
that traces the early travels of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, then a 23-year-old medical student, and his friend Alberto Granado
, a 29-year-old biochemist. Leaving Buenos Aires
, Argentina
, in January 1952 on the back of a sputtering single cylinder 1939 Norton 500cc dubbed La Poderosa ("The Mighty One"), they desired to explore the South America they only knew from books.
[voiceover] We look like outlaws inspiring admiration everywhere we go. We’ve left civilization behind and we are much closer to the land.
A revolution without guns? It would never work.
The deeper we go into the Andes the more indigenous people we encounter, who are homeless in their own land. All across our own land.
What we had in common - our restlessness, our impassioned spirits, and a love for the open road.
How is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?
You gotta fight for every breath and tell death to go to hell.
(To Alberto): Are you talking to the motorcycle again?
What do we leave behind when we cross each frontier? Each moment seems split in two; melancholy for what was left behind and the excitement of entering a new land.
Even though we are too insignificant to be spokesmen for such a noble cause, we believe, and this journey has only confirmed this belief, that the division of American into unstable and illusory nations is a complete fiction. We are one single mestizo race from Mexico to the Magellan Straits. And so, in an attempt to free ourselves from narrow minded provincialism, I propose a toast to Peru and to a united America.
Wandering around our America has changed me more than I thought. I am not me any more. At least I'm not the same me I was.
that traces the early travels of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, then a 23-year-old medical student, and his friend Alberto Granado
, a 29-year-old biochemist. Leaving Buenos Aires
, Argentina
, in January 1952 on the back of a sputtering single cylinder 1939 Norton 500cc dubbed La Poderosa ("The Mighty One"), they desired to explore the South America they only knew from books. During the formative odyssey Guevara is transformed by witnessing the social injustices of exploited mine workers, persecuted communists, ostracized lepers, and the tattered descendants of a once-great Incan civilization. By journey's end they travel for a symbolic nine months
by motorcycle, steamship, raft, horse, bus, and hitchhiking, covering more than 8000 kilometre across places such as the Andes
, Atacama Desert
, and the Amazon River Basin. The book ends with a declaration by Guevara, born into an upper middle class family, displaying his willingness to fight and die for the cause of the poor, and his dream of seeing a united Latin America.
The book was originally marketed by Verso
as "Das Kapital
meets Easy Rider
", and has been a New York Times bestseller several times.
Pre-expedition
Ernesto Guevara spent long periods traveling around Latin America during his studies of medicine, beginning in 1948, at the University of Buenos Aires. In January 1950, Guevara attempted his first voyage. He traversed 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi) through the northern provinces of Argentina on a bicycle on which he installed a small motor. He arrived at San Francisco del Chahar, near Córdoba
, where his friend Alberto Granado ran the dispensary of the leper-centre. This experience allowed Guevara to have long conversations with the patients about their disease.
Upon completion of his bicycle journey, El Grafico
, a sports magazine in Argentina, published a picture of Guevara on the motorbike he used for the journey. The company that manufactured the engine Ernesto adapted to his bicycle, tried to use it for advertising claiming it was very strong since Guevara had gone on such a long tour using its power.
While he continued studying, he also worked as a nurse on trading and petroleum ships of the Argentine national shipping-company. This allowed Guevara to travel from the south of Argentina
to Brazil
, Venezuela
and Trinidad
.
Expedition
In January 1952 Guevara's older friend, Alberto Granado, a biochemist, and Guevara, decided to take a year off from their medical studies to embark on a trip they had spoken of making for years: traversing South America on an motorcycle, which has metaphorically been compared to carbureted version of Don Quixote's Rocinante
. Guevara and the 29-year-old Granado soon set off from Buenos Aires, Argentina, astride a 1939 Norton 500 cc motorcycle
they named La Poderosa II ("The Mighty One") with the idea of eventually spending a few weeks volunteering at the San Pablo Leper colony in Peru
on the banks of the Amazon River
. In total, the journey took Guevara through Argentina
, Chile
, Peru
, Ecuador
, Colombia
, Venezuela
, Panama
, and to Miami, before returning home to Buenos Aires
.

The first stop: Miramar, Argentina, a small resort where Guevara's girlfriend, Chichina, was spending the summer with her upper-class family. Two days stretched into eight, and upon leaving, Chichina gave Guevara a gold bracelet. (In the film version, Chichina gives him $15 to buy her a swimsuit if they make it to the U.S.. Guevara swears to her that he will starve rather than spend the money on anything else; however, he later gives it away to a poor peasant couple in need of it. This episode does not appear in the memoir.) The two men crossed into Chile
on February 14. At one point they introduced themselves as internationally renowned leprosy experts to a local newspaper, which wrote a glowing story about them. The travelers later used the press clipping as a way to score meals and other favors with locals along the way.
