This is an adventure. Jerry Pace, botanist and burn victim, is dragged into an expedition to a remote mountain in Venezuela to follow the trail of the Spanish in 1559. His best friend, Hector, and a woman who is paying for the trip convinced him he he might find a plant that has been extinct for sixty million years. But life is not always so simple.

Following the map left by the Spanish, they make their way up the Orinoco River, suffering setbacks along the way. Pace is ready to turn back but Hector, the historian, wants to finish the dangerous trek, even after he nearly drowned and the team lost most of their supplies.

It is a good story, though it did have a slow start. Oehler spent too much time getting them on the river, but otherwise a good read. It is not going to change your life though.

Mike Lawrence