Paddle to the Amazon: A Father and Son's Incredible Canoe Trip from Winnipeg to the Amazon River - Softcover

Don Starkell

4.3

975 ratings by Goodreads

9780804109338: Paddle to the Amazon: A Father and Son's Incredible Canoe Trip from Winnipeg to the Amazon River

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804109338 ISBN 13: 9780804109338

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1992

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It was crazy. It was unthinkable. It was the adventure of a lifetime.

When Don and Dana Starkell left Winnipeg in a tiny three-seater canoe, they had no idea of the dangers that lay ahead. Two years and 12,180 miles later, father and son had each paddled nearly twenty million strokes, slept on beaches, in jungles and fields, dined on tapir, shark, and heaps of roasted ants.

They encountered piranhas, wild pigs, and hungry alligators. They were arrested, shot at, taken for spies and drug smugglers, and set upon by pirates. They had lived through terrifying hurricanes, food poisoning, and near starvation. And at the same time they had set a record for a thrilling, unforgettable voyage of discovery and old-fashioned adventure.

"Courageous . . . Exciting and always immediate." -- The New York Times Book Review

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From Publishers Weekly:

In 1980, the author and his two teenage sons embarked on a canoe trip from Winnipeg to Belem, Brazil, where the Amazon meets the Atlantic. One son, discouraged, returned to Canada from Mexico, but Starkell and his other son went on, completing the trip in two years. Traveling 12,000 miles on rivers and open seas in their 21-foot canoe, they encountered every conceivable obstacle--wild animals, hostile natives, near-starvation, terrifying ocean weather, arrest, robbery, illness and despair. They also met many sympathetic people who encouraged them and helped them survive. Starkell's story, in diary form, focuses on contrasts between wilderness and civilization, poverty and luxury, suspicion and trust, depression and elation. It is a curious account of the world observed by two people with minimal supplies depending on their wits and the good will of strangers as they brave the forces of nature and the vagaries of people in unfamiliar countries. Author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Starkell, 47, and his two teenage sons set out by canoe from their home in Winnipeg, Canada in June 1980. Two years and 12,192 miles later two of them (one son dropped out) arrived in Belem at the mouth of the Amazon, having paddled some 20 million strokes. They camped and shared with natives; survived ocean capsizes, salt sores, robberies, and arrest. To do the whole trip by human power only developed a "stirring sense of connection with the great river travellers of history." Most of all, it meant fulfilling a dream and realizing abilities they didn't know they had--together. A humble but stirring account, recommended for all types of libraries, this complements Joe Kane's expedition journey, Running the Amazon (LJ 5/15/89).
- Roland Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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