“Strange Roads is a small gem of travel literature in the tradition of works by John Van Dyke, Carl Lumholtz, Charles Lummus, Mary Austin, Edward Hoagland, and Bruce Chatwin. But for all its absorbing detail about topography, flora, and fauna, its keen observations of character, and its vivid re-creation of the sense of place, it is much more than a travel memoir. For on every page one senses the strength, character, and distinctive perspective of Mary del Villar herself. An uncommon woman by any standards, she seems all the more remarkable when one recalls the profoundly reactionary gender ideologies that prevailed in the postwar era in which she lived and wrote. Like other great female wanderers, she transcended the confining notions of woman her society would have imposed on her, living her life according to the dictates of her own intrepid spirit.” –From the foreword by Susan Hardy Aiken

"The del Villars unfold a story that is not only entertaining but gives us an intimate glimpse of life in Mexico's back country—its hunger, its primitive values in some instances, its hopes for betterment, but above all its friendliness, warmth and color."—Christian Science Monitor

"The chief difficulty our walkers encountered was in persuading the poor families who lodged and fed them to take pesos in return. One gets a very pleasant—and fair—picture of the simple people who live off the traveled roads. . . . a fine little book for all of us tourists, a corrective for those who think they can find Mexico in its capital or in Acapulco."—New York Herald Tribune