Love or loathe the English? The latest Rough Guide for England has a few choice things to say about them. First the bad news: It says that English people are quarrelsome, contradictory and "obsessed with toffs and C-list celebrities."
The good news is more, well, quaint, than good. The Rough Guide people decided that England is
A country of animal-loving, tea-drinking, charity donors, where queuing remains a national pastime and bastions of civilization, like Radio 4, are jealously protected.
We've heard a few complaints about the British before so this quirky Rough Guide assessment comes as no surprise. But since we love a good cup of tea, we haven't struck England off our visiting list just yet.
Sometimes the guide books get it right, and sometimes they are off. In this feature, we will tell you what the guide pros said about a place and then give you our take.
Our rough guide to Argentina had but a few pages on Uruguay, but that's par for the course in guide book publishing. It did cover Colonia, though, and we took a tip for dinner. Here's what Rough Guides said about Sacramento:
Fabulous food in postmodern surroundings--and even a couple tables outside, weather permitting--includes juicy steak with potatoes and bacon, ultra-fresh salads and unforgettable desserts. Uruguayan wine served by the glass, charming service and live music on Friday and Saturday evening.
Rough Guides are celebrating 25 years in business by making a list of the top 25 Wonders of the World. Given that travel media are going crazy covering the New 7 Wonders contest, do we really need to know what a bunch of staff at Rough Guides think are the best 25?
Maybe we do, maybe we don't, but let us just tell you that their list includes a few spots that aren't in 7 New Wonders contention, including the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia at number one, and one of our favorite cathedrals, Barcelona's unfinished La Sagrada Familia. Then there are all the usual suspects, like Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat and the Taj Mahal. Ever get the feeling the world's getting too full of lists?
The Rough Guide to Guatemala was Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett's weapon of choice, during her March 2007 jaunt through Guatemala City, Antigua, Lake Atitalan, Tikal, and the cayes of Belize. Sometimes these guide books get it right, and sometimes they are off. In this feature, we will tell you what the guide pros said about a place and then give you our take.
Rough Guides Says:
Guatemala City (or Guate as it's referred to locally) has a distinct flavor. There are rickety urban buses roaring along in thick black clouds of diesel, trawling for ever more passengers. There's the shocking contrast between the glitzy Zona Viva, home to luxury hotels, gourmet restaurants and trendy nightclubs and the poverty-stricken outlying shantytowns.
Our Take: Everyone warned us of the perils of Guatemala City. Co-workers and friends shared with us friends' of friends' of friends' horror stories, and instructed us to leave the airport and head immediately to Antigua.
When I stepped out of the airport, the smell of leaded fuel stung my nostrils. Freshly washed, white BMW shuttle buses lined the parking lot, waiting for tourists. The city, like any enormous metropolis in a second-world country, has its poverty. Yet there is a surprising mix of wealth. Between crowded outdoor markets and abandoned shacks, symbols of capitalism dot the roads. I spotted at least 10 multistory, high-end car dealerships while driving through Guatemala City. The fast-food chain Pollo Campero is as populous in Guate as Starbucks in Seattle.
The billboard-lined roadways are clean, new, and pothole free. Grass medians with manicured bushes separate the lanes. The city's main infrastructure shames any in the U.S. Our shuttle wove between chicken buses spewing out heavy diesel and young people driving shiny new SUVs on their way home from the office. Driving through Guatemala City felt less foreign to me than I expected. It reminded me slightly of my hometown, Buffalo. A sprawling hodgepodge of an economically-depressed but modern city.
The Rough Guide to Guatemala was Jaunted Contributing Editor Claire Duffett's weapon of choice, during her March 2007 jaunt through Guatemala City, Antigua, Lake Atitalan, Tikal, and the cayes of Belize. Sometimes these guide books get it right, and sometimes they are off. In this feature, we will tell you what the guide pros said about a place and then give you our take.
Rough Guides Says:
Hotel Mansion del Lago, right above the Pana dock. The most comfortable place in San Pedro, where the spotless, superb-value rooms all have nice pine beds, private bath and balcony areas with lake views. Also has a rooftop Jacuzzi and Internet café. Book ahead at weekends.
Our Take:
Weary and eager to drop off our bags, we assumed upon arrival that we found a bargain. We believed the guidebook's promise of hot water and booked one of the last remaining rooms.
The place looked pretty from the outside. Inside, our room felt sterile and institutional rather than simply "clean." It reminded us of a hospital room. The place still smelled of aerosol from the bubbly white flowers spray-painted on the walls.
The clerk charged us for Internet and refused to sell us coffee from an urn sitting in the middle of the lobby. The "Jacuzzi" -- an empty cement pit on the roof filled with leaves.
Sleeping near the bars and restaurants surrounding the main port presented a challenge. We lay awake, listening to the bohemians' celebratory drumbeats and the ruckus of the alcoholics loitering near the dock. In the morning, sleep-deprived and surly about our ill-advised choice, the water remained fiercely cold between lukewarm bursts.
Worse, we paid Q50 each (about $7). We discovered cheaper places dotted throughout the town when we explored the next day. These hostels, tucked behind charming gardens and atop the hills, cost about Q20 per person. Most had actual hot water, a clean but still cozy feel, with porches facing the lake.
We asked you for your "first time" stories and you delivered. The only requirement was that your first time story involve travel, in one way or another. Even Scarlett Johansson told us about her first time, but we didn't let her enter the competition.
Please welcome to the stage, Liz, who is our second of our two winners.
We asked you for your "first time" stories and you delivered. The only requirement was that your first time story involve travel, in one way or another. Even Scarlett Johansson told us about her first time, but we didn't let her enter the competition.
Without further adieu, we turn the mic over to Lisa, who is our first of two winners.
Congrats to Lisa, who wins her choice of three RoughGuides FirstTime books. A hint to the rest of you: Asking priests for stuff always gets our attention.
Hey there, just a reminder that this is the last weekend to get those submissions to our Rough Guides First Time Contest to us. We are still holding out hope that Scarlett enters her first time story this weekend, however, Scarlett story or no Scarlett story the gig is up Sunday night.
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by amandak
Rough Guides Says:
