San Sombrero: A Land of Carnivals, Cocktails and Coups

While not quite as good as the first book on Molvania, San Sombrero is still a fun book and well worth the time to read it. It makes you even want to read the restaurant and hotel information for the twist they manage to work into them. Vive San Sombrero! Vive (insert name here), el Presidente!

I don't go out of my way looking for comedy, but I found this in my parents' collection during a visit back home. Probably the more familiar you are with Latin America travel guides, the more you'll appreciate this book, which exaggerates the dangers of travel (disease, political unrest, insects, street food), and desperate living conditions, etc. as much as the guide books tend to downplay these conditions. This book is funny to me because rather than being absurd, it is loosely based on the (sometimes frightening) truth. The book is well-designed and illustrated- if you just looked at the pictures, you wouldn't know it wasn't a real guide book. Following are some excerpts (which are by no means highlights, as the humor is relentless): "Be very suspicious about taking a ride in a cab where a 'friend' is accompanying the driver. San Sombreran taxi drivers don't have friends." "San Sombrerans are passionate movie-goers, possibly because cinemas are the only air-condition buildings in town." "Political instability has seen 17 different presidents take power in the past decade, the shortest reign being that of Alivio Escrevez who was assassinated halfways through his own inauguration speech."

If this is your first trip to San Sombrero do buy this invaluable guide to get the (very) low down on the Central American paradise. The guide really does reveal all and in the style that you'll be familiar with from other guidebooks: color photos, city maps, vital hotel and where to eat info, bold type text for things to do and look out for. Seasoned travellers might think I've seen all this before though. This latest satire hasn't really moved on from 'Phaic Tan', still very funny and stylish looking but hardly new. But wait. There's more! Inserted in the back flap is a classy looking thirty-page brochure: the Jetlag 'Hot Guide'. Looking just like one of those glossy mags found in suites of up-market city hotels. Arty photos and vacuous copy describe what the well-heeled should spend their money on and possibly drink because the back cover has an ad for Uzbekistan's finest vodka. The Jetlag folk have produced another (similar) winner with San Sombrero but I hope the next fake goes for something completely different, maybe a cruise line brochure or a complete city guide.

Once again, the Working Dog team have come up with a gem for the Jetlag travel series. You'd have thought that by the time book three came out, the format would be a little tired, but you'd be wrong. Definitely worth buying.