The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara
“It’s about a journey of discovery that becomes one of self-discovery as well. It’s about the emotional and political choices we have to make in life. It’s also about finding friendship, about solidarity. Finally, it’s about finding one’s place in the world — one that is worth fighting for.”
—Walter Salles, director of “The Motorcycle Diaries”
“A journey, a number of journeys. Ernesto Guevara in search of adventure, Ernesto Guevara in search of America, Ernesto Guevara in search of Che. On this journey of journeys, solitude found solidarity, ‘I’ turned into ‘we’.” —Eduardo Galeano
“Che was 24: the world was not only an oyster, it lay at his feet. And life stretched out endlessly, languidly before him… This new edition of the book, published to coincide with the release of a film by Robert Redford and Walter Salles, is enhanced from the original 1993 publication. Included are Aleida’s much expanded comments and 24 pages of previously unpublished photos taken by Che and his traveling companion on their journey.” —January Magazine
“Das Kapital meets Easy Rider.” —Times
“A Latin American James Dean or Jack Kerouac.” —Washington Post
“An extraordinary first-person account. If the world eventually came to know Che Guevara and his New Man, in The Motorcycle Diaries we see the formative man. It redoubles his image and lends a touch of humanity with enough rough edges to invite controversy.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review
“For every comic escapade of the carefree roustabout there is an equally eye-opening moment in the development of the future revolutionary leader. By the end of the journey, a politicized Guevara has emerged to predict his own legendary future.” —Time
“There is pathos in these pages — the pathos of Che himself, ever thoughtful, ever willing to sacrifice all, burning with guilt over his own privileges and never letting his sufferings impede him.” —New Yorker
“A revolutionary bestseller… It’s true, Marxists just wanna have fun.” —Guardian
“The Motorcycle Diaries mixes lyrical observation, youthful adventure and anti-imperialist political analysis… This candid journal, part self-discovery, part fieldwork, glimmers with portents of the future revolutionary.” —Publishers’ Weekly
“What distinguishes these diaries… is that they reveal a human side to El Che which historians have successfully managed to suppress. It is in the pages of this breathless journal… that one senses El Che’s belief that determination and conviction can be enough to change one’s self and others… The journal… is a joy to read from start to finish.”
—Financial Times
“This journey was obviously the formative influence on Che’s Pan-Americanism and the development of his revolutionary consciousness… There’s political incorrectness galore… this book should do much to humanize the image of a man who found his apotheosis as a late ‘60s cultural icon. It is also, incidentally, a remarkably good travel book about South America.” —The Scotsman
“The vision of the noble loner, whether freedom-fighter or biker… gives hope to world-weary revolutionaries and non-revolutionaries alike.”
—Weekend Telegraph
“Politically correct revolutionary hero? Perhaps a few years later, but in this account Che Guevara comes over as one of the lads.” —Bike
“Che is certainly a shrewd observer of what he calls the ‘strange’ human race… The great thing about this book is that Che Guevara is never a bore. It satisfies both as an enjoyable travelogue and as a chronicle of the development of one of this century’s most romantic figures.”
—Literary Review
“This book is worth reading for more than novelty value. In his journey across Latin America, through the Andes and the rainforest, Che’s diary is full of original observation, hilarious mishaps and human understanding.” —Briefing
“Che writes with wit and skill, giving insights into the world that shaped his beliefs… The reader can see him piecing together the ideas that will shape his political future.” —Impact
the motorcycle diaries
NOTES ON A LATIN AMERICAN JOURNEY
CHE GUEVARA PUBLISHING PROJECT
These books form part of a series published by Ocean Press and the Che Guevara Studies Center of Havana, with the objective of disseminating the works and ideas of Che Guevara.
