Episode list

After his caretaker dies, Esteban, a mysterious boy rescued at sea as a baby, embarks on a voyage to the New World to find his real father.

The ship Esperanza departs from Barcelona with Esteban, Mendoza, Zia, and the rest of the crew. After a long voyage across the Atlantic it arrives to the dangerous Strait of Magellan.

The ship crosses the Strait of Magellan and reaches the Pacific, but a new, unexpected danger lurks ahead.

As the tornado destroys the ship, the officers run away on the only lifeboat, and Esteban, Zia, Mendoza, Sancho, and Pedro find themselves stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean.

The heroes are marooned on an island they think is deserted, until they discover it has one strange inhabitant.

Mendoza and his men follow Esteban and Zia to the second island where Tao lives. With Tao's reluctant help they discover the ancient secret hidden inside the island.

Esteban and his friends depart to South America on the Solaris. A danger lies in their path, but the Solaris is more powerful than it would seem.

Our heroes arrive to South America, where they are caught by a ruthless Spanish governor, who wants Zia to help him find the Cities of Gold. Her only chance to save her people is to attempt a daring escape.

Esteban and his friends have hardly left the bay when they meet the Saint Miguel, a Spanish warship under the command of Gomez and Gaspard, which begins to fire at them. Our friends believe that all is lost, when Esteban pulls a lever next to the wheel by mistake. Suddenly the Saint Miguel bursts into flames and Tao finds the explanation in his book: "Behind the solar sail is a reflective panel which has accumulated a fantastic energy. Once this panel is aimed, it is as if all the power of the sun were contained in a cannon". After this episode, Esteban and Zia notice smoke rising from the village. It is Tohaka's village, a young Inca boy who helped them escape from the fortress at Tumbes. It looks as though the Spanish are attacking the village. Our friends decide to help the villagers with their reflective panel. The Spanish soldiers flee bit while the little group is still in the village, the Saint Miguel manages to reach shore. Gomes threatens to raze the village if Zia is not handed over to him. Zia pretends to give herself up but manages, thanks to a ruse of Mendoza's, to get back to the Solaris. Tao has already swam out to the ship, fearful that Gomez would seize it. Gomez is furious at their escape and gives the order to raze the village. Trying to save it, Zia and Tao pull on the red lever on board the Solaris. The accumulated heat from the reflective panel is suddenly dispersed in one burst as if from a bomb. The Solaris explodes in a blinding flash. The Saint Miguel, however, is also sunk by the explosion as Zia and Tao had hoped. So Esteban and the village are saved. But the Solaris is destroyed and it sinks to the bottom of the sea.

Overcome by the loss of the Solaris, our friends decide to go to Zia's village. But in order to get there, they will have to go through the fort of Tumbes, where Pizarro and his soldiers are stationed. In the fort, they must find an ancient priest, Pacha, who is the only living man to know the way to Zia's village. Learning from Gaspard that the children are fleeing through the underground drains, Pizarro remembers the Inca temple under the fort where he is holding an old man prisoner. This man, at lest 100 years old, had been to the Cities of Gold but refused to tell the Spaniards his secrets. The governor set his men off in pursuit of Esteban and his friends. Meanwhile, the young adventurers have found Pacha who, seeing the pendants of the Sun does not hesitate to show them the way. The old priest calls upon his ancestral learning to summon up the sun witch melts the god of the temple, represented by an enormous pillar of ice. In this temple also, Tao explains, "there is a huge machine which concentrates the power of the sun and magnifies it one thousand times". The old man orders the children to flee and leave him to die in the temple which will crumble. He shows them a secret passage which will allow them to escape from Pizarro's men. They set off for Zia's village.

Esteban, Zia and Tao walk through the mountains in the direction of Zia's village. They are being followed by two men, both of whom are strangely dressed, wearing clothes such as Zia has never seen any Inca wearing before. They shake the two men off their trail, however, and arrive at last at Zia's village. But to their great distress, they realize that it is deserted. No one comes to greet them except for Zia's condor Pattu, who flies off abruptly when he feels the presence of soldiers. In fact it is Gomez and Gaspard who have also been following Zia on Pizarro's orders. He had known that the girl would try to return to her village. This time the children cannot escape and Gomez threatens to burn down the village if Zia refuses to read the quip for him. Zia will still not agree. Then he threatens to throw Tao and Esteban into a giant nest of ants. At last Zia agrees and gives them the following interpretation: "Go up to the Old Peak, north of Puma village". Gomez decides to leave the next morning to check this reading and locks the three children up in a temple. At this moment, the two strangely-dressed men who had been following them up the mountain appear and tell them "Don't be afraid of us. We are here to save you. We are sent by Kraka, the Great Chief of the Old Peak". The children escape from their Spanish guards and, escorted by Vaina and Ketcha, head along a secret path toward the Old Peak, where Kraka is awaiting them.

