There's a lot to be said for a man who decades after his death has readers all over the world tracing out the path of an arduous adventure he went on while he was merely 23 and studying to be a doctor. Even if we are only trying to see where his footsteps lead him within the confines of a book, we cannot help but look for clues. What caused a complete paradigm shift in a man who had his career as a simple physician stretching out before him? What did he see?

The seeds of the ideology for the Marxist revolutionary that Che was to become were clearly sown during this trip, we see his opinions on the importance of education, socialized medicine and science, and the need for a Pan American identify being vocalized here. Che also shows a clear aversion to suffering in general and often feels compelled to do something about it even when he is completely broke and lacks the resources.

What I want to talk about here though is the single paragraph that's often taken out of context by the right wing to label him as a racist.

The blacks, those magnificent examples of the African race who have maintained their racial purity thanks to their lack of an affinity with bathing, have seen their territory invaded by a new kind of slave: the Portuguese. And the two ancient races have now begun a hard life together, fraught with bickering and squabbles. Discrimination and poverty unite them in the daily fight for survival but their different ways of approaching life separate them completely: the black is indolent and a dreamer; spending his meager wage on frivolity or drink; the European has a tradition of work and saving, which has pursued him as far as this corner of America and drives him to advance himself, even independently of his own individual aspirations.

There's no denying that the writing here is racist, but what we need to remember is that this is a diary entry by 24 year old Argentine upper middle class man who was having his first encounter with black people. What we also need to remember is that his earlier views on race soon saw another paradigm shift. On his way back to Argentina, Che was stuck in Miami for a while and it was here that he saw firsthand the discrimination against American blacks and their plight in what was supposed to be a democratic country. Naturally, Che sympathized with their struggle and developed a negative view of the United States. Che denounced US racism and US policies against its own black population several times, including in his address to the United Nations in 1964. The Black Panthers adopted their beret based on Che Guevara after his death.

Che Guevara is today a symbol of freedom to many people all over the world, despite the ironic commercialization and commodification of this very symbol. The Motorcycle Diaries is instrumental to understanding the circumstances of Ernesto Guevara's transformation to Che, the polarizing leftist figure.

My eyes traced the immense vault of heaven; the starry sky twinkled happily above me, as if answering in the affirmative to the question rising deep within me: “Is all of this worth it?"

در سال 1952 زمانی که ارنست چگاوارای آرژانتینی 24 سال داشت و فقط یک دانشجوی پزشکی ناشناخته بود، تصمیم گرفت با دوستش آلبرتو گرانادا، به کشورهای مختلف آمریکای جنوبی سفر کند، آن هم با یک موتور سیکلت درب و داغون! حدود 15 سال بعد از این سفر، چگاوارا تبدیل به یکی از محبوبترین چهره‌های انقلابی در آمریکای جنوبی شد و حتی امروز هم می‌توان تصویرش را روی لباس و کلاه و فندک جوان‌ها مشاهده کرد.
چگوارای جوان در کتاب خاطرات خود، انسانی جایزالخطا است که گاهی دروغ می‌گوید، دست به دزدی می‌زند و حتی تلاش می‌کند با زن صاحب مهمانی عشق‌بازی کند. از طرفی می‌توان شخصیت آرمان‌گرای او را دید وقتی نظرش را با شجاعت و صداقت بیان می‌کند، بدون چشم داشتی هفته‌ها به خدمت‌گذاری بیماران جزامی می‌پردازد و تمام پول سفر خود را به زن و شوهر فقیری که در معدن کار می‌کنند می‌بخشد.
بخشی از ارزش این کتاب به خاطر نویسنده‌ی آن یعنی چگوارا است، انتظار نداشته باشید با یک سفرنامه‌ی دقیق یا یک نوشته‌ی غنی ادبی مواجه شوید*
فیلم خوبی با عنوان «خاطرات موتور سوار» به کارگردانی والتر سالس با اقتباس از این کتاب ساخته شده است*

This is the first of the diaries that Che Guevara wrote when he first set of on a journey around South America. It starts as two lads having a bit of a laugh on a motorbike, and as het meets more people he starts to seethe with the injustice that they suffer.

Well written and well translated.

Quite enjoyable and interesting. I liked that he was honest about what he saw and he wrote down his feelings as well.

El personaje que escribió estas notas murió al pisar de nuevo la tierra Argentina, el que las ordena y pule, "yo", no soy yo; por lo menos no soy el mismo yo interior. Ese vagar sin rumbo por nuestra "Mayúscula América" me ha cambiado más de lo que creí.

Me ha encantado, sobre todo su manera de contar las cosas, haciéndote partícipe de sus aventuras y sus vivencias.
Absolutamente recomendable.

A travel memoir from 1952 from the future revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. And I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the writing.

I had already seen the film version more than a decade ago. It stars Gael Garcia Bernal as the young 24 year-old Che and enjoyed it as well. At the time I assumed that the diary itself was not much of a read.

