Amazon Hitchhiker: A Woman's Adventures from Canada to Brazil

by Alycin Hayes

#1 New Release Best Seller on Amazon

"A fascinating adventure...”
- Adventure She Magazine Editor Jane Harries

“ Move over Indiana Jones, you have met your match! ”
- author Leo Hines

In this extraordinary true story of adventure and survival, follow Alycin Hayes in Amazon Hitchhiker on her harrowing journey as she hitchhikes alone from Canada south into the rivers and mystical rainforests of the wild Amazon Basin.

Pursuing her dream, she travels solo in the 1970's across the USA, Mexico and Central America to South America where she buys an old dugout canoe thinking she can paddle from Colombia to Brazil on the Amazon River.

Without enough food or even a map, she soon discovers the Amazon rainforest is not the idyllic paradise she imagined. Undaunted, she forges her way through this challenging trip, facing life-threatening obstacles, while falling in love along the way.

With candid honesty and a lifesaving sense of humor, Hayes has written an account of her travels you won't be able to put down.

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 3, 2021

About the author

Alycin Hayes is a writer of prose and poetry, an actress, filmmaker, and songwriter originally from Canada
.
Her delightful children’s book “Milo & The Mustang” won the R. Morrow Book Award for "Great Kid Books for Road Trips'.

Her internationally acclaimed adventure travel memoir, “Amazon Hitchhiker: A Woman’s Adventures from Canada to Brazil'' was a new release best seller on Amazon.

Coming out in early 2026, "Come Back Maya!" is a lively children’s picture book starring Bea the beaver and Maya the salmon. The two become best friends who love to explore, play, and adventure together. As their story unfolds, young readers will naturally discover how beavers and salmon help one another and work together to keep our rivers and forests healthy.

Reviews

[B.M. Dawes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alycin’s adventures in 70’s through Central then South America is a true journey of self-discovery and survival. The sheer spontaneity and last minute decisions and choices made ie ‘Let’s canoe down the mighty Amazon with no plan and no real supplies.’ Fascinating portrayal of how the land lay all those years ago, with native Amazonian tribes, lack of development and real feeling of freedom. The book portrays how difficult and daring these earlier travails were trod before the many that have gone after-including Jaguar, Caimans, snakes, spiders and lost tribes. I felt melancholy that these wonderful natures couldn’t be preserved to a greater extent for this youth to attempt and enjoy! A well written, fascinating read and hopefully will inspire others to travel and seek new adventures. Highly recommend!

[John McFadzean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful adventure story. Amazon Hitchhiker is a well-written, easy-to-read, and inspirational story of the author's solo adventures through Central and South America in the 1970s. Back in the days before the internet and mobile phones. A glimpse of the past in foreign lands. I loved the whole book although I was particularly inspired by Alycin's river trips by canoe through the rainforest. Highly recommended.

[joanne d. saxe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid!

A wonderful journey into the spirit of the early 1970s. Enjoyed a vicarious trip with the author! A grand adventure!

[Tammy Horvath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alycin Hayes lives life to the full. After saving up her money, Alycin sets off on an adventure worthy of being shared. I love how she faced her fear when she bought a canoe to float down a river through a jungle in Latin America, even after being told natives on this very river murdered men. I feared for her life, worried she would encounter a deadly creature. But Alycin thinks everyone should go beyond their fears to make discoveries, and I immersed myself in her story.

I have two favorite parts of the book. The first is the sentence, “Sometimes things are special because they don’t last.” Wiser words were never spoken more—I treasure my son’s life more now that he’s in heaven. The second is when Alycin visited a small town where she made Christmas toys for the children who didn’t have any toys. She has a heart of gold.

If you don’t want to embrace the sweltering humid heat, insects, disease, and other dangers of the Amazon yourself, pick up a copy of the Amazon Hitchhiker, where you can experience this exhilarating journey from the safety of your couch. You don’t want to miss this riveting adventure.

[Hal Brodsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1975 the then 23 year old author of this book set off from Ontario with plans to "hitchhike to the Amazon". She couldn't speak Spanish and had done so little research that she was not aware that South America is not connected to Central America by road nor rail.
After arriving in Colombia by plane and falling in love with a Brazilian whom she could not communicate with, she and a small group of idiots decide to buy a leaky dugout canoe and paddle to Manaus "in time for carnival" a few weeks away after buying some "snacks".
This was the only interesting part of the book, as the author describes 2 months of starvation, parasites, malaria, injuries, dysentery, robbery, and rape. Clueless about Geography, they somehow survived, though they never come close to their goal.
The remainder of the book is about her temporary life in Brazil with the boyfriend and further travels with her mom and her mom's credit card. We're talking plane rides and searches for Holiday Inns.
What's particularly odd about this book is the author wrote it 45 years after her trip ended, apparently from memory.

