Lonely Planet, o guia turístico

Fazer esta viagem sem o Lonely Planet seria bem diferente. É um guia turistico fantástico mas, infelizmente, feito para gringos (americanos). Fica a critica que lhes mandei:

south america on a shoe string, 2007 english edition

These are my constructive comments about your guide:

-> ENGLISH - keep it simple!
Many people who travel with the english LP are non native speakers. I think you should keep your english simple by avoiding expressions and words that may be difficult for non native speakers. I learned the meaning of shabby and quirky with LP. Do you really need to use these words? :-)

-> SECURITY - don't be such a chicken!
I read "There are potential dangers to travel in SA...". I would say "there are potential dangers in being alive" :-)
I think it's all about attitude. And LP attitude is an "being afraid and cautious" attitude... relax, south america is not dangerous.

-> DRUGS
You don't recommend hitchhiking but you do not discourage the use of drugs. Well, I think you should, specially in SA where so many young gringos are doing drugs... its not the gringo trail anymore, its the cocaine trail. I've seen too many junkies travelling with LP. Is this what LP wants as its image?

-> PRICES
well, its impossible to keep updated here but you are 20% under the prices pretty much everywhere except in chile and Brazilian bus, where you are 40% under the correct price.

-> DRINKING - don't be such a gringo
While you always put a good number of (local) restaurants in town, LP ALWAYS puts the gringo places for drinking. I think you should stop listing Irish pubs in south America, that's ridiculous for a "independent travellers guide". You should list the places the locals are going to.
Moreover, I think you should avoid all those posh places I have seen listed in LP (I know you have to adapt to the readers) and GO UNDERGROUND!!!

-> ADVENTUROUS ATTITUDE
I think travelling in SA is easy and safe. So, I find a bit weird when I see the LP writer trying to convince the reader he is an adventurer. You could be more sober on this. My parents could travel in SA with no problem...

Hope this helps,
Luis