Books » Latin America Travel Books

This revised edition includes newly discovered sites. New photos and maps with full-color illustrations of real life scences from National Geographic Magazine.

"Graced with bounteous natural beauty, a stable democratic government, and friendly citizens, Costa Rica has become a popular destination for travelers from all over the world. Birds play a prominent role in attracting visitors, too. The shimmering quetzals, gaudy macaws, and comical toucans only begin to hint at the impressive avian diversity to be found throughout this small country."--from the Introduction This is the one field guide the novice or experienced birder needs to identify birds in the field in the diverse habitats found in Costa Rica. It features descriptions and illustrations of more than 820 resident and neotropical migrant species found in Costa Rica, all in a compact, portable, user-friendly design. The detailed full-color illustrations show identifying features--including plumage differences among males, females, and juveniles--and views of birds in flight wherever pertinent. Additional features of this all-new guide include:

o 166 original color plates depicting more than 820 species.

o Concise text that describes key field marks for positive identification, as well as habitat, behavior, and vocalizations.

o Range maps and texts arranged on opposing pages from illustrations for quick, easy reference.

o The most up-to-date bird list for Costa Rica.

o A visual guide to the anatomical features of birds with accompanying explanatory text.

o Quick reference to vultures and raptors in flight.

A complete guide to Spanish for Travelers. Practical Pronunciation Exercises to Help you Sound Like a Native Spanish Speaker Useful expressions for Real Life Situations That You Will Encounter. Costa Rican Slang. Practical Vocabulary, Including Business and Legal Terms. Includes an English/Spanish-Spanish/English Dictionary.

National Geographic designed the waterproof Panama Adventure Map to be essential travel gear for the serious traveler and also your perfect trip-planning reference. It's tear-resistant and incredibly durable; it won't fray or disintegrate no matter what environment you take it into. It includes the most detailed and best road information available, letting you drive with confidence. Protected areas are designed to "pop" visually so it's easy to locate them and refer to their boundaries as you get around the country. No other commercially-available travel map shows more clearly the locations of national parks, wildlife reserves, wetlands, and forest reserves. The stunning shaded relief you expect from National Geographic elevates this map into its own category. This map includes an inset map of downtown Panama City and one of Casco Viejo (San Felipe). There's a detailed map of the Panama Canal area, showing the locks and the canal's proximity to Panama City. The Panama Adventure Map is bilingual, in English and Spanish, emphasizing English with its numerous English-language descriptions of destinations. Main map scale is 1:475,000. GPS compatible. Full UTM grid.

Haven to Nazis, smugglers' paradise, home to some of the earth's oddest wildlife and most baroquely awful dictatorships, Paraguay is a nation waiting for the right chronicler. In John Gimlette, at last it has one. With an adventurer's sang-froid, a historian's erudition, and a sense of irony so keen you could cut a finger on it, Gimlette celebrates the beauty, horror and-yes-charm of South America's obscure and remote "island surrounded by land."

He takes readers from genteel drawing rooms in Asuncion-where ladies still gossip about the nineteenth-century Irish adventuress who became Paraguay's Empress to the "Green Hell" of the Chaco, a vast, inhospitable tract populated by aging Mennonites and discouraged Indians. Replete with eccentrics and scoundrels, ecologically minded cannibals and utopians from every corner of the earth, At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pigis a madly entertaining book.

Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include


* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* do's, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken


"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times

Bradt's fully illustrated wildlife guides focus on regions of the world particularly celebrated for their amazing and often unique species. With spectacular photography or exclusive watercolour drawings throughout, each visitors' guide provides an introduction to the region's principal flora and fauna alongside suggested wildlife itineraries, practical information on when to go and what to take and photography tips. Written in a deliberately engaging way, they offer something different from dry field guides, and will appeal to the interested layman as much as the wildlife devotee. It is ideal as a lightweight companion to any wildlife trip they also make a handsome souvenir. The Galapagos islands are famed for their unique and diverse wildlife, as illustrated here with full colour photographs on every page. In spite of their isolated location, their allure is such that they are a Mecca for wildlife enthusiasts on what has often been called the 'trip of a lifetime'. "Galapagos Wildlife" is written by experienced tour guides, who share essential tips on how to discover the best the islands can offer and fascinating background on key species. Whether planning a voyage of discovery in the footsteps of Darwin or simply as a great souvenir of a trip, this guide will be invaluable for visitors to this magical kingdom.

Sixteenth-century Spanish soldiers described Peru as a land filled with gold and silver, a place of untold wealth. Nineteenth-century travelers wrote of soaring Andean peaks plunging into luxuriant Amazonian canyons of orchids, pythons, and jaguars. The early-twentieth-century American adventurer Hiram Bingham told of the raging rivers and the wild jungles he traversed on his way to rediscovering the "Lost City of the Incas," Machu Picchu. Seventy years later, news crews from ABC and CBS traveled to Peru to report on merciless terrorists, starving peasants, and Colombian drug runners in the "white gold" rush of the coca trade. As often as not, Peru has been portrayed in broad extremes: as the land of the richest treasures, the bloodiest conquest, the most poignant ballads, and the most violent revolutionaries. This revised and updated second edition of the bestselling Peru Reader offers a deeper understanding of the complex country that lies behind these claims.

Unparalleled in scope, the volume covers Peru's history from its extraordinary pre-Columbian civilizations to its citizens' twenty-first-century struggles to achieve dignity and justice in a multicultural nation where Andean, African, Amazonian, Asian, and European traditions meet. The collection presents a vast array of essays, folklore, historical documents, poetry, songs, short stories, autobiographical accounts, and photographs. Works by contemporary Peruvian intellectuals and politicians appear alongside accounts of those whose voices are less often heard-peasants, street vendors, maids, Amazonian Indians, and African-Peruvians. Including some of the most insightful pieces of Western journalism and scholarship about Peru, the selections provide the traveler and specialist alike with a thorough introduction to the country's astonishing past and challenging present.

Folded paper road and travel map in color. Scale 1:250,000. Distinguishes roads ranging from main highways to other roads. Legend includes trails/tracks, railways, national boundaries, provincial/terrtorial boundaries, National Parks, international airports, domestic aerodromes, points of interest, churches, major archaeological ruins, other archaeological sites, border crossings, beaches, watersports sites. Includes inset map of San Salvador and extensive index.