In search of South America
Richard West Afew weeks ago 1 mentioned how much I was looking forward to seeing the South American Handbook's 1982 edition and now (thanks to the publisher?) it has come in the post, Change and decay in all around I see, except in the South American Handbook, which this year strikes me as better than ever, thanks to a much enlarged map section. But first let me explain this unique guide book.
This is the 58th annual edition of a book which, in the words of its own introduction, `tells all visitors, whether sightseers or on business, what they most need to know'. Since it is published in Bath and is still aim- ed largely at British readers, it obviously dates to the time when Britain had a domi- nant business role in South America; but it is now almost as popular with European and North American visitors to the region. It now covers not only South America pro- per but Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. I have no idea what it looked like to start with, but over the years the South American Handbook has grown from the information fed back to it by its readers, who are, in a sense, also its authors. At the end of each entry for in- dividual countries, there is a list of credits. For instance, after Colombia: `The section has been revised with the very welcome help of Ben Box, who did the updating: Erwin
Durlewanger (resident in Medellin), William Mahon (ditto), Gerard Walschap (resident in Bogota) and the following travellers...' There follows a list of 91 names of people living in places as far apart as Warminster, Wilts, and Whangarei, New Zealand. So almost 100 readers contributed just to the Colombia section. The preface to this edition offers special thanks to 'reader George Meegan of Rainham, Essex, who set out in 1977 to walk from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska and in mid-1981 reached New York. He has been sending us various observations en route, and we offer him our best wishes for the last leg (in a very real sense) of his trip'.
With so many contributors, the South American Handbook has grown very big: 1342 pages of small type. It also means that the book caters for all kinds of readers. Most guidebooks or handbooks are aimed at some particular group like businessmen, `fun-lovers' or connoisseurs of antiquity. They divide almost as much according to the traveller's economic condition. For ex- ample, airline handbooks are written for people with money who stay at the best hotels, while many otherwise excellent books — especially those that cover the Far East — are aimed at Australian students who want to travel slowly to Europe, sleep- ing in tents, temples or communal doss- houses. The South American Handbook caters for every social, economic and cultural type.
Each section starts with a history and description of the country in question. These are unpolitical but often much more shrewd than the books or newspaper reports by South America pundits. For in- stance the Handbook explains the basic trouble of Bolivia: the people live in the wrong place, in the poor altiplano instead of the rich eastern lowlands. El Salvador, it points out, is the only Central American country where all the land is cultivated and hundreds of thousands of people have had to emigrate. That is a much more important fact than the arming by the United States of the Duarte government. Most of the South American Handbook consists of a guide to the country, generally starting off in the capital and wandering to the most remote places. The Convent of Santo Antonio in Rio is patronised by .`women who want to find husbands and many will be seen in the precincts'. Guatemala City has excellent English bookshops, though one of these is expen- sive. In the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica, the people are open-handed, hospitable, fond of the pleasures of life (cattle and jollity seem to go together). In Tierra del Fuego `we are advised that young women need to be stern with customs of- ficials at the Argentine border; otherwise insults are not unknown'. The presidential residence in La Paz is called the Palacio Quemado (burnt palace) because it has twice suffered this fate in the last 130 years; and opposite is the lamp-post from which a president met his fate in the coup of 1944 (one of 200 in the history of Bolivia). When buying a hammock in Merida 'you must count the strings yourself or you may be cheated'.
The preface to this edition bemoans the ever-increasing crime rate in Latin America, especially of mugging and theft. The worst places are Panama City, Cartagena, Bogota, Cali, Benaventura, Medellin, Callao, Cuzco and Guayaquil. On one sec- tion of railway in Peru, about 80 per cent of all foreign travellers are robbed. in cities in Colombia, 'Watch your pockets, handbag, camera, watch and luggage closely and it IS better not to wear a watch, eyeglasses or jewellery ... Gangs of up to six men armed with knives and other weapons have fre- quently attacked tourists and they do not hesitate to use knives'. The Handbook scarcely mentions crime in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay: the safety of the streets is one beneficent side-effect of the controversial regimes down there. But Merida, in Mex- ico, is `a safe city at night' even without police terror: `The Mayas are a gentle Pe°- ple; for example, the number of murders in the city in 1977 was one'. (The more I hear of Yucatan province, the more I want to g° there.) The South American Handbook en'''. phasises the need for correct behaviour in order to keep out of trouble. Dress well; eschew back-packs or semi-military clothes; be polite and smiling to all officials. There is a fascinating insight: 'Whereas in Europe and North America we are accustomed to law enforcement on a systematic basis, in general, enforcement in Latin America 15 achieved by periodic campaigns. The most typical is a round-up of criminals in the city just before Christmas. In December, therefore, you may well be asked for idell" tification at any time, and if you cannot produce it, you will be jailed'. Hotels are graded in the Handbook by price and amenities from A to E. So ac- curate is their information that I have often stayed with great satisfaction at C, D and hotels such as the charming Posada Belenin Guatemala City, the Luxury in Belize city. and even cheaper places in Santiago and Buenos Aires. (I stayed in Montevideo for £3 a night.) On the other hand the Hand- book can be rude about very expensive hotels like the Guarani in Asuncion: 'Not recommended . .. beware this hotel's air- Port transfer service which they say is free, but it is not.'
Various items of information seem to have been dropped from this new South American Handbook: at least I could not find them among the mass of small print. Guatemala apparently no longer forbids en- try to people with Communist stamps in their passports — though still keeping out blacks who are not United States citizens. It is apparently no longer an offence to carry a Parcel near the statue of Bolivar in Caracas. There is no longer a warning against the slippery streets of Santiago. I followed their advice by walking with the utmost caution when I was there — only to take a tumble in the streets of Buenos Aires.
There are a few, only a few, inadequacies in this present South American Handbook, It is rather an understatement to say that tourists should 'consider seriously' before going to El Salvador. It mentions that restaurants have been bombed but does not warn against bombing of cinemas. While recommending the cheap and good Riviera Hotel in Rio, it does not point out a minor disadvantage: it is right next to a fort with 15-inch naval guns which fired during siesta time on my first day, almost blowing me out of bed. The sections on the West Indian islands are poor by comparison with the rest of the book. It is mealy-mouthed about the horrors of Jamaica. However it is frank about Belize: 'Hustlers and con-men serve as a reminder that this is still a pirate city. Young Rastafarians will try. to sell you drugs (and they do not like you to refuse); they will also "ask" you to buy them a drink in a bar. If you do not, you will be called a "racist".' Strong words, but then the South American Handbook fails to mention the best establishment in Belize Ci- ty, the Old Louisville Democratic Bar.
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