5 comments about Puerto Rico (Regional Guide).

1. We just came back from a 10 day trip to Puerto Rico (04/21 - 05/01, 2006) and we have to COMPLETELY disagree with the previous review. In fact, we were thinking about burning this LP copy. Don't get us wrong, we own several copies of LP for China, Eucador, South America, Guatamala, and etc. But we have serious reservation about recommending this one to anyone else. Here are some of the reasons:
   
   1. Several budget restarurants in Old San Juan no longer exist. They include St. Germain, Brenda's Cafe, and Los Amigos. It became very frustrating after going to several places and finding out 3/4 of them were closed.
   
   2. The same happened in Ponce, but for hotels. Two out of three hotels listed on pg. 166 (center of Ponce, by the Plaza las Delicias) were not there - they simply don't exist.
   
   3. Now, telephone numbers. we can't say that all of them in the guidebook are wrong, but the ones we called are either disconnected or a wrong number. This goes for the UA Cinema 150 in San Juan (pg. 105), which we found out at a Holiday Inn in Isla Verde that it was torn down a year ago. Or the Museo de Art Contemporaneo de Puerto Rico, which doesn't open on Monday, as the guidebook indicated - in fact, no museum in San Juan opens on Monday!
   
   4. We can list more annoyances, like the lack of good maps for most of the cities described, or bad driving directions...
   
   We are not saying that this book has no value, but when you finds enough inconsistencies and errors, you has to wonder what else is wrong, and more importantly, whether or not you can actually trust and rely on the guidebook. And in that respect, our answer is NO.
   
   The take home message: carefully compare this book with another. If you do decide to buy this LP, always call the places ahead to see 1) if it still exist, and 2) if the number is correct.
   
   On a side note, at one point during the trip, we thought that we would probably have had more luck with a coqui as our guide than using this guidebook! =)



2. I bought this book 2 years ago for a trip to Puerto Rico. It was a bit outdated than. I traveled there again 9/2/06 to 9/11/06, this was my fifth time, so I have a bit more knowledge than the first timer. For the most part every bit of information about Rincon is inaccurate. Everything closes the week of labor day until around the end of October, so do not go there during those dates, you will have wasted your day. Well not everything is closed, Rincon proper is still open. And you can always watch the surfers at sandy beach or go snorkeling at steps beach (rent your gear at Taino Divers, they are still open). In fact there is a great coffee house that stays open,(better than starbucks and they have soy milk!) it is called Taino international cafe, try their frozen coffee drinks, they also have WiFi.
   
   Prices have gone up for the camuy caves and the ferry ride to Gilligans Island, but only by a couple of bucks. There is a lot more traffic than the last time I went there, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time, otherwise you would have wasted a day in the car, when you could have been happier sitting at a beach. I stayed on the west coast, so I was traveling mostly going east, but from what I could tell the traffic was equally bad going west. I believe most travel guides say it takes 2 1/2 hours to travel from San Jaun to Rincon, bank on it taking ATLEAST 3 and perhaps up to 5. So leave very very early.
   
   Anyway, I think this book is better than having no book, the directions are generally the same, some places do not exist anymore, but just call up before you venture out. Pretty much you will find a decent amount of people that speak English (especially in Rincon, where almost everybody is from the states, talk to them they have good stories, most of them went to Rincon for a vacation and stayed).



3. This book is out-dated, because some restaurants in the book don't exist any more.



4. Lonely planet has a great team of writers. Every time I travel I get one of theirs books. It is a good format, has information on hotels, attractions and so on that are updated and realistic. Lonely planet a great job.



5. This Puerto Rico Lonely planet need an update.
   
   We had some problems with this book because the hotel prices are changed and hotels/Ferries were closed and changed.

5 comments about Inside Cuba.

1. Great book. No supercover, do not search, and that begins the style. I do not agree, that book displays the misery, serves regime, and that is something expected to be admired by 'leftists'.
   
   For, to me, not unpainted walls, natural (though, yes, not "rich" as it is often understood) people are disastrous. Omnipresent agression of commerce IS.
   
   There is no doubt, those people are more beautiful on inside, than those, who are rather on outside.
   
   And Cuba can be land of clean, magnificent dreams, architecture and interiors for people, by people, ideas, derived from ideals - let it be imperfect, I can understand that part, still book is about departure into the other world. And that journey is impressive. With that book in my mind, I tried to compare it against many others, that were on shelves. I returned home with this book today, definite highlight of Taschen.
   
   If in doubt, open it, and you will feel quickly if it is for you, or not. Hopefully, it is.



