His account begins: This is not a story of heroic feats, or merely the narrative of a cynic; at least I do not mean it to be. It is a glimpse of two lives running parallel for a time, with similar hopes and convergent dreams. In nine months of a man’s life he can think a lot of things, from the loftiest meditations on philosophy to the most desperate longing for a bowl of soup — in total accord with the state of his stomach. And if, at the same time, he’s somewhat of an adventurer, he might live through episodes of interest to other people and his haphazard record might read something like these notes.

And so, the coin was thrown in the air, turning many times, landing sometimes heads and other times tails. Man, the measure of all things, speaks here through my mouth and narrates in my own language that which my eyes have seen. It is likely that out of 10 possible heads I have seen only one true tail, or vice versa. In fact it’s probable, and there are no excuses, for these lips can only describe what these eyes actually see. Is it that our whole vision was never quite complete, that it was too transient or not always well-informed? Were we too uncompromising in our judgments? Okay, but this is how the typewriter interpreted those fleeting impulses raising my fingers to the keys, and those impulses have now died. Moreover, no one can be held responsible for them. The person who wrote these notes passed away the moment his feet touched Argentine soil again. The person who reorganizes and polishes them, me, is no longer, at least I am not the person I once was. All this wandering around “Our America with a capital A” has changed me more than I thought.

In any photographic manual you’ll come across the strikingly clear image of a landscape, apparently taken by night, in the light of a full moon. The secret behind this magical vision of “darkness at noon” is usually revealed in the accompanying text. Readers of this book will not be well versed about the sensitivity of my retina — I can hardly sense it myself. So they will not be able to check what is said against a photographic plate to discover at precisely what time each of my “pictures” was taken. What this means is that if I present you with an image and say, for instance, that it was taken at night, you can either believe me, or not; it matters little to me, since if you don’t happen to know the scene I’ve “photographed” in my notes, it will be hard for you to find an alternative to the truth I’m about to tell. But I’ll leave you now, with myself, the man I used to be…

And it ends: I saw his teeth and the cheeky grin with which he foretold history, I felt his handshake and, like a distant murmur, his formal goodbye. The night, folding in at contact with his words, overtook me again, enveloping me within it. But despite his words, I know knew...I knew that when the great guiding spirit cleaves humanity into two antagonistic halves, I would be with the people. I know this, I see it printed in the night sky that I, eclectic dissembler of doctrine and psychoanalyst of dogma, howling like one possessed, will assault the barricades or the trenches, will take my bloodstained weapon and, consumed with fury, slaughter any enemy who falls into my hand. And I see, as if a great exhaustion smothers this fresh exaltation, I see myself, immolated in the genuine revolution, the great equalizer of individual will, proclaiming the ultimate mea culpa. I feel my nostrils dilate, savoring the acrid smell of gunpowder and blood, the enemy's death; I steel my body, ready to do battle, and prepare myself to be a sacred space within which the bestial howl of the triumphant proletariat can resound with new energy and new hope.

This is a diary of perhaps the greatest journey that any individual has ever made. Coming from a well to do family and taking time off from studying medicine, young Ernesto and friend Alberto travels across Latin America and witnesses the human condition and the suffering it faces. He is very much affected and it is this experience that shapes his future political ideology and what fuels his revolutionary spirit. He vividly paints Latin America as it is, exploited and downtrodden. Ernesto leaves Argentina an unconscious and idealistic boy and returns a cynical and wiser man. One can see here the metamorphosis of a young Argentine to the world's greatest revolutionary. Patria O Muerte! Hasta La Victoria, Siempre!

الرحلات/الأسفار تمنحنا ، تُعلمنا الكثير .. تُرينا الصورة من كل الزوايا .. تُعيد فلسفة الحياة في قلوبنا .. أؤمن أن الإنسان يتغير وتتوسع معارفة بعد كل رحلة سفر يقوم بها ، فكيف إذا كانت الرحلة لـ عام كامل وبرفقة صديق على دراجة نارية؟

الكتاب ممتع ، وتفاصيل الرحلة غاية في البساطة والجمال
أجمل ما في الكتاب إحساس الحرية العميق ..

؛

أغبط من يَملك روحاً توّاقة للإرتحال مع القدرة على ذلك

This book has been on my list for years. I was finally forced to read it for a Latin American History Course that I am taking.

As I read it, I became very skeptical. How could Che Guevara be such an eloquent writer and have such an enormous foundation of political history in 1951/1952? He must have added a lot when he went over it an edited it.

