ORINOCO ADVENTURE

by Hector Acebes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 18, 1954

The literary limitations of Senor Acebes' account of his explorations in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela are forgotten in the highly fascinating contents, as he takes us into the never- never land of the llanos the jungle, the Orinoco. Senor Acebes began his romance with the dangerous unknown at fifteen, in 1938, when he shunned a peaceful summer at home in Bogota for the desolate llanos. There he first saw Catani, the provocative beauty who reappears in his travels as a devilish mistress of many men and finally a respectable and loving wife of a rich Rio de Janeiro gentleman. She adds further excitement to a brew of nature's creatures and natives' customs already intoxicating in itself. Encounters with piranhas, boa constrictors, anacondas; descriptions of the ways and effects of the bushmaster, black scorpion, death moth bring the sense of the jungle to the reader. Senor Acebes gives an eyewitness account of a Jivaros headshrinking, a Desano funeral, and throws into his pot numerous other carefully noted customs. His skill, courage, and patience are always evident, and only once does he reveal anger, the anger of a cheated man. For on his trip to discover the headwaters of the Orinoco, when he had made friends with the much maligned Guaicas, (a pre stone age people) he felt, and was within a hundred miles of his goal. He was called back to civilization by the man who would later find the headwaters; with his own funds gone, he could not return, while the discoverer could use public funds. Delightful raconteuring with features to draw the amateur anthropologist and the naturalist and adventure-minded stay-at-homes.

Pub Date: Feb. 18, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION