1 comments about Fodor's Argentina, 4th Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. This year I have used and then reviewed five guides on Argentina. Fodor's has commendable qualities, but its weaknesses outweigh its strengths. This guide will give you excellent direction on what to see/where to go. Its selection and recommendations of accommodations is the best out in guides today. However, if you want a guide to help you select an excellent, unique restaurant, if you want a guide that informs you about the history and culture of Argentina, and if you want a guide that will provide you with maps that help you locate restaurants and hotels, then look elsewhere.
   
   Fodor's excels at helping you to pick the best accommodations.. Their recommendations are accurate and, if there is a "Fodor's Choice" next to the accommodations it is worth checking that hotel out. I was never disappointed using this guide for accommodations.
   
   However, Fodor's restaurants recommendations in the guide are typical and common. Those that I visited were not the unique "finds", nor the excellent "mom and pop" restaurants that other guides occasionally give you. Rather, the restaurants Fodor's selected were populated by tourist and often filled with large groups. That alone would not be a distraction if the food at these restaurants was great, but, the food was good, but not worth touting in a guide.
   
   One of the most disappointing and dysfunctional aspects of this guide is the total omission of information on the history and culture of Argentina. Another was the serious lack of maps.
   
   A guide without maps is like a horse without a saddle, hard to enjoy and after awhile the absence is very noticeable. Good guides will have maps that help you locate both their recommended restaurants and the hotels. Fodor's only has these maps for Buenos Aires. Once you leave Buenos Aires there are NO MAPS to help you in this area.
   
   Caveat: After the economic collapse Argentina became a bargain country to visit. That is changing very fast. Hotels, airfares and restaurants prices are quickly rising. It is difficult to stay in Buenos Aires (unless you are staying at a hostel or backpackers hotel) for less than $100 a day. You, should plan on at least $150 for a moderate priced, well located hotel, good meals (with a good wine of course) and some sightseeing. Before you travel, use the internet to check out current hotel prices.
   
   For a overall reliable guide I recommend: Rough Guide to Argentina(2005). This guide is conditionally recommended 3.5 stars.

No comments about IgoUgo Travel Report: São Paulo: The Inside Scoop from Experienced Travelers.

3 comments about Amazon Journal: Dispatches from a Vanishing Frontier.

1. O'Connor's brilliance is that he combines a writing style that simply engages the reader with a the knowledge that he can't and doesn't know all that there is to know about his topic. He brings together several issues and introduces many intriguing characters (Rauni, Kenny Good, Davi, just to name a few). The combination of the political ineptitude of the Indian organizations and the skewed perception of the Religious affiliates in the Amazon create an overwhelming amount of obsticals for objective journalism. O'Connor reports what happens from the viewpoint of a jounalist that knows he is part of the problem. I have come into contact with Venezuelan Yanomama and have seen first hand the impact that contact has made. O'Connor's unbias journalism is a releif from all of the news specials, and talk-show trash that seems to abound with the "Save the Rainforest" campaign. Read this book if you want a true report of what is happening to the last remaining independent people in the world. The truth is that contact with "white" people has braught innumerable destruction to this once self-sufficient society and Geoffrey O'Connor is not affraid to tell that side of the story.



2. As an American living in the southern Amazon basin, near the Xingu Indian Reserve, I unfortunately can attest to the truth in Mr. O'Conner's writings. He manages to give one a glimpse of what it is like to exist in this lawless, confusing frontier. To capture the flavor of this land of anarchy truly is difficult but the author does a superb job in transforming the vagueness of this bizarre and mystical frontier into words.

   Mr. O'Conner, thank you for putting my thoughts into print. The grand Amazon is under serious attack and ,in my region especially, is being leveled at an exponential rate. Someone please do something.




3. I picked this book up on Granville Island in Vancouver on a clearance/remainders table out of interest. For people who wonder what has happended to the rainforests in Brazil after much international coverage during the late eighties and early nineties would find this of interest. Kind of sad.

4 comments about Zone Policeman 88.

1. Harry Franck presents a delightful and highly entertaining look into the past and culture of the Panama Canal Zone. I thoroughly enjoyed this first hand account of the early days of Canal construction. A must read for all present and past Zonians.



2. This book was enjoyable reading...but it does not hold a candle to his other works. For his best work read: Vagabonding Down the Andes (Garden City Publishing 1917) and A Vagabond Journey Around the World (The Century Co. 1910) You will probably have to look around for copies of both books...but they're out there.



3. It was one of his earliest books, the first being "A Vagabond Journey Around the World" (1910?). He wrote a total of almost 30 travel books, the final one in 1940. In WWII he managed to lie about his age and get a commission in the Army Air Corps (true age 61), serving as a historical officer at Amarillo A. F. Base, Lowry A. F. Base, and finally in the Battle of the Bulge with the 9th Air Force. He died in 1962, suffering from Parkinsonism.

   Book list on request. psheffld@warwick.com




4. I WAS INTRODUCED TO HARRY FRANCK BY MY BROTHER WHO GAVE ME A COPY OF 'A VAGABOND JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD'. 'ZONE POLICEMAN 88' IS ONE OF HIS BEST, BUT I ENJOY ALL OF HIS WORK. IN HIS EARLY BOOKS, AND THIS IS ONE OF THEM, HE MORE OR LESS WALKS INTO SITUATIONS, THEN WRITES ABOUT THEM. HERE HE DESCRIBES THE BUILDING OF THE PANAMA CANAL. HE WORKS AS A CANAL ZONE POLICEMAN; THEN BECOMES A CENSUS TAKER WANDERING THE STREETS & JUNGLES OF PRE-ZONE PANAMA. HIS COMMENTS & MUSINGS AREN'T ALWAYS POLITICALLY CORRECT, BUT YOU GET THE SENSE AS YOU READ HIM THAT HE TOOK EVERY MAN AS HE CAME; AND HE MET MANY MEN, HAD MANY ADVENTURES.

No comments about South America North West Map.

No comments about The Voyage of the Poppy Kettle.

2 comments about RioErotico.

1. A book full of bad quality pics (low resolution in many cases and very bad composition). Its a collection of like amateur/tourist photos that try to give a very poor view about the eroticism in Rio de Janeiro.
   Poor result. Seeing photos of a friend that already traveled to Rio its the same experience. Dont waste your time. Its a brazilian talking. Trust in me. : ). There other things much better than this crap.



2. Otto's works speaks for itself, too bad the edition put out by Regan Books was done so poorly. If one always hears about editors ruining a photographer's work, this is the perfect case. Images were blown up carelessly with no resolution - one wonders what was the criteria used.
   Maybe a book worthwhile to have as to complement a library, but in any case, Otto just put out a brazilian edition of his extraordinary work which is worth looking for.

No comments about Lewis & Clark: Legacies, Memories, and New Perspectives.

No comments about City Smart: Richmond.

No comments about The Best of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: A Hiker's Guide to Trails and Attractions (Tag-Along Books).