The biggest thing that struck me was his passion for communism which was tied to his position of authority in the communist movement. So, I could not look at him as altogether altruistic in his freedom fights. It struck me that had he not been so extraordinarily good-looking and quick to smile - he might have been just another guy or peon under the dominion of Castro. What one looks like does make a difference and it cannot be helped. We want handsome heroes.

It is an important book to read for anyone interested in Latin American.

What I was left with after reading this is what a failure communism has been in Cuba especially when the Soviets stopped sending enormous amounts of money. If Guevara had not died so young, the condition of Cuba and Castro's standing in the world arena would kill him

This is not a story of heroic feats, or merely the narrative of a cynic; at least I do not mean it to be. It is a glimpse of two lives running parallel for a time, with similar hopes and convergent dreams.

For life, courage, adventure, endurance and whatnot. Non-adherence to Marxist ideology should not prejudice me against him. The moving memoir gave me an access to the mind of pre-revolutionary Che Guevara which undergoes significant changes as the motorcycle moves ahead. With all the bumps, jerks and brief halts, this is a fascinating journey. A real journey which made me dream throughout and imagine myself as a part of this adventure. Lastly, I do not rate such kind of non-fiction on literary merit or judge it structurally as a book. Instead, on the merit of life, on the merit of human qualities and the extraordinary element of their lives which made them worth writing in the first place. To me, such books celebrate what is best in humans.

Узбудљиво и инспиративно осмомјесечно путовање једне од најзначајнијих историјских личности ХХ вијека, на које је он као 23-годишњак са својим пријатељем Албертом отишао. Циљ: обилажење Јужне Америке, средство: мотор звани ''Ла Подероса''.




Кроз неколико хиљада километара а на нешто мање од 200 страна, Че очарајавуће описује прије свега предјеле Јужноамеричих држава кроз које пролази, али ништа мање и људе који на овим просторима живе као и јасне разлике међу њима. Че доста пажње посвећује и односу који ти људи имају према њима и начином на који им помажу у њиховој пустоловини. Даље, у овој књизи учимо о значају пријатељства али и чарима које свака пустоловина са собом носи. На неке моменте њихова сналажљивост достиже тај ниво да постаје чак и и духовита, а поред тога безброј ситних ситуација(њихова љубав према игрању фудбала, заинтересованост за медицину и бројне друге) сликају слику личности Че Геваре у раној младости.



Иако у овој књизи имамо све оно што није иначе у нашој идеји када чујемо за Че Гевару, већ само његова жеља за авантуром и за упознавањем свијета, нико не може а да не примјети колико су његови каснији ставови и дјела били под утицајем онога што је видио и доживио на овом путовању. Поред тога што је успио да се упозна са тешким животом већине људи са којима је био у додиру, а нарочито радника, успио је и да научи много тога о себи и ономе шта жели у будућности. Мало је рећи да је то итекако остварио.



Ову књигу предлажем свима, небитно да ли се поистовјећујете са идејама Че Геваре или не, прије свега јер је ова књига презабавна и узбудљива. У њој ће те добити жељу да посјетите мјеста која он описује а на моменте ћете се осјећати и као да сте тамо. Поред тога, ова књига ће Вас вратити и назад у мало другачије вријеме када су људи били другачији и у складу са тим се и понашали, а на сликама које се налазе скоро на свакој страници моћи ћете и да видите како је то изгледало. На крају, само читање ове књиге биће једна специфична авантура.

The Motorcycle Diaries is a series of diary entries written by Che Guevara back when he was a 23 year old medical student traveling through South America with a motorcycle. We follow his mishaps, encounters with strangers, discussions about poverty and poor health care, and general impressions of South America of the 50s. 

This feels like such an intimate look of a person. With our hindsight of what Che Guevara would become, every sentence feels fueled by context and predictions. We can already feel his frustration about injustice and his desire to act. It's easy to fall in love with his humor and philosophical tangents. 

I saw a lot of myself in this book (and not just because his descriptions of asthma were on point). There were moments that I felt like I could have written and parts that reflected thoughts that I myself had. It's very cool to consider that the act of traveling, even with the internet, has remained mostly the same. Like, I've absolutely done the whole *casually mentioning I'm from abroad in order to get special attention* thing.  

On the long list of sad things that happened because of the coronavirus, my cancelled travel plans are certainly among the last but I was very much looking forward to traveling somewhere this summer. I had a vague plan involving working in the states for a while and then traveling in South America. (My alternative plan was to couchsurf through the Baltics because I'm just dying to see Estonia and I have no idea why or what I expect to see there.)

