~ For white people, especially Europeans, the Indian continues to be an animal, whatever habit they happen to be wearing.

~ In the ruins where we found some relics, including an idol representing a woman who pretty much fulfilled all my dreams.

~ Calica curses the filth and every time he steps on one of the innumerable [human] turds that line the streets, he looks at his dirty shoes instead of the sky or the silhouette of some cathedral. He does not smell the intangible, evocative things about Cuzco, but only the stink of stew and shit. It's a matter of temperament.

~ [Dear Tita], Sadly, I have to write to you in my beautiful handwriting, as I haven't been able to get hold of a typewriter to remedy the situation. At any rate, I hope you have a day free to dedicate to reading this letter.

~ So the guy just gets up and continues on his trip to Guatemala, without a good screw or even, it seems, a serious attempt at passion.The girl is very nice and seems quite intelligent, but she's too Catholic for my taste.

~ I stayed outside with a black woman, Socorro, who had picked me up and was as horny as a toad, having spent 16 years on her back.

~ In any case, it is very unlikely that archaeology would be the exclusive concern of my mature years. It seems somewhat paradoxical to me that I should make my life's "guiding star" the study of what is irremediably dead. I am certain of two things: first is that if I get to my truly creative phase at about 35 years, my exclusive, or at least main, concern will be nuclear physics, or genetics, or some other field that brings together the most interesting aspects of knowledge, and second is that the Americas will be the theater of my adventures in a way that is much more significant than I would have believed. I really think I have come to understand her and I feel Latin American in a way that is different from the way I feel about any other place on earth.

~ I could get very rich here in Guatemala, but only if I put myself through the abject business of ratifying my degree, setting up a clinic and treating allergies (the place is full of fellow snufflers). Doing this would be the most horrible betrayal of the two me's that do battle inside me - the social reformer and the traveler.

~ [US bombing Guatemala] I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I've thoroughly enjoyed these recent days. That magical sensation of invulnerability I mentioned in another letter really got me going when I saw people running like crazy as the planes appeared or, at night, when blackouts meant the city was lit up with gunfire.

~ It's been a lot of fun here, with all the shooting, bombing, speeches and other touches that have broken the monotony of my life.

~ Anyway, I will be ready to go the next time something breaks out, and I'm sure it will (if there is a next time), because those Yankees can't stop themselves trying to defend democracy somewhere or other.

~ I'm in a good appartment, I cook my own food and do everything myself, as well as bathing every day thanks to the unlimited supply of hot water. As you can see, I'm changing in this aspect, but otherwise I'm the same because I don't wash my clothes very often, and wash them badly when I do, and I still don't earn enough to pay a laundry.

~ [...] I do want to check out New York, at least. I'm not in the least worried about what might happen and know that I'll leave just as anti-Yankee as when I arrive [...]

~ Argentina was a champion for all of us who believe that the enemy lies to the north.

~ [...] Let me tell you officially, so you can let other people know: I married Hilda Gadea and we will soon be having a child.

~ As usual, Hilda got angry because I didn't want to go with her to a party; I spent New Year's Eve on watch at the OAS building.

~ I'm no Christ or philanthropist, vieja. I'm exactly the opposite of a Christ and philanthropy looks [illegible word] to me, but I fight for what I believe in, I fight with all the weapons at my disposal, and I try to lay out the other guy instead of letting myself get nailed to a cross or whatever.

~ All great work requires passion and the revolution needs passion and audacity in large doses, things we have as collective humankind.

~ Besides, there's no doubt that, after righting the wrongs in Cuba, I'll be off somewhere else; and it's also certain that if I were locked up in some bureaucrat's office or some allergy clinic, I'd be fucked.

~ [November 1956] It might interest you to know that my marriage has almost completely broken down, and will be definitely next month.

~ A great number of innocent victims have been immolated to maintain an order required for the interests of the feudal bourgeoisie and foreign capital. Patriots now know that victory will have to be achieved by blood and fire, that there can be no forgiveness for traitors, that the total extermination of reactionary groups is the only way to ensure the rule of justice in the Americas.