The Motorcycle Diaries
Courage in Wo-Wandering
Film: The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
Written by: Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Alberto Granado, Jose Rivera
Directed by: Walter Salles
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna, Mia Maestro, and a lot of beautiful actors
Dear Momma,
I just paid $6.47 for a cup of coffee in Los Olivos, California, and the guy left way too much room for cream. He didn’t ask if I wanted cream, Momma. He just filled it with the assumption that I’m the kind of lady who uses a lot of cream, and then he told me, boldly and confidently, “That will be $6.47, please.”
Now, I am not a big complainer. Sometimes I get mad when people steal from me and lie to me and cheat me and other people—because who thinks this is a reasonable way to behave? But other times, I just “let them.” Isn’t there a book someone wrote called “Let Them”? I don’t know—someone told me about this book, and the philosophy, and I don’t need to buy the book at Target to know how I’m going to behave when push comes to shove. I’m a woman. A real woman. I do what I do, and people are going to have to put together the missing, confusing pieces, because I am not a character in a movie or a naked lady in a painting, or a mirage, or a daydream. I actually live and breathe on this planet. At least for now. (No one knows how long any of us are going to be alive here, ay, Momma?)
More on this, Momma, as I tell you a little bit about The Motorcycle Diaries starring Gael Garcia Bernal. I could watch me some Gael Garcia Bernal like, all day, Momma. He is just this magical peacock kind of person. I think he could play a woman or a man in any film, but I like him more as a man, and I like him even more because that perfect blend of feminine and masculine makes him human. That’s how you pick an actor out of a line-up. You find the human and you say, “You’re the one in charge.”
Now, I know a lot of what I’m saying is confusing, Momma, and you could never understand me the way I wanted you to, but I love you anyway, and you love me too. I know you do. We all love in our own special ways and we have to accept one another as we are, not as we think another person should be. Entiende?
Let me come back to the point—which is that I watched The Motorcycle Diaries, and I wanted to explain why wandering is good for the soul, the intuition, the spirit, and the psyche. Some people don’t get that. They like their routine. They like doing the same thing every damn day. Oh my Gracious Goodness, do some people like the settled-ness of a constant routine where nothing really changes. I would perish in such an environment, Momma! I would melt away at the kitchen table or shave my head and dance naked on the lawn, if I lived like that for years. I am more of the Ernesto Guevara kind of person—the “Che.” (But I don’t believe in killing anybody. You just ask God to take care of things when they’re difficult and God will do whatever stuff is necessary and guide you through your own demons and shadows and then the world becomes your own creation…ish.)
Still, what I mean is, I am the kind of lady who would get on a motorcycle and ride through many countries with a backpack. I prefer a car, because I once saw a woman fly off a motorcycle on the road and it just seems too dangerous to ride motorcycles. (They are good for decoration, or to pose in front of.) So get in my car, and let’s go places. Let’s meet people. Let’s see new things. Let’s take U-turns. Let’s stop for coffees. (Oh, how I love stopping for coffees that are affordable, in places with ambiente.) You wanna know something, about my wo-wandering soul? I might actually dump this expensive, mediocre coffee out on the lawn just to show the management they don’t own me for that crazy $6.47 I just spent. I even tipped the guy a dollar. I might tip him again. I might just drop some cash outside on the lawn.
Oh my gosh, back to Che. Back to The Motorcycle Diaries. It is a bit of a boring movie, and the director Walter Salles is clearly idealizing the man, Che, and he clearly has a little too much of an attachment to the story to tell it the right way, and I don’t know that I’m any better for watching it, except I agree with the importance of roaming and meeting people and having experiences that show you the truth that exists beyond your television or phone screen. And I agree that a little wondering/wandering is good for the soul. And I agree with the need for activism when adolescents are managing big things and places, but people don’t realize they’re being convinced and connived by grown adolescents who are entrusted to make too-big decisions, but can’t even make a car feel good or have normal door-handles, for all the money they charge for said-car. And I love watching Gael Garcia Bernal, and the gentleness he brings to this role as Che. In this film, he is at once a boyish, wise, and mysterious. It is his quiet mystery—which I suspect is a deep inner-faith, a personal compass that resides in his heart and is dictated by no other person—that allows him to weave the open threads of this movie into a golden strand of who and what an activist, and an influencer, and a revolutionary, and a human being, is.
There are forces of evil in the world, Momma, but we must always remember that there are so many people of faith, and kindness, and love, and generosity. There are people who search for the truth, who stick up for others, who feel inspired and invigorated by love and compassion, grace and knowledge. And what we give attention to, will grow. And who we give attention to, will grow. We all have the power and choice to water the seeds that we believe need watering.
Momma, do you like to wander, too?
Don’t tell—they’ll advertise, you know.
They’ll put us in some fancy scarves and set us up to pose in front of mountains, and deserts, and dandelion fields, and people might start buying our vehicles and loving our way a whole lot.
People may want lots and lots of our waze.
So let’s just keep things quiet for a while, and meet new people, and have our hearts open and purified daily, and remember to check in and talk to the healers among us.
Love you, besos,
Ms. Wonderful
Oh me goodness, I made this playlist about expensive coffee just the other day!
(By the way, I am going to pour out this crappy coffee on the lawn and take a video or picture of me doing it, although I wish I’d kept the damn receipt so I could prove to you how much they charged me. And I’m going to leave some cash on the lawn too because these people must really need the money. I have three $1’s on me, and two packets of Regal sugar in my purse, and this little cafe/resort spot is gonna get what I got. Right after I publish this post.)
(You’re welcome, Auberge Resorts! And thank you for your FREE WIFI, wherein you collect my cookies and my data, or whatever!)
(And I am going to drink a FREE glass of water in one of these fancy cups, too!)