In reference to his experience in Chile
, Guevara also writes: "The most important effort that needs to be done is to get rid of the uncomfortable 'Yankee
-friend'. It is especially at this moment an immense task, because of the great amount of dollars they have invested here and the convenience of using economical pressure whenever they believe their interests are being threatened."
Unable to get a boat to Easter Island
as they intended, they headed north, where Guevara's political consciousness began to stir as he and Granado moved into mining country. They visited Chuquicamata
copper mine, the world's largest open-pit mine and the primary source of Chile's wealth. While getting a tour of the mine he asked how many men died in its creation. At the time it was run by U.S. mining monopolies of Anaconda
and Kennecott
and thus was viewed by many as a symbol of "imperialist gringo domination". A meeting with a homeless communist couple in search of mining work made a particularly strong impression on Guevara, who wrote: "By the light of the single candle ... the contracted features of the worker gave off a mysterious and tragic air ... the couple, frozen stiff in the desert night, hugging one another, were a live representation of the proletariat
of any part of the world,"
In reference to the oppression against the Communist party in Chile, which at the time was outlawed, Guevara said: "It's a great pity, that they repress people like this. Apart from whether collectivism
, the ‘communist vermin,’ is a danger to decent life, the communism
gnawing at his entrails was no more than a natural longing for something better, a protest
against persistent hunger transformed into a love for this strange doctrine, whose essence he could never grasp but whose translation, 'bread for the poor,' was something he understood and, more importantly, that filled him with hope. Needless to say, workers at Chuquicamata
were in a living Hell
."
In Peru
, Guevara was impressed by the old Inca civilization
, forced to ride in trucks with Indians and animals after "The Mighty One" broke down. As a result he begins to develop a fraternity with the indigenous campesinos
. In March 1952 they both arrived at the Peruvian Tacna
. After a discussion about the poverty
in the region, Guevara refers in his notes to the words of Cuban poet José Marti
: "I want to link my destiny to that of the poor of this world." In May they arrived in Lima
, Peru
and during this time Guevara met doctor Hugo Pesce, a Peruvian scientist, director of the national leprosy program, and an important local Marxist. They discuss several nights until the early morning and years later Che identified these conversations as being very important for his evolution in attitude towards life and society.
In May, Guevara and Granado leave for the leper colony
of San Pablo in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest
, arriving there in June. During his stay Guevara complains about the miserable way the people and sick of that region have to live. Guevara also swam once from the side of the Amazon River
where the doctors stayed, to the other side of the river where the leper patients lived, a considerable distance of two and a half miles. He describes how there were no clothes, almost no food, and no medication. However, Guevara was moved by his time with the lepers, remarking that
After giving consultations and treating patients for a few weeks, Guevara and Granado leave abord the Mambo-Tango raft (shown) for Leticia, Colombia via the Amazon River
.
While visiting Bogotá
, Colombia
, he wrote a letter to his mother on July 6, 1952. In the letter he describes the conditions under the right-wing government of Conservative Laureano Gómez
as the following: "There is more repression of individual freedom here than in any country we've been to, the police patrol the streets carrying rifles and demand your papers every few minutes." He also goes on to describe the atmosphere as "tense" and "suffocating" even hypothesizing that "a revolution may be brewing." Guevara was correct in his prognostication, as a military coup in 1953 would take place, bringing General Gustavo Rojas to power.
Later that month Guevara arrived in Caracas
, Venezuela and from there decides to return back to Buenos Aires
to finish his studies in medical science. However, prior to his return, he travels by cargo-plane to Miami, where the airplane's technical problems delay him one month. To survive, he works as a waiter and washes dishes in a Miami bar.
Although he admits throughout that as a Vagabond
traveler he can only see things at surface level, he does attempt to delve beneath the sheen of the places he visits. On one occasion he goes to see a woman dying of tuberculosis, leaving appalled by the failings of the public health system. This experience leads him to ruminate the following reflection: "How long this present order, based on the absurd idea of caste, will last is not within my means to answer, but it's time that those who govern spent less time publicizing their own virtues and more money, much more money, funding socially useful works."
Witnessing the widespread endemic poverty
, oppression
and disenfranchisement throughout Latin America, and influenced by his readings of Marxist literature, Guevara later decided that the only solution for the region's structural
inequalities was armed revolution
. His travels and readings throughout this journey also lead him to view Latin America not as a group of separate nations, but as a single entity requiring a continent-wide strategy for liberation
from what he viewed as imperialist
and neo-colonial domination. His conception of a borderless, united, Hispanic-America sharing a common 'mestizo
' bond, was a theme that would prominently recur during his later activities and transformation from Ernesto the traveler, into Che Guevara
the iconic revolutionary.