Esteban, Tao and Zia, led by Vaina and Ketcha, are heading towards the Old Peak when they realize that they are being followed by Gomez and Gaspard, accompanied by Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro. However, the children soon reach the fort of the Black Eagle where they are warmly greeted by Chief Yupanki. No Spaniard has ever ventured this region before so Chief Yupanki, who guards the Old Peak, has never seen or even heard of rifles. In addition to this, the Incas never fight at night because "only the protection of the sun allow us to win", as they explain to Esteban. But Gomez is famous for his night attacks and the children know that he will attack as soon as darkness falls. Thanks to an ingenious system that the clever Tao thinks up, however, the children push back the Spaniards who are completely taken by surprise. The next morning, Esteban and his friends move on towards the Old Peak and arrive at last at a town that seems to be hanging in the clouds. This is Machu-Pichu, the town of the old Peak. Chief Kraka immediately asks them where their pendants come from. "This belongs to my family," Zia tells him. "It has been passed down from generation to generation, always to the first-born daughter". "And this is mine," says Esteban, showing his medallion. "I don't have the have which shows the sun though. Mendoza has that." My children, you posses the keys to the Golden Cities of Tseila. For generations, my people have been waiting for you. It is said that when these two medallions, having left the goddess of the Moon, are in the arms of Pacha-Mam, then shall be opened the gates of the Golden City of Tseila.

No one in Machu-Pichu knows where the City of Gold is. Tao finds a blazon, engraved in a stone, representing the sun, at the bottom of a well, but no one knows what it means except perhaps Mayucca, an old man who knows a multitude of the Inca legends. The children set of to find him, hoping that he will also be able to tell them something about Esteban's father. Mayucca tells them a story: Twelve or thirteen years ago, a man who came by boat over the great ocean to the west, is said to have had a child by a young Inca girl, who was a vestal, one of the servants of the Sun God. The sun, in anger, threatened to plunge the land into darkness. Terrified, the Incas offered the young girl as a sacrifice, then they built a boat and set the man and his child adrift on the great ocean to the west. Before leaving, the man is supposed to have said, "In the place where Inti, the God of the Sun and Koyolite, the brilliant star meet, there will be born again the sacred blazon of the sun." "That is the place represented by the sculptures that you saw" says Mucca, thus ending his story. The old Inca adds that he does not know if the story is true or just a legend. Zia decides that she prefers it is a legend as this would mean that there is still hope of finding Esteban's parents alive. Back again at the old Peak, Tao manages to work out the significance of the blazon on the stone with the help of his ancestors' book. In addition he makes some calculations which lead him to the conclusion that from where they are now, he can find the City of Gold.

Esteban and his friends now know where the City of Gold is, but first they have to get back Mendoza's half of the pendant. So the three children set off for the Fort of the Black Eagle, accompanied by Vaina and Ketcha. For their part, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho want to get to the Old Peak, but without Gomez. With a moment's inattention by the guards, they seize their opportunity and steal Gomez's cannon. Pursued by the Spanish soldiers, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho run into Vaina and Ketcha, who lead them to Yupanki in the Fort of the Black Eagle. Mendoza tries to tell Yupanki that he stole the cannon for him, but Vaina and Ketcha have heard him telling Lord Gomez that the men in the Fort of the Black Eagle were preparing an ambush. Menoza's hoax revealed, Yupanki prepares to have him executed when suddenly Esteban appears, begging for Mendoza's life. In exchange for his own life and those of his companions, Pedro and Sancho, Mendoza realizes that he has to handover his half of the pendant to Esteban.

Esteban and his friends are now trapped with Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho in the Fort of the Black Eagle, surrounded by Gomez's men. Our friends attack the Spanish twice. First they draw up the stolen cannon, but the ammunition runs out very quickly. They then begin to use vases filled with gun powder as cannon balls. These unexpected attacks take Gomez's men by surprise and they draw back but, determined to take the Fort, they prepare for a second attack. Mendoza and Yupanki advise the three children to flee to the Old peak. But Gaspard almost catches them and a long chase begins through a dark grotto, inhabited only by bats. At last Tao discovers a secret passage of the Incas which leads them up towards the light. The children recognize the path leading to the Old Peak when they emerge. They see to be safe this time. But what adventures await them now that they have in their possession both pendants which will allow them to open the gates of the Cities of Gold?

At the old Peak, Esteban, Zia and Tao find Mendoza and his two companions with Chief Kraka. Offering to guide them, Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro set off with the three children to find the Cities of Gold. But Kraka is wary of Mendoza and send Vaina along with several good soldiers to escort them. On the way the little group is attacked by the giant Urubus and their huge arrows of bronze, but they escape with the help of Vaina and his soldiers. Pressing on, the children come across a girl who has fainted on the ground. This is Lana, who is from the village of Totola and has been kidnapped by the Urubus as an offering to Pacha Mama, the Goddess of the Earth. Our friends accompany Lana to her home where they are given a warm welcome by Sabal, Lana's father. Mendoza questions Sabal about the Cities of Gold but Sabal has never heard of such a phenomenon. Our friends have hardly relaxed when the Urubus attack the village (which is built on an island of floating reeds) on rafts they have made. The Urubus bear Lana off again. In spite of Pedro and Sancho's fear of the Urubus, the children refuse to abandon their new friends. One again, Tao has a brain-wave which enables them to save the villagers and take Kuruga, chief of the Urubus, prisoner. He begs Esteban for his life and tells them that "the Oracle revealed to us that the Goddess Pacha Mama must have her sacrifice or she will pour the fire of her anger down on the Urubus". Hearing this, Tao suddenly remembers the words of Kraka, the chief of the Old Peak, who told them that it was the goddess Pacha Mama who protected the gates of the Cities of Gold. Kutuga shows them the way and our band of friends set off again, convinced that they have at last found the mountain of the Cities of Gold.

