Andes

May 23, 2011
The Andes, earth's longest mountain range, spans seven countries, from Colombia to Argentina, include rain forests and deserts, virtually deserted areas, massive cities, Incan ruins, pre-Incan ruins, Spanish ruins, and more. It's a lot to take on, but Jacobs (The Factory of Light: Tales from My Own Andalucían Village), author of numerous travel books, is nothing if not game. He braves high altitude, terrifying bus rides, endless delays, crime-ridden cities, and wackjob mystics. He's read all earlier accounts, from Che Guevara to Mario Vargas Llosa, along with history, geology, and archeology, and uses their work to supplement his own and to show the overlapping routes and varying agendas of Francisco Pizarro, Simon Bolivar, and generations of explorers and scientists. Jacobs is a good writer, balancing different strandsâpast and present, contemporary politics, the Spanish Conquest, his own history and that of the people he meetsâbut he's a great traveler: well connected, tireless, enthusiastic, and interested in everyone he meets. While we could use less of his Spanish village and his dog and a few more notes on why he goes where, he conveys the region's difficulties and challenges as well as its beauty and enduring fascination.

May 15, 2011
On average, the Andes range is second only to the Himalayas in elevation. The Andes is also the longest continuous mountain range in the world, stretching more than 5,000 miles from Panama to the southern tip of South America. Jacobs, author of several travel books, inherited his interest in the Andes from his grandfather, who spent extensive time there and later enthralled Jacobs with his tales. So this book is a saga of Jacobs fulfilling his dream of traveling the full length of the range that is filled with encounters with diverse, colorful characters as well as the ghosts of near-vanished Native American civilizations. Historical figures who have made their mark on the region, including Simn Bol-var and the explorer Alexander von Humboldt, flit in and out of the narrative. As Jacobs travels, he seems alternately laid-back and awed as he becomes overwhelmed by the immensity of the landscape. This absorbing and charming travelogue will be of particular interest to those who have already visited or plan to visit South America.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)