Footprint Brazil Handbook: The Travel Guide

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Footprint makes decent guidebooks, such as Footprint Brazil, but but unfortunately, they tend to do a lot of political editorializing that makes unnececssary reading for someone seeking out a travel destination (see their blatantly Anti-Israel guide to that country for an example of this tendency) Until they change their editorial policies, socially conscious and culturally respectful consumers should spend their money elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: I detest this travel guide
Review: I am currently traveling in Brazil with this book, and it frustrates me so much that I'm actually paying money at this internet cafe to prevent others from experiencing the same pain.
I bought this book because it was the most recent guidebook for Brazil, and because several people referred to Footprint as "the Bible for South America." I suppose that analogy is accurate--like the Bible, this book is awkwardly worded, cryptic and useless for day-to-day logistics. But I have several more specific complaints. Open to the very first page, and you encounter a theme for the entire book: a featureless, useless map and confusing editorial errors. Maps, if you're lucky enough to get one, rarely contain more than 2-3 recommended hotels and restaurants (even if the text refers to several), and almost no other landmarks like travel agents, banks, airlines, etc. As a result, we walked 45 minutes across Rio to a travel agent because a) the guidebook didn't show us the airline office two blocks in the other direction and b) the map left out a significant chunk of land--we thought the walk would be only 15 minutes. Then we paid for a taxi to a restaurant only 5 blocks away because neither our hotel clerk nor the cab driver knew the address given in the guidebook. Of course the restaurant wasn't labeled on the map, DESPITE that it was recommended twice in the text, and well within the map's margins. These things would never happen with a Lonely Planet.
In Praia do Forte, one of the only 14 places the guidebook recommends throughout Brazil, no map was given, and no address and phone number were listed for the only budget accommodation listed. As a result, we spent 15 minutes at the tourist office while the clerk called around town to see if anyone knew the hotel. We finally gave up and found our own (more expensive) lodging, only to learn that a nice hostel has been in business there for years. I could go on and on with examples like these.
Which leads me to another complaint: I no longer trust this book's recommendations. They are incomplete and in many cases wrong--more than a few times, places listed as excellent lodging/restaurants or good places to meet travelers are crummy, vacant spots.
I have two final complaints. One, the Language section is an absolute joke. For pronunciation, it basically tells you that letters are said differently throughout Brazil, but it doesn't guide you in any way. It also fails to list many common things you'll need to say as a traveler, including "yes." Unbelievable. And two, this book contains advertising!
I gave this review two stars because the book does have decent Directory sections. But of course there's rarely any indication where the locations in the directory can actually be found. In summary, using this guidebook means you'll need to visit the tourist office in every town for maps, hotels and restaurant listings... in which case you don't need this guidebook at all.

Rating:
Summary: Stick with Lonely Planet!!!
Review: I originally selected this guidebook because it seemed like an adequate alternative to Lonely Planet, which are great guidebooks that I have depended on for years. However, I was in search of a guidebook that's a little bit different and more detailed for my trip to Brazil. On its face, Footprint fulfilled this requirement. However, I was quick to find out that I was dead wrong. Simply put, the guidebook was a total disappointment. The writing is absolutely awful and I'm still sitting here wondering whether Footprint has an editorial staff. The guidebook literally contains sentences that are incoherent and incomplete. While it's historical and cultural description of various Brazilian cities and towns are adequate, the remaining components of the guidebook fail to meet the demands of a practical traveler. Most notably, it's departure and arrival times, and directions in getting around a specific city are impossible to understand and, in some cases, dead wrong. Thank god someone I was traveling with brought her Lonely Planet. A side-by-side comparison revealed that
my purchase of Footprint was a waste of hard-earned money.

Rating:
Summary: Worthless Travel Handbook
Review: I purchased this guidebook because my much trusted travel store 'highly recommended' the book. I have traveled all over the world and I have never been more frustrated, and annoyed, at a guide book than I am with this one. It has been completely worthless - from a useless and incomplete language section, to poorly edited maps (or no maps given), recommended Pousadas with no address and no phone number, to sections that go on-and-on about what to do while in a town only tell you to hunt down the local paper (which is in Portguese)to find out where to go for a "do not miss" experience. A three year old Lonely Planet has been far more useful and accurate than this latest edition. My question - who writes and edits for Footprint and what are they smoking?

Rating:
Summary: Very informative!
Review: I really liked this guidebook. It not only shows the basics of South American travel, it also gives a lot of practical advice, which made my trip a lot easier. I also liked the anecdotes and recipes that I did not find in other Brazilian guide books.

