In Tropical Lands: Conversations with Iain Sinclair about The Gold Machine Farne Sinclair

Episode 1 Lima to Huancayo The journey begins in Lima, looking for traces of Arthur in the Peruvian capital. On their first morning Iain and Farne have breakfast and try to orientate themselves in the Liman fog, and discuss their first impressions. They head out to look for the Explorer’s club, and Pizarro’s remains in the Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas. Early the next day they take a train over the Andes, one of the highest railway journeys in the world reac...

Farne is struck down with altitude sickness, and has to rest in the hotel thinking about her family back home, while Iain heads off with Lucho to the markets and the Ocopa Monastery which was the base for the Catholic missionaries. Iain gets caught up in the San Pedro festivities.By the next day Farne has recovered and they negotiate a car to take them back up to Arthur’s mule route and to La Oroya, one of the worst polluted places on earth. Iain and Farne talk to Grant...

Farne and Iain sit in the peaceful gardens of the Hacienda in Tarma before they set off on the next stage of their journey. Arthur, as a botanist, had enjoyed the climate and plants here while resting for a couple of days, and felt at home here. They meditate on their upcoming stay with the Asheninka tribes and how they will be received. Iain thinks about the storytelling tradition of his Welsh background, and his family stories. His father’s experience of being a doctor in Wales, b...

The descent down to the jungle begins. Iain and Farne follow Arthur’s mule route down through Acobamba to search for the Convent of San Luis de Shuaro where Arthur’s expedition had letters of introduction to the Catholic Priest, Padre Sala. A number of coincidences convince them they are on the right track, and it feels like they have been expected. An elderly lady sitting in the town square, Maria Leon Perez, turns out to be an old friend of Lucho’s father, and she agrees to talk ...

Farne and Iain leave Arthur at the convent making preparations for his journey and take a detour to Lucho’s farm. As they plan the next stage of their journey, Lucho tells them the story of how he came to acquire his land, and gives them some clues to how land is bargained for in Peru, and what ownership means to the Asheninka.Arthur sets off again with 14 people and 20 mules, and Farne and Iain are also on their way to find the mysteriously named Mountain of Salt, when events take a cu...

Joined by a small family of Asheninka translators, Farne and Iain drive along the banks of the River Perene to the village of Pampa Michi, amongst the tourist welcome, they persuade the chief Fredi Miguel Ucayali to be interviewed. His is a sobering account of the Peru Corporation’s takeover of these lands which is shocking to hear first-hand. In Marankiari they stay with the Asheninka for a few days and feel they get a bit closer to life behind the scenes of the village, they talk...