Stephen Ladd is the author of Three Years in a 12-Foot Boat, a solo adventure story that took him from the Mississippi River to South America - and back - in a tiny boat of his own design. He is back at it, detailing a new adventure with a new book, The Five-Year Voyage: Exploring Latin American Coasts and Rivers.  Teaming up with his now-wife Virginia, they sailed from the Gulf of Mexico to Argentina and back, largely via South American rivers, in a 21-foot Sea Pearl, even having a baby along the way.  The pair are among only a handful of living people who have navigated from the Caribbean to the Amazon via the Brazo Casiquiare. Their range and variety of encounters with wildlife, indigenous peoples, gold-dredgers, fishermen, and even robbers make for good reading - and interesting podcasts!