Che and his friend Alberto's 6 month motorcycle trip begins in Argentina, crosses the Andes to Chile, Peru, Ecuador, up to Columbia and then ends in Venezuela. These college graduates are men from Argentina's upper middle class crust and don't have much money but nonetheless they have made ambitious plans to see the continent. In fact Che had been on a shorter 2,000 mile trip the previous summer, but he did not seem to have learned much because their bike seems to be in perpetual need of repairs.

Ostensibly the two are interested in providing their services to a leper colony somewhere up in Peru or at least that it is their predicate. But two broke young men who find themselves in the unfamiliar land of Peru where many Peruvians don't even speak Spanish aren't of too much use to anyone. So this really is a travel adventure on a shoestring budget that most of us can relate to. Sleeping out in the cold deserts of Chile would test anyone's mettle.

Nevertheless I enjoyed the section on Peru and the Incas perhaps the most. It is the only region in his travel diary that I have also personally visited. It is also the longest section of the book and the only one where Che explored real history in his diary. He was clearly entranced by the Incan story.

4 stars

These Diary notes provide us with an ernest and fetching account of a young Che, a middle-class kid, not yet embarked on the violent and heroic road that stretched past these early trails. Not particularly educational or insightful, but yet strangely moving.

The carefree bikers turn into compassionate observers of humanity along the course of this journey, thus fulfilling the purpose of the journey, at least in retrospect. The passion and the compassion shines through the entire text and a youthful hope enlivens it, and that is part of its lasting appeal.

As the following passage makes clear, how much of this book is observation and how much is later interpretation is hard to judge. All we can be sure is that this is how Che saw the journey as he looked back on it.

n  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.n

As the book slowly moves from casual observation, to detailed description, to heart-felt indictments and finally to loud declamations of a future that has to be wrought at any cost, the reader might find it difficult to follow the spiritual evolution of a middle-class kid that is compressed into this narrative - unfortunately, for modern middle-class readers, that is precisely what is expected of Che. Also, the structure of this progression was a little too neat for my liking, but with Che the myth is everything and is an essential component of enjoying these Diaries. Embrace it.

My reading of "The Motorcycle Diaries" was corrupted by my multiple viewings of and strong affinity for the movie of the same name. I find it impossible to think of the book without comparing it to the movie.

I was also influenced by not being able to decipher from the introduction and preface whether this was a first-time publication of the diaries done before the movie, a first-time publication to correspond with the movie, or a cleaned-up version of previously-published materials to correspond with the movie.

The Diaries are not nearly as charming as the movie, and if someone asked which I would recommend, I would certainly choose the movie over the book for artistic merit, plot and structure. For an historical document the book is certainly superior. In his diary, Guevara emphasizes the need for proper medicine, and describes and empathizes with the South American wage-laborer and peasant, while also jovially recalling the meals and beds he and friend Alberto Grenados bummed from or tricked out of the bourgeois class. Guevara doesn't color the view of himself with the rose, hero-tinted glasses that Salles uses in the movie, and I think presents a more honest picture of his journey through South America.

But for someone only mildly acquainted with Guevara, the movie provides a more succinct summary of how the journey began the evolution of Ernesto into Che.

"لست ذلك الشخص الذي كان. كل هذا التجوال هنا وهناك في أمريكتنا لتكتب بحروف كبيرة غيرني أكثر مما حسبت".

في نهاية عام 1951 والنصف الأول من عام 1952؛ قام الشاب طالب الطب "إرنستو جيڤارا" مع صديقه "ألبرتو جرانادو"، برحلة مجنونة لاكتشاف أمريكا اللاتينية بواسطة دراجة نارية وبعد تعطلها في منتصف الطريق تمت مواصلة الرحلة بشتى المواصلات المتوفرة وبأقل التكاليف الممكنة، شاحنات، سفن، والنوم في مراكز الشرطة والمستشفيات. وذلك بداية من بلدهما الأرجنتين وعبر كل من بالترتيب الزمني تشيلي، پيرو، كولومبيا، ڤنزويلا، ميامي بالولايات المتحدة. عبر جبال الأنديز وحضارات الأزتيك والإنكا.

"كنا نستلقي في حقل بمحاذاة الجدول، ناظرين إلى السماء المتغيرة مع حلول المساء، حالمين بذكريات الحب القديم، أو متخيلين الصورة المغرية لطعام عادي في كل سحابة".

يوميات مدونة بجمل رشيقة غنية لشاب تسرد تجاربه ومغامرة شكلت وعيه، وتبين رؤية عميقة وشعور التمرد لثائر بالفطرة، قبل العمل الثوري فيما بعد. مع رؤية شخصية لكل ما شاهده وعايشه خلالها، وسرد فذ كنواة لكتابته الثورية اللاحقة. نشعر بحسه الشخصي لأمريكا اللاتينية وهويتها وتعلقه بها، وهو من أسرة كما قالوا عنه محبة للعدالة، رافضة للفاشية، واهتمام بالأدب والموسيقى وكراهية المال وجمعه.

