BajaNomad

BOOK RECOMMENDATION for our mainland trip

BajaBlanca - 11-18-2010 at 08:35 PM

Hi all, next year we shall be traveling by car down the coast of Mexico, all the way to Guatemala and Belize.

Good travel book recommendations needed ! any secret locations you know of (we shall follow the coast) ?

Thanx.



[Edited on 12-6-2010 by BajaBlanca]

BajaBlanca - 11-19-2010 at 05:40 PM

thanks ... I am looking forward to the CENOTES !!!

woody with a view - 11-20-2010 at 08:01 PM

check out Teotihuacan. i went solo in 91 on my way to Monte Alban on my way to Puerto Escondido, Oax. standing atop the pyramid of the sun is pretty damn incredible. and to think the Aztecs found it in ruins.... i don't think we know to this day who built it....

you'll be glad you did!

BajaBlanca - 11-22-2010 at 08:25 PM

Teotihuacan=check. taxis, zocalo, park = check.

thanks ... still need more ideas, also a good place to stay area-wise. we will also be traveling south - as far as guatemala and belize...maybe...

woody with a view - 11-27-2010 at 02:53 PM

check out peurto escondido, oax. the mexican pipeline (in summer months)!

Bajahowodd - 11-27-2010 at 02:57 PM

I know that you are totally capable of doing your own on line search, but this is one site that is helpful.

http://www.allaboutmexicocity.com/

BajaBlanca - 11-27-2010 at 03:27 PM

thanks for the link !!

durrelllrobert - 11-28-2010 at 11:22 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
Teotihuacan=check. taxis, zocalo, park = check.

thanks ... still need more ideas, also a good place to stay area-wise. we will also be traveling south - as far as guatemala and belize...maybe...
just returned from 3 weeks in Huatulco, Oaxaca. The neigboring village is La Crucecita with about 33k residents. It is beatiful, clean, no graffiti or gangs and lots of places to stay.

McRV6A - 11-28-2010 at 11:41 AM

My wife and I have flown our airplane to guatemala city twice now. some places we liked were, Antigua, Panachel (spelling) on lake Atitlan, across the lake on boat to Santiago (with big market place on weekends i think) also Tikal was very interesting. we stayed at the Jungle lodge walking distance to the ruins.
Don

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

BajaBlanca - 11-29-2010 at 08:39 AM

Need a good book on mainland mexico travel - any recommendations ? I would also like to know about online sites for mainland, if anyone knows of one.

[Edited on 12-6-2010 by BajaBlanca]

BajaBlanca - 12-6-2010 at 11:38 AM

BUMP

DENNIS - 12-6-2010 at 11:41 AM

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." :saint:

willyAirstream - 12-6-2010 at 11:51 AM

God's Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre by Richard Grant
or his 2 other books

bufeo - 12-6-2010 at 11:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
Need a good book on mainland mexico travel - any recommendations ? ...


Can't help you on the on-line sites.

Are you planning back-country travel or just keeping to the roads most travelled?

AAA has a simple and typical auto-club guide book. I like the Eyewitness Travel and Footprint guides for general information as well as off-the-beaten-path suggestions.

If you're looking for something more into the remote roads, I have a couple of recommendations there also.

Allen R

toneart - 12-6-2010 at 12:06 PM

Here ya go, Blanca: http://www.peoplesguide.com/mexico/

I have used this for 30 years. It is very informative and is a real hoot to read. Lots of anecdotal stories.

Upon navigating the website, I noticed that they seemed to cease updating in 2005. Not sure if the book is still in print, but the website is still up. It is "different" than the usual travel guides. You will really enjoy it.

toneart - 12-6-2010 at 12:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by McRV6A
My wife and I have flown our airplane to guatemala city twice now. some places we liked were, Antigua, Panachel (spelling) on lake Atitlan, across the lake on boat to Santiago (with big market place on weekends i think) also Tikal was very interesting. we stayed at the Jungle lodge walking distance to the ruins.
Don


Don,

Are you flying your RV6 to those places? I got a ride in one last spring, out of the Hotel Serenidad in Mulege. The owner/pilot was a guy named Dennis. What a ride!

For those who don't know what an RV6 is, it is a small stunt plane of the "experimental" class. If you ever get the chance, make sure your breakfast has had a chance to digest. :o:lol:

I know the areas of Guatemala that you traveled to. I have been there many times. Lake Atitlan is beautiful! (You spelled Panachel correctly). I was there for the huge earthquake in 1976...a 7.6. It really devastated the country...a National Geographic feature.
I wrote an article for a San Francisco Bay Area newspaper and also published photos of some of the devastation.

