TRAVEL BOOKSHELF; SOUTH AMERICA HANDBOOK

• Published in: The New York times
• Main Authors: McDowell, Edwin, EDWIN McDOWELL is publishing correspondent of The Times
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, N.Y New York Times Company 15.05.1983
• Edition: Late Edition (East Coast)
• Subjects: BOOKS AND LITERATURE; TRAVEL AND VACATIONS; LATIN AMERICA
• ISSN: 0362-4331

Two assistants help Mr. [John Brooks] edit the handbook, but it is the book's cadre of loyal readers who provide information about hotel rates, bus schedules, banks, which restaurants to avoid, tourist agencies and alternate ways to get from here to there -which in South America often means crossing the Amazon or scaling the Andes. (The world economy being what it is, it is still prudent to add 50 percent to most published prices.) The editors received 320 letters last year from readers throughout the world. ''Some of them are more like epistles,'' said the associate editor, Joyce Candy. ''It's nothing to get one 20 pages long.'' From the beginning, the handbook has noted that Argentina does not recognize Britain's claim to the Falklands and calls them the Malvinas. But this year's edition warns of potential ''difficulties'' for British visitors not only in Argentina but also in Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru and Venezuela, which supported Argentina during ''the South Atlantic crisis of April-June 1982.'' Most Latin Americans do not share British perceptions of the rights and wrongs of the case, the handbook says, therefore ''British visitors who want to discuss the issue with Latin American friends will do well to remember this fundamental difference of approach; otherwise any discussion will generate little light and much heat.'' This year there are 45 advertisers, including two airlines, assorted travel agencies, a prominent Scotch whisky and the Upland Goose Hotel in Stanley, Falkland Islands (''Make this the holiday of a lifetime''). Thomas Cook has taken three ads calling attention to its travel services and its traveler's checks. Nevertheless, the book advises readers: ''Less commission is often charged on Citibank or Bank of America traveler's checks if they are cashed at Latin American branches of those banks.''