1 comments about Berlitz Hide This Spanish Phrase Book.

1. This book is great for someone who wants to be able to talk to the locals at a casual level, and know some of the slang for the area. If you are looking for some instruction on sentence structure or anything like that then this is not for you. It is strictly a phrase book, with a small dictionary in the back. I did love how there were little info boxes of related facts about spanish areas, all of which would be very helpful during travel. Plus, this book is geared toward the younger crowd, with lots of phrases about the social scene, drinking, and meeting people (and hooking up). Its very fun!

No comments about Vanishing Borderlands: The Fragile Landscape of the U.S.-Mexico Border.

1 comments about An Archaeological Guide to Central and Southern Mexico.

1. I was one of the most comprehensive books of its kind. Well researched and documented. Best of all was the detailed tips on how to get to the more remote sites. Most of the information can be found in various other places but she has one of the best compilations I have seen.
   Great Book!

5 comments about The Rough Guides' Cancun & Cozumel Directions 2 (Rough Guide Directions).

1. The person who wrote the last review was stupid enough to choose a package holiday based in Hersonissos. I say this because Hersonissos is INSANELY OVERDEVELOPED (at least by Greek standards) and one would HAVE to be stupid to stay there when there are other, much more beautiful, much less crowded, much less expensive, much cleaner, and much less developed areas not too far away. Don't get me wrong - both Hersonissos and nearby Mallia are worth spending a night or two in just to experience the nightlife, but then one should move on to someplace prettier and quieter.

   As someone who is of Cretian descent (my mother was born and raised there) and who has a ton of relatives there, I can honestly say that this guide is EXTREMELY accurate and on the mark about almost everything. It even contains facts and information which many natives don't know about. Although I usually stay with relatives in or near Hania, this book has helped me plan and successfully undertake some very awesome daytrips. It has also helped me with sightseeing, eating, and accomodation when visiting other parts of the island away from Hania (where I don't have any relatives so I have to stay in a hotel and eat in a restaurant).

   This guide is NOT aimed at package tourists but it can be used even by someone on a package tour for the historic and cultural insights it offers. The reason it comes down so hard on Hersonissos is because the place IS overcrowded and spoiled (many other guides agree). Also, Hersonissos can be visited from Iraklion (the capital) or from Mallia by bus or taxi. (If you wanted to visit Monte Carlo, for example, without selling your house, you would stay in Nice or in Menton or some other nearby town and GO INTO Monte Carlo by the frequent trains - you can always take a taxi back to your hotel. This is MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper than staying in a hotel WITHIN Monte Carlo itself). This is analogous to the Hersonissos situation. You can VISIT Hersonissos without actually staying in any of its expensive, crowded hotels. Does one have to stay at the Plaza in New York in order to visit the shops on Fifth Avenue or go to a Broadway play? - NO!!!




2. It's unbelievable how much detailed information is in this book. The organization of the book is very convenient and there are page references throughout the book to the topics being discussed. This makes it extremely easy to either read the book from front to back or to pick out a narrow topic and read about it. My only complaints are that I wish it had more color photos and a better map, but the information is more important than photos anyway. This book will definitely make planning your trip to Crete a lot easier. And it's much, much better than the Lonely Planet Crete guide. Lonely Planet publishes some great books, but its Crete guide is not one of them.



3. Crete is huge -- you can't even picture how huge until you see it from the air. Crete is 160 miles from end to end, and that is why it is very useful to buy a separate book to help you find your way. I chose this book because it was the first tour guide that I found that explored Crete by bus, instead of insisting that a foreign traveller go through the troublesome ordeal of renting a car. This book is very good in that area -- it offers detailed bus and ferry schedules and acceptable maps for every city.
   
   This guide offers tremendous hotel reviews, covering most of the obvious budget hotels and showing you how to get to them. It also provides extensive historical information on some of the more interesting sites, such as Knossos and Moni Arkadi. There are some important details, however, that this book overlooks. I feel like perhaps the writers didn't take notes on the names of things as they were travelling; in Iraklion, the book gave general descriptions of tavernas they recommended, instead of just saying their name. This made it kind of hard to figure out what they were talking about.
   
   As with some other tour guides, the maps skimped on street names, which made them very difficult to use; they also never give the Greek letters for places, making it sometimes hard to translate what you read in the book to what you see on signs. I was also disappointed in this and other tour guides, in that they didn't mention some very critical basic information, such as how to deal with tipping, or local etiquette; Greeks have very specific expectations regarding their hospitality. I would also have liked to have read that I was not allowed to flush toilet paper down the drain -- not every facility has a warning sign about this, and it would have been useful to read about it rather than discover this oddity through experience.



4. This is a good, extensive guide to Crete, even if this 2004 version is now a bit dated in 2006, though the majority of the recommendations are still good -- except for the recommendation for car rental from "Motor Club" which was a disaster.



