Museo Del Che - Alta Gracia, Cordoba

We stopped by the "Museo del Che" in Alta Gracia. It is housed
in a childhood home of Ernesto Guavera. The mountain air of
this exclusive neighborhood was to protect young Ernie from
asthma attacks as well as shield him from the South American
poverty that would later be his inspiration.

These two cats beat us to the museum. They paid homage at the grand
opening in 2006.

The museum was an interesting collection of treasures from Ernie's
childhood including this crotch rocket that he used to discover the
poverty of South America.

In the patio we enjoyed some of that dry mountain air that was
so helpful to the young, fragile Ernesto.

"The Che" is now a rather polarizing figure here in Argentina.
As a revolutionary he is a hero to idealistic youth and the poor.
On the other hand, the pragmatic and the established vilify him
for inspiring local copy-cat revolutionaries including those who were ultimately
defeated by a dictatorship that "disappeared" 30,000 Argentinians.
To a mother, he seems like a cute kid who made
a few bad choices.

It is a capitalistic triumph that one can purchase
a poster commemorating an event in which Fidel Castro and
Hugo Chavez paid homage to one of Communism's most
famous revolutionaries.

Today of course "The Che" is a major source of revenue for
the local tourist trinket industry. T's, hats, bumper stickers,
key chains, and maps of his famous motorcycle route are sold
wherever tourists are found throughout Argentina and the world.