Rating:
Summary: I detest this travel guide
Review: The Brazil travel guide market has been underserved over the years. I just picked up the Footprints guide, though, and I admit that this is the most complete Brazil guide I have seen in English. Any book that gives you hotel recommendations in towns as far off the beaten path as Mossoro, Petrolina/Juazeiro, Picos, Teofilo Otoni, Tres Marias, Xique Xique, Senhor do Bonfim and Vitoria da Conquista deserves an ovation. I have passed through all of these towns for one reason or another, and most guidebooks make no mention of them. They aren't big tourist attractions, but Brazil being so big, you never know when you might need to know where to stay. For example, I was once trying to get from Natal to Canoa Quebrada and couldn't get a direct bus; I could only get as far as Mossoro. I got to Mossoro at 10 PM, and wouldn't be able to get a bus until 6 AM the next morning to Aracati (where I would have to change buses again to get to Canoa Q). At 10 PM at the Mossoro bus station needing a place to sleep, I could have used a list of hotels, phones, and prices. It would have saved me 30 minutes of searching for a clean, affordable room.

And the coverage of the Lencois Maranhenses/Parnaiba delta region is second to none. In 1993 I passed through this area without a guidebook, because none of the guidebooks on the market at the time gave enough information about the region to be of any use. In this one, you get a detailed map of the Rio Preguica, as well as needed orientation on how to get from Barreirinhas to Tutoia (both charming towns worth a visit), and then where to catch the passenger ferries to Parnaiba from Tutoia. In 1993 I met a German man who had walked from Tutoia to Barreirinhas on foot. It took him 3 days. This is the first guide book I have ever seen on the area that even suggests that this route can be walked, as well as expected walk time and what to take with you.

Aside from having extensive coverage, this book has the best advice on driving, buying cars, and how to outfit a vehicle for continent-wide travel (my next dream trip to Brazil).

But this book isn't the end-all of Brazil tour guides. There is plenty of room for improvement. There is not a lot of history or background info. This book is for the road, not for bed-time reading as you prepare your trip. It assumes sometimes that you know why you are in Brazil and exactly what you want to see and where you want to go... you just need to know where to sleep and eat when you get there. There isn't a lot of the opinionated commentary and review that makes LP guides so bulky (and at times annoying). This book could easily be 70 pages longer and wouldn't detract from the travellers' experiences lugging it around in their back packs. This is one of three essential books for when you go backpacking in Brazil... the other two being Guia 4 Rodas Brasil (a sort of AAA guidebook of towns, hotels, restaurants and reviews) and Guia 4 Rodas Guia de Praias (the most complete guide to the beaches of Brazil in any language!). Happy travels.

Rating:
Summary: Best Brazil Book I have seen so far
Review: The Brazil travel guide market has been underserved over the years. I just picked up the Footprints guide, though, and I admit that this is the most complete Brazil guide I have seen in English. Any book that gives you hotel recommendations in towns as far off the beaten path as Mossoro, Petrolina/Juazeiro, Picos, Teofilo Otoni, Tres Marias, Xique Xique, Senhor do Bonfim and Vitoria da Conquista deserves an ovation. I have passed through all of these towns for one reason or another, and most guidebooks make no mention of them. They aren't big tourist attractions, but Brazil being so big, you never know when you might need to know where to stay. For example, I was once trying to get from Natal to Canoa Quebrada and couldn't get a direct bus; I could only get as far as Mossoro. I got to Mossoro at 10 PM, and wouldn't be able to get a bus until 6 AM the next morning to Aracati (where I would have to change buses again to get to Canoa Q). At 10 PM at the Mossoro bus station needing a place to sleep, I could have used a list of hotels, phones, and prices. It would have saved me 30 minutes of searching for a clean, affordable room.

And the coverage of the Lencois Maranhenses/Parnaiba delta region is second to none. In 1993 I passed through this area without a guidebook, because none of the guidebooks on the market at the time gave enough information about the region to be of any use. In this one, you get a detailed map of the Rio Preguica, as well as needed orientation on how to get from Barreirinhas to Tutoia (both charming towns worth a visit), and then where to catch the passenger ferries to Parnaiba from Tutoia. In 1993 I met a German man who had walked from Tutoia to Barreirinhas on foot. It took him 3 days. This is the first guide book I have ever seen on the area that even suggests that this route can be walked, as well as expected walk time and what to take with you.

Aside from having extensive coverage, this book has the best advice on driving, buying cars, and how to outfit a vehicle for continent-wide travel (my next dream trip to Brazil).

But this book isn't the end-all of Brazil tour guides. There is plenty of room for improvement. There is not a lot of history or background info. This book is for the road, not for bed-time reading as you prepare your trip. It assumes sometimes that you know why you are in Brazil and exactly what you want to see and where you want to go... you just need to know where to sleep and eat when you get there. There isn't a lot of the opinionated commentary and review that makes LP guides so bulky (and at times annoying). This book could easily be 70 pages longer and wouldn't detract from the travellers' experiences lugging it around in their back packs. This is one of three essential books for when you go backpacking in Brazil... the other two being Guia 4 Rodas Brasil (a sort of AAA guidebook of towns, hotels, restaurants and reviews) and Guia 4 Rodas Guia de Praias (the most complete guide to the beaches of Brazil in any language!). Happy travels.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointing travel guide
Review: This series was not as informative as I would expect from footprint handbooks. I provided very limited information about excursions.