Diarios de Motocicleta

WOW!!!! What a very STRONG film this was! I enjoyed it so much, I watched it again just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

The film starts with Ernesto saying, "This isn't a tale of heroic feats, it's about two lives running parallel for a while with the common aspirations and similar dreams." Ernesto de la Serna, 1952



Ernesto de la Serna a 23-year old medical student and Alberto Granado a 29-year old biochemist were going on a journey

PLAN: to travel 8,000 KM in four months
METHOD: Improvision
GOAL: to explore a continent they only know in books
EQUIPMENT: "The Mighty One" an aged and leaky 1939 Norton 500
PILOT: Alberto "Mial" Granado, a self proclaimed "wondering scientist", chubby, biochemist
CO-PILOT: El Fuser, a medical student only one semester away from graduating, interested in leprosy, a rugby player and occassional asthmatic
ROUTE: Buenos Aries west to Patagonia and into Chile then North 6000 M up the rugged spine of the Andes to Machu Picchu, then the San Pablo Leper Colony in the Peruvian Amazon. Their final destination: the Guajira Peninsula in Venezuela.


The one thing that Fuser and Mial had in common was "their restlessness, their impassioned spirits and a love for the open road"

As the two got ready to leave, on January 4, 1952, Fuser's family was there to give their farewells and love. Mial promised Fuser's mother that he would take good care of her son.



They would take one detour, to Fuser's girlfriends home in Miramar to see Chichina. They were only supose to stay or two days, however, they ended up staying eight. Fuser was torn to stay with Chichina or continue with his journey.



They arrive in Argentine, lost their tent to the wind, and go to a farmers house to find shelter and food. The man lets them sleep in the barn with the migrants. Fuser writes his mother about the bike not being the "mighty one" and how money and food are scarce. Along the way they stop at houses to get food and shelter. They used the gun and shot a duck and Fuser swam in the lake to get it. After that, he got sick and had an asthma attack.

February 15 - Chile. Fuser writes his mother again..."what do we leave behind when we cross a frontier? Each moment seems split in two: melancholy for what is left behind and the excitement of entering a new land." Fuser and Mial decide that when they are old and tired of traveling they should setup a clinic on the lake.



February 18 - Chile. "Mighty One" isn't working very well, Fuser says they should walk the rest of the way because they would meet more people. Mial complains that Fuser is too honest. They walk the bike into the city. Fuser stops at the local newpaper office "Austral News" an tells them their story about their journey with a few "white lies", they get a free meal and a place to sleep. The next morning, there was a story about them in the newspaper and they used that to get more help, from a mechanic. That night many of the towns people run after Fuser and Mial and they get away on their bike. But the mechanic didn't fix the brakes and they crashed into cows in the road. They were picked up by some farmers.



February 26 - Chile 2940 km. Fuser and Mial come across two women who buy they food and wine. They also introduce them to their father at the firehouse. While Mial goes on a "tour" with the girls, Fuser visits a sick woman. Fuser has a very good beside manner and is very gentle. He writes to his mother once again "I know I was powerless to help her mom, this poor old woman who only a month ago waited tables wheezing like I do trying to live with dignity. In her dying eyes therew as a plea for forgiveness and for solace now vanished just as her body will soon be lost, in the greatest mystery that surrounds us."

Then they were told that the "Mighty One" is no longer mighty and should be sold for scrap. Mial take its hard, but does move on.



March 7, Valpariso, Chile - Fuser receives a letter from Chichina, he is very upset.

March 11, Desert Atacama - Fuser and Mial are walking through the desert. They are trying to get to the mine. They meet up with a couple who are looking for work. They land and a home but they were forced out, left their children, because the police were looking for them, because they are communists. "Their faces were tragic and haunting. They told us of comrades who had mysteriously disappeared and were said to be somewhere at the bottom of the sea. It was one of the coldest nights of my life, but also one which made me feel closer to this strange, for me anyway, human race." I think this experience is the beginning to shaping Fuser as a future leader.