5. This book was very useful for my trip to Crete. Not only does it give detailed information about cities in Crete, buy it also has a greek dictionary in the back for common phrases. It gave historical facts about monasteries and other places that couldn't be found in any other travel book I looked at. I found the book easy to navigate and read and the most useful travel guide I have ever used.

No comments about Spanish Language Phrases: Learn to Speak Spanish.

5 comments about Good Neighbors: Communicating with the Mexicans, 2nd edition (Interact Series).

1. Having traveled back and forth from the States to Mexico on numerous occasions I have found Condon's book very helpful in aiding in my understanding of the Mexican culture and mindset. Whether it be Christian short term missionaries or business men his analysis of the culture is very insightful. The past is what propels Mexicans while the future pulls us Americans forward. Mexicans have a much larger inclusive concept for the family than we Americans do. Mexicans also have two views of truth: Objective and interpersonal. Their speech is also more emotive than ours. Their concepts of time are also very different. These are just a few of the new things that can be learned from reading this book.



2. Good Neighbors is plagued with comparisons between the United States and Mexican culture. Presenting the material in this way is by no means objective and burns more bridges than it builds. Exhibiting cultural material as a ratioed math problem: X culture=this while Y culture=this, is an unfair comparison. Each culture is rich and diverse in its own right and Condon fails to get this message to his reader. It is a good book if you want to understand American culture...NOT Mexican culture.



3. Rarely do books grow in importance in their subsequent editions. John Condon's Good Neighbors: is one that increases in value for our times. No one who looks at the demographics and traffic between Mexico and the US can underestimate the impact that these two nations will have on each other in the coming century. How important it is for of both sides of the border to discard their biases and to be accurately informed about each other!
   
   I am not tempted to call this scant 88-page text "an overview." True, it does not deal exhaustively with all facets of Mexican culture, but it does sort out and address in real depth, critical historical, social and practical facets of Mexican culture pertinent to our understanding of where our values and communication styles run afoul of each other. It contrasts Mexican culture brilliantly with that of the Norteamericanos and shows how they set the scene for misunderstandings both on the personal and individual levels as well as in political and economic affairs.
   
   Rooted in solid historical fact, Good Neighbors brilliantly dissolves our assumptions about Mexico and its people and about the US in that stormy relationship and assists us with insights and information that can make a difference in how we deal with each other. Particularly noteworthy in this second edition is Condon's treatment of diversity trends in the US and how their potential to intensify certain cultural differences, e.g., around gender, rather than create acceptance and understanding.
   
   Good Neighbors is a good read, its depth belied by its slimness.



4. If you are looking to immerse yourself in the "mystery and romance" of Mexico, this book is not for you. This is a practical analysis of Mexican culture, as it compares with North American culture, geared slightly toward the needs and interests of persons doing business there. Much of it is actually a sort of "Cliff Notes" version of the great work by Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude, and that book is quoted frequently. I have traveled to Mexico many times and am married to a person of Mexican descent. I found the book very helpful in better understanding Mexicans, my Mexican-American relatives, and myself.



5. ..then I suppose this might be okay. However, it didn't do much for me. You'd be better off just watching some good ol' telenovelas!

No comments about Tortilla Chronicles: Growing Up in Santa Fe.

1 comments about Global Access Spanish: Deluxe Language Course (Global Access).

1. I am an advanced Spanish student who has a library of books, a Rosetta membership, etc. with regard to learning Spanish. I have also traveled to Central America to practice the language and my husband is fluent.
   
   My biggest problem is that I feel a little intimidated to interact in spanish because my listening skills are not perfect and my brain takes longer than I am comfortable with to come up with the Spanish I would like to speak. I just got this course yesterday and listened to it for an hour in the car. I was pleasantly surprised at the breadth of topics covered. I guess for a traditional spanish student, you tend to learn grammar, vocab, etc. and you don't focus on one-shot spanish courses like "travel spanish."
   
   This course actually starts with travel spanish in mind, and even though I started on the basic lessons it is more advanced than I expected in that many different verb tenses are used right from the get-go. What a great way to hear those tenses used with many things the advanced learner would already be familiar with - so you can really focus on the tenses and at the same time get a great review of words you may not have completely committed to memory. The only parts I have skipped so far were those covering numbers, and skipping is easy to do because each short lesson is a track on your CD.
   
   Also the kit comes with vocab flashcards. They are not as basic as you might expect. Sure, the majority is made up of words like train, tree and yesterday, but also you will find ones for ankle, gloomy, crowd, etc.
   
   Since I just got this yesterday, I will come back and add more if my opinion changes. I am very pleased so far and I look forward to my next 1 hour in the car tonight!

5 comments about Moon Handbooks Yucatan Peninsula (Moon Handbooks).

1. On a recent vacation, we took both Moon Handbooks Yucatan Peninsula (2005) and The Rough Guide to the Yucatan (2005). I was glad we brought both books, but overall I found the Moon book more useful for the small practical details.
   
