Ascenciòn de Guarayos, Day 1 - Part 1 of the Che tour...

Ok I am now in Guarayos after 2 days of travelling and while I`m waiting for my photos to transfer onto the computer so I can then transfer them to CD (and probably send a copy home just in case they get wrecked), I am taking this opportunity to catch up on the blogging! Sorry for the huge run-on-sentence.

Before today it had been 3 days since I`d written anything in my journal, too. That`s what I get for actually travelling with other people instead of just hanging out with them in single places.

Because I have so much to say, I will write partly from my journal, and partly in brief.

¨La Higuera, 8.49pm - Thurs. 16 Nov. 2006

¨To reach La Higuera today we travelled on a cargo/passenger truck for half the price of a microbus. We packed our bags early this morning and arrived at the delegated street corner at about 7.30am, where there was a truck set to leave for this tiny village in the mountains. The driver said they planned to leave between 8.30-9 so we lifted our bags into the back and took turns going to the mercado (market) for a breakfast juice and tea.

¨I went first and enjoyed my time alone, sipping my tea and savouring my ´jugo de frutilla con leche´(banana juice made with milk). The market is always bustling, full of indistinguishable fruit and vegetable stands in the middle, and small juice/tea/snack bars along on side.

¨When it was my turn to wait by the truck, I enjoyed watching the bustle on the street as well. There were 3 cargo trucks by that point, all heading to different places, all surrounded by a floating population of people coming and going, adding things to the trucks or just looking after their kids or dogs or chickens.

¨We finally took off at about 9.45am, good for Bolivian time, with a full truck load. I counted 22 people (toddlers and babies included), 2 dogs, 1 chick, and loads of cargo that we tried to pile up in some reasonable manner so as to have seats. The ride was slow, bumpy, sometimes extremely uncomfortable, but the views were incredible and most people were in good spirits.

¨This is the way campesinos (rural people, farmers) travel regularly, so it was a good way to see a bit of the real, non-touristy Bolivia. When I stood up to enjoy the view - spectacular mountains and the grande valley of the town we just left - I hit my head on a metal bar; a woman in heels stepped on my leg; a little boy projectile vomited on some bags and the boy across from him; but overall I enjoyed the journey.

¨La Higuera is a village of only 20 families in one of the most rural areas of Bolivia. It`s one claim to fame is Che`s death and this makes it only slightly touristy. It is so small though, and so remote, that despite Che`s image on every single building it is an authentic old place, has character, and is incredibly beautiful and unspoiled.

¨We are staying in a small alojamiento on the current school`s property; it is very basic, morese because it is under construction, but is all all we need. I like not having electricity and I quite enjoyed my cold shower (from some other source) as well. Life here is quiet, simple, with little to bother about.

¨The woman Sabina, who runs the place, is very nice. She lives in a small house across the road and invited us for tea. The house is just one room with a dirt floor, walls of mud brick, 2 beds in one corner, a small stove/burner and some bags in another, and a bench along one wall with some more food. I they go outside somewhere for the bathroom and to wash.¨

...

¨Santa Cruz, 10.43am - Sun. 19 Nov. 2006

¨I made sure 3 days ago (Thursday) that I would go into the school where Che was killed by myself. Sabina let Hyujung into the school first and I sat on the step until she was finished. When I entered I wasn`t in the room for 10 seconds before tears ran down my cheeks. Again I felt the weight of everything that had happened there and how important it still is today.

¨The school-turned-museum is nothing but a room, a room with new walls, standard Che pictures and history, and various paraphenalia for sale. The floor and some furniture are original, though, including the chair on which Che sat when he was shot (in the legs the day before so he couldn`t walk, and in the chest later). The floor is some kind of hard stone, tiled but smooth like polished concrete. Except bullet holes litter the floor, spatter over one end of the schoolroom, some bigger than others. There are also stains...

¨This time I had no problem imagining what happened in this place. It was all there, I could feel it, all the ghosts of horrific acts, and the blood on the ground, and the pain swallowed me for a few minutes. I spent a long time in there, first reading the bits of history I`ve read before, then touching each piece of furniture in turn because I feel physical touch it`s necessary to have a connection with what I see. I spent a few minutes crouching on the floor, touching each bullet hole; I can`t say which one was Che`s fatal shot.

¨In the face of the others, when I stepped outside again, I was composed, fine. I just needed to be in there alone.

¨The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Hyojung and I had dinner at la Tienda de Estrella`s (store of the stars - there are no restaurants in La Higuera). The woman who works there had some interesting things to say about her encounter with Che. It`s hard to say if everything she said was true, or if her 70-year-old mind is as good as it was then, but it was an interesting conversation nonetheless.¨

To write about my conversations with people who actually saw or spoke to Che before or after his death would take too long...

I think there will have to be a Part 2 to this entry as it is getting dark and I haven`t yet had supper.