Heading for the mountains of Pacha Mama Esteban and his friends come across Kuruga who has been wounded. He is laying on the ground, abandoned by his people because he failed in his attack on the village. Taking pity on him, the children give him their water. To thank them, Kuruga tells them that the Urubus are preparing to capture Zia, to offer her up as sacrifice to Pacha Mama. He advises them to escape through the Valley of the Dead where the Urubus never dare to go. The little group crosses the valley with difficulty but manages to escape from the clutches of the Urubus. As night is falling on the Andes, Esteban suddenly notices a bright light in the sky. He is sure that it must be the star of Kogolite. According to the words of the Wise Man of the Old Peak "You must place the two medallions of the sun there, where the Sun God crosses Kogolite. The moment the two medallions leave the Moon Goddess and are placed on the chest of the Goddess of the Earth, the gate of the City of Gold will open". Finding a statue of the goddess Pacha Mama, exactly where it was indicated, Zia and Esteban lay their pendants on the chest of the statue and the wall opens. Behind, the friends see a temple where they notice a sun emblem identical to the one on the pendants. Esteban draws out the central section and a beam of bright light shines from the heart of the blazon. A giant condor of solid gold rises up in the middle of the temple. Our friends look on amazed.

Having fallen asleep beside the Great Condor, Esteban and his friends are awoken by an earthquake. While Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho head down below the temple to try to discover what is happening, Esteban and Tao climb up the condor in order to see the quip that Pichu has discovered in the giant bird's beak. Suddenly overcome by dizziness, Esteban falls into a cavity which turns out to be the control cabin of the Condor. In the meantime, Zia has deciphered the message of the quip: "A danger is closing in on town. All the inhabitants have already left for the land of the Mayas, but in the event of danger, the Great Condor will come to their aid". While this has been happening, Pedro and Sancho have discovered a secret passage which leads them all to a well bearing the mark of the Great Condor. They take the stone stairs down inside the well, where they discover a grotto and a sheet of boiling lava. They realize that it is a crater which is about to erupt and so our friends fell back to the inside of the temple as the earth trembles under their feet. Before long, the ceiling of the temple collapses and the light floods in, shining on the blazon of the wall. This blazon begins to turn and reflects the light back to the Condor. The head of the bird begins to move up and down. All the time, the walls of the temple are crumbling around them, as our friends take refuge in the control cabin of the bird. A last eruption completely destroys the town and shoots the Condor out of the temple. Hardly knowing what to do, our friends have the idea of placing their pendants on the blazon in the Condor's control cabin. This sets off a mechanism: the golden bird begins to fly and it rises up into the skies.

Esteban and his friends are flying on board the Great Condor but they have no idea of how to pilot the bird. Terrified, they eventually realize that it is following the course of the sun. At last the Condor lands on the deserted plain where Esteban sees gigantic animals etched to the ground. While the three children and Mendoza set off to examine the strange designs, Pedro an Sancho try to undo the emblem of the sun in the control cabin. In so doing, they set off a mechanism which causes a snake-like lever to appear. After pushing and pulling it, they realize that his is the control stick for the Condor. Meanwhile, Pizarro's men, who have spotted the Great Condor, surprise Esteban and his friends while they sleep. The Governor desires, above all, that Esteban would show him how he can fly the Condor. He threatens cut off the heads of Zia and Tao should he flee on board. Esteban carries out his manoeuvres and then, thanks to the cunning of Mendoza, all of the group escape once more from the grasp of Pizarro and his men who are blinded by the rays of the sun, reflected from the Condor. The Great Condor soars peacefully above the Andes, bearing our amazed friends on board.

Esteban and his friends fly towards the Old Peak, where Esteban is hoping to tell Kraka everything that has happened on the mountain of the goddess Pacha Mama and to show him the Great Condor. Mendoza for his part hopes that Kraka will show them the way to the land of the Maya. Flying over the Old Peak, our friends see that Gomez and his men have built a bridge over the valley and are preparing to attack the Fort of the Black Eagle. With the help of the Great Condor, the children destroy the bridge and cause the Spaniards to loose the cannon with which they were hoping to attack the fort. In the meantime, Kraka and the villagers have built a wall to prevent the Spanish soldiers from entering the village. Gomez and his men discover the grotto where Kraka and the villagers are hiding and they prepare to blast the wall with gunpowder. The explosion however, breaks open a fault line in the mountain and water bursts out of the ground, flooding everything and carrying all before it. At this moment, the Great Condor appears and chases off the Spanish soldiers. Reunited with Kraka, Esteban questions him about the land of the Mayas, but the chief of the Old Peak thinks that none will be able to tell them except the wise Mayuka. "Alas, I can tell you nothing about the land of the Mayas" Mayuka tells them, however "the only man who knows that country is Papakamajo of Puna". "But Mayuka" exclaims Zia, "the man of whom you speak is none other than my father". This Zia learns that her father left long ago in search of the sacred fountain of the Mayas. The young girl sets off with her friends again, in search of the land of the Mayas and of her father.