March 15, Mina de Chuquicamata, Chile - There was a man picking ones that he will work, telling them to "hurry up" When he sees Fuser and Mial standing there, he tells them to leave or they will have them arrested, for trespassing at the Anaconda Mining Co. They found a ride, and while they were riding, they saw people walking across the mountains. Fuser wrote to his mother, "As we left Chuquicamata we could feel the world changing or was it us? The deeper we go into the Andes the more indigenous people we encounter, who are homelss in their own land. We finally entered Peru, thanks to a half-blind trucker named Felix, and guess what? Alberto turned thirty but not in Venezuela as he had planned. We were so tired, mom we couldn't celebrate."

April 2, Cuzco, Peru 6932 km, They meet a lady who never went to school because she's always with the livestock. She doesn't speak Spanish only Quechua. When she was little there was enough money to afford everything, but now there is little money and no work and it is affecting all of them more and more. Since she was little she worked with handicrafts and that's why she isn't doing so bad, not too good but okay.

They meet a man who was working on land for his landlord, the landlord kicked him off the land once it was productive, so he must move on to find money to educate his kids. He has five kids. He has organized with other farmers, they help each other, very unified.



April 5, Machu Picchu, Peru 7014 km. Fuser writes, "The Incas knew astronomy, brain surgery, mathematics, among othr things. But the Spanish invaders had gun powder. What would America look like today if things had been different? Mial had an idea he will marry an Inca descendant, start an indigneous party under the conditions: encourage people to vote, reactivate Tupac Amaru's revolution, the Indo-American Revolution. Fuser tells Mial that a revolution without guns will never work. Fuser writes some more, "How is it possible to feel nostalgic for a world I never knew? How can a civilization that built this be destroyed to build this?

Lima, Peru May 12, 8198 km. Fuser and Mial meet Dr. Hugo Pesce, the director of Peru's leper treatment program. Alberto contacted him before they started their journey. Dr. Pesce gave them clothes, food, money, and ideas. While Fuser is reading a book, he has flashbacks of the people he has seen over the course of their journey.



May 25, Pucallpa, Peru 8983 km. Fuser and Mial board the "La Cenepa" for a five day trip to San Pablo and the leper colony. Fuser has an asthma attack while on the ship. Mial meets Luz. Since Mial didn't have any money, Mial plays blackjack to win money so he can have a night of fun.



June 8, San Pablos 10223 km. Fuser and Mial meet Dr. Bresciani. He shows them around. The patients live on the South side across the Amazon River, while the nurses and staff live on the North side. There are about 600 patients. Most of the patients families brought them to the colony. The nurses are persistent with them wearing gloves, but Fuser and Mial refuse. Fuser sees that the river segregrates the ill from the healthy, and he doesn't take to that too well. Aside from helping the sick, they form a special bond with them, they play soccer with them, they eat in the same area as them. Mial receives a letter from Caracas. He is thinking that maybe it is time for him to settle down. Fuser is not sure if he wants to go back to Buenos Aries.



June 24 They have a party on the North side for Fuser's birthday. They were so happy with the all the help that Fuser and Mial gave them, they gave them a raft to continue their journey and named it "Mambo Tango". After Fuser gives a speech, he goes outside and looks across the river. He wants to celebrate with the patients. Fuser swims across the Amazon, the patients hear the commotion and go out to see what is going on. When they realize that Fuser was swimming across, they started cheering him on. The next day they say their good-byes and Fuser and Mial continue their journey.





July 26, Caracas, Venezuela 12425 km. Fuser leaves and he says that their journey gave him something to think about for a long time, there is so much injustice. Mial tells him that his birthday is really August 8th, that he just gave April 4 as his birthday so they would do their best to complete their journey. Fuser gets on the plane.



The end of the movie..."This isn't a tale of heroic feats. Its about two lives running parallel for a while with common apirations and similar dreams. Was our view too narrow, too biased, too hasty? Were our conclusions too rigid? Maybe. Wondering around our America has changed me more than I thought. I am not me anymore, at least I am not the same me I was."


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