Standard Guidebooks<\/strong><\/h3>\nThese are basically divided between the standard guides for typical tourists, and the backpacker guides.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t spent much time with the standard guides.\u00a0 They tend to focus on the cities and on guided tours, and they provide little in-depth information on a place as inaccessible as the Bolivian highlands.\u00a0 That\u2019s perfectly understandable, since their clientele are not going to get far off the beaten path.\u00a0 Most of their clientelle travel to Machu Picchu, across the Titicaca, and down to the Salar de Uyuni.\u00a0 Few of them go much deeper, so it is understandable that the guidebooks don\u2019t, either.<\/p>\n
Backpacker Guides<\/strong><\/h3>\nLonely Planet certainly qualifies, but the book I discovered 25 years ago, the South America Handbook, has grown up and now there is a version specific to Bolivia, Footprint\u2019s Bolivia Handbook.<\/p>\n
Bolivia Handbook<\/span><\/h4>\n![\"BoliviaHB_5e_product\"](\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/BoliviaHB_5e_product_thumb.jpg\" "\\"BoliviaHB_5e_product\\"")
<\/a>It\u2019s probably the best guide for backpacking Bolivia and, as such, is a good starting point for exploring the country.\u00a0 At 422 pages, it\u2019s probably about as detailed as you want a guide book to be.\u00a0 That said, there is a lot of the Bolivian highlands which does not manage to make it into the book.\u00a0 Still, it is, perhaps, your best starting point.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Other Guides<\/strong><\/h3>\nGuia turistica de \/ Tour guide of Iglesias Rurales: La Paz y Oruro, Philipp Schauer, with the collaboration of Teresa Gisbert<\/span><\/h4>\n![\"003\"](\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/003.jpg\")
<\/a>Indispensable.\u00a0 See my review<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Bolivia: Cuadernos de Viaje: El Altiplano Boliviano, Viviana Carril and Pedro Prado<\/span><\/h4>\n![\"002\"](\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/002.jpg\")
<\/a>Carril and Prado have made a number of driving trips on the Bolivian altiplano, and have written them up in this book.\u00a0 Unfortunately, their book tends to focus on the mundane and transitory, with a lot of space given over to road conditions (which change with every rain storm in Bolivia, and are changing even faster with the heavy investment the government is making in road construction), the state of the fields during the season when they passed through, and even noting, over and over, that each town has a school and a church.\u00a0 Still, as the only book (I am aware of) to provide any description of many of the routes on the Bolivian altiplano, Cuadernos de Viaje is worth your while, IF you read Spanish fluently.\u00a0 Besides detailed descriptions of the routes, Carril and Prado include the GPS coordinates for some locations and altitude information for the routes they describe.<\/p>\n\u00a0Birding Guides<\/strong><\/h3>\nI’m not a birder, but I find that the more you know about a place, the more enjoyable it is. \u00a0Since birds are an interesting aspect of travel in Bolivia, one of the countries in the world with the greatest diversity of birds, I’ve picked up a couple of bird books.<\/p>\n
Birds of the High Andes,\u00a0N. Krabbe (Author), J. Fjeldsaa (Author, Illustrator)
\n<\/a><\/h4>\n
Lonely Planet certainly qualifies, but the book I discovered 25 years ago, the South America Handbook, has grown up and now there is a version specific to Bolivia, Footprint\u2019s Bolivia Handbook.<\/p>\n
Bolivia Handbook<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/a>It\u2019s probably the best guide for backpacking Bolivia and, as such, is a good starting point for exploring the country.\u00a0 At 422 pages, it\u2019s probably about as detailed as you want a guide book to be.\u00a0 That said, there is a lot of the Bolivian highlands which does not manage to make it into the book.\u00a0 Still, it is, perhaps, your best starting point.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Other Guides<\/strong><\/h3>\nGuia turistica de \/ Tour guide of Iglesias Rurales: La Paz y Oruro, Philipp Schauer, with the collaboration of Teresa Gisbert<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/a>Indispensable.\u00a0 See my review<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Bolivia: Cuadernos de Viaje: El Altiplano Boliviano, Viviana Carril and Pedro Prado<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/a>Carril and Prado have made a number of driving trips on the Bolivian altiplano, and have written them up in this book.\u00a0 Unfortunately, their book tends to focus on the mundane and transitory, with a lot of space given over to road conditions (which change with every rain storm in Bolivia, and are changing even faster with the heavy investment the government is making in road construction), the state of the fields during the season when they passed through, and even noting, over and over, that each town has a school and a church.\u00a0 Still, as the only book (I am aware of) to provide any description of many of the routes on the Bolivian altiplano, Cuadernos de Viaje is worth your while, IF you read Spanish fluently.\u00a0 Besides detailed descriptions of the routes, Carril and Prado include the GPS coordinates for some locations and altitude information for the routes they describe.<\/p>\n\u00a0Birding Guides<\/strong><\/h3>\nI’m not a birder, but I find that the more you know about a place, the more enjoyable it is. \u00a0Since birds are an interesting aspect of travel in Bolivia, one of the countries in the world with the greatest diversity of birds, I’ve picked up a couple of bird books.<\/p>\n