2. The book Inside Cuba is very different from others. It gives you a little view inside a beautiful country. Buildings, rooms, furniture everything is if you're going back into time. The regime of Castro stopped the time and you find this definitely back in this book. Almost all the pictures are of very good quality. The only negative point is the lack of political and historical information. But overall it is a good book to get another view on Cuba.



3. Excellent book. Could benefit from more text and specific location information (addresses) but great coverage and good photos. My wife and I used the information from the book on a recent visit.



4. Great book, it has very nice pictures of the architectures of the old colonial and new Cuban buildings. Unfortunately, the writer is very much infatuated with the current communist regime, and spoils all the good qualities of the Cuban art with his left wing preferences. I understand he is the writer, and he has the right to publish what he wants in his book. I do agree with some of the other reviewers, Cuba was a beautiful place at one time. However, like all the communist countries in the world you can see the awful results with the dilapidating unpainted buildings and everything else that comes with it. If you happen to be expose to the current Cuba, and find it fascinating, just imagine what it was like, many years ago before it was doomed by the current backward government. It was the pear of the Antilles! I'm sorry if I sound so right wing. But, I can't help myself. Because, I love freedom, and the good life; something that the envious ignorant left wing liberals never seem understand. The book is not bad. However, it could be much better.



5. If you are looking for a book on Cuban politics and history, Look somewhere else. If you are looking for a book full of exquisit imagery and information detailing Cuban life, especially in the realms of art and architecture, this book is a must have. I own a copy of virtually every book that I've ever found on Cuban art & architecture and this is among the top five that I've ever found. Typical books of this quality sell for far more than this and often contain far less useful information.
   As a graduate architecture student with a passion for Cuban architecture, I refer to this book in my research as well as for pleasure.

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

5 comments about Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide to Las Vegas (Eyewitness Travel Top 10).

1. I am planning to go to Las Vegas and so I bought this book. This is really useful. I especially like the photos and they make me more looking forward to my trip. Of course, since this is a pocket book, you cannot expect too much detail from it. However, this is more than enough for me who is going for a 5- to 6-day trip.



2. It was a good book with a great list of top 10 things but the problem is that the times and stuff in the book are way outdated. Don't use this book to go by the times that the hotels do their performaces. It does help to rate places well but I was pretty disappointed in the information. I would suggest you get the 2006 guide to vegas because it is a lot more helpful.



3. This book is great for anyone who hasn't been to Las Vegas in awhile. It gives you good insight into the new hotels and attractions. The book also gives you a low down on the best places to go to eat, people watch and party !



4. We forgot to bring it along on the trip, but still utilized it for many searches and planning before the trip. we will definitely bring it with on out next Vegas experience!



5. This book lists the Tropicana as the #2 hotel after all the big themed hotels. I chose the Tropicana over two other hotels based on this book's rating, since I've had luck with these Top 10 guides for other cities like Cancun, San Fran, and Seattle. This book is a bit outdated, but even a couple of years back, the Tropicana couldn't have deserved to be #2. In fact, I would rate it #2 on the list of the worst hotels I've ever stayed in.
   
   We booked a Garden room, but they put us in a Tower room at first. The hallways were dark, with peeling wallpaper and damaged wood trim. The elevators had poorly-painted pictures on the door with the paint peeling off. Our non-smoking room smelled of smoke and we couldn't get the window open, so we called the desk and they sent someone to spray it down, adding more of whatever odor was already attempting to cover the cigarette stench. We went back to the desk and got the Garden room we had paid for, which was a step up, but not far up. I had to pick the toilet seat up off of the bathroom floor and reattach it. The hot water in the bathtub wouldn't completely turn off. The air wasn't turning on, so I opened the balcony door, kicking over a half-empty beer can as I stepped out. Our departing flight got canceled and we had to stay an extra night, so we booked a hotel that was luxurious in comparison to the Tropicana - the Comfort Inn!

No comments about D & S Cayman Islands (Diving & Snorkeling).

3 comments about Jamaica (Country Guide).

1. While one can expect a guidebook to be somewhat out of date, this one is so out of date it is ridiculous. Published in January 2006, one would expect the information to at least be accurate as of mid-2005. However, that is far from the case.
   
   Here are few examples of errors:
   - The Blue Mountain Inn near Kingston, which receives an excellent review in the book, has been closed since mid-2004.
   - Portofino's Restaurant in Kingston closed in 2004, and is now Chez Maria.
   - The Fairy Glades Trail in the Blue Mountains closed in 2000 because of thefts of orchids, and can no longer be hiked.
   - Jade Garden restaurant in Kingston has not served dim sum since mid-2004.
   
