1 comments about The Rough Guide to The Bahamas 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. This book is my favorite bahama guide for several reasons. First, it has a tremendous amount of information. Best ways to get to different islands, what you can do while you are there, etc. Second, it tells you where to stay and eat for less. Third, it has more detailed information on the lesser known islands in the bahamas.
   
   I like to do a lot of research on where I'm travelling too and this book did not disappoint. Some of the other guides use similar information, but this one seems to be unique.

No comments about The History of Chile (Palgrave Essential Histories).

No comments about Fodor's U.S. and British Virgin Islands 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

3 comments about Frommer's Portable Dominican Republic (Frommer's Portable).

1. The Frommer's Dominican Republic guide is a good guide for anyone making a quick trip to the DR. The book does overexaggerates on the crime issue. Crime in the DR is relatively low, maybe even lower than in the USA. Other than that, the book is excellent.



2. This booklet has all the basic travel facts for the Dominican Republic. That's --well-- basically it. Its main advantages are succinctness and portability; not information on the DR.



3. I know this a "portable guide" to the Dominican Republic, but still it is extremely bare bones and basic. It includes a decent section on Santo Domingo but absolutely nothing on Santiago - the country's second largest city. The rest of this thin volume includes only a couple of short sections on the DR's tourist areas - the North Coast, Punta Cana and Boca Chica. To someone attempting to explore anywhere else in the DR this book is virtually useless. Even for my brief one week trip to Puerto Plata I found nothing in this guide that I had not already discovered on the Internet.
   
   I am usually a fan of Frommer's guidebooks. But this one just doesn't cut it.

2 comments about Fodor's Bermuda 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. If you're like me, you had already decided you were going to Bermuda by the time you bought this book. That made the part of the book that described the hotels not worth much too us, since we had already booked our hotel. But I will tell you that the restaurant guide alone is worth the price of this book. It details a lot (not all) of the restaurants in Bermuda, gives you an idea of the pricing and the type of food. Food is very, very expensive in Bermuda and can significantly add to the price of your vacation. There are few to none all-inclusive resorts in Bermuda, so you are going to have to buy food. We were able to use this guide, and plan out our meals, picking one very nice restaurant our last night, and mid priced family type restaurants the rest of our stay. It also has good info on the attractions. For these reasons, I gave this book five stars.



2. We bought this book for the restaurant reviews alone as we had already picked out our hotel. We flagged 6 restaurants before we left that seemed both interesting and reasonably priced. One (Port O Call) didn't exist at 87 Front Street as the book said, a second (Traditions) was closed until september 15 and a 3rd (Henry VIII) did not have the toffee dessert (my favorite) that the book touted. The Waterlot Inn, Pickled Onion and especially the Lobster Pot were as good or better than I expected. With very expensive prices at the Fairmont Southampton ($29 per person for a bootleg breakfast buffet) a good restaurant guide is imperative and Fodor"s is not that.

5 comments about The Boys from Dolores: Fidel Castro's Schoolmates from Revolution to Exile (Vintage Departures).

1. As a graduate from Belen Jesuit Prep in Miami and a Cuban American, I really appreciated this book- specifically the very last paragraph as I lived it for many years. I have to say that this writer has impeccable writing skills and flawless journalism. His interviews are thorough and true to the facts. His descriptions of the street life in Cuba is well thought out. The information in this book on Castro's former classmates is priceless! A must read for anyone wanting to learn about the making of Fidel Castro and what actually went wrong and why we lost Cuba to this evil tyrant. This writers efforts are stunning!



2. One of the unsolved mysteries in this book concerns its undetectable plot. Another mystery is how the book got a NY Times review. Besides the absence of an identifiable theme, an important criticism is that the author fails to benefit from recent scholarly work on the illegitimacy of Castro (such as Serge Raffy's book, for example). The lasting psychological effects of Castro's childhood (his illegitimacy, his being raised in various foster homes, his unresolved conflicts with his parents), would seem fruitful areas of inquiry, especially since the author spoke with people who knew Castro as a child. On the other hand, one also wonders about the book's reliance on interviews with elderly individuals, since much research suggests that childhood memories can be quite unreliable.
   