The Great Condor is flying over the Amazon forest. Esteban makes the bird fly low so that they can all admire the river. Suddenly the sky is covered with clouds that hide the sun. The Condor, no longer finding any energy on which to fly, comes lower and lower, in spite of Esteban's efforts at the controls. Finally it crash-lands in the jungle. In vain, Esteban tries to make the Condor take off. "If we don't get out this forest", says Mendoza "we will be the prey of wild beasts". At that moment a giant snake throws itself out of the water at the Condor with such force that Esteban and his friends are thrown clear. Hardly have they picked themselves up and pulled themselves together, than they meet a jaguar. To escape this new threat, the group hurries down a dark passageway formed by the foots of a gigantic tree. Thy come out into an enchanted land. While the children are admiring the view, a drum beat rings out through the forest and two warlike women appear before them: Amazons. The women summon them to follow, threatening them all the while with their weapons. The six friends are greeted by an old priestess, Omuro, who announces them that they are sacrificed to appease the wrath of the Rain God. Mendoza tells her that Esteban has the power to make the sun appear. Omuro does not believe him, but the Queen Sabbat interrupts. "Omuro, give these people a last chance. I want to see what this boy can do". Esteban begs the sun, the storm calms and Sabbat, now convinced that Esteban is really the child of the sun, decides to recognize him with all the honor due to his rank ... She receives the group with the warmest hospitality.

In the palace of the Queen Sabbat, our friends are well looked after. However, the Priestess Omuro is very hostile towards them. She tries to persuade the Queen that Esteban and his friends having failed to be executed, they would have to sacrifice Morka, the Queen's favorite to the Rain God. Morka takes refuge with Esteban and begs him to save her. She tells him how Omuro has sought to overthrow Sabbat for many years and how she is untouchable because only she has the power to speak to the Rain God and cause it to ran when she wishes. In the temple where Omuro speaks to the God, Tao discovers the device to calculate the atmospheric pressure and thus predict rainfall. He alters the machine, hoping that when Omuro discovers her deception is revealed, she will flee. For their part, Pedro, Sancho and Mendoza have found a means of escape. They get all the children onto a raft and set off for the Great Condor. Suddenly the anaconda, the Amazon's sacred snake, rears out of the water and attacks. Paola, one of the Queen's serving girls fears for the life of the Child of the Sun and kills the snake to save our friends. Omuro is furious and demands Paola's life as a sacrifice for having killed the sacred anaconda which protected the people against attacks of the Seibans who live downstream. Without this sacrifice, the city will be overcome by storm and apocalypse. Mendoza proposes a deal: "If you predictions are true, you may do with us as you will. But if your prophesies are lies and the rain does not come when you say, you will be driven from the tribe". Omuro accepts on the condition that should she prove herself right, Queen Sabbat will leave the city. But when she realizes that her machine no longer works, she decides to flee and to attack the city with the aid of the Seibans. With the help on Moon Mirror, which Queen Sabbat lends them, the children capture the sunlight which will allow the Great Condor to take flight again and to attack the Seibans.

The Great Condor flies over the sea towards the land of the Mayas. Suddenly the bird loses height. It flies down to the ground and into an immense grotto. The nose of the bird goes down to pierce an opening in the rocks, revealing a staircase that our friends proceed to climb. They come out of the grotto to find a ruined town. Esteban wonders who on earth could have built these wonderful monuments. Pichu signals that he has found something. Our friends realize it is a statue of a winged serpent, bearing an inscription which resembles the writings of the Mu people. Tao shows that the winged serpent must have been a god to the former inhabitants of the town. Carefully studying the inscriptions of the wall, Tao tells his friends, "a long time ago, in the land of the Mayas, lived a very intelligent man who knew the sky and the earth. They called him the Winged Serpent and apparently," says Tao, "he made a sort of giant oven". At these words, Mendoza leaps up and tells them that it must have been an oven for melting gold. But Tao can decipher no more. All he can say is that everything is inside the City of Gold. At this moment we hear cries of fear from Pedro and Sancho: while trying to tear a jade mask from the wall where it is encrusted, they have set off a mechanism. The walls begin to crumble, the inscriptions disappear, the ways out are closed. Fortunately Pichu finds a way out and our friends find themselves in the temple by which they entered. From what Tao could understand of the inscriptions, the Mayas had all departed for the Cities of Gold. But where are the mysterious Cities?

In spite of the previous day's adventures, Tao goes back into the underground grotto to study the mystery of the jade mask. Putting his face to the eye of the mask, Tao makes out some inscriptions that he can read. He presses on the stones indicated by the inscriptions and suddenly the ground rises up, showing a stone sarcophagus. Inside the children find a manuscript that Tao takes to read with the help of his ancestors' book. Coming out of the ruins, the children are taken prisoner by a strange couple, Dr Fernando Laguera and Marinché, who are also searching for the Cities of Gold. Seeing the manuscript Tao is holding, Marinché snatches it away and begins to read it, also having seized his golden vase. To get back his vase and the manuscript, Tao asks Pichu to undo the rope holding him prisoner with his beak. Then he frees his friends. The three children set out for the temple where the Doctor and Marinché are interpreting the manuscript. In spite of all the precautions that they take not to make any noise, the children are heard and once again captured by the couple. Fortunately Mendoza arrives in time to take on the Doctor. He threatens to cut his throat if the children are not released. The three children flee, leaving Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho to escape in their own way.

