Steeped in death, conquest, desire, and mystery, the legend of the lost Inca gold is guarded by remote, mist-veiled mountains in central Ecuador. Somewhere deep inside the unforgiving Llanganates ...

This small gold model of a llama is a fitting offering for an Inca mountain god. The Incas revered gold as the sweat of the sun and believed that it represented the sun's regenerative powers.

Many little figures like this have been found, in gold and silver, all over Inca territory, and they were frequently buried as offerings on mountain peaks. That territory was on three distinct levels.

Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, was captured by Spanish ... According to tradition, Rumiñahui transported the gold to the Llanganates Mountain Range, where he hid it in the dense, forested ...

Descended in part from Inca colonists sent here more than ... Their lands were rich and desirable. Gold and silver veined the mountains, and herds of alpacas and llamas fattened in lush meadows.

Silver and gold were abundant, but only used for aesthetics. Inca kings and nobles amassed ... long road system criss-crossing high Andean mountain passes and linking the rulers with the ruled.

Choquequirao is the Quechua word for "Cradle of Gold," and this captures its ... rugged trekking through even more Inca ruins, high mountain passes, and misty cloud forests before you arrive ...

The Andes mountain range, located in South America ... approximately 500 years old, linking them to the Inca civilisation. The preservation of the trio was unparalleled. Though buried under ...

This small gold model of a llama is a fitting offering for an Inca mountain god. The Incas revered gold as the sweat of the sun and believed that it represented the sun's regenerative powers.

Silver and gold were abundant, but only used for aesthetics. Inca kings and nobles amassed ... long road system criss-crossing high Andean mountain passes and linking the rulers with the ruled.