   While there are some decent maps in the book, such out of date information makes me wonder when the author actually visited Jamaica.



2. I bought this guide because is the only guide from Jamaica published in 2006. Not bad, I haven't gone to Jamaica yet but it has been useful for planning my tryp. I think that I will take some of the advices that I've read.



3. I have been a user of Lonely Planet for over 10 years. I would say that this one is fairly good but not as in depth as other ones on other countries. The hotel prices are not correct, (everything was more expensive than noted), and the reviews of the hotels themselves were not really that detailed to lead you to make a proper choice. This is of course in comparison to other authors for other countries and the level of detail there.

4 comments about Facundo: Or, Civilization and Barbarism (Penguin Classics).

1. It's difficult to classify "Facundo" written by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (argentine thinker, politician and educator) in 1845: it is at the same time history, myth, essay, pamphelt and sociological discourse. It was published for first time as a newspaper serial in Chile where Sarmiento was in exile and written against Rosas'dictatorchip in Argentina. The text is influenced by the Enlightment and specially by the romanticism. Because of the romantic influence, it tells Facundo Quiroga's biography since for romantic'stream a "great man" (Facundo in this case) expresses an epoch. This book has the intention of solving an enigma: how independence's revolution in Argentina (1810) reached Rosas ' dictactorship (1835-1852) This drama, product of the revolution, was caused by the combination of 2 elements which shouldn't have been combined: the city, civilization's field, and the countryside, barbarism's field. The book can be read as the city and the countryside were the characters.



2. There are very few primary sources one can find when studying Latin American revloutions, with Argentina being the subject here. This being a primary source, isn't one that should be taken for an overall look on the Argentina Revoultion. Sarmiento has a sort of bias that shouldn't be taken too seriously. It is hard to get really a good account of Juan Facundo Quiroga because he is such a vague figure in Argentinian history. This is probably the only elaborate interpretation of the figure. Sarmiento also has a sort of habit to go off on tangents on things that are totally irrelevant to the subject matter at hand.
   
   Domingo F. Sarmiento is of European descent and has a biased for "civilization" and defies everything that is "barbaric" as he puts it, which really is what the story is about, and his protest to Rosas one of the leaders of Argentina at the time this story was written who is also "barbaric". The author compares "civilizations" and "barbarism" and how the "barbaric" gauchos are a threat to society. Facundo is a gaucho and is interpreted by Sarmiento as a dicator who made is way to the top by hate and carelessness and is partially at fault for the state of "deterioration" that Argentina was presently in during mid-19th century Argentina.
   
   All criticism aside, one does get good descriptive imagery of the man that was Juan Facundo Quiroga. Due to the fact that this book was written on a sort of bias, it would be better if it was written under a more accurate scholarly account, but then again it is a novel and that is what makes it interesting. It is by no means a useful primary source.



3. This is NOT, like other reviewer says, an account of Revolutionary Argentina in the 19th century (the period of civil war that followed the independence from Spain). This is not a book of history. Sarmiento is much more than a mere witness/narrator of a period. He is a man of letters, a writer -and one of the very best from Argentina- it takes you only the reading of the first sentence "Oh, Shadow of Facundo..." to realize that you are in the dark territory of myth, not of the clean, sunny history classroom.
   
   This book, like many great books, escape the incarceration of genre, but if there is one thing it demands from the reader is a capacity for being amazed, for being swept away by the story and the writing itself.



4. I am currently a history major and took an Argentina class because I thought it would be interesting, this book was not interesting in the least. Sarmiento's book, Facundo, is during the revolutionary stage in Argentina. There is to much emphasis placed on trying to describe in great detail mundane things while not getting to the important issues at hand. On the parts that I thought would be of the utmost importance they were explained in very vague terms which half the time I did not know what he was getting at.

1 comments about Havana: Autobiography of a City.

1. I first met the writer during the book fair at the Miami Dade Community College on November 11, 2007. During the conference he spoke about his book and also made some anti embargo comments. Mr. Estrada spends more time accusing past Cuban dictators such as Batista, Grau and Machado of criminal acts and at the same time idolizes a criminal such as Ernesto " Che" Guevara. At no time does Mr. Estrada refers to Fidel Castro as a corrupt dictator that has committed more crimes on the Cuban people than all of Cuba's past "Presidents" put together. Nevertheless the book is well written if he had balance fairly the political history of Cuba.

5 comments about The Ship and the Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome.

1. 
   
