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Published: January 5th 2008
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Russ awoke to his ultimate nightmare! A 6 hour uncomfortable bus journey lay ahead, we were checking out of our 4 star luxury hotel and anticipating rather more humble accommodations, and he was struck down with the runs! Thank God for Immodium!!
The pills worked and the journey wasn’t too bad, but reclining padded seats would have been nice! Anyway, we were soon in Vallegrande and checking in to accommodation which certainly was more humble. Trish went off exploring the place whilst Russ tried to sleep off his sickness. Fortunately the next day he was well enough to go exploring too.
Vallegrande is nothing special. On reflection we think this trip should only be for die-hard Che fans. It’s not easy to do independently and in reality there’s not that much to see. In the centre of Vallegrande the
Casa de la Cultura houses the Che museum. It is currently closed for refurbishment, not that Tourist Information in Sucre knew, and neither did our hostal owner! The guy in the Casa de la Cultura then refused to give us the keys to the Che mausoleum unless we paid 30 Bolivianos each for a tour. He was sketchy about giving
Che Mural
At the hospital in Vallegrande us help to find any of the sites by ourselves.
There are 2 places of note (for Che fans) in Vallegrande. First stop for us was the hospital washroom where Che’s body was put on display to prove to the rest of the world that he was dead. The receptionist at the hospital was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction. We found the
lavandaria which was still in use. Actually, that was the new washroom! The old one is surrounded by a small fence and contains the two basins above which Che’s body was placed on a stretcher. It is FULL of graffiti and a bit of a mess. Still, at least we’ve been there now.
The second site is the mausoleum. Che and his comrades were buried in unmarked graves on the small airfield on the edge of town. We walked out to the site without the key as we were not prepared to pay for it. Alongside the cemetery is a locked gate, but fortunately someone else had destroyed part of the fence so we were able to walk straight in. Okay, so we couldn’t get into the mausoleum but looking through a
crack in the door it’s not clear there’s anything in there anyway!
The next day we took a taxi out to La Higuera, scene of Che’s last stand, capture and execution. It is a long two and a half hour journey through wonderful scenery, which can be a bit quicker if you have a demonic driver and are not delayed too much by the repairs being carried out to the terrible road. Once there, it takes about 30 minutes to visit the museum in the old schoolhouse, scene of Che’s execution, and to take your obligatory photos. The museum was interesting, especially as the other one had been closed! It was good to see the place but we were expecting a village or town, not just a collection of 5 or 6 buildings.
We also wanted to walk out to the
Quebrada where Che was captured. Our driver wasn’t prepared to wait 3 hours for us to do so. Therefore, if you plan to do this, negotiate that condition before leaving Vallegrande! We arrived back in the town a little disappointed at having spent 4-5 hours in a taxi, just for a 30 minute wander around a remote
The Lavandaria
Full of graffiti and get well soon messages to Che! hamlet.
So, our advice would be that it would be better to go on a tour. A guide would no doubt stop in various places along the way and tell stories of Che’s heroics/terrorism. That would certainly add something to the experience.
As for Vallegrande, don’t expect haute cuisine when you go out for dinner. Most places are chicken-and-chips style diners, but just above the town is the excellent “Mirador” restaurant. Go there! The food was great and they have a good collection of articles about Che, all in Spanish of course! It is, apparently, owned by the German photographer who took the famous photos of Che’s body in the
lavanderia.
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