm believer in doing my jungle travelling from the safety of my favorite reading chair.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com I also have a Facebook blogger page at: https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
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Reading Progress
May 6, 2017
–
Started Reading
May 6, 2017
– Shelved
May 6, 2017
– Shelved as:
travel
May 6, 2017
– Shelved as:
central-america
May 7, 2017
–
Finished Reading
July 7, 2017
– Shelved as:
exploration
Comments Showing 1-43 of 43 (43 new)
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![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Awesome review!"
Thanks Steven! They are truly terrifying not only in their power and their poisonous fangs, but in that they aggressively come after people when they run across them. Nasty critter!
![Vessey](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1511166278p1/30910845.jpg)
So what's number two? :) I hope it's something meaty. Maybe you're afraid that some indigenous painted beauty might put a love curse on you? :) I love you, Jeffrey. Please be husband number 12. :)
The one that I found most interesting points to a celebrated event that happened in 1492 when Christopher Columbus “discovered” America.
You know, I have heard the explanation about why it wasn't true that Columbus discovered it, but I forgot. What was it? I love it when famous historical facts turn out to be false. :) This was one of the things we had to memorize at school. I gotta ask for compensation now. :)
On a serious note, I too understand how the crew having it easier compared to others takes some of the romance off, but still, it's hardly a reason for them to be considered unworthy of the discovery. Life isn't a novel. We should try to avoid suspense, not look for it. Besides, I think that the amazing way this book was written - if I am to judge by the quotes you have shared - more than makes up for the lack of THIS kind of adventure. :) I especially love the opening passage. It's breathtaking. I'm sorry to hear that they got this horrible disease, though. Not off the hook, after all. What happened to them? Did they get healthy?
Jeffrey, thank you SO much for this really captivating review! It was like I was there, on the spot. You know, you HAVE TO take such a journey. I'm curious what you would write afterwards. Just make sure you don't come back with more wives than you can handle. :) I love you <3
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
So what's number two? :) I hope it's something meaty. Maybe you're afraid that some indigenous painted beauty might put a love curse on y..."
The reasons for me not to be in the jungle are too numerous to mention. I've had love curses thrown at me before. I can handle that. :-)
It seems that the Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson is the leading candidate to have discovered America. The use of the word celebrated was definitely more on the European side than the indigenous population side who died in massive numbers after coming into contact with Columbus's crew.
Preston fought off the disease initially, but then at the point of finishing this book he said that the sore had returned so this could be an ongoing battle for the rest of his life. The treatment is so severe that it can kill you. It overloads the kidneys to the point that they start to shut down. Nasty business.
Actually I'd probably make a pretty decent travel writer, but if they want somebody for a deep jungle piece they would have to find someone else. :-)
Thanks Vessey!
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
I hope you like it Marialyce.
![Arah-Lynda](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1611587803p1/5859453.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Well happy birthday Arah-Lynda! I'm so glad I could be part of your celebration. I hope you get books, many books for your birthday and that you have many, many more wonderful years of celebrating birthdays with friends and family. Truly, have a wonderful day. Thank you!
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Thanks Greg! Indeed! I have a great imagination no need to plunge into the jungle myself.
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
I'm looking into this one. I'm interested!!! xo"
Thanks Elyse! I think you will enjoy this one.
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
To be exact it is 4.37 rating, but alas GR doesn't give me the latitude to be that specific. :-) There are classic books that provide a whole range of emotional involvement that I reserve a five stars for. This is a fascinating book and certainly a great read that I enjoyed.
![Henry Avila](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1307597403p1/5431458.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
They make a fine pairing Henry. You are most welcome and thank you for your kind words.
![Vessey](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1511166278p1/30910845.jpg)
Any thoughts of chucking my rather pedestrian job as circulation manager/owner of a farm publication and joining a jungle expedition have been firmly squashed like a blood bloated flea beneath the tread of a kevlar boot.
Then maybe I should do it. You will finance me and when I return, scratched, bitten, having lost a considerable weight (well, I wouldn’t complain about THAT) and, most importantly, having discovered the secret of eternal life, I will reveal it to you and you will be able to go to an expedition too. :) Then you will find out that beans I’ve given you aren’t really magical, that your parachute is just a knapsack and that you’ve been arranged to marry one of the local women, to whom I have sold you in exchange for ten war horses, five milk goats and a lemur. :) Whom I will keep as a pet and name Jeffrey. Eyebrows. :) Then, when the people who know you, ask after you, I will say “Yeah, Jeffrey is fine. He’s right here, with me.” No one will ever see through my evil and very successful plan. :) I will be ruling the company on your behalf, like a real New Age woman, while you’ll be busy fighting with the Ice Age squirrel for that notorious nut. :) Look what great ideas your reviews give me. I told you they were dangerous. Eyebrows. :) And also lovely! I was very happy to read this one again. I suspect that you’re considerably less happy. :) P.S. I will read the book too. Who knows what more I will come up with then? Eyebrows. :)
![Steven](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1541604404p1/11855472.jpg)
Any thoughts of chucking my rather pedestrian job as circulation manager/owner of a farm publication and joining a jungle expedition have been firmly squashed like a blood bl..."
Sounds like someone has really thought this through! LOL!
![Vessey](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1511166278p1/30910845.jpg)
Any thoughts of chucking my rather pedestrian job as circulation manager/owner of a farm publication and joining a jungle expedition have been firmly squashed ..."
It is because Jeffrey is the sweetest person in the world. There is no one else I like to tease so much. He has been stoically enduring my weirdicisms, while secretly dreaming of selling me to a Dothraki horse lord, who would take me far away. I’d be at the other end of the Narrow Sea, learning to eat grass. :) These are the only resources they have there, right? Horses and grass. And I suppose that those remarkable dainties taste pretty much the same, regardless of how they are prepared, so at least no one will ever know that I can't cook. My reputation is safe. :)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Any thoughts of chucking my rather pedestrian job as circulation manager/owner of a farm publication and joining a jungle expedition have been f..."
A Dothraki horse lord would buy you? Why didn't you say something sooner? I'll get that deal done. :-)
![Vessey](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1511166278p1/30910845.jpg)
Any thoughts of chucking my rather pedestrian job as circulation manager/owner of a farm publication and joining a jungle expedit..."
Okay. I’m in. :) But only if you sell me for a proper price. So you raise my status among the Dothraki. Once they know that I was bought for so much...Well, as certain someone said recently, they will know that I’m an idiot, but they will feed me. :) So how highly do you appraise me? :)
![Jaidee](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1688232584p1/17295672.jpg)
I can't believe how much braver I was as a young man. Now I don't even like camping...lol !
Nicely reviewed. I am adding to my list.
![Adrienne](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1528256309p1/29830776.jpg)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
You are most welcome. I hope you enjoyed it!
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
I can't believe how much braver I was as a young man. Now I don't even like cam..."
I think you'll enjoy this trek more from the safety of your armchair Jaidee. :-)
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
Aye, you would think everyone in the field would be using it. Thanks Adrienne! I'm glad you enjoyed the book.
![Jeffrey Keeten](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1675636329p1/3427339.jpg)
I find it more fun to travel to the Amazon from my armchair. :-)
Awesome review!