5 comments about Tindall's Guide to the Best of Chile.

1. As an editor, I was pleased to find a guidebook that is so insightful and well-written. The author has done a wonderful job finding the best of Chile and describing it in a way that makes me want to be there.



2. This is a well written portrayal of the country, people, wines and food of Chile. I found this book to be most helpful in planning my trip and was pleased with the author's choice of accomodations while visiting. It was entertaining and easy to read -- the information was well-organized. I would highly recommend this to anyone planning a trip to Chile.



3. I found this book limited in scope and recommendations, especially for the price. We hiked the volcano which the author said was not too strenuous as long as you are in decent shape. My husband and I thought we were not going to make it to the top and we are both in very good shape and in our early 30s. I question whether the author has ever climbed it in snow boots, or climbed it at all. Lonely planet is better.



4. I felt like the author loved the country, and really wanted me to appreciate Chile as much as she does. I liked that the information was up to date, and presented in an informal manner. It was an accurate book, and easy to use.



5. I received this book as a gift and it was the only guidebook I had in Chile. Boy! Was that a mistake! Tindall's book is extremely limited in scope. It only covers major cities and regions so if you go off track, you are left with nothing to refer to. And what I mean by off-track is essentially if you are driving off Ruta 5, the main highway in the country. If you go on Ruta 2, for instance to the coast from Temuco to get a feel of some of the Mapuche Indian culture in cities like Nueva Imperial, Carahue, Victoria, Chol Chol, etc. you were out of luck.

   I can understand the author wanted to take a different approach and not drown the potential tourist with too much information. So she made a point of focusing on the really best of the country. But frankly, that's not enough for me.

   Additionally, my friend and I found that despite the fact the the book has a copyright of October 1999, some of the recommendations are already out of date. For instance, in Valdivia, only one of five Artesan stores she listed even existed anymore. In Osorno, her recommendation of Casa del Altillo as a place to eat good French food no longer existed. It is now Bell'Italia amd serves Italian cuisine.

   We were there in the off season, (November) and found that even her listed high season prices for rooms in many cities were way off and the hotels and other lodging recommended were much more expensive than the author quoted. We got the idea these hotels knew they were listed in American guidebooks and had therefore recently raised prices for American tourists. Fortunately, my friend is a Santiagan so she was able to get better prices for being a Chilean.

   I did find the author's guide to Chilean wine extremely good and found it to be a godsend when we were in a restaurant and were not familiar with the wine names.

   So I guess my recommendation would be: Don't do what I did. If you get the Tindall Guide, you definitely need to supplement it with another guidebook that's more comprehensive. That way you'll be covered if you want to do anything that's the least bit out of the normal for a typical tourist.

1 comments about Desert Memories: Journeys Through the Chilean North (Directions).

1. I've lived in Chile and I've lived in the desert (but not Chile's Norte Grande). Ariel Dorfman writes very compellingly about the many complex aspects of desert life - the mining-based economy, the range of people who come from elsewhere, the relation of the desert as "periphery" to those "other places" who live off its wealth. Also he does justice to the desert's beauty, native peoples, transportation systems. He involves himself in the narrative, almost Woody-Allen style at times, but this book isn't in the British travel narrative mode of "here are all the awful things that happened to me." Rather, it's a story of extraordinary people and places - world-class scientists, grass-roots activists, byzantine networks of in-laws (few Chilean memoirs would be complete, lacking these!). It's a measure of this gifted writer's absolute skill that he has so many funny moments, and fine descriptions of the desert's landscape, and the pathos of people working to reclaim the ghost towns of the mining industry, all in one book. One of the book's most moving moments, for me, is the chapter that ends with the narrator observing of one town citizen who'd returned to a reclaimed ghost town, that there was no need to ask if he'd kept the key to the house he'd been forced to leave thirty years earlier.

   The title is absolutely right: memory and time are crucial to the desert. In writing of Chile, one of the most complicated and interesting country of the world, Dorfman brings with him his experience, contacts, broad awareness of this land. The narrative is beautifully structured, too. Dorfman, in all, is getting better and better with time. There are many wonderful books about Chile's extraordinary history, its many-layered social class structure, its heart-breakingly beautiful geography. The field of social and ecological memoirs/travelogues about Chile is a very crowded one, with some top-notch writers (think Darwin, just for starters...). Desert Memories is one of the best books there is for anyone considering a trip to this country.

No comments about Aventura De Miguel Littin, La.

5 comments about Tierra Del Fuego: A Journey to the End of the Earth.

1. This book is about Native Americans that live where the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean meet. This place Tierra del Fuego has really bad storms. This was hard for sailors who explored all around the world, like Magellan. Finally in the 1900's the Americans built the Panama Canal. These meant sailors didn't have to sail all the way to the bottom of the world. The most interesting fact in the book is about Joshua Slocum. He sailed all the way around the world, by himself; He fought off big storms, stopped ambushes by the natives, and most off all fought off killer pirates. He did all those things, by himself.
   
   
   My opinion is that this book was great. It had many different interesting facts. I would recommend this book to anyone, who enjoys a good read. The pictures that Peter Lourie took are amazing.



2. Tierra del Fuego
   I like the pictures and the essential facts about the pictures, but some parts were too complicated and I couldn't truly understand what Peter Lourie was trying to tell us altogether. Overall I'd give this book four stars because it was hard to understand, but the pictures and unusual facts made up for that. I also thought the islands were authoritative and how the animals there adapted to those environments was an adequate addition to the storyline. This book was a great experience and Peter Lourie must have put a lot of effort into this book.
   (...)



