Backcountry Mexico: A Traveler's Guide and Phrase Book

By David H. Riskind and Bob Burleson

Book Overview

If you've always longed to strike out through the open country of northern Mexico armed with frying pan and bedroll, then this guide to the people, culture, folkways, landscape, and language of rural Mexico is for you. Out of twenty years of travel in backcountry Mexico, authors Bob Burleson and David Riskind have produced perhaps the most practical and accurate guide available for the unconventional tourist--the man or woman who prefers to get off the beaten path by foot, burro, mule, canoe, raft, or vehicle.

Going well beyond the usual tourist guidebook entries, Backcountry Mexico will help you hire a guide and burro, navigate rural roads and trails, and communicate with the friendly and, sometimes, unfriendly folks you are likely to meet in a rural setting.

In addition to English-Spanish and Spanish-English vocabulary lists containing both standard words and numerous terms relating to people, conditions, land, and situations not ordinarily encountered in tourists' lists, the authors have provided literally hundreds of helpful phrases and short conversations in easy-to-use sections arranged according to topics. Experienced unconventional travelers themselves, Burleson and Riskind have become experts in such subjects as "Eating and Staying Well on the Road, " "Camping in Mexico, " "Rural Mexican Village Life," and many more. Their experience, and the resultant wealth of language and cultural information contained in this guide, will help you to enjoy your trip ancd to better understand and appreciate the people and the land you visit.

Throughout the book, the language examples are interwoven with beautifully illustrated anecdotes about culture and lifeways, so that the traveler is equipped with practical knowledge as well as appropriate behavior and speech. Fascinating in its treatment of a culture that is little known and unique in its coverage of rural-style Mexican Spanish, Backcountry Mexico will prove invaluable to anyone who ventures forth into northern Mexico.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 029270755X
• ISBN13: 9780292707559
• Release Date: April 1986
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 335 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

More than just a phrasebook

I was a Spanish major in college, but would honestly have no idea how to express myself in a lot of real-life situations to be encountered in the backcountry. So this guide helped me brush up on some of my "practical" Spanish for an upcoming trip to the Sierra Madre, Sonora and Chihuahua. You would probably be better off knowing some basic Spanish before messing with this guide, but it's not 100% essential. The authors use dialogues with topical themes, like "Can I cross your land?" or "Hey, my truck broke down". The dialogues and vocabulary lists highlight colloquial Mexican usage and point out some backcountry "linguistic etiquette" (like addressing people as "amigo" instead of "señor", which is perfectly acceptable in the backcountry). The vocabulary lists here are also great, with a bunch of practical terms arranged thematically.This isn't just a phrasebook, though. It's also a guide to the practicalities of getting around and enjoying the backcountry and how to behave in situations that most city-hopping tourists just don't encounter. A lot of rural Mexicans (in places like inland Chihuahua, for example) rarely meet tourists and are often offended by arrogant or just plain ignorant gringos who don't necessarily mean offense. This guide addresses some issues like how to ask for permission to cross somebody's land or what to do if you need to ask directions from a woman if the man of the house isn't around. It's also just generally a useful "how to" guide to hiking and camping in rural Mexico.Great book. Worth taking with you.

a great book

It is a great book. It lack grammatical explanations, but it does provide phrases on many subjects, often those you won't find in phrasebooks (e.g. conversations with ranchers on their work). I think not only it may give you specialist vocabulary, but can be a good introduction to conversational language.

Extremely useful for the adventurous traveler.

Although I speak spanish fairly well, I do not know many of the more technical terms. When my truck broke down in the middle of the Chiapas, I did not know how to begin to tell the mechanic that I finally located what was wrong and what I needed to fix it. Without the helpful technical phrases abundant in this book, it would have taken me much longer to find the tools and equipment that I needed to repair my vehicle.I highly recommend it to anyone traveling in the outback in Spanish-speaking countries.