So reading this book was somewhat bittersweet. It was like seeing  adventures through someone else's eyes and yeah okay, I'm weirdly jealous of 23 year old Che Guevara, which is not a sentence I thought I'd say in my life. At the same time, reading this also made me feel like I'm doing some traveling, in the cliche "reading books is like traveling!" type of way.
 
I don't know much about South America but I imagine this book will be fascinating for people who are more involved with Latin culture. Che Guevara is a very careful narrator and spends some time detailing the various sights and people that he encounters. I personally adored hearing about his experiences with the Incas of Peru. 

All in all, this book was nice. I'm looking forward to reading about the Cuban revolution and thinking about young Ernesto here. To be honest, I don't have much inherent interest in South America (my Peruvian roommate will forever be disappointed in me). One of the reasons why I want to do this reading challenge is entirely because without it, I'll forever only read books about the Middle East, Europe and maybe a bit of Asia. That's got to change so I'm definitely looking forward to falling in love with South America. This feels like a solid beginning for that. 

As a side note, I've decided to consider this as my Argentina book. Technically, in the writing of this book, Che Guevara was Argentinian and some parts of this book take place there. Also, I have other books I want to read for Cuba but no other ideas for books about Argentina. 

What I'm Taking With Me  
- South American hospitality sounds very impressive and I'm curious now. 
- Alberto seems like a great guy and their friendship is lovely.
- I think the coronavirus really highlights how connected are doctors and social issues.
- The moments here when he suddenly stops being a young guy traveling and gets swept up in social justice and poverty are just so fascinating.

---------------------
Now I have a strong urge to travel around South America by motorcycle and get inspired to fight against corruption and poverty.

Review to come!

2.5 Stars.

The stuff we actually do in class about the book is often more interesting than the book itself. But there were some interesting insights that this book showed, and it was quite the journey they went on I will admit.

A fantastic story of an idealist seeing the world for the first time.

Un viaggio attraverso l'America latina, una regione del mondo che per molti secoli è stata sfruttata dai "conquistadores". Ernesto e Alberto percorrono in sella a una scassata Poderosa II (quasi) tutti gli Stati latini, conoscendo le reali condizioni degli indigeni e facendo visita ai lebbrosi, ancora isolati dalla civiltà (e parliamo degli primi anni 50 del secolo scorso).
La cronaca del viaggio che ci regalano i due personaggi si mescola alla storia di un'amicizia destinata a durare negli anni: Ernesto, diventato in seguito il Che attuerà la Rivoluzione cubana e inviterà l'amico a far parte del governo... il viaggio raccontato nelle pagine del libro è la prova di un'amicizia vera che durerà fino alla prematura morte del Che nel 1967.
In memoria di questo viaggio, nel 2004 il regista Walter Salles girò "I diari della motocicletta", con Gael Garcia Bernal nei panni di Ernesto e Rodrigo de la Serna come Alberto, con un piccolo cameo del vero Alberto Granado.
Un libro da leggere sicuramente: mai lasciarsi ingannare dalle lunghe descrizioni dei luoghi, perchè la meraviglia di questi due diari di viaggio sta proprio nei luoghi quasi incontaminati dell'America latina; in più è la storia di un'amicizia che va al di là delle credenze politiche, basata sul rispetto, sull'altruismo e sul servizio per gli ultimi.

The prose is very profound and also simplistic. I think I will look back at this as the best book I read in 2025. It has been a companion for me as I begin a journey through Chile, perfect timing. I didn’t want it to end.

The Motorcycle Diaries is an early look into the mind of the young man who became the communist revolutionary icon Che Guevara as he and an older friend, Alberto, ride around South America on a motorcycle and, when that vehicle gives out, continue their travels by hitchhiking and stowing away on boats. The account is quite readable, going from a record of a young man's adventures to his growing realization that there is a common Latin American culture and that it is being overtaken by outside commercial and political interests. He sees mining companies that exploit their workers, leaving them in poverty and ill health; indigenous cultures that are being lost; a lepers' colony that lacks proper facilities to treat the patients; the ruins of Inca temples and the churches built on top of them. And he meets another traveler, a European, who tells him: "The future belongs to the people, and gradually, or in one stroke, they will take power here, and in every country." This seems to be Che's introduction to the revolution. It marks the end of this diary, but there are many more to follow.