Historical documents and legends are replete with treasure lore providing stories of lost treasure founded in real events and fact, this book relates just such a story. Although it can and has happened, it is a rarity for a treasure deposit to be discovered by the "merest chance." True, many lost treasures have been discovered, but typically the discovery is made through years of exhaustive, dedicated research, and the blood, sweat and personal sacrifices of thorough exploration. Other treasures have been discovered just to be lost again. Still others have proven to be hoaxes, while others remain hidden awaiting discovery. This is the story of a quest for one such treasure, portions of the ransom of the Inca Atahualpa purportedly spirited into an obscure mountainous region of Ecuador known as the Llanganatis by Atahualpa's half-brother General Rumiñahui in the year 1534.Treasure stories like any story, have a beginning, middle and an end. Throughout any story there can be misdirection and misinformation, but the paranoia, greed and lust associated with possessing secrets associated with a lost treasure deposit appears to amplify a storyteller's incentive to hide and obscure the complete truth through misinformation and misdirection. For this reason, the closer one can get to a first person narrative, the closer one gets to the truth.Previously, Commander Dyott's involvement in the story relied on third, fourth and fifth hand accounts that increasingly blurred the lines between fact and fiction. Now we have the ability to bring everything back into focus with first and second hand accounts. Dyott's account will not be paraphrased, but background information and clarification will be provided in order that the circumstances that form the setting for events, statements and ideas, can be fully understood and assessed.For the first time in print, posthumously related through extensive personal correspondence, George M. Dyott and the "family in New England" expose their involvement in a Quest for Inca Gold, Atahualpa's treasure. Once and for all the fog of misinformation, misdirection and literary license which has obscured the truth for decades shall be lifted. With the characters unveiling the story in their own words as it developed, through Commander Dyott's Llanganati expedition of 1947, the reader is provided an experience like none other. Whether the reader has any previous knowledge of the story of Atahualpa's ransom and the quest for his treasure, or is just discovering the story for the first time is irrelevant. The intriguing story about to be told provides sufficient background information and new evidence that exposes a different version of events. Regardless if you are an active explorer, treasure hunter, historian or armchair adventurer, the true story of Commander Dyott's journey into the unknown awaits within.
About the Author: A Vermont native raised in the resort community of Stowe, at twenty-three the author traveled to Ecuador to visit a childhood friend serving in the United States Peace Corps. While in Quito Mr. Charbonneau fell in love with a young Ecuadorian girl, within months they were married. Little did he know at the time, destiny would forever tie him to this mysterious land and its people. Nearly a decade passed before Mr. Charbonneau was drawn back to Ecuador and became involved within a story of international intrigue, espionage, murder, kidnapping, embezzlement, deceit, discovery and untold secrets! Mr. Charbonneau formed Ecuadoran Explorations, Inc. and was no stranger to the United States Embassy, Ministry of Defense, Presidential Palace and Institute of Patrimony & Culture in Quito. Over a two year period, as President and CEO of Ecuadoran Explorations, he applied for an Archaeological Permit and negotiated the terms of a Presidential Decree and contract for the recovery of Inca treasure from the Llanganati Mountains of Ecuador. Although the contract and decree had successfully been negotiated, drafted and were awaiting signature, Ecuador's Attorney General advised his President that a contract and decree were not a requirement for the company to proceed with the project. For political reasons the President then expressed his desire that the project continue without this documentation. Absent written terms and assurances, the fear of confiscation or of ending up in an unmarked grave, doomed the project. Decades later Mr. Charbonneau decided to tell his story and publish the entirety of writings, drawings, discoveries and secrets of renowned Ecuador treasure expert Eugen Brunner. Six months later an expanded second edition included a detailed biographical account of Brunner's life, with new information, details and twists! Arguably a leading expert on the topic, Mr. Charbonneau's personal connection and involvement with this story allows him, through mere prose, to take seemingly unrelated events and draw back the veil of mere coincidence, thereby connecting the unconnected! His characters, both good and bad, are presented in a "matter of fact" style which reminds the reader that the events he relates are fact, not fiction. Mr. Charbonneau's extensive research has rewritten history, uncovered new information and revived interest in a centuries old treasure quest! Obsession, love, political intrigue, deception, mystery, adventure, his books have it all!