Interspersed with tales of his gloriously misspent youth, one of the hardest-working hippies of his generation recounts the genesis of his remarkable achievement--the creation of an eco-sensitive tourist lodge in Peru's Amazon jungle.
In the sixties, he should have been murdered in Lower Manhattan, should have drowned in a borrowed pleasure boat, and should have been murdered again hitchhiking across America. In the nineties, he should have been overwhelmed by the jungle, by the river, and by loneliness. Norm Walters is apparently a holy fool who never bothered to check his odds, and thus overcame them. I'm glad he took notes.

I loved and can’t wait for the next book. I was part of study groups traveling to the Amazon. Loved the Yacumamma Lodge and fascinating to hear Norman share the challenges of building it!!

Norman Walters chronicles his long and often hair-raising mid-life adventure, collaborating with some tough denizens of the Peruvian Amazon to build an eco-lodge in their midst. He shares his tale in his inborn American-guy jargon, as if he were talking with you over a couple of beers. I love this story for its honesty and authenticity, and for the sheer grit and architectural expertise required to see a project of this complexity through to completion, natural dangers and cultural differences notwithstanding. And, like a friend telling a tale over a beer, he occasionally digresses to his wild youth and previous marriages, further illustrating in the process his relationships to the people in the main narrative.