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up a copy of this book in the summer after meeting the author at a local author event. I thought the memoir of her travels sounded like so much fun, and I’m so glad I grabbed a copy. I started it in November, put it down for a few weeks, and then devoured it over the last couple days before bed. I loved Alycin’s writing, and descriptions of the people and places she visited. I wish I could transport myself to 1970s South America! My only complaint about the book is that it was too short, and left me wanting more.

[Pamdiana Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lady is my kind of lady! Filled with spontaneous optimistic adventure from the first page, I connected with her wanderlust and natural explorer spirit. This book had it all from crazy wildlife, outrageous new friends, hidden tribes, and even true love. But most of all, the calling of her raw grit of going where not many on the planet have gone before, absolutely priceless... Can't wait to read more of her adventures!

[Jeff Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting

I saw this recommended on social media.
Dove right in and didn't come up for air until I finished it.
What a fascinating story, with glimpses of a world we can only imagine today. I highly recommend this book

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alycin Haye's zest for adventure is unstoppable! Join her in this intimate, and thought-provoking journey.
Highly recommended.

[Arlene Lowes]

I really enjoyed reading all about Alycin’s adventures in the Amazon. I would recommend this book.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting insight into Alycin Hayes once in a lifetime adventure.

[Sal Bolton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been to the Amazon myself, albeit, in a very different era and in very different circumstances, I felt I was reading a kindred spirit with another women who craved the call of unwavering adventure in the magical 'anything-goes 1970s' to take on a extraordinary adventure that could only be dreamed of today. Aged just 22, with a plucky stubbornness to live out a yearning ambition to visit the elusive Amazon Rainforest too, Alycin sets off alone on adventure of a lifetime, winging her journey hitchiking from Canada to Colombia before embarking on a ultimate test of survival - paddling and camping with other travellers, like pioneers of their own, through the Amazon jungle on a giant dug out canoe - with no map, foraging for food and taking on what the roiling waters throws at them - on their incredible journey to Brazil.

A story of true grit, extraordinary survival and a pure adventurous heart - Amazon Hitchiker candidly mixes fascinating history, culture and hair raising experiences of the countries Alycin passes through, as a young woman in the 1970s, with heartwarming stories of love, friendship and downright hilarious encounters with the people she meets makes you wish you'd been on the adventure too!

A unique, out-of-this-world travel story that takes you back-in-time on an unpredictable journey down the mysterious Amazon jungle through the eyes of a young woman when Planet Earth was a very different place ...

[Alyson Sheldrake · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring read
For anyone that wonders what solo travel was like back in the 1970s - before things like Google Maps, mobile phones or Trip Adviser were even invented - then this is a fascinating read. Alycin hitchhikes solo from Canada across the USA, Mexico and Central America to South America where she buys an old dugout canoe hoping to paddle from Colombia to Brazil on the Amazon River. Oh, and she didn’t bother with a map either! The book is a raw and honest account of life on the road and the river - full of the people she encounters, travels and paddles with. Her determination to succeed and positive approach to life and its many setbacks is a real inspiration.

[Amanda Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Amazon Hitchhiker: A Woman's Adventures from Canada to Brazil, Alycin Hayes took me on a thrilling, sometimes frightening, trip as she journeyed through South America in the 1970's. She spent far too long on a canoe, possibly met Klaus Barbie, and experienced the mighty Amazon and the peoples who live on or near it.
She did what most of us are too timid to do and saw this part of the world, not through the window of a guided tour bus, but as it's meant to be seen. How many of us can put our hands up and say they've done the same.
Kudos to you, Ms Hayes. And thank you for telling you story.

[Robert Custus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A life-changing dream, and the determination to make it come true!

Alycin takes you along for the adventure of a life time, vividly sharing the people & places. You will be cheering along with the incredible highs, while your heart pounds through the emotional lows. A story you won’t want to put down!

[Alycin Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watch Amazon Hitchhiker's book trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOKhj...

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

so-so

Rather grim. I guess she’s lucky to have survived it. She didn’t seem to have much concern for her safety

[Karlijn Groot, · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible to read about Alycia’s adventure. I read it while I was traveling by myself through Mexico, so the setting was perfect!

[Christy Keeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What a brave woman! I was so nervous for the author given her lack of being nervous for herself.

The one thing I didn't like about the book was the short, clipped sentences.