The Motorcycle Diaries

A New York Times bestseller
With a new introduction by The Motorcyle Diaries filmmaker Walter Salles, and featuring 24 pages of photos taken by Che.

The Motorcycle Diaries is Che Guevara's diary of his journey to discover the continent of Latin America while still a medical student, setting out in 1952 on a vintage Norton motorcycle together with his friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist. It captures, arguably as much as any book ever written, the exuberance and joy of one person's youthful belief in the possibilities of humankind tending towards justice, peace and happiness.

After the release in 2004 of the exhilarating film of the same title, directed by Walter Salles, the book became a New York Times and international bestseller.

This edition includes a new introduction by Walter Salles and an array of new material that was assembled for the 2004 edition coinciding with the release of the film, including 24 pages of previously unpublished photos taken by Che, notes and comments by his wife, Aleida Guevara March, and an extensive introduction by the distinguished Cuban author, Cintio Vitier.


"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, solitude found solidarity. 'I' turned into 'we.'" Eduardo Galeano

"As his journey progresses, Guevara's voice seems to deepen, to darken, colored by what he witnesses in his travels. He is still poetic, but now he comments on what he sees, though still poetically, with a new awareness of the social and political ramifications of what's going on around him." January Magazine

"Our film is about a young man, Che, falling in love with a continent and finding his place in it."
Walter Salles, director of the film version of The Motorcycle Diaries

"All this wandering around 'Our America with a Capital A' has changed me more than I thought."
Ernesto Che Guevara, from The Motorcycle Diaries

Introduction to the 2021 edition: The Motorcycle Diaries, or the Rediscovery of South America by Walter Salles
Foreword to the 2003 edition by Aleida Guevara
Foreword to the 1993 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 Martí n 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)