Che Guevara’s Son Offers "The Motorcycle Diaries" Tours in Cuba
Ernesto Guevara, the youngest son of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevarra, has opened a travel agency offering two-wheel tours of Cuba.
La Poderosa Tours will take motorcycle enthusiasts on two routes - called Fuser 1 and Fuser 2 based on the nickname Che Guevara had in his younger years - across Cuba using Harley-Davidsons, as a nod to Che's passion for motorcycles.
Che's son named his travel agency after the motorbike used by his father when he toured the South American continent for nine months in 1952, which is immortalized in The Motorcycle Diaries. The iconic travelogue was originally published as a memoir in 1993 and subsequently turned into a film with the same title in 2004, writes The Telegraph.
The Argentine medical student nicknamed his motorbike, a British Norton 500cc, La Poderosa II (the Mighty II), which he rode 8,000 miles from Argentina to Venezuela along with his biochemist companion Alberto Granado.
Ernesto Guevara, 47, is Che's son with his second wife Aleida March. A lawyer by profession, he decided to team up with childhood friend Camilo Sánchez, who is also a lawyer and shares his love of motorbikes, and mechanic Sergio Morales to lead the La Poderosa trips.
"I have been a fan of classic Harleys all my life and I like to restore them, too. My love of bikes, of bike trips and of Cuba, and the desire to show my fellow Harley bikers my beautiful country, has been the reason for setting up the tours," Ernesto told Telegraph Travel.
The agency offers a six-day tour beginning at $3,000 while a nine-day tour can cost as much as $5,800, depending on the choice of accommodation. Prices are exclusive of flights, The Independent reported.
Tour highlights include visit to places connected to the revolutionary such as the Comandancia del Che (a small museum dedicated to him) at the monumental 18th-century Cabaña fortress at Havana's harbor, where Che had his headquarters, and Che Guevara's mausoleum in Santa Clara, a city to the east of Havana that was the site of a crucial 1958 battle.