Oops! Skipjack caught it. It is Panajachel. I knew that but for some reason, I didn't even see the omission of the third syllable, (ja).

[Edited on 12-7-2010 by toneart]

Hook - 12-6-2010 at 01:34 PM

I cant speak for mainland Mexico specifically, but the guide books by Moon Publications and Lonely Planet are always the best ones, IMO. This opinion comes from spending lots of time in Barnes and Noble and BBM, thumbing through them all. They give the biggest variety of lodging and eating locations; good for all budgets. They also do a better job of recreation, especially active recreation. I have always felt they were for more mobile travelers than Fodors, Frommers, etc.

DENNIS - 12-6-2010 at 01:58 PM

OK, Blanca....This will keep you entertained:

ANTIGUA CALIFORNIA

Mission and Colony on the Peninsular Frontier, 1697 - 1768

by Harry Crosby

http://tinyurl.com/28p6yan


OOOOPS....Just saw that "mainland" part.
Oh well...I'll leave this up.


.

[Edited on 12-6-2010 by DENNIS]

DENNIS - 12-6-2010 at 02:13 PM

OK, Blanca.....I had to dig around my bookshelves and I found another I know you'll enjoy:

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MEXICO

by Earl Shorris

http://tinyurl.com/2aj3g3m

bufeo - 12-6-2010 at 02:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hook
I cant speak for mainland Mexico specifically, but the guide books by Moon Publications and Lonely Planet are always the best ones, IMO. ...


I concur with Hook on the Moon publication. I have reservations about Lonely Planet. We were using one for a trip to Africa (South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana) and the South Africa (6th ed.) was just, flat-out, dead wrong in a couple of critical places.

It was almost as though the writer hadn't even been to the lodges. Upon return to the U.S. I queried LP, and they didn't respond to my questions.

They (LP, that is) do include in their guides book tons of good background information though, and I agree with Hook about the 'active recreation' part.

Allen R

BajaBlanca - 12-6-2010 at 07:29 PM

thanks all ... looks like great books and easy enough to get at bookstores. muchas gracias and if anyone has a special place they know of over there, pls let us know.

we shall be playing the trip by ear, so i dont really know but I imagine it will be mainly main roads with side trips if we hear about a place we should stop at.

We shall start where the ferry drops us off in mazatlan. straight down the coast.

DENNIS - 12-6-2010 at 07:57 PM

While in Mazatlán, ask around if the Pacifico Brewery still has a beer garden. If yes, don't miss it. You would have to go to Germany to see anything close to it.

I wonder if Campo Siete is still operating there? Have Les ask about that one. :biggrin:

El Jefe - 12-6-2010 at 08:49 PM

A must agree with Toneart about The People's Guide to Mexico by Carl Franz, John Muir Publications.

I still have the original copy I bought in Berkeley in 1974. It wet my appetite to study Spanish (as an econ major) and hit the road south after graduation. Alas, the big trip got put on hold when the babes came, but at long last Mexico became our home away, and then our home. Now the "babies" fly down to see us with their babies.

You don't find out where to go with Franz's book. You learn about how to go, in so many ways. A great deal of the information may be out of date, but after all these years the stories still resonate.

As the tag line to the title so aptly states,
WHEREVER YOU GO.....THERE YOU ARE

Skipjack Joe - 12-6-2010 at 09:21 PM

It's Panajachel.

The best book on Guatemala is Paul Glassman's 'Guatemala Guide'. Get it if you can. It's available through Amazon. The man lives in Panajachel himself. Much like you I bought several guide books on a trip much like yours but eventually used nothing other than this one in Guatemala (People's Guide ... for Mexico).

Regarding CENOTES. I don't believe there are any on the Pacific side of Mexico. They are really fabulous. It's like diving in a tropical fish tank. The water is gin clear with schools of small luminous tetras surrounding you. When we got tired of swimming we searched for quetzals in the trees above the pond. Never found one but we did see Trogons. The Cenotes we visited were off the highway just south of Tulum.

As someone suggested - do not miss Tikal. None of the Yucatan Maya ruins come close to Tikal. I've heard Palenque is equal but never went there. Many well traveled amigos consider Tikal superior to Peru's Machu Pichu. It's very hard to compare the two because they are so different but it's definitely less touristy. Great bird watching there as well. You'll hear the howler monkeys at dusk and see spider monkeys jumping from branch to branch overhead. But best of all were the toucans.

It will be a trip to remember.

