The Sunbaked Tin Can

A "Death Train" chugging through a remote, dense jungle. A run-in with an anaconda. A crushing bout of typhoid fever. Yet, with all its many unexpected hazards and holdups, a trip to Bolivia was a life-changing success for two adventuresome brothers in search of Spanish lessons and new cultural insights.

"The Sunbaked Tin Can," told to many of his students as The Chicken Story, is F.P. Nieman's enthralling account of an incredible journey across Bolivia with his older brother in 1980. What started out as a well-laid plan to learn the Spanish language immediately devolved into a high-flying, perilous adventure that was rife with every possible hassle, from combatting marauding mosquitos to evading armed militia. As the two young men negotiated uncharted cultural waters and forbidding terrain, they encountered the gamut of human experience, from humor to danger, from failure to conquest, and from struggle to survival.

A must-read for anyone who craves lighthearted armchair travel with a hair-raising twist, "The Sunbaked Tin Can" is a true, adrenalin-spiked travel adventure that will get your blood pumping, and amp up your wanderlust. Fasten your seatbelt, read it, and enjoy the ride