Self-Portrait
A Photographic and Literary Memoir
The Motorcycle Diaries
Notes on a Latin American Journey
Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War
Authorized Edition
The Bolivian Diary
Authorized Edition
Che Guevara Reader
Writings on Politics and Revolution
Latin America
Awakening of a Continent
Global Justice
Liberation and Socialism
Guerrilla Warfare
Authorized Edition
Our America and Theirs
Kennedy and the Alliance for Progress—
The Debate at Punta del Este
Marx & Engels
A Biographical Introduction
Critical Notes On Political Economy
A Critical Analysis of the Soviet Economic System
Socialism and Humanity in Cuba
A Classic Edition
ERNES TO
CHE GUEVARA
the motorcycle diaries
NOTES ON A LATIN AMERICAN JOURNEY
preface by Aleida Guevara March
introduction by Cintio Vitier
Ocean Press
www.oceanbooks.com.au
Cover design by Karen Oh
Copyright © 2003 Ocean Press
Copyright © 2003 Che Guevara Studies Center
Copyright © 2003 Aleida March
All photographs © 2003 Che Guevara Studies Center
Preface © 2003 Aleida Guevara March
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-876175-70-2
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2003107187
First Printed 2003
Twenty-second printing 2011
Published in Spanish by Ocean Sur as
Diarios de Motocicleta, ISBN 978-1-920888-11-4
PUBLISHED BY OCEAN PRESS
Australia: PO Box 1015, North Melbourne, Victoria 3051, Australia
E-mail: [email protected]
OCEAN PRESS DISTRIBUTORS
United States: Consortium Book Sales and Distribution
Tel: 1-800-283-3572 www.cbsd.com
Canada: Publishers Group Canada
Tel: 1-800-663 5714 [email protected]
Australia and New Zealand: Palgrave Macmillan
E-mail: [email protected]
Cuba and Latin America: Ocean Sur
E-mail: [email protected]
www.oceanbooks.com.au
[email protected]
contents
Preface, by Aleida Guevara
Preface to the first edition, by Aleida March
Biography of Ernesto Che Guevara
Brief chronology of Ernesto Che Guevara
Map and Itinerary of The Motorcycle Diaries
Introduction, by Cintio Vitier
the motorcycle diaries
So we understand each other
Forewarnings
Discovery of the ocean
…Lovesick pause
Until the last tie is broken
For the flu, bed
San Martín de los Andes
Circular exploration
Dear Mama
On the Seven Lakes Road
And now, I feel my great roots unearth, free and…
Objects of curiosity
The Experts
The difficulties intensify
La Poderosa II’s final tour
Firefighters, workers and other matters
La Gioconda’s smile
Stowaways
This time, disaster
Chuquicamata
Arid land for miles and miles
The end of Chile
Chile, a vision from afar
Tarata, the new world
In the dominions of Pachamama
Lake of the sun
Toward the navel of the world
The navel
The land of the Incas
Our Lord of the Earthquakes
Homeland for the victor
Cuzco straight
Huambo
Ever northward
Through the center of Peru
Shattered hopes
The city of the viceroys
Down the Ucayali
Dear Papi
The San Pablo leper colony
Saint Guevara’s day
Debut for the little Kontiki
Dear Mama
On the road to Caracas
This strange 20th century
A note in the margin
Appendix: A child of my environment
(Speech to medical students, 1960)
ALEIDA GUEVARA
preface
When I read these notes for the first time, they were not yet in book form and I did not know the person who had written them. I was much younger then and I identified immediately with this man who had narrated his adventures in such a spontaneous way. Of course, as I continued reading, I began to see more clearly who this person was and I was very glad to be his daughter.
It is not my aim to tell you anything of what you will discover as you read, but I do not doubt that when you have finished the book you will want to go back to enjoy some passages again, either for the beauty they describe or the intensity of the feelings they convey.
There were moments when I literally took over Granado’s place on the motorbike and clung to my dad’s back, journeying with him over the mountains and around the lakes. I admit there were some occasions when I left him to himself, especially at those times when he writes so graphically things I would never talk about myself. When he does, however, he reveals yet again just how honest and unconventional he could be.
To tell you the truth, I should say that the more I read, the more in love I was with the boy my father had been. I do not know if you will share these sentiments with me, but while I was reading, I got to know the young Ernesto better: the Ernesto who left Argentina with his yearning for adventure and his dreams of the great deeds he would perform, and the young man who, as he discovered the reality of our continent, continued to mature as a human being and to develop as a social being.
Slowly we see how his dreams and ambitions changed. He grew increasingly aware of the pain of many others and he allowed it to become a part of himself.
The young man, who makes us smile at the beginning with his absurdities and craziness, becomes before our eyes increasingly sensitive as he tells us about the complex indigenous world of Latin America, the poverty of its people and the exploitation to which they are submitted. In spite of it all, he never loses his sense of humor, which instead becomes finer and more subtle.
My father, “ése, el que fue” (“myself, the man I used to be”), shows us a Latin America that few of us know about, describing its landscapes with words that color each image and reach into our senses, so that we too can see the things his eyes took in.
