Customer Reviews

Driving the Pan-American Highway to Mexico and Central America

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I did a lot of research on our trip. We live in Honduras and are driving to the US over a three week period as we leave the area for good, so ordered the book. I was already very versed in the trip from countless stories on the Internet, and from exploring Central America over the last three years, so found the book simple, badly written, and not very helpful at all. I suggest that instead of spending your money on this book, you do research on the Internet and you will get much better information for free.

We bought this book before our RV trip in 2003 which eventually resulted in our own book, "99 Days to Panama" (www.99DaystoPanama.com). We found the info mildly useful but not accurate, e.g. Hotel Guanacoste Travel Lodge in Liberia, Costa Rica, hardly has a "trailer park". We recently bought the 6th edition of "Christopher Howard's" version with a new cover but it is exactly the same as the 6th edition of Pritchards book we bought three years ago.

I've made the trip from the U.S. to Panama by car four times. Each trip has been different and a real adventure. Although this guide should be updated it contains some good tips and many anecdotes. One of the best parts is where others share their experiences while making the journey. I also liked all of the essential Spanish vocabulary the book contains to help non-Spanish speakers in case they get in a jam. The part about border crossings is also helpful. They can be a real drag and very frustrating. This book helps prepare people for them.
I really wish the publisher would come out with a newer edition. I'plan to contact them and see if they'll let me share my experieces in the next edition. In short, if you plan to make the trip to any Central American country this book can help you.

The cover says New Sixth Edition. This means that every few years the edition number is revised, nothing else. The book is littered with references to Karl Malden's "Don't Leave Home Without It" American Express ads -- the book is that old. ...

my husband and i took the drive from California all the way down to Costa Rica and this book was definitely helpful, in retrospect. i agree it needs to be updated, and honestly, it is not a MAJOR source of all the info you will need, but it will help a lot~if nothing else, it provides you with an idea of what lies ahead. the best parts about this book, we felt, were the table that shows the distances and times expected between each major town, and the page of spanish words and phrases on the road. it definitely does not assist much with budget travelers~but hey, if you are a budget traveler and you plan to make it all the way down there, we did it on a shoestring budget, w/o help from the book on finding places to stay, and we were fine! we plan to take the drive again in 2002, and we will create our own updated version of what life is like and what to actually expect along the way. overall, if you have never taken this drive~i definitely recommend getting all the info you can~including this book.

I've just returned from a driving trip through Mexico and Guatemala. "Driving the Pan American Highway Through Mexico and Central America" was a waste of money. It is a thin book with very limited information; the information it does include is readily available in any good travel book about the region.

We have not yet driven the Pan-American highway, but were given the Pritchard's book as a gift in preparation for an eventual trip; therefore, I can't comment on the traveler tips. I was, however, amused and distracted by the incredible number of typos on each page (coastal is consistently spelled "costel"). The book seems very basic and at times naive (toilet paper discussion). I had the feeling that my grandfather was explaining the ropes to me... That said, the book seems to have some helpful information and tries to be specific regarding border crossings, the roads, etc.

I found this book to be very expensive and out of date. It appears not to have been updated in some time. The peace in Guatemala is not even mentioned. A much better book for the content,information,and price would be the People's Guide to Mexico.

The information's regarding border crossing are just to old (more than 10 years) to be of any valid use today.

Having just driven from the U.S. to Panama, I can say without a doubt this guidebook really helped me from Guatemala to Panama City. There are better guides for driving through Mexico but none comes close to this book when making the journey through Central America. The AAA recommends this book since they offer nothing on motoring through Central America. The section on Central American border crossings in the best part of this book. It will help you save time and a lot of hasstles. The section on Spanish is also excellent.