In their flight, Esteban, Tao and Zia arrive before a lake with what appears to be gold lining the bottom. To investigate, the children draw near and are soon taken by a group of Indians led by the Doctor and Marinché. The children have desecrated the holy source and must be sacrificed in a ceremony of purification. From a young Indian girl who secretly brings them food, Zia learns that her father Papacamajo has passed this way. He asked the chief Tarashingo to show him the manuscript and then continued his travels, in search of the City of Gold. Tao realizes that there is something in common between this manuscript and that which Marinché now has. In the meantime, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho, guided by Pichu, arrive at the edge of the lake to witness the ceremony of purification at the same time as the Doctor and Marinché. The chief of the village, Tarashingo, goes into the lake with his body covered in gold. The Indians then throw precious stones into the water. Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho realize that they are on an artificial wall which holds back the waters of the lake. They decide to breach the wall so that during the night the lake will empty, flooding the village and they will be able to pick up the gold and the precious stones without anyone being able to follow them. The next day, the children, prisoners in the temple, hear a great noise and are suddenly surrounded by water. Seeing Mendoza and his two companions, the children realize who has broken the dam. They escape through a crack in a wall as it begins to crumble and they join the three men, guided by Pichu who has in the meantime, got back the manuscript from Marinché. Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho are disappointed not to have got any of the gold or stones but now, armed with the precious manuscript that will lead them to the Cities of Gold, they set off with the children for new adventures.

Under a burning sun, Esteban and his friends inch forward over the plain of the land of the Mayas. They are looking for the Swamp of the Rain God that is mentioned in the manuscript. However, the Doctor and Marinché have followed them and are now trying to overtake them by following a mountainside path when suddenly they are attacked by an eagle and fall into a ravine. Esteban and his friends also come to the mountainside and are attacked by the same eagle which the Doctor shoots and kills. He then demands in return for his favor that Mendoza help him and Marinchè out of the ravine where they are trapped. Much against his will, Mendoza throws them a rope, having first take the precaution of disarming the Doctor. As Marinchè knows the region well, Mendoza orders her to guide them to the prairie that the manuscript speaks of, threatening her all the time with his weapon. Once they reach it, our friends abandon the Doctor and Marinché who calmly watch as they press on. Marinché knows that the famous prairie that Mendoza and his friends are looking for is nothing more than a treacherous swamp full of alligators. In no time, an alligator springs out of the reeds. Mendoza shoots and kills it, but they are surrounded by a whole group of beasts. Esteban and his friends try to fend them off. Eventually, in desperation, Zia suggests that thy cross the swamp on one of the giant lotus leaves that are strewn everywhere. While some of them row as hard as they can, the others continue the fight against the alligators. Soon they can see trees on the horizon and at last our friends set foot on dry land. "Here we are out of reach of the alligators" says Mendoza, "and who knows, perhaps from here we can reach the prairie". Suddenly our friends spot a huge statue. "Perhaps that is the statue the manuscripts speaks of. Perhaps that is the Rain God", suggests Zia. "We're here," confirms Tao, "this is the Swamp of the Rain God".

Having found the statue of the winged serpent, our friends continue into the forest. They hear a dreadful noise coming from the wind on the enormous cliffs that they find when they emerge. Suddenly a large rock falls from high up, just missing Mendoza, followed by many smaller ones. They escape from this avalanche and Zia then notices the entry to a grotto. Led by Esteban, our friends enter and continue till they come out into a ruined city where they find a statue. "This is certainly the city built by the winged serpent", says Tao. With no warning a huge stone falls from the top of the temple, just missing our friends. Soon they hear Zia shouting for help. She has been captured by the Doctor and Marinché who are threatening her with a knife. To save Zia's life, Mendoza has to surrender his weapons to the Doctor. The villain then takes the three children off to an identical temple to the first, where he forces Tao to read the Mays inscriptions on a statue of a jaguar. To save his friends, Tao has to comply: "When he prays into the sun, the gates of night open". The Doctor and Marinché announce that the children will remain their prisoners until such time as Tao can work out what this means. Esteban then takes his medallion and directs the captured rays of the sun into the face of the statue. The eyes of the jaguar begin to blink and the statue slowly moves, bringing into view a staircase. Followed by the villains, the children go down it. During this time, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho are still in the first temple under the watchful eye of Teteola. They trick the Indian into telling them that the children are in a temple in the forest. The three men tie up Teteola and set off to find the children. The children, meanwhile, have found an earthen statue with manuscript in its hand. The doctor goes forward to take it but the ground gives way beneath him. Esteban pushes Marinché into the same pit and Tao orders Pichu to fetch the manuscript. Leaving the temple, the children meet Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho coming to find them. Tao reeds the manuscript: "the keys to the City of Gold are hidden in the three manuscripts to be found in the three different cities". They only have to find the third, which, according to the second, is in a ruined city not far from the temple where our friends are now, in a forest of stone statues. The group sets out to find the manuscript.