   There are also many erroneous assertions, misstatements, and exaggerations. For example, at p. 10, the book states that "Belen had always been a sister school to Dolores, and the student bodies were intimately tied together." Belen's rival school was La Salle, in Havana. Very few Belen students ever even heard of Dolores and I suspect most Dolores students, especially those in the elementary and junior grades similarly had never heard of Belen. In the 1950s, Belen and Dolores, just as Havana and Santiago, were separated by much more than 750 miles of really bad roads; they were separated by an entire world.
   
   In typical hyperbole, the book also contradicts itself. At p. 5, it refers to Dolores as the "richest gathering of the richest part of Cuba, a school of the chosen few." When did Santiago become so rich and powerful? In spite of this, at p. 298, the author then concludes: "Not everyone at the Colegio de Dolores came from wealth, or even the middle class. ('The Jesuits,' Roca said, 'if someone qualifies, they wanted him. So there were the sons of Bacardis, of industrialists, but also of barbers, and of tailors')" So, which is it? Besides, the sons (and daughters) of the Bacardi's lived largely in Havana.
   
   The author also gets the Spanish lisp wrong. At p. 59, he writes about a "lisped 'Que patha?'..." In fact, the "s" is pronounced the same way in Madrid and in Havana, as an "s." It is to the "z" (hard) and the "c" (softer) where the Spaniard's "lisp" applies, and not to the "s," as in Que pasa...
   
   Cuban history gets equally confusing, and just plain wrong, treatment. The history section is all of two pages. Various attempts at clever writing turn out to be obnoxiously awkward ("At 746 miles long, Cuba was unmeasurable. The landmass, a long and recumbent crocodile of 47,000 square miles, was less a nation and more an approximation.") How did that get past an editor?
   
   The "tiny, plutocratic elite in Havana" is contrasted to "millions" of poor people. One wonders what source the author uses in arriving at these "millions," particularly since the author schizophrenically refers to the middle class in the previous paragraph. In fact, the middle class is described as both "small" and as "bigger than was found in most of the rest of Latin America." The data the author presents about telephones and automobiles is wrong: Cuba in 1958, according to readily verifiable information from the UN and other sources, had more televisions per capita that any other nation in Latin America (and in Europe) and it had the largest number of automobiles per 1,000 people (24) except for Venezuela (27). Per capita food consumption was 2730 calories per day, higher than anywhere else except for Argentina (3100). In fact, Cuba had the largest middle class in Latin America relative to the population of 6 million in 1958.
   
   Breathless comments about malnutrition and platitudes about Che Guevara's concern about the children left "to starve for several months each year, with nothing but guarapo, the weak juice from crushed cane, to survive on," seem straight out of a Castro nomenklatura manual. For one thing, Guevara had never been to Cuba and had never seen Cuban children except for whichever ones he happened to run across while hiding out in the Cuban mountains during 1957 and 1958. Is this journalism or orthodoxy?
   
   Still, there are interesting passages that illuminate how repressed and dismal life is in Cuba under Castro. The most interesting segment deals with Cuba's "apartheid" tourism. The author relates a poignant moment while he waits in the Hilton lobby in Havana. The hotel guards "turn away one Cuban after another. They split apart one couple, turning away the Cuban man while admitting the foreign woman. The pair had been holding hands as they walked through the door, but they were physically separated amid objections. She continued in, and the man waited outside."
   
   Nonetheless, the best part of this book will come when I sell it on Amazon at, alas, a huge discount.



3. Recommended for one searching for insights and background to the Cuba of the past fifty years. This is not a straight history, or a policy article, or a personal travel memoir but a combination of all these and more, woven around one Cuban private school and the lives of some of its students, one of whom being Fidel Castro. Patrick Symmes is a talented writer.
   
