Amazon woman : facing fears, chasing dreams, and a quest to kayak the world's largest river from source to sea / Darcy Gaechter.

Includes bibliographical references.

Losing Midge in the dam site -- The team -- But why do it? -- The source -- Don versus Midge round one -- Lies and half-truths -- Midge's escape -- Unconsciously entering the red zone -- The asháninka -- Legacy of the shining path -- The Midge wars -- Vollyeball with set me free -- We'll never make it -- Swimming in santarém -- Sticking it out with Midge -- Just out of reach -- The ocean -- What it all means.

Part memoir, part feminist manifesto, Amazon Woman shows what incredible feats we are capable of and will encourage people, especially women, across all backgrounds and ages to find the courage and strength to live the life they've imagined. This 148-day journey began on Darcy Gaetcher's 35th birthday. She sold her successful outdoor adventure business, upsetting her partner and boyfriend of twelve years and getting them both fired in the process. The emotional waters that would fester and erupt on the ensuing journey were often more challenging to navigate than the mighty river itself. With blistered lips and irradiated fingernails, Darcy would tackle raging Class Five whitewater for twenty-five days straight, barely surviving a dynamite-filled canyon being prepared for a new hydroelectric plan. She and her two companions would encounter illegal loggers, narco-traffickers, murderous Shining Path rebels, and ruthless poachers in the black market trade in endangered species. They would plead for mercy at the hands of the murderous Asháninka people who were convinced that they had come to steal their children's organs. In a desperate attempt meant to give her some pretense of control, Darcy even cut off all her hair before entering Peru's notoriously dangerous Red Zone in hopes of passing for a boy and being seen as less of a target. At once a heart-pounding adventure and a celebration of pushing personal limits, Amazon Woman speaks to all of us feeling trapped by our desk-bound, online society. This a story of finding the courage and strength to challenge nature, cultures, social norms, and oneself.