Birds of the High Andes,\u00a0N. Krabbe (Author), J. Fjeldsaa (Author, Illustrator)
\n<\/a><\/h4>\n
<\/a>It\u2019s probably the best guide for backpacking Bolivia and, as such, is a good starting point for exploring the country.\u00a0 At 422 pages, it\u2019s probably about as detailed as you want a guide book to be.\u00a0 That said, there is a lot of the Bolivian highlands which does not manage to make it into the book.\u00a0 Still, it is, perhaps, your best starting point.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Other Guides<\/strong><\/h3>\nGuia turistica de \/ Tour guide of Iglesias Rurales: La Paz y Oruro, Philipp Schauer, with the collaboration of Teresa Gisbert<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/a>Indispensable.\u00a0 See my review<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Bolivia: Cuadernos de Viaje: El Altiplano Boliviano, Viviana Carril and Pedro Prado<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/a>Carril and Prado have made a number of driving trips on the Bolivian altiplano, and have written them up in this book.\u00a0 Unfortunately, their book tends to focus on the mundane and transitory, with a lot of space given over to road conditions (which change with every rain storm in Bolivia, and are changing even faster with the heavy investment the government is making in road construction), the state of the fields during the season when they passed through, and even noting, over and over, that each town has a school and a church.\u00a0 Still, as the only book (I am aware of) to provide any description of many of the routes on the Bolivian altiplano, Cuadernos de Viaje is worth your while, IF you read Spanish fluently.\u00a0 Besides detailed descriptions of the routes, Carril and Prado include the GPS coordinates for some locations and altitude information for the routes they describe.<\/p>\n\u00a0Birding Guides<\/strong><\/h3>\nI’m not a birder, but I find that the more you know about a place, the more enjoyable it is. \u00a0Since birds are an interesting aspect of travel in Bolivia, one of the countries in the world with the greatest diversity of birds, I’ve picked up a couple of bird books.<\/p>\n
Birds of the High Andes,\u00a0N. Krabbe (Author), J. Fjeldsaa (Author, Illustrator)
\n<\/a><\/h4>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m not a birder, but I find that the more you know about a place, the more enjoyable it is. \u00a0Since birds are an interesting aspect of travel in Bolivia, one of the countries in the world with the greatest diversity of birds, I’ve picked up a couple of bird books.<\/p>\n<\/a>Indispensable.\u00a0 See my review<\/a>.<\/p>\nBolivia: Cuadernos de Viaje: El Altiplano Boliviano, Viviana Carril and Pedro Prado<\/span><\/h4>\n
<\/a>Carril and Prado have made a number of driving trips on the Bolivian altiplano, and have written them up in this book.\u00a0 Unfortunately, their book tends to focus on the mundane and transitory, with a lot of space given over to road conditions (which change with every rain storm in Bolivia, and are changing even faster with the heavy investment the government is making in road construction), the state of the fields during the season when they passed through, and even noting, over and over, that each town has a school and a church.\u00a0 Still, as the only book (I am aware of) to provide any description of many of the routes on the Bolivian altiplano, Cuadernos de Viaje is worth your while, IF you read Spanish fluently.\u00a0 Besides detailed descriptions of the routes, Carril and Prado include the GPS coordinates for some locations and altitude information for the routes they describe.<\/p>\n\u00a0Birding Guides<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Birds of the High Andes,\u00a0N. Krabbe (Author), J. Fjeldsaa (Author, Illustrator)
\n<\/a><\/h4>\n
![\"510SKJP6YRL._SL500_AA300_-3\"](\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/510SKJP6YRL._SL500_AA300_-3.jpg\")
<\/a>This is not cheap, likely costing you more than $100, but it is the bible, and it is beautiful. \u00a0It’s also large and heavy, so not the guide book to jam into your backpack. \u00a0Still, like I said, this is the bible. \u00a0If you want to identify and learn about the birds of the high Andes, well, this is the book you want.<\/p>\n![\"511-2\"](\"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/511-2.jpg\")
<\/a>And this is the guide you take with you. \u00a0Great photos and good information. \u00a0You can find this in the bookstores of La Paz. \u00a0I got mine for Bs140 (about $20).<\/p>\n