Boundless Hope

This exhilarating travel memoir takes readers through shipwrecks, border wars, snakebites and love affairs, revealing a remarkable portrait of adventure that crosses ten countries in the mid-1950s. The story beings in the 1950s as Israel Valderrama, a young man from a tiny village in Colombia, sets off to seek his fortune in Medellin. After meeting a group of Boy Scouts and hearing about a World Jamboree of Scouts in Niagara Falls, Canada, Valderrama takes his bicycle and sets out on a wild adventure through ten countries— Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States and, finally, Canada. Over the nine-month trip through mountains, forests, jungles, desert and cities, Valderrama tells of escapades and misadventures, friendship and love, as he is stuck on a capsized boat with missionaries, caught in border gunfights in Costa Rica and bitten by a rattlesnake in Mexico. Accompanied by photos documenting the journey, this memoir paints a remarkable portrait of life and discovery.