   I am not an expert on the history of the revolution or of the Bay of Pigs, but having been once to Havana the parts of this story pertaining to present day Cuba ring true to me.
   
   This book is most relevant as this review is posted. The New York Times reports that Raul Castro has taken over as president of Cuba from his ill brother, Fidel Castro, this very day.



4. 
   The book began with somewhat of an attitude. One of the exiles "wallowed in history like a boy in a mud bog", another "cackles gleefully", and others "unashamedly shook hands" (why be ashamed to shake hands?). I almost put it down, but I'm glad I didn't. A lot of meat, and some very good writing follows.
   
   The book is one part travelog, one part recent Cuban history and one part the story of Castro's classmates at the exclusive Jesuit school. Some of "the boys" supported Castro and his revolution before they fought against him. History is intertwined with descriptions of rations, baseball games and streetscapes.
   
   The stories of the "boys" are the stories of the upheaval. Some smelled to coffee right away and left. Others were jolted out as they saw their liberties and property falling away. Some, like Kiki de Jongh remain for reasons that are very unclear.
   
   I wonder how this author has slipped in and out of Cuba, as he says, for 11 years. He clearly knows the turf, and can write of the changing moods and landscapes. He has fereted out some oral histories inside of and outside of Cuba that add to the literature available to be sifted by future historians. It seems that Symmes knows some of the interviewees quite well. Presumably he has more extensive tapes and notes that I hope will someday be donated to a research institution.
   
   In the final pages Symmes gives some ideas about what could happen after Castro's death.
   
   I think a good editor could make this a 5 star book. The first 50 pages or so need some work. Throughout, some phrases could be metaphors or statements, it's hard to tell and some ideas are introduced in a way that you might not catch that the topic is changing (and go back to find what you missed). Pictures, even blow ups from the cover photo, would be a good addition and for the general reader, a map is needed.
   
   The title is deceiving. I don't think this book was originally intended to be about the "boys". For instance, the author is given 2 addresses for one alumni, and dutifully mails the envelopes. If this were actually about alums, he would have pursued him and other leads.



5. Absorbing study of a Jesuit boy's school at which the Castro boys were students. The point of view is that of his fellow classmates and others who attended the school. It's a tribute to a now forbidden school regimen. The book details the post Dolores lives of many of the graduates both in the US Cuba and elsewhere. Of general interest as we approach the post- Fidel era.

2 comments about Barbados Travel Pack (Globetrotter Travel Packs).

1. I've not completed the book but it looks to be ideal for travel. Take it with you, refer to it often. Plastic cover to protect, very informative, great map and pictures.



2. We enjoyed this travel tool very much...just wish we could've been on vacay longer to use it even more! :) Wishful thinking. Also, the fold up map in the back is great!

1 comments about Puerto Rico Off the Beaten Path, 5th (Off the Beaten Path Series).

1. I bought this book right before a trip to Puerto Rico. Although I wished I'd had more time to read it thoroughly before I left, I took it with us and we referred to it from time to time throughout our vacation. I believe if I had had enough time to read it cover to cover before leaving I would have been able to mark the pages of the things we wanted to do while there.
   
   Some of the information concerning El Yunque was incorrect when we visited, but it wasn't too much a problem. First, when we visited the Caribbean National Forest, our cost was $3.00 per adult and children under 16 were free. This was cheaper than the book said, but it also has a disclaimer that all price information was accurate at the time of printing so that was just a pleassant surprise. The other thing was that the road (PR 191) to the El Yunque lookout was closed, and appeared to have been for some time.
   
   Thanks to the book, we discovered a new Puerto Rican rum and we were able to do a free rum tasting while we were there. Helpful tip, make sure you don't go when the cruise ships are in. When we went the piers were empty and we had the place to ourselves.
   
   The maps in the book are helpful in a pinch, but I would highly recommend purchasing a road map from Walgreens and using it instead, as the maps in this book are not very detailed.
   
   his book contains helpful little lists of hotels, retsaurants and night clubs, and we did refer to those lists a time or two when trying to decide where to eat for the evening.
   
