Buried Secrets Truth And Human Rights In Guatemala

Between the late 1970s and The Late 1980s, Guatemala WAS torn by mass terror and extreme violence in a genocidal campaign against-the Maya, Which becameknown as "La Violencia." More than 600 massacres civile, one and a Half Million People Were Displaced, and More Than 200.000 Were Murdered Civilians, Most Of Them Maya. Buried Secrets Brings thesis chilling statistics to life as it chronicles The Journey of Maya Survivors Seeking truth, justice and community healing, and thats the Guatemalan army Demonstrates Carried Out A Systematic and intentional genocide Against the Maya. The book IS based research is exhaustive, Including More Than 400 Testimonies from Survivors massacre, Interviews With membres du forensic team, human rights leaders, high-ranking military officers, guerrilla combatants, and Government Officials. Buried Secrets traces truth-telling and Political change from isolated Maya villages to national politique events, and Provides a unique look Into the experiences of Maya Survivors As They Struggle to rebuild lives and Their Communities.

Posted In: Guatemala

Lamont Ence says...

I bought this book and Moon Guatemala (Moon Handbooks) (they came out at the same time) and decided to write reviews for both. Unlike the Moon guide, I found Lonely Planet's Guatemala guide extremely disappointing. I expected much more from a resident author.



Where do I begin? For starters, you'll see the tourist hordes in Guatemala sporting this book and the previous edition of LP all over the place. It's like standard issue for people who haven't the ability to discern quality or think for themselves. You can be sure that if your hotel, restaurant or language school is in this guidebook it will be packed with the Lonely Planet sheep going along for the ride. Strangely, the author acknowledges this phenomenon in a sidebar and encourages travelers to seek out new places on their own. Speaking of sidebars, these are mostly a series of superficial interviews with local people; a nice idea in theory but not very well executed. I think the most helpful sidebars tend to expand upon material covered in the main text, which this book does not do very well.



The book also doesn't go into nearly as much depth as some of the other guides in terms of helpful background info, history and the like. Worthwhile destinations covered over several pages in some of the other guidebooks are often glossed over in a one-page summary here. It's like the abbreviated version of everything. In this regard, I think both Rough Guide and Moon do a much better job of giving travelers all the information they'll need. I also noticed that it seems very little updated from the previous edition. I'd say about 75% of the material already exists in the previous edition, sometimes verbatim, though they are different authors. Finally, the writing isn't the greatest. It might be nit-picking, but it was seriously hard to read the poor writing sometimes and you won't find yourself wanting to read this book from first page to last.



These are just a few issues off the top of my head. I know some well-heeled Guatemala travelers and residents who absolutely hate this guidebook and could probably do a much better job of pointing out its specific flaws. But if you're just along for the ride then by all means be my guest, though I'd at least consider a back-up plan. You'll thank me later.



Consider Moon Guatemala (Moon Handbooks), which I gave 5 stars. Rough Guide The Rough Guide to Guatemala 3 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) is also OK as a back-up.

Posted on October 16, 2011

Joanne Yenor says...

on every backpacking trip, a lonely planet was always one of the must-haves because they are always so on it when it comes to accuracy and reliability. well, i was disappointed by this guatemala edition. the author raved about the country: antigua, tikal, the people...so i had all these warm fuzzy expectations. that was mistake number one.



antigua was described as this beautiful "magical" colonial city. i spent over two weeks there to study spanish and magical wasnt at all what i experienced. nice, yes, but not MAGICAL. ever been to oaxaca, mexico? now, thats lively and magical. antigua shuts down pretty early, so if youre looking for food say at 10pm or later, youre out of luck. if you like bars (i dont), well, then your IN luck. the buildings in antigua were colorful and you can find old landmarks all around, but again, it did not have that "magical" atmosphere like the author described. im not alone on this.



tikal was not a must-see. at least not if youve already seen all the ancient sites in southern mexico. i was not impressed, but the author of the lonely planet (and apparently by some travelers) raved about how amazing it was. maybe the view from one of the temples was breathtaking, and oh yes, the howling monkeys can give you a startle if you didnt know they were just monkeys, but other than that, i was not impressed.



and as for the people, i didnt find them to be all that warm and friendly. they know youre a tourist, and they treat you like one. i stayed with a family for two weeks and still didnt experience that sincerety and warmth. i surmised somehow, that the toursim altered that experience of genuine friendliness. i found that especially true in antigua. the locals really take advantage of the tourist. theyre like robots repeating the same whiny phrase, "que compran?" when you walk by. sometimes, they dont even look at you when they say it.



i guess the author was enamoured with guatemala (he has been many times)...but i didnt find his bias to the country to be all that accurate. its the first time that ive been disappointed by the info in a lonely planet, after having used at least six or seven of them for my other travels.



buy this one for its maps and how-to-get-around and logistics like that. just watch out for the biased reviews of places. judge for yourself and ask other travelers.

Posted on October 16, 2011

Orlando Korsak says...

While the other reviewers clearly know more about Guatemala than I ever will, I found this book much more helpful than the Rough Guide.The maps were easier to read, and the hotel places had prices, which was very helpful to me...

Posted on October 16, 2011

Jeannie Morson says...

Note that Jared Cullison is among those whom the author of the Moon Guide to Guatemala thanks for help with his book at the end of it. I honestly didn't see that either guide was all that impressive.



I have been a Lonely Planet fan for ages, but I am disappointed with this long awaited update. Keep in mind that my main interest is with Peten, so maybe the rest of it is okay, but I would not bet on it.



