Volleyball with the Cuna Indians: And Other Gay Travel Adventures [Paperback]

Hanns Ebensten (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994

A pioneer in the field of gay group travel traverses the globe in a series of travel vignettes about such locales as Paris, Italy, the Middle East, Beijing, and the San Blas Islands off Panama.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Key West tour operator Ebensten has been escorting travelers on imaginative expeditions for 40 years. In his early days, his appetite for off-beat adventure took him around the world as he lived in private castles or YMCAs, went beachcombing, or sybaritically covered himself with hot mud in the ancient stone troughs of Italy's Lacco Ameno. He enjoyed a wild night in a dormitory with 98 armed and priapic motorcycle cops and accepted the casual hospitality of the rich or famous, partying with Lady Diana Cooper and tutoring Bertrand Russell's granddaughters. As a tour operator, Ebensten attracted a clientele of artists, scholars, playboys, gays and the more intrepid of the general run of travelers. Under his guidance they tended either to rough it or to live high. In Peru, for example, while others might have satisfied themselves with the standard visit to Machu Picchu, his groups trekked to Vilcabamba, the true Inca capital; in Greece they not only viewed sacred Mount Olympus but climbed it. Stylish, cultivated, witty and frankly gay, Ebensten draws often hilarious portraits of travelers whom readers would not otherwise meet, and places rarely visited.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The author, whose name is synonymous with gay travel, regales the reader with stories from decades of world exploration. Armchair travelers of any sexual orientation will delight in the vividly picturesque and often humorous accounts of the pleasures and travails of tour conducting in the far reaches of the planet. Superbly written, this book is as much an autobiography of this world-renowned traveler as an invitation to wander off known paths to encounter differing cultures. Though some of the vignettes are underdeveloped and others are awkward in their overdependence on associations with famous personalities, this title is nevertheless a worthwhile addition to travel collections in large public libraries.
- Stephen Newcomer, Los Angeles P.L.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140178791
• ISBN-13: 978-0140178791
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,860,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inventor of Gay Travel Reveals not-quite all., January 7, 2002

By 

David C. Beaty (Orange, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Volleyball with the Cuna Indians: And Other Gay Travel Adventures (Hardcover)

This is a collection of autobiographical memoirs,
each one recounting an episode in the author's life - ftom his escape from Nazi Germany as a boy to his retirement in Key West, Fl. some sixty years later. Along the way he mrrts, hob-nobs with and guides some of the rich-and-famous, (as well as the 'used-to-be' and the 'wanna be'). English titles, Italian princesses, African Kings - all play supporting roles in Mr. Ebersten's drama whidh makes for fascinating reading. Finally, after forty years in the travel business and emigrating to New York, Mr. Ebensten gets the idea that gay men might like to travel together and so the first gay travel agency is launched, amid much scepticism on the part of the Industry. He was spectacularly right, of course; LGBT travel is now Big Business indeed, with a whopping share of the market. But the reader of these travel vignettes will wince, chuckle, and be amazed at the pitfalls, successes, and failures of some of the author's enterprises. Ebensten is brutally fair, and the ill-mannered oaf, (no matter how rich, titled, or gay),who spoil the fun, evoke his scorn as much as the elderly, feeble, but very knowledgeable, woman who is fun and a good sport earns his praise and admiration. This is not alwats "politically correct" but is very revealing., and always readable.

These tales are told from a gay perspective, of course, but they are not "gay" stories with perhaps one exception, his sory of a night in Florance, Italy with 98 motorcycle cops (!) In fact,, one of the failings of this very literate, informed, and entertaining writer is that we do not often learn of his personal involment in the proceedings. He is an observer, a faciltator, a a reporter, a commentator, but we never know how much of a participator. We get tantalizing tid-bits, (he likes leather, 'staches, muscular Greek boys, etc.), but not enough to build up a mosaic picture. He comes across sometimes as fussy, a bit humorless, and even prudish, which cannot be his dominant personality cinsidering his success as a travel agant, guide, and conpanion. Nevertheless, the characters he writes about more than make up for any lack of his owm.

"Volleyball wiht the Cuna Indians" is perhaps,not for everyone. The author assimes his readers know a few words of Latin, French, German and Spanish; also that they have read more widely than the Sports pages. Given his Euro-English upbringing of the 1930's and thet Mr. Ebensten is now nearing eighty, this reader quite forgave these rather quaint, old fashioned notions. Take the trip with Hans. You will be erll rewarded. I wqa!