51R7PK4XJBL__SL500_AA300_.jpg - 20kB

Bob and jane - 12-7-2010 at 08:08 AM

BajaBlanca,
My husband and I are planning a similar trip. Here are some of my references: Insight Guides Guatemala, Belize, Yucatan; Mexican Camping by Mike and Terri Church; Lonely Planet Guatemala; The People's Guide; Moon Handbook to Pacific Mexico. I have spent endless hours following leads on google. If I read about a place that sounds interesting, I google it, which inevitably leads me to personal blogs and local websites that lead me to other sites. What fun! The books are all for reference and to get me started on my research. You will end up reading blogs from people who made similar trips. Some interesting, some not. Some old, some new. But always learning something. We made a similar trip over 30 years ago with no advance planning but we were younger then............

Bob and jane - 12-7-2010 at 08:55 AM

Skipjack Joe,
I just pulled out my old Guatemala Guide dated 1977 and discovered it was written by Paul Glassman as well! I had no idea he was still writing guides. My copy is well-tattered from being carried in a backpack through Panajachel, Nebaj, Chajul, Chichi and so many other amazing places. I'm a lot older and Guatemala has gone through some terrible times, but I am excited to return. I hope to rekindle dwindling memories and create some new ones as well.

BajaBlanca - 12-7-2010 at 12:46 PM

Tikal is on the list.

Need to get the People's Guide Mexico and the Guatemala Guide ...those sound really good. Did a lot of reading on the site Tony recommended.

I am guessing I can find more Lonely Planet and Moon books while in San Diego ... Does anyone out there use Rick Steven's guides ???? and if I get a kindle, can I download these travel books for free ?????

DENNIS - 12-7-2010 at 01:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
and if I get a kindle, can I download these travel books for free ?????



Free???? I didn't know anything was free. I even heard they changed the name of that song, "Born Free" to "Born Reasonable."
How would authors get royalties if their creation was free?
I don getit.

comitan - 12-7-2010 at 02:36 PM

This person is hitting all the ruins in the Yucatan right now, go back a day or so, I will give you two.

http://steveinmexico.blogspot.com/

http://www.bnwisla.blogspot.com/

BajaBlanca - 12-8-2010 at 08:55 PM

those are just fantastic blogs ..... I have spent 2 hours reading ..... more tomorrow. thanx so much for sharing those !!

wilderone - 12-10-2010 at 09:46 AM

Maybe see the monarch butterfly sanctuary? And in the same region, there are a bunch of hot spring resorts. Chiapas is a fantastic state to spend some time. I used Cadogan "Yucatan and Southern Mexico" travel guide and it was excellent.

"The development of ecologic spaces give life to 400 springs forming the called “Ruta de la Salud” (Health Route), where you will find health, rest and entertainment, plus excellent services and hospitality.

Bathing Resorts: Reino de Atzimba: Located in Zinapécuaro, 40 minutes from Morelia. Spring of thermal water forming two private pools and three other of big size.

Cointzio: 10 km from Morelia you will find this bathing area, with diverse tourist services"

toneart - 12-10-2010 at 12:48 PM

I lent my 1970s edition of The Peoples Guide to Mexico to some intrepid travelers a few years ago. I think they are still out there on a one way trip. I should have ripped out the last couple of chapters so they would get stranded with no way back. :smug: Come to think of it, it is pretty hard getting back from the 70s, huh?:yes::lol:

krafty - 12-10-2010 at 04:07 PM

books where the copyright has expired are free on kindle

BajaBlanca - 12-10-2010 at 06:13 PM

wilderone - thanks - those are some neat suggestions.

comitan - 12-10-2010 at 07:16 PM

Blanca

Here's another one, go back a few days for their Monarch butterfly excursion.

http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/

BAJACAT - 12-11-2010 at 10:25 AM

Blanca go to Chiapas to EL CANON DEL SUMIDERO... I never been there but have seen pix from friends and it looks great...

BajaBlanca - 12-11-2010 at 12:53 PM

BajaCat - I looked at some pics of it and boy oh boy - it looks so beautiful !!

Bajafun777 - 12-12-2010 at 09:36 PM

For your travels on mainland online travel book with road maps and inserts for places along the way go to ontheroadin.com it will give you the ability to download the areas for traveling and it cost about $12 dollars well worth it. They also have other information you might find helpful. We get our road travel maps updated every year as we travel down to Maztalan every year from Nogales in February. Check it out you will not be unhappy and it will be the best $12 dollars you ever spent. Take Care & Travel Safe bajafun777 "No Hurry, No Worry, Just FUN"

wilderone - 12-13-2010 at 10:04 PM

If you have a chance to get to Laguna Miramar, you won’t regret it. One of my favorite places. We camped here 3 nights and were the only ones. Getting there is half the fun.



It’s within a caldera – the water temperature stays at 72.



fun guys



We saw boats with 10 people



[Edited on 12-14-2010 by wilderone]