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Title: Footprint Nicaragua Handbook by Richard Leonardi ISBN: 1-903471-14-1 Publisher: Footprint Pub. Date: 09 February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.73 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Book For Life
Comment: Richard Leonardi's travel guide on Nicaragua as part of the Footprint series is not only the best English language guide that I have ever read, it is also the best travel companion and resource that I have ever used punto finale.
I was four years in the Merchant Navy and in my current life as a film maker and journalist for the BBC and Irish television I have travelled extensively. What this means is that I have had continual need of practical, up to date and accurate information on the countries I have visited like Japan, Mexico, the Faeroe Islands or elsewhere. Practical help in a travel book is usually the first refuge of the traveller who is stuck and the last refuge of that scoundrel author who does not check and check again the details he or she is tasked to provide for an extremely dependent audience. In this regard Richard Leonardi is on the side of the travel guardian angels. In fact his book is so good that in my five week stay in Nicaragua I sought him out to tell how much I appreciated his "companionship" whilst myself and my partner were on the road. I never do things like that!
The author actually lives in the country and takes a passionate interest in the life of Central America generally and this commitment shines through the book. Indeed, we found only one mistake in this book of some 300 pages if the excellent maps at the back of the book are included. The mistake is forgivable and occurs on page 134 in a reference to the beautiful town of Rivas. We were looking for a place which would change American Express travellers cheques and the book refers us to El Banco de Finanzas which is correctly described as being near the fire station in the town. The only problem is that the staff there firmly denied any policy of changing American Express cheques. On the immediate plus side, however, the book refers the weary traveller to a nearby restaurant the Rayuela which more than makes up for the recalcitrant bank staff with its well made, cheap and entirely fresh fare. Indeed, accurate descriptions and honest assessments of restaurants and eateries is a feature of the book. The best restaurant and craic (an Irish phenomenon including talk, song and dance) from Leonardi's extensive research was found at Dona Conchi's in Granada where I came away in the early hours with a singing palate and a mortero or mortar and pestle made of volcanic lava. This gift from the gracious Dona Conchi herself now has pride of place in my house. The only other quibble I have with the book is that the description of the route to the fascinating El Fortin in Leon could be made clearer as one risks approaching the historic fort via the municipal dump which is very unhealthy and possibly dangerous. The images of people scavenging through the detritus and residue of once revolutionary Leon's inhabitants will stay with me for ever.
Those two slight complaints aside, I cannot praise Footprints travel guide to Nicaragua highly enough. Quite apart from the author's diligence in ensuring the accuracy of his information, his descriptions of the political and cultural importance of Nicaragua are second to none. We climbed three volcanoes whilst in Nicaragua and we felt much closer to the history, legends and physical aspects of these sometimes fiery mountains from digesting the contents of the guide book. The best example of this comes in the descriptions of angry Concepcion and earth mother Maderas on the beautiful island of Ometepe. Ometepe and El Mar Dulce (the huge fresh water sea which surrounds the island) was the highlight of our trip. On page 139, Leonardi tells the ancient story of how a beautiful princess called Ometepetl met with Nagrando a warrior prince and the pair fell in love. Their respective tribes, however, were at war and this led to a suicide pact between them. This destruction of a match made in heaven led the angry Gods to flood the land producing the vast fresh water lake which exists to this day.
There is one other aspect which pleases me personally. Leonardi never patronises his leadership by being bland. He offers his opinions on many aspects of life in Nicaragua and bases these opinions on extensive research. It is this exciting mixture of hard facts and general cultural information which makes the book such a success. In fact you could never set foot in Nicaragua and still buy the book because you would feel you knew the country so well after reading it. The layout is easy to handle with boxed sections for particular pieces of information and a regular format for each of the geographical areas so you know, for example, that there will always be a food section at that certain point in the sector in which you are interested. The pictures are reflect the Nicaragua we saw and have been composed by people who liked taking photographs which helps. Go out and buy it. Treasure it as you use it as a resource in Nicaragua linda and guard the book well as other travellers will ask or borrow it and then quietly slip away in to the balmy Nicaraguan night never to be seen again.
Rating: 5
Summary: Best Guide Book Choice
Comment: I traveled to Nicaragua with a friend and we each brought different guide books. I brought the Footprint guide and I was very, very happy that I did. The historical and cultural information was much more complete in this book. It had city maps and included places and information that other books did not.
Perhaps the most telling recommendation that I could give doesn't come from me. I took Spanish classes at a school (Casa Xalteva) in Granada, Nicaragua. The school had a number of guide books available for students to flip through, but the one they recommended was the Footprint guide!
Rating: 4
Summary: This is a very impressive guide which I strongly recommend.
Comment: I used this guide during my three weeks in Nicaragua and enjoyed Leonardi's informative writing style. This handbook is more exhaustive, and more up to date, than "Footprint's Central America & Mexico Handbook".
This handbook's recommendations for accommodations/restaurants are right on the money and valuable. This guide is up-to-date and I found his recommendations to always be valid. In fact, his is one of the few guides that will tell you, candidly, no punches pulled, what he thinks: very good seafood, bad paella", "attentive service, mediocre food".
Richard Leonardi's writing is succinct and unencumbered by the superfluous. He gives you a solid mental picture, within a paragraph or two, of what to expect and how you can enjoy it.
I really enjoyed his "Further Reading & Cinema" and the history, economic, culture and environment sections are sufficient, but I would encourage you to also take with you the excellent book, "In Focus Nicaragua" (see my review).
Frustrating, and found in all Footprint guides, is the cost guide they use for accommodations. Instead of just stating what the price per room is, in dollars, they complicate it and give you a code table that you will often have to flip back and consult to remember what the cost represents. For example, a hotel that is LL=$150+, A=$46-$65. There is a better way than codes.
Leonardi mentions safety in his introduction to Nicaragua, but I found no mention of the rising problems with crime and gangs in Managua (Capital of Nicaragua). For the past few years... the area around 'La Catedral Vieja' has become dangerous, an area for violent crime. In fact, when I asked to go to this area in the daytime, the taxi drivers told me be careful, using the words: "peligroso, peligroso". While I at the Old Cathedral's I talked with the resident shoe-shine man, and he also told me that this area was now very dangerous at night. He said he leaves every day at 5pm because, "me gusto mi vida."
That said, this is a very impressive guide which I strongly recommend. For those going to various Central American countries I would recommend "Footprint's Central America & Mexico Handbook". Strongly Recommended 4.5 stars
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Title: Moon Handbooks Nicaragua (Moon Handbooks: Nicaragua, 1st Ed) by Josh Berman, Randy Wood ISBN: 1566914817 Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Living and Investing in the New Nicaragua by Christopher Howard ISBN: 1881233502 Publisher: Costa Rica Books Pub. Date: 31 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: In Focus Nicaragua a Guide to the People, Politics and Culture by Hazel Plunkett, Nick Caistor ISBN: 1566564387 Publisher: Interlink Pub Group Pub. Date: February, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Nicaragua Map by ITMB Publishing Ltd ISBN: 1553413474 Publisher: ITMB Publishing Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: My Car in Managua by Forrest D. Colburn ISBN: 0292751249 Publisher: Univ of Texas Press Pub. Date: 1991 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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