   For instance, we rented a car and drove from Merida toward Tulum (south of Cancun). This route offered a couple options: the free highway or the toll highway. We stopped in Valladolid and were trying to get back on the *toll* highway. The Rough Guide map of Valladolid just shows an arrow east labeled "Cancun". The Moon Handbook map reveals that east lies the *free* highway to Cancun, but you head *north* to reach the toll highway. This sort of detail can save a lot of frustration and stressful driving around.
   
   Another example - in Tulum we were looking for a hotel on the beach. The Rough Guide had a detailed description of how to reach the beach hotels from the town center, but it contained directions like "Coming in from the north... another kilometre south along the highway is the beginning of the town proper...Most of the local accommodation, however, is a few kilometres east, right on the beach - all of it connected by a narrow road running north-south along the water..." etc. This was frustrating because I wasn't always sure which compass direction we were facing while we drove around. The Moon book, instead of paragraphs of text, had a much more helpful and practical map showing the beach hotel zone in relation to the town center.
   
   On the other hand, the Rough Guide seemed more rigorous and reliable in terms of historical accuracy. For instance, take the ball court at Chichen Itza, with its murals of beheaded players. Apparently, historians aren't 100% sure whether it was the winners or the losers who got decapitated. The Rough Guide mentions this but the Moon book simply states that it was the losers. It bothered me that the Moon book seemed a little sloppy with history sometimes.
   
   For vegetarians, the Rough Guide was more helpful in mentioning restaurants with vegetarian options.
   
   Overall, the Rough Guide and the Moon Handbook complemented each other well and I'm glad we had both. I thought the Moon book was slightly more useful and practical with better maps, but the Rough Guide seemed more trustworthy for historical facts.



2. The main problem I had with this book is the uneven coverage of regions. Other than the city of Villahermosa, the state of Tabasco is barely covered. The authors write that there is not much there. Not true! Go ahead and "google" Tabasco or look at the State of Tabasco's official website and you will see that there are many wonderful off the beaten track places to visit in Tabasco. It's as if the authors just didn't bother to do in depth research of the area. Another example is Chiapas. The most touristed areas are covered well, but the coastal region and other remote areas like the incredibly beautiful Lago Miramar are barely if at all mentioned. The heavily touristed coast between Cancun and Tulum is covered fairly well, but even here there are some areas more focused on than others. The tourist village of Akumal, for example, is not well covered. A better job also could have been done on Sian Ka'an. I also would like to see more hotels and restaurants listed. I realize that every place on the peninsula cannot be listed, but they barely scratch the surface.
   
   I thought that a guide book covering just one region of Mexico was supposed to be more focused and detailed than a "whole country" book. While the book does this at times, it does the complete opposite at other times. Bottom line is that there is room for improvement. Maybe it is just a matter of the authors gaining more experience traveling the region. To end on a positive note, I did like the coverage of the state of Yucatan.



3. Hands down the best guidebook to the Yucatan. Great suggestions for restaurants and hotels, great driving directions, and accuracy in even the little details. We followed the recommendations and were rarely disappointed. The only thing it was dead wrong on was the restaurant suggestions in Isla Mujeres. We used it to drive all over the northern Yucatan, small towns, ruins, ceynotes, etc. and we loved the personality and opinions of the writers.



4. For basics that will never change, short of a mass destruction of the entire Yucatan, this book is fantastic. I've used and abused this book for 3 trips to the region. With the bus schedules, the bus routes, the ways to do tours on your own for practically pennies compared to the formal over priced tours, this book easily paid for itself in the first day trip we ventured out on. Great background info on the region and history, things to do, places to eat, places to stay... a wealth of good info. I will definitely buy the next edition when it's updated.



5. This is a great book for the non-Cancun, non-all-inclusive inclined traveler. I used this edition last summer while traveling around the Yucatan and found it incredibly useful, accurate, and informative. One of the useful features I liked was the fact that they include time tables that show the length of time needed to travel between cities on the peninsula- an important detail if you're taking buses, or driving, and need to plan distances/times. Not only that, it's actually fun to read- the authors write using a friendly, conversational tone. Their enthusiasm for the peninsula and their appreciation for the culture there comes through in their writing. I found myself longing to visit parts of the peninsula that I hadn't planned on, based on their descriptions alone! I realize that a more recent edition has come out since I've used this book, and I'm sure it's just helpful and informative as this one.

2 comments about Topographic Recreational Map of New Mexico: Detailed Travel Map.

1. THE MAP IS WHAT I WANTED BUT I FEEL ALL THE ITEMS I ORDERED ON THE SAME DATE WHICH WAS 4-7-08 COULD AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN MAILED TOGETHER TO SAVE ME SHIPPING. PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW. JENNIFER



2. These are great reference maps for generalized recreational activities. Not as detailed as a topo map, but still packed full of outstanding information. I have one for every state and I don't leave home with out them. An improvement over simple highway maps.