Back on the Road (otra vez), Guevara.

by devis

Posted to What Are You Reading? on 2003-09-22 00:24:00

Having already read Motorcycle Diaries over a year ago, and having just returned from two months volunteering and travelling in Ecuador – what a country! – and as a result redirecting my studies to include more Latin American focus, I picked up Back on the Road… Che detailing his travels up through from Agrentina and Bolivia all the way up to Guatemala. I’m still only just into the early stages of the trip, but so far things are interesting and accounted for in a fascinating manner of Guevara’s. The strange manner in which the events of his memoirs are transcribed reflectively by Che is on display in passages such as: “…we were about to climb with all our luggage into our second-class compartment, a secret policeman suggested with an air of intrigue that we go into first class and travel free to Cuzco with the badges belonging to the two of them.”

The travels in this book seem also to be more oriented to Che’s drive to satisfy political urges. An interest in the issues facing the continent drives Guevara to seek out the people who are working to change things. He coolly expresses his desire to be at the front lines of the political action – front row in the forum. Disappointment when rumoured revolts fall through, and such else.

The political interests so far have usurped and indeed completely replaced the humanitarian, Hippocratic bent of his Motorcycle days. Visits to leper colonies have been replaced with visits to mines to talk to labourers and expeditions to ruins of Pre-Columbian civilization.

So far it’s all quite interesting to me. It truly is a fascinating region of the world.