Family

Of Irish lineage, Ernesto Guevara Lynch tried one business venture or another before settling into construction. Using his wife's money, he made his first quixotic stab at success in 1927 with a 'yerba mate' plantation along the Río Paraná. Yerba mate is a plant whose stimulating properties yield a beverage that is as much of a staple in Argentine society as tea is in Ireland. Che favoured this drink throughout his life, even after he had taken up residence in revolutionary Cuba.

His mother, Celia de la Serna, whose romanticism and independent spirit was his greatest influence, was anything but your average mother. She would sit at the kitchen table, her throne of sorts, playing solitaire and smoking cigarettes habitually, both of which she had become addicted to. She was clueless about what went on inside the kitchen and, on her cook's days off, threw together meals with whatever happened to be in the refrigerator, with no notion of measurements or recipes.

Celia put her unique stamp on the household. Visitors invariably noted the absence of furniture, adornments, or paintings in the house, but were struck by the plethora of books, shelved and stacked everywhere. Ernesto’s parents, like himself, had an great interest in reading.