Nicaragua, 2nd

I traveled to Nicaragua with a friend and we each brought different guide books. I brought the Footprint guide and I was very, very happy that I did. The historical and cultural information was much more complete in this book. It had city maps and included places and information that other books did not.Perhaps the most telling recommendation that I could give doesn't come from me. I took Spanish classes at a school (Casa Xalteva) in Granada, Nicaragua. The school had a number of guide books available for students to flip through, but the one they recommended was the Footprint guide!

A wonderful guide! With this book as your companion, you don't need to worry about the unknowns of travelling in Nicaragua. The author takes you off the beaten path when appropriate - and tells you when it would be a waste of time. A wonderful, truthful depiction of every place we visited.

Most guide books are a mixture of fact, hype, legends and plagiarism. This can disappoint the traveler, who relies on his guidebook to tell the truth, cut through the red tape of traveling abroad and enlighten him on the new place he is experiencing. Fortunately the Nicaragua Handbook is the exception and not the rule. Richard Leonardi lives in Nicaragua full time, he has done his homework and it shows. His book is full of interesting off-the-beaten-path places to visit and his descriptions are honest evaluations of what you will find when you get there. His sense of humor carries the book and its dense text. The book has a detailed history, geography and culture section that makes this guidebook a must for all interested in what has made Nicaragua famous and what has been so overlooked, like its great tradition of poetry, folkloric music and dance. The biggest pleasure of the book are its short stories, which highlight everything from 20th century politics and ancient legends to revolutionary literature and indigenous history. Anyone interested in visiting Nicaragua soon or learning more about its land, people and culture will find this book a prize.

Richard Leonardi's travel guide on Nicaragua as part of the Footprint series is not only the best English language guide that I have ever read, it is also the best travel companion and resource that I have ever used punto finale. I was four years in the Merchant Navy and in my current life as a film maker and journalist for the BBC and Irish television I have travelled extensively. What this means is that I have had continual need of practical, up to date and accurate information on the countries I have visited like Japan, Mexico, the Faeroe Islands or elsewhere. Practical help in a travel book is usually the first refuge of the traveller who is stuck and the last refuge of that scoundrel author who does not check and check again the details he or she is tasked to provide for an extremely dependent audience. In this regard Richard Leonardi is on the side of the travel guardian angels. In fact his book is so good that in my five week stay in Nicaragua I sought him out to tell how much I appreciated his "companionship" whilst myself and my partner were on the road. I never do things like that!The author actually lives in the country and takes a passionate interest in the life of Central America generally and this commitment shines through the book. Indeed, we found only one mistake in this book of some 300 pages if the excellent maps at the back of the book are included. The mistake is forgivable and occurs on page 134 in a reference to the beautiful town of Rivas. We were looking for a place which would change American Express travellers cheques and the book refers us to El Banco de Finanzas which is correctly described as being near the fire station in the town. The only problem is that the staff there firmly denied any policy of changing American Express cheques. On the immediate plus side, however, the book refers the weary traveller to a nearby restaurant the Rayuela which more than makes up for the recalcitrant bank staff with its well made, cheap and entirely fresh fare. Indeed, accurate descriptions and honest assessments of restaurants and eateries is a feature of the book. The best restaurant and craic (an Irish phenomenon including talk, song and dance) from Leonardi's extensive research was found at Dona Conchi's in Granada where I came away in the early hours with a singing palate and a mortero or mortar and pestle made of volcanic lava. This gift from the gracious Dona Conchi herself now has pride of place in my house. The only other quibble I have with the book is that the description of the route to the fascinating El Fortin in Leon could be made clearer as one risks approaching the historic fort via the municipal dump which is very unhealthy and possibly dangerous. The images of people scavenging through the detritus and residue of once revolutionary Leon's inhabitants will stay with me for ever.Those two slight complaints aside, I cannot praise Footprints travel guide to Nicaragua highly enough

I am a Foreign Service Employee stationed at the American Embassy in Managua. This book has proved to be invaluable resource for travel; both official and unofficial. I admit that I may be predudested because I met Richard on a tour in a very remote part of Nicaragua, that was desolate and without normal tourist type facilities, he assisted as a guide and exteremely impressed me with his knowledge and the respect he had with and for the locals and how they responded to him. I later found out about his book and purchased it. He has truly and honestly done outstanding research in his writing; he has lived there close to 7 years and developed close connects with the people and facilities with whom he deals and writes about. I can truly vouche for his recommendations; which I have found to be true and honest appraisals. I highly reommended this book if you decide to try Nicaragua!!D Ijames