Jungleland : a mysterious lost city, a WWII spy, and a true story of deadly adventure

"I began to daydream about the jungle...." On April 6, 1940, explorer and future World War II spy Theodore Morde (who would one day attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler), anxious about the perilous journey that lay ahead of him, struggled to fall asleep at the Paris Hotel in La Ceiba, Honduras. Nearly seventy years later, in the same hotel, acclaimed journalist Christopher S. Stewart wonders what he's gotten himself into. Stewart and Morde seek the same answer on their quests: the solution to the riddle of the whereabouts of Ciudad Blanca, buried somewhere deep in the rain forest on the Mosquito Coast. Imagining an immense and immaculate El Dorado–like city made entirely of gold, explorers as far back as the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés have tried to find the fabled White City. Others have gone looking for tall white cliffs and gigantic stone temples—no one found a trace. Legends, like the jungle, are dense and captivating. Many have sought their fortune or fame down the Río Patuca—from Christopher Columbus to present-day college professors—and many have died or disappeared. What begins as a passing interest slowly turns into an obsession as Stewart pieces together the whirlwind life and mysterious death of Morde, a man who had sailed around the world five times before he was thirty and claimed to have discovered what he called the Lost City of the Monkey God. Armed with Morde's personal notebooks and the enigmatic coordinates etched on his well-worn walking stick, Stewart sets out to test the jungle himself—and to test himself in the jungle. As we follow the parallel journeys of Morde and Stewart, the ultimate destination morphs with their every twist and turn. Are they walking in circles? Or are they running from their own shadows? __Jungleland__ is part detective story, part classic tale of man versus wild in the tradition of __The Lost City of Z__ and __Lost in Shangri-La__. A story of young fatherhood as well as the timeless call of adventure, this is an epic search for answers in a place where nothing is guaranteed, least of all survival.

"I began to daydream about the jungle...."

On April 6, 1940, explorer and future World War II spy Theodore Morde (who would one day attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler), anxious about the perilous journey that lay ahead of him, struggled to fall asleep at the Paris Hotel in La Ceiba, Honduras.

Nearly seventy years later, in the same hotel, acclaimed journalist Christopher S. Stewart wonders what he's gotten himself into. Stewart and Morde seek the same answer on their quests: the solution to the riddle of the whereabouts of Ciudad Blanca, buried somewhere deep in the rain forest on the Mosquito Coast. Imagining an immense and immaculate El Dorado–like city made entirely of gold, explorers as far back as the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés have tried to find the fabled White City. Others have gone looking for tall white cliffs and gigantic stone temples—no one found a trace.

Legends, like the jungle, are dense and captivating. Many have sought their fortune or fame down the Río Patuca—from Christopher Columbus to present-day college professors—and many have died or disappeared. What begins as a passing interest slowly turns into an obsession as Stewart pieces together the whirlwind life and mysterious death of Morde, a man who had sailed around the world five times before he was thirty and claimed to have discovered what he called the Lost City of the Monkey God.

Armed with Morde's personal notebooks and the enigmatic coordinates etched on his well-worn walking stick, Stewart sets out to test the jungle himself—and to test himself in the jungle. As we follow the parallel journeys of Morde and Stewart, the ultimate destination morphs with their every twist and turn. Are they walking in circles? Or are they running from their own shadows? Jungleland is part detective story, part classic tale of man versus wild in the tradition of The Lost City of Z and Lost in Shangri-La. A story of young fatherhood as well as the timeless call of adventure, this is an epic search for answers in a place where nothing is guaranteed, least of all survival.

The author chronicles his present-day journey to find Ciudad Blanca, the legendary White City rumored to exist in the rain forests of Nicaragua's and Honduras' Mosquito Coast, following in the footsteps of the explorer and World War II spy Theodore Morde, who set out on the same journey on April 6, 1940. Legends, like the jungle, are dense and captivating. Many have sought their fortune or fame down the Rio Patuca -- from Christopher Columbus to present-day college professors -- and many have died or disappeared. What begins as a passing interest slowly turns into an obsession as Stewart pieces together the whirlwind life and mysterious death of Theodore Morde, a man who had sailed around the world five times before he was thirty and claimed to have discovered what he called the Lost City of the Monkey God. Armed with Morde's personal notebooks and the enigmatic coordinates etched on his well-worn walking stick, Stewart sets out to test the jungle himself -- and to test himself in the jungle. As we follow the parallel journeys of Morde and Stewart, the ultimate destination morphs with their every twist and turn. - Jacket flap. Prologue Part one. A professional amateur The mountain that cries The mystery stick "Treading on dynamite" My lost-city guide "I was lost" The coup "949 miles to La Ceiba" Good-bye Part two. "Left for dead but too mean to die" hotstuffie92 "Where there grow strange large flowers" Snakes and valium "Definitely on the way at last" The Valley of the Princess "Gold fever" Pancho "The last outpost" Bandit Alley "The equivalent of a state secret" Mortal threats Dance of the dead monkeys Catacamas "Green hell" Loco men "All had faded into thin air" Part three. The jungle that disappeared "Beyond hope" Looking for Camp Ulak "No trace of ruins" Calling home "The Lost City of the Monkey God" Our time with the pirates "The jungle does not seem like it wants us to go" "Please come home" "Ice in our glasses!" Ernesto's story "This strange civilization" What we learned from the Tawahkas Part four. Daisy Gateway to the lost cities "They had orders to shoot" My lowest low "I'm having the time of my life" Journey to the crosses "From journalist and explorer and spy to a father" The Morde theory The lost city Epilogue Deep inside the little Amazon, the jungles of Hondurass Mosquito Coastone of the largest, wildest, and most impenetrable stretches of tropical land in the worldlies the fabled city of Ciudad Blanca: the White City. For centuries, it has lured explorers, including Spanish conquistador Herman Cortes. Some intrepid souls got lost within its dense canopy; some disappeared. Others never made it out alive. Then, in 1939, an American explorer and spy named Theodore Morde claimed that he had located this El Dorado-like city. Yet before he revealed its location, Morde died under strange circumstances, giving credence to those who believe that the spirits of the Ciudad Blanca killed him. Is this lost city real or only a tantalyzing myth? What secrets does the jungle hold? What continues to draw explorers into the unknown jungleland at such terrific risk? In this absorbing true-life thriller, journalist Christopher S. Stewart sets out to find answersa white-knuckle adventure that combines Mordes wild, enigmatic tale with Stewarts own epic journey to find the truth about the White City. Is this lost city real or only a tantalyzing myth? What secrets does the jungle hold? What continues to draw explorers into the unknown jungleland at such terrific risk? In this book, the author sets out to find answers - a white-knuckle adventure that combines Morde's wild, a tale with his own epic journey to find the truth about the White City. Relates the author's adventure deep inside "the little Amazon," the jungles of Honduras's Mosquito Coast, to expose the secrets of the fabled city of Ciudad Blanca, the White City, a place that has lured explorers for centuries