Christopher P. Baker (1955-) was born and educated in Yorkshire, England, studied at universities in London and Liverpool, and has lived in California since 1980. He has since established himself as one of the world's leading travel writers & photographers and is considered the world's foremost authority on travel and tourism to Cuba and Costa Rica. He has authored and illustrated more than 30 books for such publishers as Dorling Kindersly, Frommers, Lonely Planet, Moon, and National Geographic, etc., including guidebooks, literary books, and his acclaimed coffee-table book, "Cuba Classics: A Celebration of Vintage American Automobiles." His writing & photography have appeared in more than 200 international publications, from National Geographic to Newsweek. His literary travelog "Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba," won both the Lowell Thomas Award as 'Travel Book of the Year,' and the North American Travel Journalist Association Grand Prize. In 2008, he won the prestigious Lowell Thomas Award 'Travel Journalist of the Year,' and has also been named 'Travel Journalist of the Year' by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (2005) and Jamaica Tourist Board (1998). He is a National Geographic resident expert on Cuba and Costa Rica, and leads trips to those countries for National Geographic Expeditions and other tour companies. He has been profiled in USA Today, and has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, including NBC, Fox, CNN, and PBS. He posts twice-weekly blogs at www.moon.com/blogs/cuba-costa-rica and promotes himself through his website: www.christopherbaker.com

“Long the gold standard when it comes to providing explanations of peoples and cultures to interested readers, Baker’s Panama volume does a fine job of maintaining that publisher’s well-deserved reputation…and as always richly augmented by superb photographs and maps (this is a National Geographic publication after all).”