Each month, Kobo and G Adventures are teaming up to bring you an inspired reading list based on an amazing travel destination. This time out, we’re taking you to Latin America. Whether you’ve been before or are still visualizing your first trip there, the books on this month’s list are the stuff adventure travel dreams are made of. So sit down, order up one of these babies on your Kobo, and let the planning begin.
Twirling around during Sucre’s Carnival in Bolivia
A New York Times bestseller several times, The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto “Che” Guevara is both a travel book and non-fiction memoir about a road trip taken by one of the 20th century’s most famous figures (before he was famous). For nine months, Che rode from country to country across Latin America, meeting and living with working-class people. His time on the road stoked the revolutionary fire that ultimately led him to help spearhead the Cuban revolution of 1952 alongside the Castros. Rich in history and local context, The Motorcycle Diaries is a classic coming-of-age story and a must-read for any aspiring traveller to the region.
Lost City of the Incas by Hiram Bingham is a travel novel of a different kind. It was 1911 when Bingham, an American explorer, happened upon Machu Picchu by near chance. He’d been looking for the lost Incan city of Vilcabamba when instead he discovered what is now one of the most-visited archaeological sites in the world. Lost City tells of his first journey there and gives us an idea of what it must have felt like to see this awe-inspiring place hidden from the outside world for centuries. While sometimes heavy on historical detail, it’s a valuable story for anyone who’s hiked the Inca Trail or dreams of one day climbing its tiers.
Sometimes called “the On the Road for the Lonely Planet generation,” The Gringo Trail by Mark Mann tells the story of the author’s grand tour of Latin America with his girlfriend and their friend who’s more interested in the drugs he can find than the cultural sites they’ve travelled to. What begins as a trip to see ancient ruins, experience foreign cultures, and discover amazing beaches declines into a sometimes running, sometimes stumbling tour of dark back alleys and underground Latino culture – a massive adventure trip gone wrong, and yet somehow right.
Plenty of other best-ever travel-through-Latin-America books are on this month’s list too, which can be found in its entirety right here. There are stories of love and loss, war and wandering, and each one in its own way should inspire you to plan your own next (or very first) adventure to Latin America. Do your dreamy side a favour and start clicking. Vamos!
Want More?
Want to know more about Kobo? Find ‘em on Facebook and Pinterest, and follow @kobo on Twitter. Your planet is a page-turner, and it re-writes itself every day.