The author must have not been paying attention at Tikal or he would have noticed that there are just THREE comedors there [note my subsequent correction, but two of the names are still wrong; he does not mention Ixim Kua] among the former four. The existing ones are Comedor Tikal, Ixim Kua and old faithful, Imperio Maya. Earlier I thought there were just TWO, but near the end of Marxh 2008, my group came froom the north through Tikal and I double checked. I was clearly wrong about only two being there. Comedor Tikal is separated from the other two by two residences, but it is surely still there.



The author also missed that that there are two buses daily to and from Uaxactun, so that it is simpler to go there, especially from Tikal. There is a good discussion of the El Mirador ruin, but no hint of how to arrange a trip there. For this, google--- Mirador logistics.



The description of how to get to the Piedras Negras ruins has thankfully gotten away from it taking days through bandit-infested lands, but does not cover the most economical way, one that can be an overnighter,hint google - Willy Fonseca Vallescondido - for that.



Unlike previously mentioned on my unedited version of this, I decided to NOT take the current LP with me and my wife for the Highlands only trip in December, so I can't compare that.

Posted on October 17, 2011

Sindy Stolarik says...

I have been buying and recommending Lonely Planet guides on Latin America for 25 years. They have been indispensible for the budget traveler. I know I have saved probably thousands of dollars. I have pushed the books on many places on the internet including my own web sites and on Lonely Planet. Why? Love the layout. They are particularly good for someone arriving in new city who needs to get quickly and safely from their transport to hotel. The maps are generally accurate. LP editors have kept a consistency of design across the different books. The reader who is used to one will find using the others easy.



I also like the LP guarantee of integrity where LP authors do not accept free rooms, meals, etc. from places they review. I know the travel industry and this is not a universal practice.



Of all the countries in Latin America, Guatemala is my favorite. If you can only visit one, that's the place to go. I am saddened by what has happened to the latest volume. The other reviews here and on other sites point out omissions and places where the author has not updated widely known facts. That could be excused if taken in an isolated form. Anyone reading a guidebook must wonder how they check out all the places that are reviewed. But what concerns me the most is an apparent relaxing in Lonely Planet's standards of journalistic integrity. Until a short time ago, the author was the editor of a magazine and web site based in Xela, Guatemala called Xela Who. The magazine was a free publication that supported itself on the sale of advertisments, as did the web site. This is a direct conflict of interest. How can the author justify a review of an establishment that he sells advertising too? The author was directly involved in selling advertising. Any tourist related firm in Guatemala who receives a good LP review is bound to see it's business grow. How can they say no to someone trying to sell them ads in this situation? In a recent issue of Xela Who, the author, Lucas Vigden, was interviewed by a staff member as the author of the new Lonely Planet Guatemala. Never during this interview was it stated that Lucas was also the editor of the magazine. Numerous other readers and myself have contacted Lonely Planet and it's new corporate owner, the BBC about this situation. After several months there has still been no response.



Were this an isolated incident, in a vast publishing empire, one could expect Lonely Planet to reply and suggest a remedy. However, on a recent followup, the new LP Panama published a glowing review of a hostel. This place came in highly rated with the author proclaiming it their favorite. Reviews like that can double or triple an establishment's business. The problem: the hostel never opened. A Lonely Planet editor put it all off to an editing problem. One does not accidently write a glowing review of a non-existent at the time establishment unless some major conflict of interest is taking place. A concern amongst many long time LP readers is that now that the BBC, with it's well known journalistic bias, is in charge many LP authors will feel that since a concept such as integrity isn't maintained by BBC reporters, they won't have to either.

Posted on October 17, 2011

Talia Ayersman says...

I have used many different guidebooks in my travels and have never come across a more basic, substance-less work. Is the author actually contributing to the growth of this country with his job in Xela...or just hanging around the country like the bum, pothead travelers in San Pedro. Take this guide off the shelves and promise us better in the future. No Stars.

Posted on October 19, 2011

Joslyn Kerney says...

My daughter is a new freshman in college and we were very excited to purchase her required textbooks online and save lots of $$.No waiting in lines at the bookstore and money leftover for more dorm accessories.Thanks for the great service!

Posted on October 22, 2011

Elma Nemani says...

I traveled to Guatemala for two weeks in the summer of 2005 and used Lonely Planet the entire time.It was my first trip there, so I needed and wanted extensive detail and maps, which this book provided.I found it to be right on about everything from restaurants and hotels to ATM locations.I appreciated the small bits of cultural and historical information as well.The transportation sections were the most helpful.On several occasions I had people ask to borrow my LP to look up bus connections.Overall, I thought it was excellent and recommend it highly to anyone traveling to Guatemala.

Posted on October 23, 2011

Clorinda Shubert says...

I used this guide for a three month trip to Guatemala June-September 2001, during which time I spent six weeks in Antigua improving my Spanish at the Sevilla school and another six weeks travelling through the Western Highlands, El Pet

Posted on October 27, 2011

Tracey Grunder says...

Let me start by saying that it is very difficult to keep up with the changing situations in Central America.However, Lonely Planet has chosen to flood the market with their books, which look to be hastily written and contain some glaring errors, such as identifying Agua Volcano as Fuego.Another suggests that there is a bus from Panajachel to San Antonio Polopo.This is not the case, you either have to go by private taxi or a "colectivo" (basically a pickup truck).Some of the ruins in Antigua have also been mididentified.I would suggest that they go back and do some personal research, Guatemala is a fantastic place to visit, I know, I've spent at least a month in the "Land of Eternal Spring" every year for the last 6.It's the best kept secret in Latin America.

Posted on October 31, 2011