The People's Guide to Mexico

Entertainingly written, this unique book covers all aspects of Mexican culture. Yes, the pages are thin - but this book is 755 pages! If the pages weren’t thin, it would be too heavy to pack. I had no problem reading it. This book covers EVERYTHING. I have found it a fabulous reference in preparing for my trip to Mexico.

I've been in about 18 Latin American countries. In the past nine years I have lived in Brazil, Costa Rica, and now Guatemala. So many of the observations in the book are applicable to Latin America in general. Carl Franz gives EXCELLENT advice on how to negotiate for a better price, for example. I bristle when I hear tourists demand this and that, acting insensitively to the feelings and pride of the seller. When I listen to the locals, they are so much smoother and get so much better prices. Here in Guatemala very few things (outside of a supermarket) are tagged with fixed prices. You must expect to negotiate even in shopping centers and chain stores. Franz can show you how the natives do it. Let's say you don't drink but you are offered an alcoholic beverage. How do you turn it down without hurting anyone's feelings? In the USA, "Thank you, but I don't drink" is acceptable. This doesn't fly in Latin America. I use a trick I learned from Franz in my first copy of this book back in the 1970s, and it never provokes insistence or hurts feelings. By the way, the book was recommended to me by a Honduran boss decades ago. He seemed to have most of the book memorized and often illustrated cultural differences by citing Franz. I cannot praise this book enough. It is right on target.

This is the Definitive Guide to Mexico, as much as there can be one. You can not hope to read it before you go, it is more of a referential guide--open it up as needed kind of thing. It is more useful in the less built up areas. That is to say as a Gringo traveling in Mexico I have never opened once in or near the Cabo area, Ive opened it occasionally in Cancun, a lot more outside of Cancun, and am practically glued to it when visiting the Federal District, Puebla, and Morelos. It contains things on culture and spots to check out and etiquette. The one thing I wish was better was some solid maps. As it is I supplement it with Road Maps. Also Mexico is a changing and dynamic place. This guide is not a substitute for situational awareness and up to date info from Locals and the internet.

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!

I discovered The People's Guide before my first trip to Mexico in the 1980s and continue to update and revisit it over the decades.This is not a guide book that will tell you which hotel to stay in, but instead will tell you how to improvise a lock for a lockless door. It will not tell you which restaurant to eat at, but will tell an anecdote about ordering one dish and getting another that will help you roll with it when it happens to you. The page illustrating "sign language" had my Mexican friends laughing and agreeing, and explained to me why people often appeared to be shooing me away while using welcoming words. The writing is good, the anecdotes ring true, the information is useful, and the attitude reminds those who might need a little perspective that we're guests who will get along a lot better by showing some friendly respect and keeping open minds.

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...)

I live in Oaxaca, and love Mexico! This book should be called the "The People's Cheapskate How to Guide to Mexico". How to bargain for a room, how to be safe staying in a brothel and by all means, take your money into the bathroom with you when you shower! The basic premise is how to do every single thing on the cheap. The descriptions of Mexico and Mexicans are glib and facile. There is no depth, no mention of the character of the Mexican people. Mexicans are all lumped together...how to spot the swindle, how to score a free ride, how to outsmart the post office. I realize that penny pinching backpackers make up a segment of Americans who travel to Mexico. Be aware, when you buy this book, that it may not be directed at you or your style of traveling.

I have purchased this particular book 54 times since I was 17. The world's best guide book. you will love it.I purchased this book in 1977 and after reading I booked my first ticket to Merida Yucatan ( although the book covers everything )and have always purchased it in my subsequent 53 trips of varying length to mexico. Actually, this book is what you don't leavehome with it as it will totally prepare you for anything.

Tells you just about everything you want to know about travelling to Mexico, whether you are a casual tourist or are planning an extended visit. Lots of anecdotes about the writers' considerable experience in Mexico.

Hilarious stories and lots of información. It is as if these guys have stepped on every inch of the country. Unfortunately for my personal Interest, not that focused on backpacking travel but more to scaredy Americans needing to be convinced of the wonders of México lindo. Feels like it has not adapted to the internet 2.0 very well. To be fair this is hard to do.

Everything we expected.We had perused our friend's older copy and had to have it.

Not a typical travel book but its a book that you must read when you visit Mexico. Exceptionally well written and funny ofcourse