Spouses and writing partners Liza Prado and Gary Chandler cover the best of Chiapas, from the ruins of Palenque to San Cristóbal de las Casas, one of Mexico’s most charming colonial cities. Prado and Chandler include unique trip ideas for a variety of travelers, such as Eco-tour of Chiapas and Colonial Towns and Missions. Including expert advice on the best plaza cafés, rugged forest hikes, and where to experience Mayan arts and culture, Moon Chiapas gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.
About Liza Prado
Liza Prado spent almost every summer from preschool to high school in Mexico, visiting her grandparents and extended family in Monterrey and Mazatlán. Born in Buffalo, NY to a travel-loving family, Liza visited 10 countries by the time she was 15 years old and 20 (including six months in Italy) by the time she graduated from Brown University in 1994 with a degree in international relations. By that time, she was fluent in four languages.
After a stint in New York City, Liza moved to California for better weather, better parking, and three years at Stanford Law School. Then it was 50 miles north to San Francisco, where she worked in a corporate law firm (and met future husband Gary Chandler).
Following two and a half years of fascinating and intense work, Liza left the Bay Area and moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, where she and Gary were married. Over the next two years, they traveled to the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and (for their honeymoon) Brazil. A mutual love of Latin America and travel made writing Moon Handbooks Yucatán Peninsula and Moon Cancún and Cozumel a natural next step. Liza plans to continue working as a travel writer, but (just in case) remains an active member of the California Bar Association.
About Gary Chandler
Gary Chandler was born in Kirkwood, CA, a small ski town south of Lake Tahoe. He first visited Mexico as an exchange student from the University of California, Berkeley in 1995, spending a semester in Mexico City and then four months teaching English in a tiny indigenous village in the mountains of Oaxaca. That trip was the first of many he would take to Latin America, Europe, and Asia.
Gary got his first travel-writing assignment in Cambodia, when a journalist friend got sick and Gary ended up researching and writing an article on the Temples of Angkor, published online in 1998. That turned into guidebook work, first in Guatemala, then El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, and Brazil. Along the way, he got a Masters Degree in Journalism at Columbia University and (best of all) married co-author and supreme travel companion Liza Prado. Between writing assignments, Gary has taught poetry and worked as a freelance reporter.
Gary and Liza’s first trip together to the Yucatán was on a much-needed hiatus from wedding planning. They were stunned by the region’s richness, and thrilled to return. Getting around on buses, ferries, and a string of rented VW bugs, Gary and Liza visited over 30 Mayan ruins, scores of caves, nature reserves, museums and galleries, and almost every beach and fishing village from Campeche around the coast to Chetumal. They shot more than 3,000 photos and had to buy an extra duffle for all the notes, maps, and research material they collected. In all, Gary and Liza spent their birthdays, their first anniversary (sans luggage, which had been lost on a flight), and 10 American and Mexican holidays in the Yucatán—a long, wonderful ride. They currently live in San Francisco, CA.
