Customer comments on this selection.
 Better than "Motorcycle Diaries" ...
Just finished this book, and I liked it. I read Motorcycle Diaries a few days before, and did NOT like it.
This book is a better "Motorcycle Diaries". The writing is good, the story is fun, the experiences are great.
There are times when I think he gets a bit too opinionated, and he'll run on and on, but overall this is a great read.
 traveling companion
This is not a travel book, nor a source for ethnographic material, nor a biography, yet, it is all these. This is an excellent book. I had read Che's "Motorcycle Diaries" and followed it with Symmes book. Great pairing. Before and after. What a very cool thing to do..follow in Che's dust. This is funny, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable.
great book!
As a motorcyclist and adventure tourer, I found this book fascinating and well written. Definitely one of the best books of the genres, a fascinating blend of travel, adventure, political history, geography. The author is engaging and witty, open, and spellbinding.
The Perfect Book
I read this book while on a trip to Peru, and I had to force myself to read more slowly so Symmes wouldn't reach my destinations before me. This was the perfect book for my trip. It's an absorbing and amusing travelogue, but Symmes also writes very knowingly and clearly about the evolution of Che Guevara and recent Latin American politics.It gave me a much broader view of the places I visited, and it was also the follow-up I needed after seeing the movie version of Motorcycle Diaries. As a matter of fact, Chasing Che should be on every book shelf that holds Motorcycle Diaries, and it should be required reading for every teenager who wears a Che t-shirt. In honor of Symmes and his quest, I even bought a pack of El Che cigarillos (Quien abre el camino es el grupo de vanguardia, los mejores entre los buenos)in Cusco. Thanks again, Patrick. Your book sure beat Fodor's.
Great, creative storytelling
Patrick Symmes is not the first to come up with the idea of retracing the path to gain perspective, but he does do an excellent job of taking the reader along for the ride. Though speculative at times, Symmes always separates his opinion from historical fact... a stumbling point of other's in this genre. The book is charming and flows easily; he even turned me onto the epic book by Jon Anderson (Che)--->which is also very good.
I read this book 5 years ago and still remember to recommend it when the topic of travel books/history pops up... all have come back to thank me for turning them on to this hidden treasure. Hope you like the journey!
PS- has the strange effect of making you want to purchase and old motorcycle and just ride.... b careful!!
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