travel writing

From Boston to Patagonian by Train

In his world travels, Paul Theroux has helped define the travel writing genre, including a book focused on travel to Central and South America in The Old Patagonia Express. The book tells the story of his 1970s journey from Boston through Latin America and ending up in Patagonia. He chooses rail travel for its slow nature and for the chance to see the countryside and how people who used the train lived, preferable to instantaneous air travel that moves you between two different spaces with no time to process or experience the transition.

David Lida's First Stop in the New World is a wonderfully-written look at modern Mexico City, a city he loves not in spite of its paradoxes but because of them. Having lived as an ex-pat in DF since 1990, Lida provides great insight into the culture and its idiosyncrasies from a somewhat outsider's perspective. It's clear that Lida is a journalist always looking for an interesting angle from which to explore the great city, providing tidbits that are unique to DF.