أيضًا كانت مغامرة بها تجربة مع المصابين بالجذام، من خلال القرى الفقيرة والمدن عبر القارة، ومحاولة المساعدة الإنسانية.

"إن كان هناك ما سيجعلنا نكرس أنفسنا بجد إلى الجذام، فإنه ذاك الشعور الذي أظهره لنا المرضى الذين قابلناهم أثناء الترحال في الطريق".

تلك الرحلة شكلت فكر جيڤارا الثوري فيما بعد وكانت مقدمة للعمل الثوري، والقضاء على الظلم المستشري في القارة والعالم. والجدير بالذكر أنه تم نشر هذه المذكرات من قبل ابنته "أليدا" في عام 1992.

"علمت أنه حين تشق الروح الهادية العظيمة الإنسانية إلى شطرين متصارعين، سأكون إلى جانب الشعب".

This book, written years before Che became a revolutionary icon, gives his story a human touch. (Auto) biographies usually serve the purpose of mythfying a person, whereas this book does the opposite for Che.

Now mostly remembered as a mythical persona, it's refreshing to see the 24-year old Che's perspective and a latent revolutionary spirit in him as he travels across Latin America, a continent bruised and exploited first by the colonisers, then the United States. He gradually undergoes a spiritual revelation as he comes in contact with the very different, but also similar lives people led in the continent's post-colonial era.

There's a candor in his writing that made me appreciate the book, a genuine humility and a drive to help others which is inspiring. I don't want to ponder upon the things he actually wrote and what was interpolated later, that is how humans have always written about their own lives.

It's just that even before I started The Motorcycle Diaries , I knew that the only reason I was reading this is because of who wrote it, otherwise, as a person who rarely enjoys travelogues I would have overlooked it. But Che's growing sympathy and understanding of his continent's people struck a chord with me, which as an extremely empathetic person (almost to a fault sometimes), I found very encouraging.

A Doctor, revolutionary, one the most influential personality in my life. World history will be incomplete without mentioning him. My favorite quote "The life of a single human being is worth millions of times more than all the property of the richest man on earth."

برای من جداست، منشِ چه‌گوارا (که این کتاب معرف آن است)، و سیاست‌ورزی چه‌گوارا (که کتاب انسان و سوسیالیسم و کمی گشت‌وگذار در اینترنت معرفش است). مثلا توی این کتاب، کارگر مغروری را که از همه بیشتر بار حمل می‌کند تا خودش را اثبات کند، استهزا می‌کند، و در متن سخنرانی‌هایش در آن کتاب، همانند کاسترو، همه را به کار بیشتر برای تحقق انسانیت تشویق می‌کند.
یادداشت‌های سفرنامه‌ایِ این کتاب را چه‌گوارا در بیست‌وسه سالگی نوشته. سال آخر پزشکی بود که با دوست بیولوژیستش می‌روند سفری حدودا شش ماهه در آمریکای جنوبی. از آرژانتین شروع می‌کنند و بعد شیلی و پرو و کلمبیا و ونزوئلا. شرح غذاها و مفت‌سواری‌ها، شرح آدم‌هایی که اکثرا برای آن‌ها دل می‌سوزاندند و بهشان سرپناه می‌دادند. و نیز مشاهده‌ی این دو جوان از وضعیت اسفناک مردم آمریکای جنوبی. این‌جا چه‌گوارا مطلقا از هیچ تئوری سیاسی یا چپی حرف نمی‌زند و یا هیچ راه‌حلی برای گسترش عدالت پیشنهاد نمی‌دهد. او مشاهده می‌کند و از فقر و رنج مردم/مریض‌هایش غصه می‌خورد؛ از این‌که کاری از دستش برنمی‌آید.
و در آخرین خط سفرنامه به این نتیجه می‌رسد که «می‌دانم که وقتی روح هدایتگر بشریت را به دونیم تقسیم کند، من با مردم خواهم بود.» سفر او و رفیقش آلبرتو، نه حاوی سِلفی با هتل‌های گران‌قیمت است، و نه خودبرتربینیِ توریست‌مآبانه. آن‌ها کینگ‌ رام نیستند که تهِ تجربه‌شان مواد روانگردان باشد و --بقول خودش-- دختربازی با فن‌ها و بعد اسم خودش را هم بگذارد پانک. آن‌ها در دل کلبه‌های پاسبان‌ها و کارگران زندگی می‌کنند و چای‌شان را با راننده‌ها به اشتراک می‌گذارند. این خاطرات «ماجرای دو زندگی است که روزها و ماه‌ها باهم سفر کردند و امید و رؤیاهایی مشترک داشتند.»