The Mountain Made Of Light

Description for THE MOUNTAIN MADE OF LIGHT by Edward Myers:

In the years immediately following World War I, a young anthropologist named Jesse O'Keefe ventures into the Andean backwoods to find a culture worthy of study. There he stumbles upon the Rixtirra, a complex society fixated on locating a legendary Mountain Made of Light that these people believe offers a sanctuary from the modern world. Jesse soon finds himself caught up in this culture's political and religious machinations and, worse yet, in conflict with Forster Beckwith--an aristocratic interloper whose presence further endangers Jesse's life. The ensuing adventures have prompted some reviewers to call this book the thinking person's Indiana Jones--a breathtaking lost race novel that is also an allegory about the inner journey toward what matters most.

This is #1 in Mountain Made Of Light Series.