Carlos Peñalba

travelog, journaling, memoir, India, Indo-China, SE-Asia ------
Perfect for the armchair traveler and an interesting cautionary tale for those contemplating the real thing.
Armchairs: excellent word pictures of fascinating places that we can never visit with detailed commentaries on the sights, smells, heat, sounds, and people. Fine descriptives of the travel modes, costs, elevations, life styles, and especially the historical background and significance of so many interesting places. He toured for eighteen months, after all! As a history geek, I absolutely loved these aspects.
Cautionaries: there were a number of visa glitches, transportation issues, and unexpected medical problems requiring not only medical care, but hospitalizations. Scary stuff so far from familiar environs. One of the medical issues is a terrifying infectious condition which he rather glosses over, but this nurse knows that he is very fortunate not to have lost his leg. I also noted that he reported far less episodes of dysentery than I would have expected.
He had a grand time overall, and we get to enjoy those travels through his eyes.
I feel extremely fortunate to have won a copy in a Goodreads Giveaway.… (mais)