Martin Mitchinson's "The Darien Gap" is a wonderful book, a great
collection of histories, mythologies, and personal adventures and
reflections. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in
traveling in Central America, as well as for anyone who loves good,
and thoughtful travel writing.
In a place that is infamous for kidnappings, Colombian Guerrillas,
and thick jungles, Mitchinson performs the unthinkable act of
remaining in the region for a year and a half to gather together
Darien's many stories into a book that is a pleasure to read. In a
series of wonderfully-crafted vignettes, Mitchinson writes with a
very personal voice to bring Darien's jungle to the reader - from
the 65 million years of ancient geological formation, to native
histories, pirates, eccentrics, and ridiculous canal schemes that
are part of Darien's past and present.
This book has just been released, but I've found a handful of early
reviews:
"What Mitchinson has produced, with bugs, mud, graces, dangers,
superstitions and all... is a wonderfully entertaining book full of
close observation and flourishes of poetry."
- Garry Geddes, poet and author of "Kingdom of Ten Thousand
Things"
_____________________
"... impressive and compelling..."
"... threading the history of the area, with accounts of its
indigenous peoples and early explorations, into a dramatic and
involving tapestry. There is much humor here,... passages of
genuine suspense, including a harrowing account of a near-drowning
in a jungle river..."
- The Vancouver Sun
_____________________
"... the summer's best read."
- The North Island Midweek
_____________________
"...hairy enough to scare even the most intrepid armchair traveler.
But the stories that he tells of this wild barrier make his book
come doubly alive.
Combining one part history with one part travelogue... escape
reading at its best."
-The Sun Times
_____________________
"... personal anecdotes are lush with honesty and sparse with
reservation... it sucks you from your reading chair only to plant
you in the mangrove swamps of the Darien Gap."
"...intriguing tale connects the reader to Mitchinson, the people
of Darien and the Darien province itself."
- Comox Valley Record