This fearful isolation has wrought a curious result: For Centuries, Mosquitia has been home to one of the world's most persistent and tantalizing legends. Somewhere in this impassable wilderness, it is said, lies a 'lost city' built of white stone. It is called Cuidad Blanca, the 'White City," also referred to as the 'Lost City of the Monkey God.
-- Douglas Preston (chapter 1 paragraph 3)

Importance: Preston emphasizes the way in which Mosquitia's remoteness has bred rumors that it is home to a lost city. Because the area is almost impossible to traverse, it has been impossible for explorers and archaeologists to date to assess the veracity of the legends that have developed over the centuries about the "White City" or the "Lost City of the Monkey God." As a result, these legends have grown and at times become even more fantastic.It is only with Preston's trip under the aegis of Steve Elkins that it has...