Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. 1

Well im hooked, im gonna order the rest Johns books about Central Mexico here this month sometime. Very well written, every page takes me back to my trip to the Yucatan. I own quite a few books about Mexico and the Maya and have to say this one is up there in the top five. John was quite a character by the sounds of it. Tryed to steal some skulls from a Mayan grave yard, having sex with a few of the indian women also if my interpretation was correct. Theres a slight hint of him doing that talking about how pretty some of the women were and the "mayors" asking him what he thought about the women as he entered the villages. As far as his excitement about first laying eyes on new ruins, took me back to Chichen Itza. Great Book. Wish i would have bought this book alot sooner, and i reget reading it after picking up a few books about the Caste War which Johns trips happened before the war. Great reading and great pictures. If you love Maya books you wont be upset with this one, i dont think fiction could have been better then his trip. Hope you enjoy it as much as i did.

If you have ever been or are planning a trip to the ruin sites of the Yucatan this is a must read book! written over 150 years ago it still holds up today. It is a fascinating look at the early exploration of the Ancient Mayan cities lost to the jungle. Reading this book will make your trip much more enjoyable and educational.

Stephens and Catherwood were the Yucatán's first North American tourists back when the ruins of the Maya cities were still lost to the jungle. The narrative is engrossing especially if you can put yourself in their 19th century shoes. Surprisingly, there are still ruins to be discovered today in the jungles of the same peninsula that hosts Cancún. We recently followed Stephens' and Catherwood's trail to the ruins of Uxmal and Chichen Itzá using a new guidebook called Adventure Guide to the Yucatán by Bruce & June Conord. Though they don't actually lay out the identical route, they do mention overlapping parts of it and they treat the Maya ruins and civilization with the same awe that Stephens did. We carried both books and the Adventure Guide got us to places where Stephens had been that aren't even on the map. What a blast to read this book and actually stand in Stephens' footprints in the Yucatán. Incidents of Travel is an old fashioned book that has stood the test of time.

This series of books has been in print for over 150 years! If that doesn't impress you, then Frederick Catherwood's drawings will. The writing is a little archaic by today's standards, but the tale is important history