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The Gringo Trail (1999)

by Mark Mann

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751353,330 (3.23)None
"...There I was in the middle of Bogota, coked up to my eyeballs, in a hallway holding two machetes, while some drunk Colombians argued about whether or not to blow up a bar with a live hand grenade..." Asia has the hippie trail. South America has the gringo trail. Mark Mann and his girlfriend Melissa set off to explore the ancient monuments, mountains and rainforests of South America. But for their friend, South America meant only one thing...drugs. Sad, funny, shocking. 'The Gringo Trail' is an 'On the Road' for the Lonely Planet generation. A darkly comic road-trip and a revealing journey through South America's turbulent history. Drama and discovery Culture and cocaine Fact is stranger than fiction… (more)
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South America is a continent of contrasts, from the northern Caribbean shores, corrupt officials in all the countries, deep jungles, amazing histories from the Incas to the Aztecs and the modern horrors of drugs and guerrilla warfare.

Mark Mann with his girlfriend Melissa and another friend Mark decide to travel there to undertake the Gringo trail, a uniquely South American experience. There is a little tension as the friends Mark is really there for the drugs, and really is not interested in undertaking the trekking. At various points in the journey they split and go their own separate ways, meeting up again at other locations.

It is a funny mix of some travel writing with potted histories of the places that they are visiting, along with some fairly vivid descriptions of the soft and hard drugs that they took whilst on their trip. It did make for interesting reading though. Sadly though, this once in a lifetime trip was marred at the end.

Found the writing to be ok with good descriptions of the places visited, but 2.5 stars I think is fair. ( )
  PDCRead | Apr 6, 2020 |
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Epigraph
'Everything that has happened since the marvellous discovery of the Americas...has been so extraordinary that the whole story remains quite incredible to anyone who has not experienced it at first hand.'
A very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, Bartolomei de las Casas (1552)
Dedication
To my parents, for endless support and love, and to D

For 'Westie' (shine on you crazy diamond)
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Mark took his last seventy mushrooms on the plane from London to Quito.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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"...There I was in the middle of Bogota, coked up to my eyeballs, in a hallway holding two machetes, while some drunk Colombians argued about whether or not to blow up a bar with a live hand grenade..." Asia has the hippie trail. South America has the gringo trail. Mark Mann and his girlfriend Melissa set off to explore the ancient monuments, mountains and rainforests of South America. But for their friend, South America meant only one thing...drugs. Sad, funny, shocking. 'The Gringo Trail' is an 'On the Road' for the Lonely Planet generation. A darkly comic road-trip and a revealing journey through South America's turbulent history. Drama and discovery Culture and cocaine Fact is stranger than fiction

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Mark Mann is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.

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