   Jim Carrier tells the story of The Ship and the Storm by using crew accounts, passenger interviews, surviving crew relatives and official weather related records.
   Anchored in the quiet waters of the Bay at Omoa, Honduras passengers excitedly board the Windjammer Cruise Ship Fantome. Feted with the finest cuisine and free flowing rum swizzle the fun and excitement is just beginning as the tall ship prepares to sail from one tropical paradise to another.
   Two mornings later as the Fantomes' guests finished their Bloody Mary and sticky bun breakfast a weather station on the West Coast of Africa was recording a drop in the barometric pressure. The Miami Hurricane Center labeled the system #46 and indicated in the margin that it was impressive.
   One week later on the evening of October 17, 1998 while Fantome passengers partied tropical wave 46 was moving west past Barbados in the Windward Islands. A day later the National Hurricane Center using satellite pictures and computer models predicts that tropical wave 46 will become a hurricane.
   October 21st the day Fantome arrived at the island of Guanaja off the north shoulder of Honduras a C-130 Hurricane Hunter located a weather system created by wave 46 and notified Miami that they had located a tropical depression.
   However, weather in the Western Caribbean is good and Fantome passengers were still enjoying their cruise vacation. But change came the next morning and Captain Guyan March advises crew and passengers on the report of the storm.
   BULLETIN: 5AM EDT SAT OCT 24, 1998. MITCH STRENGTHENS RAPIDLY INTO A HURRICANE
   Storm tracks in the direction of Cuba and the Cayman Islands and forecasters are calling Mitch a potentially dangerous hurricane.
   Fantome was at Omoa, Honduras where locals advised Captain March to drop both anchors and stay in port. March consults his boss in Miami by phone.
   October 25th National Hurricane Center forecasters are dumbfounded by the rapid escalation from a low intensity storm to a Category 4 hurricane within a 24-hour period.
   Following prolonged discussions with Windjammer Headquarters in Miami it was decided to cancel the Fantomes' cruise. Passenger safety was uppermost in their minds and they discharged the passengers at Belize City. They didn't consider Belize a safe harbor to ride out the storm so Fantome with 31 crewmembers aboard left Belize to try and outmaneuver the storm.
   Hurricane Mitch was coming up on Swan Island and conventional wisdom as well as the National Hurricane Centers computer models predicts that the storm will turn to the northwest. Fantome headed southeast from Belize toward the Bay Islands north of Honduras and had the storm tracked to the northwest as was expected there would have been plenty of separation between the ship and the storm. But the monster storm called Mitch with a mind of its own defied convention and turned south where it continued to spin its Category 4 and sometimes 5 winds over the waters and islands destroying everything in it's path. High winds and waves produced by the storm extended out some 200 miles from its center. Fantomes' engines and Captain March's skilled seamanship was no match for the tall waves and winds produced by Hurricane Mitch. Eventually the powerful waves broadside Fantome and breach the ships watertight bulkheads.
   The story of The Ship and the Storm is tragically compelling.
   
   Tom Barnes, Hurricane Hunter and author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."



2. The Fantome was the first windjammer ship that I sailed on in 1983. Being the first ship I always compared other ships to her. The book is about a small group of brave men trying to save a gallant lady!



