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Sliced Iguana: Travels in Mexico
Behind the façade of sombreros and tequila, tourist traps and holiday resorts, there lies a very different Mexico. In Sliced Iguana Isabella Tree explores a country that is the heart and lifeblood of the Americas, a country of extremes and contradictions. In a land so markedly shaped by machismo, she finds a town controlled by arm-wrestling matriarchs and party-mad transvestites and in war-torn Chiapas she discovers shamans worshipping Mayan gods inside Catholic churches and conducting exorcisms with the aid of Pepsi. At a graveside vigil on the Night of the Dead she encounters the last delicate vestige of a pre-Columbian cult that elsewhere has morphed into an Americanised Halloween. With a group of Huichol Indians, perhaps the last truly autonomous tribe in the entire American continent, she participates in rituals using peyote, the hallucinogenic cactus, to bring rain to the drought-stricken sierra and appease the forces of Nature so recklessly abused by the conquistadors and their successors.
Through her narrative Isabella Tree threads the brightly coloured history of Mexico and tells the stories of the people that have defined its fractured past and will shape its future - kings and conquistadors, politicians and rebels, shamans and priests, mestizos and indigenous Indians. This is a story of Mexico like no other, capturing the essence of its psyche and illuminating the struggles and hopes of a people and a country on the cusp of change. This edition features a new Preface by [Tree].
Through her narrative Isabella Tree threads the brightly coloured history of Mexico and tells the stories of the people that have defined its fractured past and will shape its future - kings and conquistadors, politicians and rebels, shamans and priests, mestizos and indigenous Indians. This is a story of Mexico like no other, capturing the essence of its psyche and illuminating the struggles and hopes of a people and a country on the cusp of change. This edition features a new Preface by [Tree].
- GenresTravelNonfiction
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
9 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 6, 2017
This book is stunning.
The author weaves history and two year's worth of her own travels into a compelling story.
Anyone with a love for Mexico should read it.
Anyone curious about Mexico should read it.
Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always fascinating, just like Mexico itself.
I am too overwhelmed to say more.
The author weaves history and two year's worth of her own travels into a compelling story.
Anyone with a love for Mexico should read it.
Anyone curious about Mexico should read it.
Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always fascinating, just like Mexico itself.
I am too overwhelmed to say more.
December 3, 2012
I'd like to defend this book against reader reviews that describe it as "slow" and "hard to get into," because I don't think that's quite fair. This book is unrelenting in its erudition, its intensity--full of history, full of anthropology, full of politics and, especially, religion. It's not a travel book to pick up because you can't afford a vacation this year and need to get away from it all.
This book ISN'T an easy read, and learning about the fallout from Spanish conquest, resonating on every page, isn't a casual diversion. It risks piety, with a rich and textured argument to back it up. It also lacks much in the way of humor, and can be joyless, at times--so it's not the kind of book I'd want to read every day.
At the same time, when I risk a scan of reader reviews here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and find casual dismissals of a very fine book, I get pissed off. So take a chance on a serious book. Once you're done, you can read something by a professor on sabbatical who hires quirky locals to improve the value of a rundown house, etc etc.
This book ISN'T an easy read, and learning about the fallout from Spanish conquest, resonating on every page, isn't a casual diversion. It risks piety, with a rich and textured argument to back it up. It also lacks much in the way of humor, and can be joyless, at times--so it's not the kind of book I'd want to read every day.
At the same time, when I risk a scan of reader reviews here on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ and find casual dismissals of a very fine book, I get pissed off. So take a chance on a serious book. Once you're done, you can read something by a professor on sabbatical who hires quirky locals to improve the value of a rundown house, etc etc.
April 9, 2023
Travel memoir with lots of history, which added useful context but also slowed it down a bit.
September 12, 2023
This was an interesting read of travels around Mexico, although there was a huge emphasis on the history and lineage of the country. Although engaging, this reliance on the historical proved to be my downfall! I couldn't entirely keep my focus on the many rulers, invaders and dictators that have governed Mexico over the centuries. My mind wandered and I had to skim read some passages to get through them.
There were some interesting stories of Mexican people that Isabella met, the Juchitan transvestites and strong dominating women were fascinating. And the celebrants (if you can class them as celebrants) of the Day of the Dead festival at a lakeside setting was interesting. Mexico City sounded nightmarish! An asthmatic's hell realms!
All in all, a pretty good travelogue, but not one I'd return to at all so I'm gonna donate it to my community book exchange.
There were some interesting stories of Mexican people that Isabella met, the Juchitan transvestites and strong dominating women were fascinating. And the celebrants (if you can class them as celebrants) of the Day of the Dead festival at a lakeside setting was interesting. Mexico City sounded nightmarish! An asthmatic's hell realms!
All in all, a pretty good travelogue, but not one I'd return to at all so I'm gonna donate it to my community book exchange.
