THOR HEYERDAHL: KON TIKI

Is there a greater classic among adventure books than the reckless Thor Heyerdahl’s story about a 104 day long raft ride through the Pacific in 1947? It is just as crazy as it is heroic and makes your jaw drop everytime. The 6 men fighting the elements on a hand-made balsa wood vesel are at the mercy of the acient Gods of South America and the Pacific. Encounters with wonderful Verne-like creatures of the sea bring the Pacific to life. Squids and giant sharks are right under your feet, fish and octopus fly into your face daily. You just have to put your toothbrush in the water and a fish bites on it vehemently. Myths accompany the Scandinavian crew all the way, it’s an uplifting tale of a pursuit of dreams. Mandatory for armchair explorers. I am prepared to fight everyone who says it’s a children’s book.

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OUR HERO THOR HEYERDAHL

DERVLA MURPHY

So increadibly little is available about Irish Dervla Murphy who is one of the humblest traveler of the XXth Century. I have read her book about Ethiopia (In Ethiopia With a Mule) and was thrilled by her monk like solitude and persistance. She travelled the world in the ’60s all by herself, stubbornly fighting the elements and going to the edge of her strenght many times when faced with extreme climatical challenges. As far as I know other travel diaries are available from her with exotic destinations. Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, Eight Feet in the Andes and Muddling through in Madagascar just to name a few. Check them all out here. She was an especially hard lady I would care to know more about. Her most biographical work (Through Siberia by Accident) should give interesting clues about her motives and nature. Read in One foot in Laos here!

  

ERNESTO GUEVARA: THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

After the film came out I read the book to see how great material Che Guevara’s diary really is. I found it a bit hard to read somehow but finished it nevertheless. Unfortunately it is rare that I come across travel reading from Latin America. It is such an amazing continent with many secrets. (I must look it up! )

The Motorcycle Diaries lacked a touch of colourfullness for me, but I guess the whole point is just how underdevelopped these parts were at the time.  It is also truly interesting to read the thoughts of a young man who has no idea about the course his life takes later on.