| You Can Run: Gay, Glam, and Gritty Travels in South America (Out in the World) (Out in the World) | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 15 reviews)
Sales Rank: 188608
Category: Book
Author: Jesse Archer
Publisher: Haworth Press
Studio: Haworth Press
Manufacturer: Haworth Press
Label: Haworth Press
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 244
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 156023654X
Dewey Decimal Number: 918
EAN: 9781560236542
ASIN: 156023654X
Publication Date: May 30, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Book Description
From Machu Picchu to a cocaine purchase in a Bolivian jail--and beyond! How do you rough it in extreme South American travels and still dare to be different? You Can Run: Gay, Glam, and Gritty Travels in South America follows the intrepid and fantastic--and totally true--adventures of flamboyant gay men through the gritty rough and tough of South America. Author Jesse Archer and his American boyfriend Zane spent nearly two years traveling the continent in search of adventure. And find it they did. Discover incredible individuals like Patricia the pink lady, the Wolfman of Borneo, and Santusa the fanged Chola of a different color. Thrill to the astounding experiences of dodging crocodiles, doing a striptease for a Colombian bathroom bitch, admiring exultant transsexuals caught in a rainstorm, and navigating the most dangerous road in the world. This wild travel chronicle takes you through the real South America with wit, wisdom--and a hot pink wig! An excerpt from You Can Run: Gerardo runs off to buy the meat for baiting piranha and then we're in his tin boat out on the choppy Amazon. The humidity and heat on the earth's surface here seems to bounce back into the sky and burst, returning a downpour of rain. Luckily Gerardo's tin can has a roof. Yet for some reason we aren't headed to the jungle, but downriver to a shantytown along the bank. I ask where we are going and Gerardo feebly utters something in Portuguese. I can't make it out. Zane is now convinced I've employed a waterfront gangster. We pull up to a shoddy pier of three planks supported by timbers that rot in the lapping water. "We should have gone with the other one!" Zane decries my flagrant frugality. "See? There's his accomplice." When Gerardo reappears outside the shack with another man Zane announces he hates to be killed with a cheapskate like me. "I'm gonna die, washed up over there with all that trash, my body all white and fat and . . . bloated!" zane has exercised too much in his life to die bloated. Dying bloated has just become the worst of all fates. Zane gasps earnestly to his active imagination. "Oh God, please not bloated!" You Can Run is a funny, piercing, and poignant examination of memorable outcasts in the third world. Follow some of travel's most different adventure seekers--extreme travelers with a lot of sparkle!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 A missed opportunity... August 12, 2008
On the positive side, Mr. Archer is to be commended for being an unconventional and adventurous traveler. He stays away from the typical tourist haunts and shows us a South America rarely seen by Fodors and Frommer, much less by the A-list queens who won't venture outside of the discos in Buenos Aires. Alas, he was not well-served by his editor (or did he even have one?). The book reads too much like hundreds of blog postings pasted together. Entertaining at times, yes..., but blogs are usually worth a 10 minute read, not five hours worth. I was disappointed that Mr. Archer did not delve more deeply into the characters of the persons that he met on the way. Everyone, including Mr. Archer's long time boyfriend-ex-boyfriend are mere caricatures. I am afraid that this was a squandered opportunity.
 You Can Run May 20, 2008
This fast-reading non-fiction portrays the author and and his companions in a two-year odyssey, traveling seven countries of South America. These fast-reading encounters are narrated with rare insights of a personal nature along with the attractions of the land, back-packing on a shoe string.
The sights of these Latin countries are presented with a refreshing, unusual point of view. Most episodes are humorous. Some are not-so-pleasant, even downright frightening. I enjoyed the book thoroughly.
 Funny, smart and real! May 18, 2008
Made me laught outloud!!! A great journey trought South America and the life of Jesse Archer. Looking foward to read more colums and books from him.
A Wild Ride August 9, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
How many times have you resisted the urge to just take off when you felt trapped, frustrated or bored with your life? Jesse Archer didn't resist. He took off for South America and stayed almost two years. This hair-raising, often hilarious, and heartfelt book is a startlingly candid account of his intrepid travels and uproarious escapades.
Everyone should read this book for its vivid and sometimes appalling vignettes of what life is like for people living on the margins, out in the Amazon, way up in the Andes or in some urban barrio. Archer didn't just observe the life from a tour bus. Because he was traveling on a shoestring, he lived it. And there's a double journey in the book: the wild travel adventures across the South American continent, and also a wild journey of the heart.
But the book is far from being all third-world misery and messy personal emotions. As I said, it's both hair-raising and hilarious. Ever had a live alligator hauled into your boat? And wait `till you read about Archer's impromptu striptease in front of the toilet paper lady.
If you're not going to actually break free from your own life and light out for the hinterlands, buy this book, and travel along with Jesse Archer. He's such a good writer, it's the next best thing.
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Transports you to SA August 7, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved this book and read it non-stop. I started reading it while I was on vacation in Miami - I was reading it before going to bed, near the pool, in the pool.... I would finally stop reading and feel like I'd been in another place - it would take a few seconds to get my bearing. Fun, smart stories with an overarching story throughout the book. Highly recommended.
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