Customer Reviews

Tramping Through Mexico; Guatemala and Honduras: Being the Random Notes of an Incurable Vagabond

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interesting travel book. however, it was written in 1916 so some of the lodging and wi fi connections may not be up to current traveler's expectations.,

There's no travel writer like Harry Franck. Only Paul Theroux and a few others come close in the modern day. This book, like all the Franck series (Look for "Vagabonding Down the Andes" as one of his best) is a beautifully written journey through a world that is no longer here. It's time travel in a way, but it helps the thoughtful reader look both backward and forward with more understanding.

Harry Franck was quite the traveler in the 1910s, and this journey down the length of Mexico to Guatemala and Honduras back in 1916 shows the country as it was during the Mexican Revolution when most men south of the border carried weapons in self defense and where the American wasn't always respected. He tramps down there on foot, via mule, train or carriage and gives very descriptive narratives of the towns and people along the way.

Despite the often distant descriptions Franck writes about--he gets close to no one and the narrative lacks dialogue--this is a well-written travelogue of Franck's observations, replete with often racist descriptions when seen with a contemporary eye. Peasants are "peons" and Mexicans are usually classified as either European, Indian or Aztecan bloodlines, who often drink too much and are prone to argue. He writes of a Mexico that has all but disappeared from the bigger cities, cities such as Monterrey (which he spelled with just one /r/), Potosi and other towns that have now seen drug wars take place in its streets.

Franck describes working conditions in a mine, lodging experiences along the way, indigenous villages and even other foreigners such as a German that he described as "garrulous, self-complacent, ungraceful" (1310-25). Many of the trails south of Mexico are mere faint game trails. Remember the time in which he writes about this country, during which the US has tensions with both Mexico and Germany just before and during WWI.

Seventy percent of this story is about Mexico, another ten percent is about Guatemala, and the rest is about Honduras. He seems to have enjoyed the two smaller countries more, but he never loses his air of superiority over the native peoples; they are always dirty and sleep in too late, and he seems to always expect them to wait on him hand and foot.

It may be outdated now, but this little travelougue brings one back to a time that was slower and more agricultural, where racial tensions still rang high between the US and Mexico (and growing with Germany). Anyone who enjoys these old travelogues will enjoy this one, as the language is not too outdated, but the language is well-sprinkled with racial epithets of the time.

Since I read this via the Kindle version, I must add that the Kindle version often did not correctly copy the Spanish spellings of words, which created a few hiccups but didn't ruin the enjoyment of this book too much. Franck does not translate his foreign phrases, so if the reader knows no Spanish, some of the little dialogue may be lost.

Anyone who enjoys travelogues and old historical memoirs will enjoy this little read.