3. This is a very knowledgeable and educational adventure. In this book Peter Lourie takes you on a ride of the region of Terria del Fuego. This book tells you of many wonderful islands with animals like Peguin Island and Seal Island. I think you should read this book to learn more and appreciate the beautiful pictures of the flowers and Islands.
   
   By: D.B.



4. Tierra Del Fuego is a book following the adventures of 16th century explorer, Ferdinand Magellan. Tierra Del Fuego is a region off the coast of South America, which is still inhabited by native tribes. From the vmassive farmlands to Penguin Island, Tierra Del Fuego is unlike Amewrica. This book is very informative but it is hard to comprehend. However, the pictures give incredible details which supports the facts. Peter Lourie creates a story that tops all the rest.
   
   NS



5. Peter Lourie is about the best non-fiction writer that I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Joshua Slocum was a funny sailor who sailed alone. One time Joshua was getting attacked by pirates he made a dummy out of his clothes at the front of the ship. Then he went into his room and changed clothes many times to make it seem like there were different people coming out. Then just before the pirates came on his ship, he put thumbtacks on the deck and the pirates stepped on them so they jumped back in their ship and went away. Ferdinand Magellan was the first to sail down what is now know as the Strait of Magellan and live. You see the waters are very choppy and there are lots of rocks in the Strait of Magellan. They named the strait after him because he was the first to sail down the strait and live. These are just some out of the many interesting facts in books by Peter Lourie.

1 comments about South American Explorer: Visitor's Map of Southern Chile and Argentina Including the Chilean Fjords.

1. There are better maps of southern South America, but the map of the Chilean Fjords on the reverse side is great. One unexpected feature that I really like is the inclusion of numerous factoids about the geographic areas on the map, as well as many historical facts.

No comments about Cape Horn to Starboard.

1 comments about Chile: The Art of Wine.

1. Sara Matthews' photographs portray the wine country of Chile in breathtaking detail, from dew drops on leaves to mountain panoramas. I especially liked the chapter called "The Flow", with images of flowing water, fog, and wine. Her people pictures show that she has a good rapport with her subjects, bringing out their best. This is wine photography taken to a new level.

No comments about ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA - KINDLE EDITION [ENG].

5 comments about Let's Go Chile 2nd Edition: Including Easter Island (Let's Go Chile).

1. I used the Let's Go Eastern Europe book last summer and liked it so I gave this a shot for a trip this winter to China (Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Guilin, Yangshuo, Guangzhuo, and Hong Kong). Overall I like the way that information is presented/organized in the Let's Go books better than Lonely Planet, but this particular edition is due for an update. Some small (but possibly confusing) problems: certain large streets in Chinese cities have different names indicating the north/south/east/west side. This wasn't explained until deep in the book on a section on a particular city, but it is pretty important for orienting oneself. That should have been foregrounded and the street names for addresses and maps made consistent throughout. Also more detailed/comprehensive maps (with coverage of subway systems in cities where they exist would have been great). We came across a number of places that were no longer in existence, but that just harkens back to my earlier comment. It also would have been nice to have more Chinese on the maps (in addition to Romanizations) when asking for directions,etc.
   All in all, well done but there is still room for improvement. I would use a Let's Go guide again.



2. After just returning from a two week adventure in Chile, I found the guide book very helpful navigating through the major destinations in the country. Not only does the book give travel information, but interesting background information such as history, government, and social norms any traveler should know before setting off. The information is accurrate and really easy to use. The only flaw of the book is that it does not include some of the really small towns. However, these towns seemed to have no real major attractions in them. The book helps normal travelers and those people who like to experience a country on their own schedule.



3. This book was indispensable when my husband and I lived in Beijing for 6 months. I bought it together with Lonely Planet's The Best of Beijing, but found later on that I preferred to use this book because it contained a lot of leads to great deals on shopping, restaurants, etc. (Read: Good but cheap, and that's where most locals go) After checking out places from both books, I found Lonely Planet's contained a significant amount of "high end" places. Gave this book four stars only because I found that some prices quoted on particular restaurants are a bit outdated. Other than that, I loved it.



4. I just returned from Chile. This book was horrible. Maps were wrong. Prices, hours and addresses were way off. The section on the Torres Del Paine is absolutely worthless. I doubt their guide writer even went there. Buy the Lonely Planet guide instead. I ended up throwing the Lets Go away and borrowing a Lonely Planet guide from a fellow traveler.



5. I used this book two years ago during a trip that took me from Hong Kong to GuangZhou, XiAn, TianShui, JiaYuGuan, DunHuang and Urumqi, and even though it was useful as a geographical and cultural guide, ALL the prices were way way off for all the places I visited in XiAn and Western China. I don't know about Eastern China, but the prices to most of the hotels and sights/parks were actually DOUBLE what they were supposed to be, according to the Let's Go guide. Big big disappointment there.
   
   I ended up expecting prices to be double what the book said, and was able to plan the last part of my trip pretty accurately.
   
   Another big mistake was NOT to include the PinYin accents on all the city and sight names. In the Lonely Planet, you just look up a section about a city and you get the PinYin for it AND the accents, which are important if you want to pronounce the name properly. I had to borrow a Lonely Planet on China in order to find the names of the places I was going to and write down the tones so I could say them properly. Miss your pronunciation, and most Chinese people won't understand right away what you're talking about!
   
   Note that the Lonely Planet other travelers had was way wrong about prices as well for the whole of XinJiang and GanSu.
   
   I love Let's Go in general, but they need to work on this one a bit better! I recommend this guide, BUT be careful when you make your budget! Expect some prices to be much higher than anticipated, and if you speak mandarin, double check how to pronounce the names of the places you're going to. Have a great trip!

No comments about The Road to Gobblers Knob: From Chile to Alaska on a Motorbike.