Customer Reviews

The People's Guide to Mexico

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The People's Guide to Mexico continues to be THE guidebook for learning about Mexico, its people, culture and places, from an insightful author(s) who have been traveling and living in Mexico for over 30 years. A Caveat: if you are looking for a humorless, factual guide to four and five star resorts, and only like to travel first class or stay at global chain hotels, THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR YOU. If you enjoy irreverence, humor, colorful stories, personal experience and gaining real insight- rare in the tourist guidebook genre- about the very different, yet welcoming, culture next door, then this IS your book. (I was raised in Mexico and live in the USA, exactly opposite of Carl, Lorena et al- but I love these guys, and used to carry a battered old edition- wish I still had it!- in my VW bus when I traveled throughout Mexico and Central America in it after military service and Vietnam. I re-read it many a time, and it was my #1 book... ¡Muchas gracias! Carl y amigos...)

This book is a joy for people who:
· Have been to Mexico
· Have never been to Mexico
· Are planning to go to Mexico
· Want to say home and read about Mexico
· Want to learn about a Mexico that is not defined by the major tourist areas
· But most importantly, people who want to hear about Mexico from someone who has had many enjoyable trips to Mexico and loved every minute of those trips.

The author imparts his love of the people, culture, food, and country through stories that are not connected so you can pick up the book and begin reading where you please. The book is filled with stories that are make-you-laugh-out-loud thigh slappers.

Through the years I continue to enjoy this book, and often pick it up looking for favorite stories. Each time it brings back fond memories of the Mexico I know from my own trips and the wonderful picture Carl has weaved for me.

Buy, read, and enjoy!

Before reading this book, I'd heard it was a cult classic. It lived up to the billing. It isn't a guidebook to 'tourist highlights', it is a guide to 'going Mexican'. There isn't anything on the 'sights' of Mexico City, but there are tips on backroad bus trips, Mexican hand gestures, learning Spanish and surviving customs inspections. Rather than the 'tour', the book proposes the 'flow': get up in the morning and go with the first idea that comes into your head. Don't plan a 'return', there is only the 'next adventure'.

This isn't a traditional guidebook. It contains no information on specific hotels, sites to see, or things to do. It has no maps and only a few rudimentary itineraries. What it does have is a lifetime's accumulation of information, insight, and wisdom regarding the culture of Mexico. The People's Guide explains Mexicans' habits, customs, and attitudes. It also provides information and advice (specific to Mexico) about driving and other modes of travel, accommodations, health and safety strategies, shopping, and other important travel topics. While much of the information presented is targeted to the "hippies-traveling-for-months-at-a-time-out-of-the-back-of-a-van" contingent, most of it is probably invaluable to the business, or resort traveler as well. Franz's happy-go-lucky personality and heavy use of stories, anecdotes, and examples lends to both the enjoyment and understanding of the material.

I've been to some 30-odd countries and used stacks and stacks of guidebooks. None of them comes close to this one in terms of depth, insider info, and useful advice that will keep you out of a jam. This is probably the first guidebook I've ever kept on my nightstand and read for pleasure--it's that much fun. It's akin to swinging in a hammock, holding a cold Sol, and listening to a traveler talk for hours about the good bad and ugly in Mexico. Whether you're going to Mexico for a week (Cancun doesn't count) or are thinking of buying a house and moving there, this book is the best investment you can make.

Tim Leffel
author, The World's Cheapest Destinations

The People's Guide is a pure delight, a labor of love about Mexico. It's a travel book that is actually fun to read. It's also full of useful information about just about everything; how to travel, where to stay, how to stay healthy, how to deal with the law, some basics on the language, and much more. And every bit of it feels like advice from someone who has learned it all through years of experience, some of it painful, most of it joyful.

What it is not is a book listing all the hotels, restaurants, stores, museums, and so forth. (There is a short section - The Best of Mexico - with specific suggestions, but it's just a starting point.) If your approach to travel is as footloose and unplanned as the authors, this may be the only book you need. If you like a little more structure, you will want to supplement it with traditional guidebooks for the areas you plan to visit.

If you're headed south of the border, down Mexico way - then pack a suitcase and be sure to include "The People's Guide to Mexico." Celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary edition, this is the travel book to take along if you want the real lowdown on Mexico. Every important travel topic is covered here - From: how to get to Mexico; when you arrive, how to get around (bus/driving, etc); the best of Mexico - the regions - where to travel in Mexico and when (weather/climate, etc.); best hotels/pensiones/accomodoations; restaurants and local food; markets and shopping; local fairs; and speaking Spanish - To: exchanging money; necessary vaccinations and preventative healthcare; tourist information; safety and the law...and so much more. Also included are black & white illustrations, charts, maps, and an English/Spanish dictionary.

If you are looking for a standardized, purely factual guide to a five star stay and 4-5 star resorts, and only like to travel first class, THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR YOU. If you enjoy colorful stories, personal experience and gaining real insight into the culture of our neighbor to the south, then this IS your book! Written in an entertaining style, it offers many practical tips and personal anecdotes. I have traveled back and forth between the US and Mexico for years and this is the only book I take. Even as a seasoned traveler to the country, I learn new and interesting things about Mexico all the time from "The People's Guide."

Winner of the "best travel book" award from the Independent Publisher Association, this is one of the most popular guides on the market. Highly recommended!
JANA

There are many books on Mexico and Mexican travel. There are two books worth the weight of carrying them while traveling (or living) in Mexico. The People's Guide to Mexico is the key book on Mexican travel and culture. Harvard student written Let's Go Mexico fills in with particulars like hotel suggestions, bus schedules, and detailed travel info to sites of interest.

From as common as a day border crossing to an experience as exotic as happening into a pre-Columbian religious ritual high in the Sierra of indigenous speaking southern Mexico you can deduce enough from Franz's cultural insights to save you from being off balance. Even his cooking and recipes are on target.

With the rising Mexican population in the USA, I recommend that The People's Guide to Mexico is now useful reading for everyday life north of the border; businesspersons and politicians could benefit from reading it. The dream traveler need not dream longer. He can read Franz's book and use the insight to experience Mexican culture in almost every state in the USA.

Everyone (including Mexican Americans) traveling in Mexico for as little as a few days to those living in Mexico permanently should have a copy. I know of no other place where this much Mexican travel technique and cultural understanding is packed into one book.

This isn't a travel guide. It helps you to be travel savy in Mexico, with tips on everything from how to select and purchase a proper hammock, to pointers on how to deal with corrupt cops.
I hardley speak Spanish but I was deep in Oaxaca when my rental car broke down and was glad to have read up in this book before I left. It didn't help me with my spanish but it gave me a fair look at the people I was going to meet. Good people but like anywhere you go, away from home, you have to be smart.
Whatever your experiences in Mexico: 2nd home or if you've never been Carl Franz will teach you something new.

And go to MEXICO! The coasts are paradise! It's safer than people say, just don't be stupid: like anywhere. The country has done so much to entice tourists down. I went, just my girlfriend and I, traveling through the heart of Mexico. We were taken into homes and fed well.
GO!

Was the best investment that I could have made preparing for my trip to Mexico. No matter what part of Mexico you go it seems to be well rounded to every state within the country. My wife (a local Mexican)looked through it and could not believe how accurate this book was.