Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend

by Patrick Symmes

Book Overview

Intrepid journalist Patrick Symmes sets off on his BMW R80 G/S in search of the people and places in Ernesto "Che" Guevara's classic Motorcycle Diaries , seeking out his own adventure as well as the legacy of the icon Che would become, Symmes retraces the future revolutionary's path. And on the way he runs out of gas in an Argentine desert, talks a Peruvian guerrilla out of taking him hostage, wipes out in the Andes, and, in Cuba, drinks himself blind...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375702652
• ISBN13: 9780375702655
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Trail of Broken Icons

He's an icon and, like most icons, the legend of his life has overtaken the facts. In Bolivia, the site of his execution has become a tourist mecca. In college dorm rooms, his image (defiant gaze, beret adorned with a red star) remains a perennial favorite among wannabe revolutionaries,pop star Madonna has even copied his image. Sartre called him "the most complete human being of our age." Journalist Daniel Wolf, in a recent issue of England's Spectator magazine, labeled him "one of the most oversold figures of the past half century." Thirty-seven years after he was executed in Bolivia, Che Guevara lives - and then some. The man who helped Fidel Castro spearhead the Cuban revolution remains a potent and divisive figure, even though most North Americans today know him only as an image, an abstract radical. Almost 50 years after Che's trip, author Patrick Symmes sets out on his 12 year old BMW to explore the legend and recreate the journey Che made (started...) on his '39 Norton. The book is true to its title. The author is 'chasing Che', the REAL Che, rather than simply out for adventure on two wheels. Yet Patrick and his blue and orange R80G/S certainly have their share of 'moments', traveling 10,000km in four months through the demanding landscapes of the Americas. He survives mad dogs, bad fuel, puncture and plug problems, bandits and the various 'authorities'. Wading through the Che 'industry' of T-shirts, fridge magnets, mud-flaps(?), beer, skis, et al, Patrick's connection with local people sheds light on the man behind the myth. This is where the story becomes engrossing. There's a memorable encounter with Che's original riding companion Alberto Granado and a rather large quantity of a certain beverage. Did you know Alberto also kept a diary of the trip? He was already a committed marxist and his raw day-to-day account contrasts starkly with Che's more poetic and polished 'Notas de Viaje' (Notes of a trip). That the two men differ over several incidents makes for an intriguing read. Patrick invokes the spirit of the original journey well, you feel you're right there with Che, searching for....what? Inspiration, adventure, a solution to the world's problems? You also feel close to the poverty, the social and government dysfunction, and the warm friendly welcome of the people along the road.

I felt the adventure as the author travelled Che's route

I must admit that, until now, the only thing that I knew about Che Guevara was that he was a Latin American revolutionary and that there were posters of him everywhere in the 1970s. I do love travel books, however - especially if the writer takes a personal journey to retrace a part of history. And so, this book, subtitled "A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend" has been intriguing me from bookstore shelves for some time. I finally purchased it and it took me all summer to read, not because it's a long book. Indeed, it's a small paperback that is only 302 pages long. I've not been in a reading mood lately but I kept this book my tote bag and read it a few pages at a time whenever I had an idle moment. I finally finished it as summer waned into Labor Day weekend. And I must say I've enjoyed its companionship. In 1952, Che Guevara, then a young Argentinean doctor, took a motorcycle trip with a companion named Alberto Granado throughout South American. When the journey was over eight months later, Che had transformed into a revolutionary. He later became a hero in the Cuban revolution and was murdered in Bolivia in 1967. Che's own book, "The Motorcycle Diaries" has become a classic and I understand it will soon become a film. I think Che's story is fascinating. However, I, personally, identified more with the writer, who carried the diaries of both Guevara and Granado with him on his own trip and took notes constantly. I absorbed his sense of adventure as he traveled the same roads as the legendary Che. Good thing Patrick Symmes, who is an American, speaks Spanish. He needed it throughout his trip, especially during the many times his own motorcycle, a BMW R80/GS, broke down. Mostly, he was all by himself, going into small towns and asking townspeople about Che or traveling for hours and hours and hours and hours without seeing a human being. I felt I was right there with him all the time as he journeyed from Argentina through Chile, Peru and Bolivia. I leaned about these places through the eyes of this lone man on a motorcycle. I felt the heat and the cold and the thin mountain air. I felt his hunger and thirst and need for a place to rest. I felt his fright as dogs chased him and his discomfort during a bout of food poisoning. I learned about history. And I watched him have to use his ingenuity over and over again to either fix his motorcycle or get a gem of background information and insight about Che from some of the people he encountered. I'm a senior citizen who has lived in New York City all my life. I've never even been on a motorcycle and my world is paved with sidewalks. This book is probably the closest I'll ever be to motorcycle riding in undeveloped areas of South America. But I could be there vicariously whenever I opened this little book. I loved every minute of this reading experience. And I highly recommend it to armchair travelers everywhere.

Not just for gusanos

Patrick Symmes dedicates his book: "for gusanos everywhere". According to Castro, a gusano (worm) is someone who disagrees with his version of the revolution. This journey of 10,000 miles, through Argentina, Chile, Peru and Bolivia, retraces, in part, the path of Ernesto (Che) Guevera on a motorcycle trip he took in 1952 which was influential in shaping his convictions and the rest of his life. Along the way, Symmes meets people who knew Che, visits places where he stayed and ends his journey in the spot, in Bolivia, where Guevera met his end. The book begins and ends in Cuba where the spark was ignited to uncover the man inside the legend. Symmes meets a man who asks him to "tell people how it really is".By the time he returns to Cuba, a year after his journey, for Che's funeral, Symmes has come to see Gueverra as a man with all convictions and contradictions of any great man.This is a wonderful travel book, filled with history, biography, adventure as well as a dollop of humor. The writing is first rate. I hope Symmes is working on another book.

engaging, informative, esoteric

I was drawn to this book more because of a well established attraction to South America than a particular interest in Che Guevara. This book was particularly satisfying because it spoke to my interests, expanded my understanding of Guevera, and described a rivetting adventure.Mr. Symmes is impressive from a variety of perspectives. You are struck by his spirit, endurance and "guts" striving to replicate the Guevara's gritty adventure of the '50's. Curiosity to see whether Symmes and his BMW bike "Kookie" will complete the marathon alone keeps you reading. However, besides admiring his daring and iconoclasm, you find that Symmes is a solid scholar and a fine wordsmith.The book provides an accurate and informative description of the depradations of the recent military dictatorships in Argentina and Chile, and points out the irony of how, long after he was dead, Guevara contributed to their emergence. Symmes also provides a moving description of the centuries old fate of the Latin American poor in Peru and Bolivia as well. While "up close" experience has made his perspective justifiably left of center he effectively makes his case by sticking to the unvarnished facts. He refrains from offering any half baked neo-Marxist aphorisms, and provides balance by noting the arrogance, chauvanism, pointless brutality, and ultimate hubris of Guevara, as well as the Machiavellian meglomania of Castro. The book's thesis is that Guevara the symbol and myth have ultimately have had far more global impact than any of the achievements of Guevara the man.This book is educational, moving, and thought provoking whether you are left or right on the political spectrum. If you know little about Latin America or Che, you will learn quite a bit about this often ignored part of the world.

politics, history, and adventure

The author of this book takes us on a fascinating tour of South American politics, society, history, and geography. Through his eyes we learn about the politics and travels of Che Guevara, as well as the mechanics of an air-cooled BMW boxer engine, as he follows the travels of Che on his motorcycle. I was drawn to the book because of the adventure travel aspect, but soon became just as interested in the author's observations of South America.