His prose is fresh. His words allow us to hear sounds we have never heard before, infusing us with the surroundings that struck this romantic being with their beauty and their crudity, yet he never loses his tenderness even as he becomes firmer in his revolutionary longing. His awareness grows that what poor people need is not so much his scientific knowledge as a physician, but rather his strength and persistence in trying to bring about the social change that would enable them to live with the dignity that had been taken from them and trampled on for centuries.
This young adventurer with his thirst for knowledge and his great capacity to love shows us how reality, if properly interpreted, can permeate a human being to the point of changing his or her way of thinking.
Read these notes of his that were written with so much love, eloquence and sincerity, these notes that more than anything else make me feel closer to my father. I hope you enjoy them and that you can join him on his journey.
If you ever have the opportunity to follow his footsteps in reality, you will discover with sadness that many things remain unchanged or are even worse, and this is a challenge for those of us who — like this young man who years later would become Che — are sensitive to the reality that so mistreats the most wretched among us, those of us who have a commitment to helping create a world that is much more just.
I shall leave you now with the man I knew, the man I love intensely for the strength and tenderness he demonstrated in the way he lived.
Enjoy your reading! Ever onward!
Aleida Guevara March
July 2003
preface to the first edition
Ernesto Guevara’s travel diaries, transcribed by Che’s Personal Archive in Havana,* recount the trials, vicissitudes and tremendous adventure of a young man’s journey of discovery through Latin America. Ernesto began writing these diaries when, in December 1951, he set off with his friend Alberto Granado on their long-awaited trip from Buenos Aires, down the Atlantic coast of Argentina, across the pampas, through the Andes and into Chile, and from Chile northward to Peru and Colombia and finally to Caracas.
These experiences were later rewritten by Ernesto himself in narrative form, offering the reader a deeper insight into Che’s life, especially at a little known stage, and revealing details of his personality, his cultural background and his narrative skill — the genesis of a style which develops in his later works. The reader can also witness the extraordinary change which takes place in him as he discovers Latin America, gets right to its very heart and develops a growing sense of a Latin American identity, ultimately making him a precursor of the new history of America.
Aleida March
Che’s Personal Archive
Havana, Cuba, 1993
*Now the Che Guevara Studies Center of Havana, Cuba.
biography of ernesto che guevara
One of Time magazine’s “icons of the century,” Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina, on June 14, 1928. He made several trips around Latin America during and immediately after his studies at medical school in Buenos Aires, including his 1952 journey with Alberto Granado, on the unreliable Norton motorbike La Poderosa II described in this travel diary.
He was already becoming involved in political activity and living in Guatemala when, in 1954, the democratically elected govern-ment of Jacobo Árbenz was overthrown in the CIA-organized military operation. Ernesto escaped to Mexico, profoundly radicalized.
Following up on a contact made in Guatemala, Guevara sought out a group of exiled Cuban revolutionaries in Mexico City. In July 1955, he met Fidel Castro and immediately enlisted in the Cuban guerrilla expedition to overthrow the dictator Fulgencio Batista. The Cubans nicknamed Ernesto “Che,” a popular form of address in Argentina.
On November 25, 1956, Guevara set sail for Cuba aboard the yacht Granma as the doctor to the guerrilla group that began the revolutionary armed struggle in Cuba’s Sierra Maestra mountains. Within several months, he had become the first Rebel Army commander, though he continued treating wounded guerrilla fighters and captured soldiers from Batista’s army.
In September 1958, Guevara played a decisive role in the military defeat of Ba
After Batista fled on January 1, 1959, Guevara became a key leader of the new revolutionary government, first as head of the Department of Industry of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform, then as president of the National Bank. In February 1961 he became minister of industry. He was also a central leader of the political organization that in 1965 became the Communist Party of Cuba.
Apart from these responsibilities, Guevara represented the Cuban revolutionary government around the world, heading several delegations and speaking at the United Nations and other international forums in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the socialist bloc countries. He earned a reputation as a passionate and articulate spokesperson for Third World peoples, most famously at the Organization of American States (OAS) conference at Punta del Este in Uruguay, where he denounced U.S. President Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress.
As had been his intention since joining the Cuban revolutionary movement, Guevara left Cuba in April 1965, initially to lead a guerrilla mission to support the revolutionary struggle in the Congo. He returned to Cuba secretly in December 1965, to prepare another guerrilla force for Bolivia. Arriving in Bolivia in November 1966, Guevara’s plan was to challenge that country’s military dictatorship and eventually instigate a revolutionary movement that would extend throughout the continent of Latin America. He was wounded and captured by U.S.-trained-and-run Bolivian counter-insurgency troops on October 8, 1967. The following day he was murdered and his body hidden.