Viva List Latin America
333 Places and Experiences That People Love
Edited by Paula Newton, Michelle Hopey and Crit Minster PhD.
This is not your usual guidebook. In fact, it isn't a guidebook at all. Rather, "Viva List Latin America" is a compendium of over 300 real first person travel adventures throughout Latin America.
Forget what travel agents tell you in full-color glossy brochures, this is a down and dirty look at non-tourist destinations, or of tourist destinations as a local would see them, written by people who lived there, worked there and know the language.
Designed more for a coffee table than a backpack, "Viva List Latin America" is presented in a country-by-country collection of singular experiences. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of a country's history, touching on important high points and all things necessary to travel there. For instance, the Argentina introduction lists: "the tango, the lambada, Evita, Gauchos, wine, champion futbol teams" and then distills Argentina to the best single word description, "passion". Subsequent paragraphs elaborate on those words, and then list Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, Buenos Aries and other natural and man-made wonders that the chapter explores more thoroughly. Additionally, there is a map of the country with all the locations of the articles pinpointed, and an insert locating Argentina in a map of South America. If you read nothing else (shame on you) this one page introduction to a country is imperative to truly understand the essence of your destination.
The book itself can be read as a book of short stories, cherry-picking the one-page articles about your planned destinations to gain insight into what to expect when you arrive. Or, the whole section could also be read to help plan your itinerary throughout the country. Either way, the singular and idiosyncratic travel essays were picked by the editors to present in depth a dimension of travel that is frequently only a sentence in a traditional guide - if it is mentioned at all.
Page after page, the culture, history and people come together, separate voice by separate voice, to create the definitive picture of a country as a travel destination. You won't take this book with you when you travel, but, once you read it, you'll arrive at your destination steeped in the knowledge you'll need to thoroughly enjoy and experience it, not just observe it through a tour bus window.
In all, twenty-six Latin American countries are given the Viva Travel Guide treatment, each divided into pages of enlightened nuggets that are then collected into the first page overview. Throughout, sidebars of travel tips, reviews and photos of destinations complete the feeling of an insider's view. Reading Viva List Latin America, it's almost as if you have a personal guide, a friend, say, at each destination steering you clear of the pitfalls as they lead you through the richest experiences of their homeland.
"Viva List Latin America" is an incredible journey into the mysterious and vibrant land of Latin America as experienced through the eyes of 140 writers and photographers from around the world. 8.5x11 355 pages ISBN 13 - 978-0-9791264-0-6 Paperback $19.95. Available through www.vivatravelguides.com
BIO - Richard Frisbie has been writing culinary travel articles for more than five years as a columnist for his local newspapers, and as a regular contributor to the many Hudson Valley, Catskill Mountain and other regional New York publications. His most recent addition to that list is a wine column called “Fruit of the Vine” for Life in the Finger Lakes magazine. Online, he writes frequent articles for EDGE publications and Travel Lady, as well as Gather.
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Comments: 21
Richard, Is this part of a series of books about different countries written in similar fashion?
It's a series, or a planned series, but not of different countries. It's of different regions. They have a website of such travel articles from all over.
I've been a bit lax with my gather participation of late. I'm trying to get things together before my next press trip to Spain on Sunday.
OK - I'm off to Spain for the week (writing this from the airport) Zaragoza - to preview the 2008 International Expo - and eat OF COURSE! I'll bring back some good photos and food porn for you all - just in time for Thanksgiving.