A Week in Porlamar, Margarita Island, Venezuela

This is an irreverently funny, intimately charming, culinarily conscious true saga of a culturally challenged couple on the loose in Latin, no problema, America. The war of worlds begins with planning a vacation in the wake of an attempted coup and proceeds down to Margarita Island, Venezuela, where pristine beaches, exotic cuisine and copious quantities of alcohol form the backdrop for the myriad disasters, aggravations and pleasures that make up a week in paradise. There is even an excursion back to the 1800s with the couples historic counterparts (Simon Bolivar and Maria Guevara). The book has a lighthearted, quirky voice that captures human nature in appealingly identifiable terms. Every blissfully mismatched couple who has set toe to tarmac will want to take this trip.