3. Jim Carrier tells the story of The Ship and the Storm by using crew accounts, passenger interviews, surviving crew relatives and official weather related records.
   Anchored in the quiet waters of the Bay at Omoa, Honduras passengers excitedly board the Windjammer Cruise Ship Fantome. Feted with the finest cuisine and free flowing rum swizzle the fun and excitement is just beginning as the tall ship prepares to sail from one tropical paradise to another.
   Two mornings later as the Fantomes' guests finished their Bloody Mary and sticky bun breakfast a weather station on the West Coast of Africa was recording a drop in the barometric pressure. The Miami Hurricane Center labeled the system #46 and indicated in the margin that it was impressive.
   One week later on the evening of October 17, 1998 while Fantome passengers partied tropical wave 46 was moving west past Barbados in the Windward Islands. A day later the National Hurricane Center using satellite pictures and computer models predicts that tropical wave 46 will become a hurricane.
   October 21st the day Fantome arrived at the island of Guanaja off the north shoulder of Honduras a C-130 Hurricane Hunter located a weather system created by wave 46 and notified Miami that they had located a tropical depression.
   However, weather in the Western Caribbean is good and Fantome passengers were still enjoying their cruise vacation. But change came the next morning and Captain Guyan March advises crew and passengers on the report of the storm.
   BULLETIN: 5AM EDT SAT OCT 24, 1998. MITCH STRENGTHENS RAPIDLY INTO A HURRICANE
   Storm tracks in the direction of Cuba and the Cayman Islands and forecasters are calling Mitch a potentially dangerous hurricane.
   Fantome was at Omoa, Honduras where locals advised Captain March to drop both anchors and stay in port. March consults his boss in Miami by phone.
   October 25th National Hurricane Center forecasters are dumbfounded by the rapid escalation from a low intensity storm to a Category 4 hurricane within a 24-hour period.
   Following prolonged discussions with Windjammer Headquarters in Miami it was decided to cancel the Fantomes' cruise. Passenger safety was uppermost in their minds and they discharged the passengers at Belize City. They didn't consider Belize a safe harbor to ride out the storm so Fantome with 31 crewmembers aboard left Belize to try and outmaneuver the storm.
   Hurricane Mitch was coming up on Swan Island and conventional wisdom as well as the National Hurricane Centers computer models predicts that the storm will turn to the northwest. Fantome headed southeast from Belize toward the Bay Islands north of Honduras and had the storm tracked to the northwest as was expected there would have been plenty of separation between the ship and the storm. But the monster storm called Mitch with a mind of its own defied convention and turned south where it continued to spin its Category 4 and sometimes 5 winds over the waters and islands destroying everything in it's path. High winds and waves produced by the storm extended out some 200 miles from its center. Fantomes' engines and Captain March's skilled seamanship was no match for the tall waves and winds produced by Hurricane Mitch. Eventually the powerful waves broadside Fantome and breach the ships watertight bulkheads.
   The story of The Ship and the Storm is tragically compelling.
   
   Tom Barnes author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
   "The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle."
   "The Goring Collection."
   
   The Hurricane Hunters And Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
   Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone: The Life and Times of John Henry Holliday
   The Goring Collection



4. Having been aboard the Fantome in the 70s. I heard stories about her sinking. It is a sad to know the details. With the woes of the Windjammer fleet it is a shame that many future generations may never see or have the opportunity to be on board a true sailing ship. This book is a great tribute to the people who gave this experience to many of us in a safe and fun manner.



5. Excellent book for those who have traveled on the windjammer cruises. The description of the rooms - very true and the daily working of the ship very well deswcribed. Good book

5 comments about Caribbean By Cruise Ship: The Complete Guide To Cruising The Caribbean with Giant color pull-out map.

1. I was incredibly disappointed in this book. I haven't taken a cruise in over a decade and still didn't learn a thing reading this book. It reads like a travelogue for various islands in the Caribbean but offers no insights on any of the ships or any of the lines. It didn't have much on shore excursions either. I learned more from the various cruise lines home pages than I did from this book.



2. This is an excellent guide book for both the first time cruiser and the seasoned traveller. My travel agent gave this book as a gift to those of us cruising as a group to the Eastern Caribbean this past spring. Athough I have sailed on many cruise ships and feel I know many of the differences between the lines and ships, those in our group who were new to cruising found the glossary section very useful and filled with practical tips to make their cruise more enjoyable and less confusing (ie) tipping policy,dining options, onboard activities.
   
   We liked the pull out map and had this hanging in our staterooms so that we could plot our course each day. The smaller maps of the ports of call were very useful, and often had more detail than the maps from the shore excursion desk onboard. So often on a cruise I feel the tour department is promoting their shops and excursions ... but having this book provided an unbiased synopsis of what there was to see in each port and where to go.
   
   The section on Caribbean history and the history of each island helps in understanding the people and the culture. When one 'drops into a port' for just a few hours or a day, it is not always easy to get the entire flavour of the people. By knowing a bit of the history, my onshore experience was
   certainly enhanced.



3. This book provided very good information about where the ships dock, as well as activities on the islands, modes and costs of transportation, and feedback about beaches, shopping and water activities. The maps and information that showed the distances from the ship to the activities/localities were just what I was looking for to plan my days on the islands. In addition, the book was very helpful in the selection of shore excursions that I could do on my own and through the ship (e.g., it helped to narrow down the best spots for snorkeling and golf, etc.). I would recommend it to anyone traveling via cruise ship to the Caribbean.



4. We just returned from a 10 day southern Caribbean cruise and found this book invaluable. The maps were great! Details on shore excursions and port attractions allowed us to focus on aspects we were interested in and also gave us the confidence to do walkabouts. Great book, highly recommended.



5. This is a physically heavy but informationally lightweight guide for crusing in the Caribbean. It is good but not great. We found it only slightly useful, preferring the Insight Guide Caribbean Cruises for more content and especially the "Cruising the Eastern Caribbean" more suitable to our nature oriented tastes. The latter book covers only EASTERN islands.