The diary of his second trip shows steady political development that accelerates with his witnessing of the rightwing. US-backed overthrow of the Arbenz government in Guatemala in1954. Hlida Gadea also played a significant role in his political development by suggesting readings and through her contributions to their frequent discussions of politics together and with other politically engaged friend and colleagues. By early 1954, Guevara (2001:61) identified himself as a socialist in a letter to his mother. In the same letter, he describes the tension he feels between his youthful desires for travel and his growing political awareness when he identifies 'the two I's struggling inside me: the socialist and the traveller'. For political reasons, both he and Hilda were forced to leave Guatemala in 1954; both ended up in Mexico city, where they married....