National Geographic Traveler - USA (2019-12 & 2020-01)

I heft an antiquated leather-bound book and delicately open

it. Four black-and-white photos approximately three inches tall

by six inches wide are meticulously laid out and taped, two to a

page. I behold Machu Picchu when it was a jumble of vines and

trees and rocky ground, and then the same area a month later,

with walls and windows and paths clearly visible.

This excursion is different for me because I’ve been to Machu

Picchu. I’ve walked these paths, traced these walls, imagined

what it was like to be Hiram Bingham exploring this so-called

“Lost City of the Incas” in 1911—and later, with funding from

the National Geographic Society, documenting its treasures.

Then I come to a photo of the Intihuatana stone, “the place

where the sun is tied,” which the Inca used to measure the

passage of time. I have stood at this exact spot. Goosebumps.

I think of the Intihuatana when the Inca first built it some 600

years ago, and then when it was overwhelmed by jungle, and

then when Hiram Bingham was guided to it by an 11-year-old boy

who knew the site well, and then when I stood there. I think of

all the ambition, history, and belief concentrated in this place.

The wind rustles the grasses around me. I sense a llama to my

left, visitors scrambling over ruins to my right.

Somewhere I hear a voice calling. “Don! Don! It’s time to go

home now.”

ON MY LAST DAY IN ARCHIVIA I join the Apollo 11 moon mis-

sion, 50 years ago. As I gaze at the photo of Buzz Aldrin and the

American flag on the lunar surface, I think about the future:

Where are we headed?

Another photo catches my eye: Earth seen from outer space.

Looking at our marble spinning in the immeasurable universe,

I think about the journeys I’ve made in Archivia—the places

I’ve been, the people I’ve met—and I think about Bill Bonner.

I realize that I’m feeling what he felt during those decades in

this worldly basement: Archivia is a planetary photo album, a

lovingly curated collection of moments that reveal how vast and

fleeting and precious is this terrestrial sphere, our own sacred

place. We can explore it with care or ignore it at our peril. The

choice is ours. I choose to travel.

DON GEORGE ( @don_ george) has been an editor at large with

Traveler since 2007. He is the author of the acclaimed anthology

The Way of Wanderlust: The Best Travel Writing of Don George.

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October 2018- August/

A. TOTAL NUMBERS OF COPIES September 2019 September 2019

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Outside-County Mail Subscriptions 395,314 380,837

In-County Mail Subscriptions - -

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(Includes samples, no news agents)

Outside-County 44,643 37,723

In-County - -

Other Classes Mailed Through USPS - -

Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the USPS 9,286 10,284

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G. COPIES NOT DISTRIBUTED 67,671 70,670

H. TOTAL

(Sum of F and G) 561,730 534,471

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