Che Museum La Pastera

San Martín de los Andes is nestled in an ancient piece of Mapuche land. At present, if we hear the word “mapuche”, we translate “che” as “people”, “person”, “man”, even though our blood is not that of the primitive dwellers. A museum on Che has been opened in this district. In this case, we relate it with a very well-known Argentinian who became an international figure due to his struggle for the oppressed people. Ernesto Guevara Lynch was his full name and he is often associated to San Martín de los Andes because of his fleeting visit to this town. La Pastera, The Che Museum, is located on the same block as the building housing the National Park Administration Office, in the urban shell. Che visited the district in 1952 and this homage was created in June 2008.

Before that, La Pastera used to be a space where intellectuals, craftsmen and musicians would get together in their struggle to preserve this venue. The perseverance of many made the museum dream come true.

See to Believe,

We paid a visit and could appreciate the central theme of Che Guevara’s life and thought in the various locations where he fought. There are panels with excellent famous and unknown photographs that give account of his bibliography, his travels around Latin America and Central Africa. We learned about his armed fight side by side with other revolutionary men to overthrow Fulgencio Batista’s regime on the island of Cuba. We found out that he was a head of the Cuban army and of the agriculture department in the new administration. He also fought for the workers and the youths together with Fidel Castro and other comrades. Walking down the room, other panels displayed the change of scene and his trip to Bolivia, where he led some revolutionary groups that finally ended in his own death. The printed posters are presented in Spanish, English and Portuguese. A primitive wooden staircase led us to the site where Ernesto Guevara and his partner Alberto Granado were lodged during their brief visit to San Martín de los Andes.

Animal Traction

The museum is named after a place which would be used to keep the grass bales for the horses ridden by the park rangers in the old days. The bookstore offers copies of Che Guevara’s diaries and works written by other thinkers who have left their impressions in highly praised publications. All this is completed with a screen and multimedia material for the presentation of audiovisual features granted by Cuban entities. Guided tours let visitors learn more about this mythical character born in Argentina and turned into an inhabitant of Cuba. Julia Rivón, director of the museum, says: “La Pastera already was a place of encounter and this must continue. Let it become alive and foster action among youths. Cuban organizations and entities from other Argentinian provinces have already made their contributions and there is a project to gather information and bibliography to add more material to what is offered today”. The Mapuche “che” and “Che” Guevara, a nickname given to this character for the only fact to have been born in Argentina, co-exist here.