Chasing El Dorado

Get ready for a risk-taking rollercoaster ride through the favelas of Rio Di Janeiro and  the wayside towns and jungles of South America in search of the secrets of shamans and ayahuasca – the vine of the soul. Aaron Smith’s often hilarious chronicle of love, danger and enlightenment, set in the one of most vibrant places on earth, is a true delight. Whether Aaron is being held at gunpoint in Rio, stranded on the Amazon River; interviewing musician Peter Gabriel for The Iquitos Times, dancing the samba at Carnival with the 60 Minutes team, undergoing initiation as a Matsés warrior, tripping the light fantastic, or falling in love with his beautiful Brazilian wife-to-be, you are bound to ‘experience’, along with him, more than a glimmer of gold. Like William Burroughs before him, Smith is on a journey to save his soul, but instead falls headfirst into the rich kaleidoscope of South American culture and ultimately discovers the truth that lies deep in the jungle or, sometimes, even closer to home. Praise for Aaron’s previous book, Shanti Bloody hanti: An Indian Odyssey

‘The narrative of this spiritual quest/drug-fuelled odyssey is striking and even lyrical, and the tension builds rapidly to a haunting end.’ —Ravi Shenoy, Library Journal ‘Smith's tale is part travelogue, part psychedelic journey, part coming-of-age, and strangely engrossing.’ —Publishers Weekly