The North Cascades, standing in for the fog-shrouded Andes
A bit of legend:
In the early 1500s, survivors of a Spanish shipwreck off the Strait of Magellan — starving, haunted by the cold and hunted by the fierce inhabitants of the region — made their way north in the shadow of the Andes Mountains. After months of struggle, they reached a land of beautiful lakes and fertile soil. Eventually, they stumbled upon a city, built by Incans [who had escaped the tyranny to the north] from the gold of a nearby mountain. Shrouded in fog and obscured by ever-changing rivers, the city remained cut off from the rest of he world. There, the survivors and their descendants lived in peace and contentment. A new Eden? Shangri-La? A Patagonian El Dorado? The European inhabitants, subjects of the Spanish King Charles V who was nicknamed the Caesar, became known as Caesars.
A bit of history:
In 1557, two crew members who had supposedly been residing in the City of the Caesars returned to civilization and recounted the supernatural wonders of the region. This set off more than two centuries of searches for the enchanted city, led by government officials, religious proselytizers, and a few crackpots. The expeditioners mapped a large portion of the Patagonian hinterland, but the city was never found.
A bit of fiction:
Never, that is, until Clara Valle, a character in my novel, stumbles upon it at the bottom of a lake.
Sources:
As with any good legend, there are many versions to this story. I read several of them. Cascada Expediciones offers an entertaining overview in its article, The Lost City of Patagonia. A more in-depth look is found in John Augustine Zahm’s 1916 travelogue, Through South America’s Southland.
Well – that’s a teaser!!