   All in all, I would recommend this book to someone who is going to visit Puerto Rico, and I would also add that you should try to find time to read it thoroughly before you go.

5 comments about Seasoned by Salt: A Voyage in Search of the Caribbean.

1. The old adage, cruising is fixing your boat in exotic places, certainly applies here. The book is very well written, and the interplay of hearing two sides (husband and wife) about the same events adds depth. After reading the book, I think that flying to Grenada, chartering a boat for a month (ooh the hated charterer) and exploring that area was the highlight of their journey, would be better than all the time and discomfort they experiences getting from Connecticut to the Carribean.
   I tended to skip the social commentary. Can't change what happened, can only address how to help improve what is there now.



2. Part escapist adventure and part historical journey to the Caribbean, Seasoned by Salt tells the tale of a couple who took a year off from their careers to sail the Caribbean. It's a well written yarn, and Mashaw does an excellent job of blending the history of the islands into the contemporary account of his voyage in a way that puts current events into historical perspective. A great added bonus are Anne MacClintock's Passage Notes. She provides a more personal view of the journey, and an occasional counter-point to Mashaw's narrative. - Joe



3. This is a good read. The adventure is unpacked by the author, Jerry Mashaw in a very engaging way with a lot of information about the varous places they encounter along the way down the east coast of the US and into the Caribbean. A good deal of history and insight into the sorted history of the slave trade and economic struggles that are the reality of much of the caribbean. The story is further enhanced by Jerry's partner and crew, Anne MacClintoc with journal enteries interspersed throughout.
   
   The authors capture the anticipation, excitement, and even fear very well and draw you into their world. I truly felt like I shared their adventure. I considered this along the lines of Ann Vanderhoof's "Embarrassement of Mangos' Anchor Canada, a division of Random House Publishers - which is a must read if you're into sailing adventures!



4. Who among us has not dreamed about an idyllic life sailing in paradise: sun, snorkeling, azure blue waters, and tropical refreshments in hand? After sailing for years including frequent charters in the Caribbean, Jerry Mashew and Anne MacClintock set sail from Connecticut to Grenada on a 10-month adventure.
   
   Chronicling a sabbatical cruise is not new; Joshua Slocum first published his story more than 100 years ago. Before that there was Homer's Odyssey. What sets the authors' story apart? Why take the time to read it?
   
   For those contemplating a similar voyage, Seasoned by Salt presents a realistic portrayal of life at sea and anchor. Cruising is more than gorgeous sunsets viewed from a cockpit with an "umbrella drink" in hand. It is also about the people and cultures visited, broken boats, seasick crew, and unsettled weather. Other works often gloss over these unpleasantries. Anne and Jerry do not hide the raw truth about cruising on a small sailboat. It can be tough unpleasant work.
   
   As their story unfolds, Anne and Jerry bring forth their experiences and place them in an historical context. Beyond the crescent beaches, swaying palm tree, and mangroves there is an unsettling history. As Mashew presents this history we get to understand and know him, his beliefs, and biases.
   
   From time to time, Mashew's wife MacClintlock provides a counterpoint to his narrative. While Jerry's approach is often academic (he is a Yale Law Professor), Anne approaches the cruise from an artist's perspective, focusing on the emotional experience of cruising. Together a more complete picture of the lifestyle unfolds.
   
   Will Seasoned by Salt convince you to go cruising? No, but reading it is time well spent if you are curious or contemplating a similar adventure.
   
   Dave Lochner
   Nauticalreads



5. I liked this book. It was fairly informative and gave some great tips. I like the different viewpoints of the two authors. I did think that some of the historical information tended to drag on a little and you can definitely pick up on the political views of the author but it was still a good read... It really reinforced my desire to go cruising!

No comments about Caribbean Pleasure Industry: Tourism, Sexuality, and AIDS in the Dominican Republic (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, and Culture).