good talk

I did many interesting things on this trip.  I was in some very high and cold places in S. America such as La Paz, Bolivia, 12 to 12,500 ft., and never wore a coat, just one of the 2 ban-lons that I took with me.  So many of you are pansies that I try to set an example for you although I'm sure it did no good.  I was in the schoolhouse in La Higuera, Bolivia where on Oct. 9, 1967 Ernesto "Che" Guevara was executed, and buddy, it's hard to get there.  Born on June 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina, I've been to his first residence, then and now an upscale apartment building.  And I've been to his immense mausoleum in Cuba as well as where his body lied for 30 years in Villagrande, Bolivia.  Che was misguided but some of his qualities were amongst the highest attained by a person.  A high intellectual, he had a vast appreciation for poetry and literature.  Che graduated with his M.D. at "25" in 1953 from the U. of Buenos Aires despite having taken a year off to travel S. America by motorcycle where he was outraged by the miserable living conditions of the Masses. In 1954 he met Raul and Fidel Castro in Mexico City and fought with them against the Regime of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba.  By the time of Victory in Cuba Che was 2nd in Command to Fidel.  Che killed and had killed many thousands, if he thought someone was in the way of the Revolution he would kill them with no more thought than had he stepped on a cockroach.  Bored with peace in Cuba in 1965 he gave up his Cuban Citizenship and went to Africa and then to Bolivia where he vowed to continue Revolution, this caught the eye of the U.S. whose Imperialism he denounced as "Capitalist Exploitation" and before long Bolivia was full of Green Berets and Helicopters.  Captured in battle on Oct. 8, 1967 by CIA-backed Bolivian Forces, the U.S. gave the Bolivians the word to summarily execute Che. At the exact spot of execution inside the schoolhouse I pinned to the wall a paper---Che, Loved and Esteemed by Alberto Gonzalez and admired by Ed Preusse    Rest In Peace,   Comandante