Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone

Though deemed a travel book, this is actually a memoir of Ms. Morris's internal journey as she travels through Mexico and Central America. Her interactions with the people she meets, her reflections on her own feelings, and the cultur- al differences make this book a great read.

This book is so fantastic that I have re-read it and also bought a copy for a friend. She was delighted and said she stayed up all night to read it. Mary Morris has written a fascinating insight into living in San Miguel, Mexico (although she also visited other Central American countries). Her characters in San Miguel really come to life. And in the bargain, she also gives a very honest picture of her personal changes. I think her situation is one that many women can relate to. I cannot say enough good things about this book and can see why she has received so many literary awards. In reading some of the other reviews, I think some people have not "gotten" the point of the book. Certain in terms of those expecting research to the point of giving specific names of animal species, etc., please know that those are topics for another kind of book. The reader of this book gets the big picture, and it is played out in a very personal account.

This is a beautiful memoir of Mary Morris' travels into Central America and personal growth around the 1970's. A woman in her early 30's, she has a successful writing career and traveled extensively. Her journey into Central America is a trip embarked with a heavy heart and personal doubts. Her past needs reckoning and her search for personal equanimity is at last confronted when she moves to San Miguel, Mexico. Unknowingly, she rents an apartment in the poorest part of town instead of the more affluent area where many of the "wealthier foreigners" live. This error in judgement serves to be her silver lining. Skillfully brought to life are the neighbors that become her loving friends and substitute family. As she opens herself to their lives and stories, she feels compelled to face her inner demons. For many, the prosect of reading another traveling diary may be stultifying. This is not one of those, but an original attempt to make the relationship of a woman's personal journey inside herself and her global journeys she bravely explores on her own. In her past, Mary has been physically and emotional abused by some of the men in her life. I thing it is extremely important to note that in those years, many of the social/counseling/activist support groups were non-existant, or at the least, in their infancy. For Mary, her travels, and those that she met in the wake of her trips, served as her counselors and support groups. There were a wide assortment of characters that she met in her travels, and her gift is to be able to write about what each of them meant to her. Many of them are truly unforgettable and the times she writes about capture the humor, strength and sorrow of their lives. San Miguel serves as her "base camp" and she plans many visits to the heart of Central America. Knowlingly, she ventures into some of the most unstable countries in the area (San Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia) and trusts her inner instincts to be her compass. Constantly challenging herself in these tension filled areas, subjecting herself to extreme discomfort, poor traveling conditions and appalling lodging, she nevertheless is able to note the beauty of the world, but not so idealistic that she can't complain and feel total despair. Life is NOT perfect on the road, and I respect that she does not front herself off to be in a constant state of traveler's ecstasy.

Mary Morris' intensely personal memoir of her time spent living in Mexico resonates with honesty and beauty on every page. Morris captures the essence of the trials and joys of a woman travelling alone while at the same time revealing an insider's look at the true modern culture of Mexico. Her vivid descriptions of the small village where she spends almost a year are so vivid that even a person who has never been to Mexico will feel that they know it like a friend's backyard. The characters are not characters but people--people who think and live and grow throughout the book just as they would in real life. Morris has a unique ability to not only be able to search her own soul in prose but that of other's as well, with seemingly unfailing accuracy. The intertwining of her inner journey with the story of her physical journey is faultlessly crafted and expressed. I reread this book every few months and am moved to tears and laughter everytime. It, and Mary Morris' other travel works, are essential reading for any traveller and absolutely necessary for any woman who ever has or ever plans to travel alone.

This book has a haunting quality that comes, in part, from the author's ability to capture the ephemeral quality of Mexican culture and, in part, from the author's own inner-searchings. I have read this book twice, with several years inbetween reads, and each time it made quite an impact on me. I think this book captures some soulful things that we lack as Americans and which the author finds in some of her Mexican friends. It also captures the sense of total foreigness an American can have in a Latin culture.