The downside is that, like all other guidebooks, they tend to focus on the touristy places and things to do. Since we tend to try and stay off the beaten track, this renders most of the content useless to us. However, we DO find the guides useful for navigating through towns and cities, so I have 'narrowed' it down to the following list of Lonely Planet guides that we'll be taking with us. Basically, we're taking a whole library!

Country Travel Guides (these links will take you to Amazon.com where the books may be purchased)

• Lonely Planet Mexico (Country Guide)
• Lonely Planet Central America on a Shoestring
• Lonely Planet South America on a Shoestring (Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides) (covers the Guianas, Suriname, Paraguay & Uruguay not covered in other guidebooks)
• Colombia (Country Guide)
• Venezuela
• Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands (Country Guide)
• Peru (Country Guide)
• Brazil (Country Guide)
• Bolivia (Country Guide)
• Lonely Planet Chile & Easter Island
• Lonely Planet Argentina

Other Lonely Planet Guides:

• Trekking in the Central Andes (Walking)
• Trekking in the Patagonian Andes (Walking)
• Healthy Travel - Central & South America (Healthy Travel)
• Lonely Planet Latin American Spanish Phrasebook
• Brazilian Portuguese: Lonely Planet Phrasebook
• Lonely Planet Quechua Phrasebook

I've decided to purchase the guides from Amazon.ca who are the cheapest in Canada, and also have most of these guides in stock at any given time.