Guatemala

Fresh from a night in a Miami jail, Steven lands in Guatemala City, ready for riotous road trips fuelled by booze, cocaine and passionate curiosity about people from all walks of life. His guide? Antonio, a sweet-natured, streetwise hotel concierge who shepherds Steven through colonial Antigua, the volcanic shores of Lake Atitlán and the untamed beaches of Monterrico. Danger is never far off, but neither are laughs - and there's plenty of both when Steven accompanies Antonio on a visit to his rural home village. Then there's Anabella, a glamourous, garrulous, middle-aged woman with whom Steven strikes up an unlikely friendship, accompanying her back to the capital with her family. There he mooches an open-ended stay in her gated community, which bristles with armed guards and famous eccentrics. Froelich's gonzo travelogue is a darkly hilarious, unapologetic plunge into beauty and madness, privilege and privation. With a raw, witty voice, Froelich explores the absurdities of the human condition, never letting truth get in the way of a good story.