National Geographic Adventure Mag.: Readers share their best trip photos and takeaway tips in our "Life's an Adventure" Reader Photo Album.

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"Life's an Adventure" Reader Photo Album

Friends & Family: Floating Peru's Ucayali River, reader John Costa and two fellow firefighters lived like the locals on a backwater tour of Latin America.

"Midway through my five-week trip into Latin America with fellow Mendocino National Forest wildland firefighters Timo Ripatti and Chas Pratt, we decided to journey from Pucallpa to Iquitos, Peru. There are no roads that go to Iquitos, so we traveled down the Ucayali River, a main headstream of the Amazon, on a lancha boat. Lanchas are used for transporting people and their families between the numerous villages along the river. To make the four-day river trip more comfortable, we bought these hammocks at a local market to use as our sleeping quarters. While on the boat, we became friends with the other travelers and chatted about our families, where we were from, where we were going, what we do for a living."

—John Costa, 27
Firefighter
Chico, California

DIY: "About half of our trip was planned in consultation with the Lonely Planet guidebook to South America," says Costa, whose group hit Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. To take a lancha boat between Iquitos and Pucallpa, leave from the port of La Hoyada, Pucalpillo, or Mercado Uno. Food is included in the approximately $20 a day fare, but you'll have to bring your own water. Keep your valuables close as there's nowhere to stash them on board.

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Photograph courtesy of John Costa

Additional Excerpts

From the print edition, June/July 2005

• Great Parks 2005: Super Tours, Spectacular Lodges

The Sierra Skyway

Red Rock Route

10 Spectacular Lodges of the Great Parks

• **Win a Safari: Find out how you could win a safari for two by participating in the Muddy Buddy race or attending the screenings of Emmanuel's Gift.

• Steroids on Everest: Some climbers are using them to cope with altitude sickness, but at what price?

• Guns 'n' Butter: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Philip Caputo talks about his new novel, Acts of Faith.

• Pelton's World: Our man on the scene tells when to fight or take flight.

• Croatia By Sea: Contributing Editor Jon Bowermaster's dispatches from sea kayaking along the Dalmatian Coast.

• "Life's an Adventure" Reader Photo Album: See readers' photos and submit your own.

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