The Full Montezuma (Peter Moore, 2001)

ISBN 0-5538-1335-8

There is a good deal about Moore's trip I find inexplicable: Having seen two or three wonders of the ancient world, to use his own phrase, they've had enough. After visiting one or two areas of the famous cloud forests, he declares "I'm of the opinion that when you've seen one clump of green trees you've seen them all." Many times they're enjoying themselves in some place ... so they leave it, for no reason other than "it was time to move on."

They seem to have spent most nights getting themselves paralytic on the local firewater, and most days recovering. Here's something quite bizarre:

'[W]hen I reached the top, just ahead of Jon, I was overwhelmed by a real sense of achievement. If I hadn't been so buggered I may have whooped with joy.... Instead, I sat at the base of the white cross that marked the highest point, catching my breath and appreciating the magnificent view. Because we had left early, the clouds hadn't moved in for the day and we could see clear across Panama to both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. [Ok so far, but ...] we ended up getting a lift back to town in the back of a pick-up full of onions. As we bounced down the mountain, an onion wedged uncomfortably between my buttocks, I decided that peering into the craters of volcanoes, alive or otherwise, had lost its appeal. I vowed that Barú Volcano would be the last volcano I would climb.' – pp. 372-373

Now I just cannot comprehend this kind of thought process. To me, it isn't even 'thought' - I don't know what it is. If Moore and his girlfriend had simply wanted to shag, get plastered, and lie on beaches, they needn't have gone any further from their home in Sydney than up the road to Surfers. And they needn't even have left New South Wales to experience third-world ... um, ambience ... to satisfy whatever it is that urges affluent westerners to look down their noses at poor people, disenfranchised people.

No. It's beyond me.

But having said all that, such feelings are not aroused by poor reporting. It takes damn fine writing to make me despise someone this much. So the book has to be ...

Recommendation: Recommended. Four out of five.

Look and Feel: My edition is the usual matt-finish paperback.

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