Areas of specialist knowledge

Bruce Whipperman's region of expertise includes the major cities, towns, and many country places of the mainland Mexican Pacific states of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Guerrero and Oaxaca. This includes such well-known beach resorts as Mazatlan, San Blas, Puerto Vallarta, Barra de Navidad, Manzanillo, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Angel, and the Bays of Huatulco and upland colonial cities of Guadalajara, Colima, Patzcuaro, Uruapan, Taxco, Iguala, Chilpancingo, and Oaxaca Bruce's fondness and knowledge of Mexico was born during the 1960's, spurred by driving the whole length of the country (to Guatemala and back) in 1966. Since then, his expertise has greatly deepened and broadened during several extensive trips (which included two summit climbs of Popcatepetl), most recently, seven 15,000-mile driving safaris, extending over two years, during '92, '94, '96, '98, '02, and '04 to research and write his five current Mexico guidebooks. When in Mexico, Bruce, of course, speaks Spanish, and loves exploring to the ends of little dirt roads. This has led to his knowledge of many sites of natural beauty and ecological interest, now described in his guidebooks.

Accomplishment, awards

Bruce Whipperman's major writing efforts are his five Mexico guidebooks: the Moon Handbooks Pacific Mexico, the Moon Handbooks Puerto Vallarta, the Moon Handbooks Oaxaca, the Moon Handbooks Guadalajara, and the Moon Handbooks Acapulco. Moon Handbooks Pacific Mexico, acclaimed by dozens of reviewers, won two prizes: the Lowell Thomas bronze award from the Society of American Travel Writers, best guidebook of 1993 and the Pluma de Plata (Silver Quill) award, from the Mexican Secretary of Tourism for the best guidebook on Mexico in 1993. Bruce's best-selling book, is the Moon Handbooks Puerto Vallarta, the most comprehensive guidebook of the Puerto Vallarta region, encompassing both coast and inland areas of the states of Jalisco and Nayarit. The Moon Handbook Oaxaca, is by far the most comprehensive guidebook ever pubished of the entire state of Oaxaca. The Moon Handbooks Guadalajara, which covers both the Guadalajara metropolitan zone and the surrounding region, is the most comprehensive of any travel Guidebook yet published for Guadalajara. The Moon Handbook Acapulco, published in September of 2004, besides being a guide to the city of Acapulco, also covers much of the coastline and interior of the state of Guerrero, including the resorts or Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo, the historically important towns of Chilpancingo, the state capital, Iguala, and the silver town of Taxco.

Client list

Bruce regularly helps his friends, readers, and fellow members of the Bay Area Travel Writers, the Mexican Writers Alliance, and the Society of American Travel Writers plan their travel itineraries and complete their travel stories about Pacific Mexico. He also has served for four years as one of the faculty for the annual Society of American Travel Writers Insitute for Travel Writing and Photography. The Tenth Annual Institute will be held in Orlando, Florida, May 20-22. For information, visit www.satwinstitute.org.

Consultancy costs

US$50 per hour (about $100 total) to plan a typical two-week Mexico itinerary.

Recent guidebooks

Moon Handbooks Pacific Mexico 6th Ed., Moon Handbooks Puerto Vallarta 5th Ed., Moon Handbooks Oaxaca 3rd Ed., Moon Handbooks Guadalajara 1st Ed., and Moon Handbooks Acapulco, 1st Ed.

Other relevant published works