On their way to the forest of stone statues, our friends spot the Doctor and Marinchè in the company of Teteola who must have freed them in the meantime. Mendoza suggests leaving them alone as they are ignorant of the second manuscript. Sancho and Pedro stop for a few moments to rest when Pichu sees something unexpected. The children follow the parrot to a huge river. Mendoza suggests that they build a raft and follow the river which seems to be flowing in the direction they want to take. Our friends float peacefully downstream until they come to some rapids. The raft is broken up but the group manages to meet again on shore where they find the stone statues. Pedro and Sancho are soon heard. They have discovered golden dust. Mendoza and the children join them and they then notice a passage in a grotto which they decide to follow. They come upon a temple where they find a statue of a plumed serpent lying shattered on the ground. Tao thinks that only a great heat could have brought such a statue down. On a large door our friends then notice engravings representing the winged serpent. Tao suggests that Esteban use his medallion to capture the sun's rays. Sure enough, they eyes of the serpent begin to glint and the door collapses, taking with is the sections of the wall on either side. Inside the temple a golden statue holds a manuscript between its hands. Pichu fetches it and gives it to Tao who interprets it for them all: "The sky will begin to boil on that day. The dust will fall to earth and huge clouds will build up over the sea". Tao is most put out: he does not understand the message. Suddenly Esteban notices that some letters of the manuscript are more visible that others. The ingenious Tao decides that they have not all been written in the same ink. He soaks the manuscript in some water and a new message appears. "To the west of the land of the Mayas, look for the mountain of the Smoking Shield". Our friends set out once more, growing closer to the City of Gold.

Heading through the jungle, Esteban and his friends spot the mountain they are seeking. They are surprised that it is neither shaped like a shield nor smoking. Suddenly Tao's vase begin to gleam, then the light around the mountain loses its glare and the vase goes dull again. Esteban wants to approach the mountain to discover the solution of this mystery. Mendoza agrees because he knows that the vase is closely linked to the Cities of Gold. The little group enters a grotto but realizes that is leads nowhere. Suddenly a torrent of water comes flooding in their direction. Pichu signals the danger and warns them to leave. Tao discovers a secret passage which they follow. It brings them to a strange place. Opposite them they see a gigantic quartz tower. Our friends do not realize that this is the base of the Olmeques. Tao's vase begins to gleam again. Suddenly they hear a voice saying that the system is not working correctly. As they are looking for a way to escape, a door closes in front of them. Turning back, they see a strange machine. Tao thinks that perhaps this is to transfer geometric energy into a motor force. Pressing on, Esteban and his friends come to a temple where they see a huge statue. A sudden voice from the depths of the statue calls to them: "Do not leave. You are welcome here. I am the god of the Olmeques. You are inside the only Olmeques base, the Apouchi base". Tao has never heard this name in the manuscripts and suggests they flee but suddenly the children are thrown to the ground. After a long while they come to, stretched out on benches. Men in hospital coats are examining them. "The three specimens are in perfect health. Their cellular growth rate is normal. By transplanting the cells of these young beings into Olmeques, we should be able to halt our own aging". Suddenly the three frightened children notice inanimate bodies lying on glass blocks. The chief of the Olmeques, Menator, explains to them that these men are not dead but have been sleeping for a long time and will now awake thanks to his new medial invention. He then orders them to be taken to their room and to be well protected. In the meantime, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho have found the children. They attack the guards and all flee the base together. They come out into a lush landscape. Mendoza recognizes the place where the Great Condor has crash-landed and he concludes that they have been going around in a circle. He takes this to men that the Cities of Gold are not far off. Suddenly a strange noise heralds the Olmeques. Mendoza suggests that they all let themselves be taken in order to discover the mysterious activities of this people. He hopes to find the bearings of the City of Gold in their base.

Inside the Olmeque base again, the friends learn that the crystal tower has properties of combining natural heat and light to produce energy. They are told that by increasing the power supply to the heart of the crystal, the Olmeques could cause the volcano to erupt and change the entire climate. Tao has heard of a similar device in the manuscripts of his people and warns the other to beware of the Olmeques. Our friends are led in front of Menator, the chief. E orders them to tell what they know of the Cities of Gold. Maina, a young Indian girl, enters with Pichu, carrying Tao's vase and his book. Menator wants to know the secret of the vase but Tao cannot tell him. Menator therefore orders his commander, Kalmeque, to bear away the men and to leave the children for the medical staff. The children protest. Tao tries to get his vase back and Esteban makes an attempt to escape but is suddenly paralyzed by a ray from the Crystal Tower. Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho are sent to clean out the evacuation tank and the children are led off by the nurses. Then Menator orders the children to be placed in a state of hibernation: the children are too noisy and might hurt themselves, holding up the experiments the Olmeques which to conduct on them. We hear from a conversation between two Olmeques that their aim is to find the Cities of Gold because their experiments need so much of the precious mineral. Emptying out the tank of mud and dirty water, Mendoza and his two friends realize that it is an evacuation drain. They know their Olmeque guard out and flee, meeting Maina on the way. She tells them where the children are and also tells them how she is really a Maya, kidnapped from her village and now a slave to the Olmeques. She begs the three men to take her with them. Mendoza sets off to save the children who have by now been places under glass blocks. Arriving in front of the guarded entrance, he spies Pichu and gets the bird to distract the guards' attention. Mendoza then enters the base. In the meantime, the nurses have tried to start the hibernation machine but this has not worked. Mendoza has sabotaged the operation by altering levers which causes several Olmeques to electrocute themselves. In the flurry, Mendoza rescues the children and flees with them, cunningly escaping from the Olmeques. Pedro and Sancho come to meet them. Leaving the grotto they find a torrent into which they all fall, free again.