Transformation
Historians and biographers now agree that the experience had a profound impact on Guevara, who later became one of the most famous guerrillaleaders in history. "His political and social awakening has very much to do with this face-to-face contact with poverty, exploitation, illness, and suffering", said Carlos M. Vilas, a history professor at the Universidad Nacional de Lanús in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In May 2005, Alberto Granado
described their journey to the BBC
, stating: "The most important thing was to realise that we had a common sensibility for the things that were wrong and unjust." According to Granado, their time at the leper colony
of San Pablo
in the Amazon
also proved pivotal. Recalling that they shared everything with the sick people and describing Guevara's wave on departure as follows: "I got the impression that Che was saying goodbye to institutional medicine and becoming a doctor of the people."
According to his daughter Aleida Guevara
in a 2004 article, throughout the book we can see how Guevara became aware that what poor people needed was not his scientific knowledge as a doctor, but his strength and persistence to bring social change.
Editions
In 2004, Che Guevara's daughter, Aleida Guevara, explained that her father had not intended his diary to be published, and that it had remained as "a sheaf of typewritten pages". But in the 1980s, his family worked on his unpublished manuscripts, and a Cuban publishing house brought out The Motorcycle Diaries for the first time in 1993.
The director of Ocean Press insists that the book was published in Cuba and that any rumors of a conspiracy to prohibit its publication there are false. He also points out that the Union of Young Communists brought out an edition, with another to be published by the Che Guevara Studies Center. Furthermore, he has given an assurance that its publication has the support of many people including Fidel Castro
.
The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey was published by Ocean Press and the Che Guevara Studies Center, Havana, in 2003. The book has a preface by Aleida Guevara March and an introduction by Cintio Vitier. This edition is edited and translated by Alexandra Keeble.
Reviews
Further reading
-
- Back on the Road: A Journey Through Latin America, by Ernesto "Che" Guevara & Alberto Granado, Grove Press, 2002, ISBN 0802139426
- Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend, by Patrick Symmes, Vintage, 2000, ISBN 0375702652
- Che's Chevrolet, Fidel's Oldsmobile: On the Road in Cuba, by Richard Schweid, University of North Carolina Press, 2008, ISBN 0807858870
- Che Guevara and the Mountain of Silver: By Bicycle and Train through South America, by Anne MustoeAnne MustoeAnne Mustoe was a touring cyclist, author of travel books and former headmistress of Saint Felix School, Southwold. She died in a hospital in Aleppo on November 10, 2009. She was married to Nelson Edwin Mustoe QC...
, Virgin Books, 2008, ISBN 0753512742 - Looking for Mr. Guevara: A Journey through South America, by Barbara Brodman, iUniverse, 2001 ISBN 0595180698
- Roll Over Che Guevara: Travels of a Radical Reporter, by Mark Cooper, Verso, 1996, ISBN 1859840655
- The Motorcycle Diaries: A Journey Around South America, by Ernesto Che Guevara & translator Ann Wright, Verso, 1996, ISBN 1857023994
- Traveling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary, by Alberto Granado, Newmarket Press, 2004, ISBN 1557046395
- (Travel Map) --- Che's Route: Ernesto Che Guevara Trip Across South America, by de Dios Editores, 2004, ISBN 9879445295
Film
- Chasing Che, 2007, developed by National Geographic Adventure, A ten-week series featured on V-me.
- CheChe (film)Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline...
, 2008, directed by Steven SoderberghSteven SoderberghSteven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
& starring Benicio del ToroBenicio del ToroBenicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
as Che, (268 min). - The Motorcycle DiariesThe Motorcycle Diaries (film)At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony, Guevara confirms his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, while making a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. In it he evokes a pan-Latin American identity that transcends both the arbitrary boundaries of...
, 2004, directed by Walter Salles, Focus Features, theatrical release, (126 min). - Travelling with Che Guevara, 2004, directed by Gianni Mina, Documentary, (110 min).
External links
- An Interactive Map of Che Guevara's Motorcycle Diaries
- Book Review ~ The Motorcycle Diaries: A Journey Around South America
- CARE: Che Guevara Trail nominated for Travel Award September 20, 2004
- Guardian: "My Ride with Che", Interview with Alberto Granado February 13, 2004
- Intl Herald Tribune: "On the Motorcycle Behind My Father, Che Guevara" by Aleida GuevaraAleida GuevaraAleida Guevara March is the eldest daughter of four children born to Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his second wife, Aleida March....
October 12, 2004 - LA Times: "Che Guevara's Legacy Looms Larger than Ever in Latin America" October 8, 2007
- NY Times: "Letter From the Americas: Che Today? More Easy Rider Than Revolutionary" May 2, 2004
- Iquitos Welcomes British Bikers Following Che Guevara’s Tracks Living Peru, April 13, 2009
- The Motorcycle Diaries: A Journey Around South America - from Motorcycle.com