South American Handbook 2017

by Ben Box

Overview

South America is epic. Home to the world’s highest waterfall, the longest mountain range and the largest rainforest – this continent will baffle you with its enormity. While cities like Rio de Janeiro swing to the sounds of samba, locals jostle around market stalls in Cuzco and indigenous farmers offer prayers to Pachamama – Mother Earth. Footprint’s 93rd edition of the South American Handbook is the ideal guidebook for adventure-hungry travellers. From Inca ruins and tropical jungles to the vast open plains of Patagonia, Footprint’s revised and updated guide to South America provides comprehensive coverage, enabling you to escape the crowd and discover the continent for yourself.

• Highlights section so you know what not to miss

• Practical information on how to get to each country and around, plus suggested itineraries to help you plan your trip, whether you are travelling for a week or a month

• Well-researched cultural and historical background sections available as an online resource

• Tips for travelling with your kids

• The core of the guide provides comprehensive coverage of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, the Guianas, and the Falkland Islands.

• Each country and region has an overview map which includes ‘Don’t miss’ destinations, local information on how to get around and detailed street maps where relevant

• Detailed listings on where to sleep, eat and play are provided for every destination within each country, enabling you to have an even better travel experience.

Now in its 93rd edition, Footprint’s legendary South American Handbook covers the continent in amazing detail, enabling you to explore for yourself. From spectacular carnivals to shuddering glaciers, this guide will open your way to the irresistible spirit of the world’s greatest continent.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781911082309
Publisher:	Bradt Travel Guides Ltd
Publication date:	10/17/2016
Series:	Footprint Handbooks
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	1824
File size:	220 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Ben Box has been working on the South American Handbook for over 30 years and is a Latin America expert. Ben has contributed to newspapers, magazines and learned tomes, usually on the subject of travel, and has also been involved in Footprint's Central America & Mexico, Caribbean Islands, Brazil and Peru since their inception. Having a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese studies from London University, Ben maintains a strong interest in Latin American literature and culture.

Read an Excerpt

If your system is jaded, South America will uplift your senses with the

tropical sun rising over a palm-fringed beach, or a bracing wind blowing off

the southern ice fields. Light can be blinding on the high-altitude salt flats,

or dense and green in the rainforest. The gentle scent of ripe guava fills the

countryside, but the fire of chilli from that innocent-looking jar will electrify

your taste buds.

As capybara wade through wetland shallows in the Pantanal, the

spectacled bear struggles for survival in secret places in the Andes.

Penguins congregate in the lee of glaciers, while tiny swifts dart through

mighty waterfalls and their eternal rainbows. Volcanoes come to life and

the earth trembles, yet elsewhere there are ancient, immovable tabletop

plateaux. But surpassing all is the Amazon Basin, the Earth’s greatest jungle,

where the immensity of the trees and the smallest details of the wildlife are

truly amazing.

You can explore the cities of prehispanic civilizations and the churches

of colonial times, or you can immerse yourself in the present with its

celebrations and its social dilemmas. Where past and present mix, there are

festivals, crafts and gastronomy, from the humble potato in its umpteen

varieties to the most sophisticated of wines.

If you are looking for something more active, throw yourself off a giant sand

dune into a lake, or climb the highest mountain. Walk in the tree-tops of

the rainforest, at eye level with birds and monkeys. Help homeless street

kids gain a better life, or learn the martial arts of slaves. Dance in an Andean

village square to a solo violin, or to techno brega in a warehouse-sized club

in Belém. Whatever South America inspires you to do, you will find that there

is no limit to the passion that it fires within you.

In this era of countless websites which bring images and information from

every barrio and pueblito, the South American Handbook gives the details on

how to navigate between each place, big or small. It is a celebration of the

spirit of adventure and independence that characterizes travel in this part of

the world. Drawing on the expertise of correspondents in the region and the

experiences of travellers, the Handbook provides the thread from Acandí to

Ushuaia and everywhere you may wish to stop off in between.

Table of Contents

1) Planning your trip 2) Argentina 3) Bolivia 4) Brazil 5) Chile 6) Colombia 7) Ecuador 8) Paraguay 9) Peru 10) Uruguay 11) Venezuela 12) Guianas 13) Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas 14) Practicalities 15) Color Maps

Editorial Reviews

I took the 1990 edition of the SAH - a lovely little brick of a book with a jaguar on the front - with me when I went to live in Buenos Aires and took it all over Argentina with me on my many trips. For all its listings and facts, I never really thought of it as a practical guide; for me it was more of a dream-Bible, the wispy thin pages full of possibilities of travel and exploration. It got nicked when I was in Salta and I was inconsolable.

The Daily Telegraph - Chris Moss