March 31, 2025
Wow! An amazing read.
An incredibly well weaved story of Mexico’s colonial past and political present. The author explores so many intriguing topics that Europeans couldn’t not have imagined. With this book solely I realised how vast and varied Mexico is from one county to another.
Getting through some pages, and topics, especially because of the vocabulary and writing style was a bit of a challenge, but in the best way possible.
This has probably been one of the most complete, rich and complex books I’ve read so far and I would recommend it to anyone, especially someone who’s keen to learn a lot.
An incredibly well weaved story of Mexico’s colonial past and political present. The author explores so many intriguing topics that Europeans couldn’t not have imagined. With this book solely I realised how vast and varied Mexico is from one county to another.
Getting through some pages, and topics, especially because of the vocabulary and writing style was a bit of a challenge, but in the best way possible.
This has probably been one of the most complete, rich and complex books I’ve read so far and I would recommend it to anyone, especially someone who’s keen to learn a lot.
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January 1, 2022I started this book in Toledo's Biblioteca de Artes Grafica in Oaxaca. It was the first book in English that I spotted (reading DeLillo in espanol was absurd), and even with its ridiculous title, I was dying to read something that I could understand. I ended up thinking the book was pretty good, but couldn't check it out, and then it happened to disappear the next day. That was a stroke of luck, because that lead me to Cabeza's Fire on the Mountain, which I might not have ever known about. Anyway, ended up tracking this book down on Amazon, and just finished one of the best "travel" books, in the most reflexive sense, I've ever read.
August 15, 2014
I really loved this book, although it took me quite a while to read it, as it's densely packed with lots of really interesting information. I liked her style of writing and the fact that she could relate to the greater poetry of human experience. I just want to go to Mexico now!
December 10, 2010
A really great book shows us how everything is great and worth to die for
March 10, 2019
Interspersed among very dense passages about Mexican history are some fascinating stories. Not the usual travelogue.
November 12, 2017
I was drawn to this book by its great cover and title. I am not aware if the source of the title was ever uncovered. At one point iguana was mentioned as a food but there was no additional detail. Perhaps it is a metaphor wherein México is the iguana and the indigenous groups that comprise it are the slices. We just don't know.
This is not a travel book. It is the story of the author traipsing about México for two years and her encounters with the people she met. This is an interesting approach because descriptions and histories of the things and places in a country can be found in countless other books. The author is drawn to indigenous people so, perhaps, the book can be described more as ethnography than travel.
You may be offended by this book if you are Catholic or if you believe that the Spanish conquerors did a swell job there.
This is not a travel book. It is the story of the author traipsing about México for two years and her encounters with the people she met. This is an interesting approach because descriptions and histories of the things and places in a country can be found in countless other books. The author is drawn to indigenous people so, perhaps, the book can be described more as ethnography than travel.
You may be offended by this book if you are Catholic or if you believe that the Spanish conquerors did a swell job there.
October 12, 2018
Genius, part travelogue, parts histories, parts sociologies, part story of personal development, part detached irreverence. Research is brilliant. How the author packs so much detail and so so many layers into so few pages beggars belief. A seamlessly woven palimpcest that perhaps counterintuitively reveals layers of truth and meaning rather than hiding them). I will be reading this again.
November 15, 2019
Full of very interesting tales about Mexico, where a trip is more than tourism and gets into the deep underbelly.
July 24, 2015
Got bored, gave up half way through. Reading the book feels like homework. There's some great stuff in here, but it's such a chore to get to it. I like her present day stories, but those are wrapped in flashbacks to history that has me lost in 5 sentences. The book makes me feel stupid. I don't know if it's her tone, her snobbery, the dense trail of words, or what. I couldn't take it anymore. I'm out.
February 7, 2011
Like turning the heat up gradually on the lobster in the pot, this one started off well, but became harder to return to each time I picked it up. The author came off as a bit too self-impressed with how "cool" she was in avoiding cliche'ed tourist stuff; moreover, she seemed to transfer her angst about being from a colonial European nation to "at least I'm not American!" Yawn.
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June 10, 2016Now into last full chapter. Not quite as interesting to me as the rest of the book, but still good.
I really do recommend this book, but it's not the kind of book you read in a hurry. Each chapter concerns the people of a different city or region, and is full of intriguing stop. My only caveat is that the chapters are longer than my attention span.
November 18, 2011
A fascinating account of a country I really had no impression of. I had no idea the landscape and culture of Mexico was so diverse, and under threat in so many ways. I think there is somewhere else on my list of places to visit now.
March 6, 2009
Very average travel story, but lots of Mexican history plus all i could find in the hotel.
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August 19, 2009I have struggled to read this travel book of Mexico all summer. The stories of the people were good but the general narrative was cumbersome. I decline to rate this one.
January 3, 2014
Interesting and very informative.
September 2, 2011
intense traveler.
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