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1 comments about Ulysses Belize (Ulysses Travel Guides).

1. This new guide, published in Montreal by Ulysses, is a fascinating mix of terrific reporting and unexplainable misinformation.

   What's wonderful about this guide is Carlos Soldevila's reporting on some of the places where he's stayed or visited. He does a great job on areas, such as Orange Walk Town, that are usually barely touched on by other guidebooks. There are pages of detailed information on Orange Walk hotels and restaurants, but then, you turn to Ambergris Caye, the most-popular destination in Belize, and find only seven restaurants reviewed (he gives top rating to the Playador Grill, of all places). The book's star-rating system for destinations tells us that Altun Ha, Lamanai and Placencia are the country's only "not to be missed" three-star destinations while the Belize Zoo gets just one star. Caracol, Cockscomb and Ambergris Caye get two stars, yet San Ignacio, Xunantunich, Cahal Pech, and Belize's remote atolls and cayes get no stars at all.

   Soldevila is author of guides to Cuba and Guatemala. Since the Belize guide is so good in some ways, and so poor in others, I wonder if a part of the problem is in the translation into English. For example, there is a reference to "Haliver" Creek in Belize City. Belize's economic problems are described this way: "Moreover, because most of the country is developing, runaway inflation (the rate of inflation in Belize was 13.8% in 1996) remains a primary source of economic strife, and assails the population and the government alike." Huh?

   In an introductory section, Soldevila writes that "Belize possesses such tremendous natural diversity that any other country in the world pales by comparison." While Belize offers a lot, it certainly does not begin to pale in comparison with, say, Costa Rica, New Zealand or, heck, even Canada or the USA. More disturbingly, some of the travel information is simply wrong. For example, under Practical Information, Soldevila writes that is is "also possible to enter the country with an official birth certificate or a citizenship card." Wrong: You need a valid passport.

   Ulysses began about 15 years ago as a travel bookseller, and I've enjoyed visiting its bookstore branch in Toronto. In 1990 it began publishing travel books and now has about a hundred titles in print, 70 percent in French and 30 percent in English. I'm hoping a revision of its guide to Belize will correct some of the language and factual problems which mar this edition.

   --Lan Sluder

   Editor & Publisher

   Belize First Magazine

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