What is the Biggest Travel Adventure You Have Never Heard of Until Now?

Hello my fellow Travel Buddies. I know many of you are thinking of your next good travel adventure. Let me share this with you. I believe the biggest travel adventure you have not considered could be the 10th annual Great Amazon River Raft Race held in Iquitos Peru from Sept 20th to Sept. 22nd, 2008. This race would be in the Guinness's Book of World Records but they do not have a category this race fits in. None the less, it is the longest raft race in the world, on the largest river in the world...navigated on balsa log rafts, and tied together with jungle vines that you build yourselves. Out side of that, it is just another day at the office.

The Great Amazon River Raft Race starts upstream from where the Amazon River begins. Three days later, and over 118 miles downstream is the finish line in Iquitos Peru. Because Iquitos is encircled by rivers and rainforest, there are no roads going to or from civilization, making it the most isolated city in the world.

Part of the challenge is to customize your raft for balance, buoyancy, and to streamline it to minimize drag. Teamwork is very important. Crews can work against each other and not even realize it. A team leader should be appointed to help direct the rest of the crew. Possibly the most important challenge is to learn to read the current and stay in the fastest channel. Finally, stamina is what will finish the race. Don't worry about winning, finishing the race is winning.

The race is organized by the Amazon Raft Club. Their official blog site is;
The Great River Amazon Raft Race Blog
There are already several comments on that blog by rafters making plans for the great race. At least 3 teams are using the Great River Amazon Raft Race to raise money for their favorite charity by attracting sponsors. That seems like a great idea to me.

It is an honor to win the International Teams division. Something that has never happened is for the International rafters to beat the Native rafters. Now that would be a great honor. The Natives always beat the Internationals by over three hours. I would like to see a team of adventurous athletic  gringos come to Iquitos a month before the race, build a practice raft and learn to read the currents, maximize team work, gain stamina, and give the Indigenous teams a run for their money.

It is not easy to find four members for a team (crazy enough...) in your hometown. If you are interested in this big travel adventure, leave a comment here or on the Amazon Raft Club Blog, and maybe I can help combine one or two paddlers from a country or state, with one or two paddlers from another country or state to make a team. The Great Amazon River Raft Race is the biggest travel adventure you had not heard of until now. Now you know. What are you going to do about it?

Dawn on the Amazon

If you have found this post to be interesting, tell your friends about the Great Amazon River Raft Race 2008. It could be very helpful if you use the social bookmark icons to Digg or StumbleUpon, Living in Iquitos Peru. A couple of Diggs, and a couple of Stumbles can easily bring several hundred new readers to TravBuddy, and to my blog, Living in Iquitos Peru. I will be making regular updates about my adventures on the Amazon River, and in the rainforest. Please subscribe to the RSS feed so you do not miss out on any more travel adventures. Thank you, Bill