Our friends are fleeing from the Olmeques but are surrounded. Suddenly a shower of arrows attacks the Olmeques, who scatter. The little group's saviors are Wanacocha, Maina's fiancée, and his men. Wanacocha's tribe, Maina explains, is the only one to have sworn to oppose the Olmeques by any means. They call themselves the "New Hear of the Mayas". Wanacocha is suspicious of the three Spaniards, but Maina vouches for them. Wanacocha leads them all to his village. Maina explains that her father chose the site of the village to be safe from the Olmeques. She adds that really he is her adoptive father, who arrived in their village five years ago and took her on because she had no parents. She claims that he is as knowledgeable as a Spaniard and has traveled a great deal. Mendoza reasons that his man might know something about the Cities of Gold but Wanacocho explains that no stranger may go near him. Our friends are royally welcomed in the village where Wanacocha's people live and they dine excellently. Wanacocha goes to see the old chief, bestridden with disease. Wanacocha explains to him ho he wishes to attack the Olmeques in order to stir up the other tribes but the old man begs him to wait until he is better. Meanwhile, at the base of the Olmeques, Marinché and the Doctor are prisoners. Marinché tells Menator that they have come in friendship to offer the gift of a golden statue they have found. It is, of course, the Great Condor that they have found and which they need help to move. Back in Wanacocha's village, Esteban and Zia pick medicinal herbs for Maina's father and sadly think about their own respective fathers. Pedro and Sancho decide that night to go and see the old chief in order to learn something about the cities of Gold. With their usual clumsiness, they are seen however, and Wanacocha, furious to have been abused, has them and all the others imprisoned. Learning from the guards that they are to be executed and that the Great Condor is in the hands of the Olmeques, Mendoza decides to flee, whatever the cost. He orders Sancho and Pedro to set their cabin on fire to distract the guards. Our friends then flee and so Zia has no time to meet her father Papacamayo, who, it has turned out, is the old chief.

The Olmeques, armed with torches, head for Wanacocha's village to attack it. The children are separated from Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho in their flight. In the jungle they come across Gomez and Gaspard, whom they believed to be dead. These two have left Pizarro and are searching for the Cities of Gold themselves. The children tell them that Mendoza has been killed by the Olmeques. To revenge him, the two Spaniards suggest that they go and retrieve the Great Condor. Mendoza and his two friends have returned to Wanacocha's village. When they learn that Zia is Papacamayo's daughter, they decide to go and look for her. But the Olmeques attack. Mendoza offers his aid to the villagers by building a barrier across the passage which leads to the village. Meanwhile Marinché and the Doctor have led the Olmeques to the Great Condor. They are frightened away, however, by Gomez and Gaspard and the cannon that they have stolen from Pizarro's army. While Gaspard fights off the Olmeques the others climb on board the Great Condor, They wait for the sun to rise and then, with the aid of the sun's power, they take off. The Olmeques are terrified to see a statue fly and they flee for their lives. Gomez and Gaspard, clinging to the condor as it rises, are thrown clear and land in a tree. The situation at Wanacoch's village is desperate: the old chief Papacamayo rises from his bed to help fight but is severely wounded. At that moment, the Great Condor appears in the sky, and the Olmeques flee, terrified.

The Great Condor lands at the village of the tribe of the New Sun. A crowd has gathered around Papacamayo and Mendoza tells the children that the chief is wounded. Recognising her father, Zia falls into his arms. Papacamayo tells her that he will now reveal the secret of the Cities of Gold. First he tells how all began when Pizarro discovered the golden quip. Searching for the High Priest who could interpret it for him, Papacamayo, Pizarro had the old man's village attacked and the people massacred. Zia was carried off by the soldiers and only Papacamayo escaped. Since then, he had taken it on himself to find the Cities of Gold before the Spaniards. Papacamayo tells them that the entrance to the City is to be found between the Mountain and the three ruined cities. He warns them that inside the great temple of gold, they will find an inestimable treasure that must, in no event, fall into the hands of the Olmeques. His secret told, Papacamayo dies, to Zia's great distress. Meanwhile in the Olmeque's base there is panic as they are running low of energy in their crystal tower. They must find the treasure hidden in the Cities of Gold in order to continue their work. In the village of the New Sun, Papacamayo's funeral rites are observed. Then Wanacocha, Esteban and Tao set off to try to persuade the other Maya chiefs to join their combat against the Olmeques. But in vain: Wanacocha and his men must fight alone. The children, however, all pledge their allegiance and Mendoza too is willing to help, if only to prove how a Spaniard too can do battle. Finally all the Maya tribes change their minds in order to rid themselves once and for all of the Olmeque terror.

At dawn the Mayas attack. Tao and Esteban in the village prepare the Great Condor to do battle too. Things are going badly for the Mayas at the Olmeque base when Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho arrive with their two hastily constructed combat towers, such things as none there has ever seen before. The Mayas take heart and join their allies the three Spaniards in the towers. The battle continues. Meanwhile, Gaspard and Gomez arrive at the village and spot the Great Condor. They try to force the children to fly them to the City of Gold but are outwitted by the children and the Maya women. Esteban, Tao and Zia take off in the Condor for the Olmeque base, with the two Spaniards clinging on the bird for dear life. At the Olmeque base, things are not going well and one of the towers is on fire. When the Olmeques see the Great Condor however, they begin to lose their nerves. Tao and Esteban release the stones they are carrying as bombs and the Olmeques panic, fleeing into their base. Inside, Menator does not despair, as he promises his commander Kalmeque a "hidden power". Outside the Great Condor lands. Gaspard and Gomez release their grip and drop the ground where they try to collect their wits. Esteban, Zia and Tao disembark and wait for Wanacocha and his men who have invaded the base.

