Liza Prado was working as a corporate attorney in San Francisco when she decided to take a leap of faith and try travel writing and photography. Seven years later, she has coauthored 11 guidebooks and written numerous feature stories and travel blogs to destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her photographs have been featured in various guidebooks and on travel websites such as Home&Abroad and Away.com.

While researching this book, Liza explored one of her favorite destinations in the world—Chiapas, Mexico. She traveled by combi, car, bike, bus, and boat, to cover the gems of the state—colonial towns and indigenous villages, mangrove reserves and rainforests, Maya ruins and coffee fincas, hidden waterways and mist-drenched waterfalls—all with a toddler in tow.

A graduate of Brown University and Stanford Law School, Liza currently lives in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico with her husband and frequent coauthor Gary Chandler, and their daughter Eva Quetzal.

Gary Chandler grew up in a small ski town south of Lake Tahoe, CA. He earned his bachelor's degree at UC Berkeley and spent a year abroad in Mexico City and Oaxaca. After graduation, Gary backpacked through much of Mexico and Central America, and later through Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. His first guidebook assignment was covering the highlands of Guatemala, followed by assignments in El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere.

Gary has contributed to more than twenty guidebooks in all, many coauthored with wife and fellow travel writer/photographer Liza Prado. The ninth edition of their Moon Yucatán Peninsula received a Journey Award for Best Guide Book from Adventure Journey Magazine in 2007. Between assignments, Gary has earned a masters degree in journalism at Columbia University, worked as a newspaper and radio reporter, and published numerous articles and blogs about travel in Latin America. Gary, Liza, and their daughter Eva Quetzal live in southern Mexico.