ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Gary Chandler

Gary Chandler grew up in a small ski town south of Lake Tahoe, California. He earned his bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley, including a year abroad in Mexico City and Oaxaca. After graduating, Gary backpacked through much of Mexico and Central America, and later through Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. His first guidebook assignment was covering the highlands of Guatemala, followed by assignments in El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere.

Gary has contributed to more than 20 guidebooks in all, many coauthored with wife and fellow travel writer and photographer Liza Prado. Their Moon Yucatán Peninsula was named Best Guidebook by American Journey magazine. Between assignments, Gary has earned a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University, worked as a news reporter and criminal investigator, and published numerous articles and blogs about travel in Latin America.

Liza Prado

Liza Prado was working as a corporate attorney in San Francisco when she decided to take a leap of faith and try travel writing and photography. Nine years later, she has coauthored 13 guidebooks and written numerous feature stories and blogs to destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean; her photographs have been featured in various guidebooks and on travel websites like Home&Abroad and Away.com.

The Riviera Maya has been one of Liza’s favorite places to travel since her first visit to the region over a decade ago. While researching this guide she dived on coral reefs and snorkeled through cenotes, clambered on Maya ruins, paddled through mangroves, spied monkeys and tropical birds, and explored beach towns and mega-resorts (not to mention a nightclub or two), all with two kids in tow.

A graduate of Brown University and Stanford Law School, Liza currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and coauthor, Gary Chandler, and their children, Eva Quetzal and Leo Isaiah.