Esteban, Zia and Tao are waiting outside the base when Gaspard and Gomez take them by surprise and demand to be taken to the Cities of Gold. Meanwhile, Wanacocha arrives to announce their victory to Mendoza, but the latter becomes very anxious when he cannot see the children anywhere. The three children and their two captors have in face entered the base in search of Menator. Gaspard and Gomez believe that he can show them the way to the Cities. Mendoza lures them all deeper and deeper into the base until they reach the hibernation room. At last, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho come to their rescue, but they are not in time to prevent Zia being borne off by Menator as his captive. A terrible earthquake suddenly reduces the Olmeque base and the mountain of the Smoking Shield to rubble. Our friends escape, but without Zia. All of a sudden, they see an interplanetary capsule rising from the ruins into the air.

As the Olmeque war machine rises into the air from the depths of the temple, the Maya soldiers flee, terrified. It begins to wreak havoc with its beams of powerful light. Esteban, Tao and Mendoza hurry back up towards the Great Condor, determined to free Zia even though they still have no idea how, with their unarmed Condor against the Olmeque machine. An unequal combat is engaged in the air between the two flying machines. The condor then flies overhead of the Olmeque machine and Esteban and Tao drop down on the top of it, where they manage to find an entrance so they can work their way in towards the control cabin. Mendoza, however, is having trouble at the controls of the Condor and has to crash-land in the forest. The enemy machine lands nearby and the Olmeques leave their craft to go and investigate. Meanwhile, Esteban and Tao dispose of the pilots and Tao takes the controls. Unaccustomed to this new machine, Tao's attempts to take off soon attract Menator's attention. He sends Kalmeque to investigate. A desperate fight with daggers ensues. Esteban flees into the room where Menator is keeping Zia captive. Esteban holds Menator at sword point when the Olmeques break in and Esteban and Zia have to flee through a porthole. They plunge into the lake over which the machine is flying, escaping from the Olmeque clutches but leaving Tao prisoner.

Mendoza, having crash-landed the condor, has escaped to find Pedor and Sancho. He explains to his two friends how he has spotted an island in the lake at the exact spot indicated by Papacamayo as the site of the City of gold. But Menator too has spotted the island. Esteban and Zia reach the island after escaping from the Olmeque craft and they are welcomed by the Indians there. A masked High Priest explains how they were expected and leads them to the Gate of the City. Gaspard and Gomez meanwhile, set out to swim to the island. Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro have had the same idea, and leaving Wanacocha to find reinforcements from his village, begin to swim. As the High Priest is showing Esteban and Zia the Gate that they alone can open with their pendants, the Olmeque machine approaches the exterior gate. Menator demands that access be granted them and threatens the life his prisoner Tao, swinging him out of the flying machine, suspended on a slender rope. Only Esteban can make the decision to open. He agrees, provided Menator frees Tao first. Menator agrees. Esteban and Zia now open the gates as the High Priest tells them the history of the Cities and the pendants, explaining the destruction of the mighty civilizations that built them. Esteban and Zia enter the gate and marvel at the wonderful sight before them: a City of Gold.

Menator orders the separation of the Olmeqque machine. One segment destroys the outer Gate of the City of Gold. Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho seize their opportunity to enter. Inside the city, Kalmeque demands the secret of the Great Olmeque Inheritance. Fighting beaks out between the Olmeques and the children, but Mendoza comes to the rescue just in time to hold Kalmeque off the brave young people, Through treachery, however, Kalmeque knifes the High Priest in the back. Menator arrives and together the villains seize the Great Olmeque Inheritance, a vase like Tao's, set in a transparent column. In so doing , however, they set off a security device that proceeds to the destruction of the city. Menator is wounded but he and Kalmeque escape in their flying machine back to the Olmeque base. Our friends regroup and are overjoyed to be met by Wanacocha with Maina, who has brought Tao's vase, and by Pichu the parrot.

Menator and Kalmeque regain their base and set up the vase, the Great Olmeque Inheritance, as their eternal source of power. In the City of Gold, the Hight Priest is most anxious. He knows that the Olmeque's Great Inheritance has been treated wrongly and that as a result all life will be destroyed. The only way to prevent such disaster, he tells our friends, is the vase. They make a stretcher for the Priest, so seriously wounded by Kalmeque, and the children then bear him to the Mountain of the Smoking Shield. Already the ill-effects of the Heritage are to be seen as toxic gases are killing plants and animals. The Priest orders the children to turn back and he continues alone. Meanwhile, Mendoza has learned from the guardians of the City of Gold that the High Priest is none other than Esteban's father. But Mendoza keeps this to himself, knowing that the news would be too much for Esteban to bear. The High Priest goes into the Olmeque base and manages to place Tao's vase in the center of the Inheritance. He is immediately destroyed by the blinding light which erupts. The next morning, the City of Gold has completely disappeared. Sancho is heartbroken to have taken none of the gold but Mendoza has a fine surprise for him. He had time to pick up a few ingots, enough for them to be able to achieve wealth and great success at home. Esteban, Tao and Zia decide to continue on their adventures and find the other six Cities of Gold, while Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho will return home to Spain. They agree to go their separate ways but to meet again soon in the tavern in Barcelona where they all met for the very first time.