A FRIEND AND STRANGE GUY – PERU 1978

Once more my mind drifts back to my early days in Peru. And to the memory of a character I met and bonded with soon after my arrival in the Andes. I am not quite sure why my memory keeps returning to this particular time in my journey. Other than the fact, that, for the first time, I had left all I was used to and ventured off. This dramatic change somehow produced an indelible imprint on my mind. One guy I met, soon after my arrival, in Huambo, at about 12,000 feet of elevation, was from South Africa.

About my age, a free spirit, and somewhat of a hell raiser. He was constantly getting himself into one form or another of trouble. We were a perfect match. Some might say a menace, to the peaceful enjoyment of life in camp, high up in the Andes mountains. A few might have said that, but none within hearing distance of either of us. We were young, exuberant, and full of life. Any such rumours, we put down to jealousy, on the part of the old-timers (those over 35). BdK was in charge of the road works which were substantial. Remember, prior to us arriving in this part of the Andes, much of this area did not have road access. This was a very remote and largely unexplored part of the world.

We built roads into the area and throughout the area. Thereby, connecting our work sites to our head office. Additionally opening up a supply chain for access to fuel, equipment, materials and food. As well as, connecting our offices to the other tunnels and canals. Not only in our sector but between all of the other work fronts on the overall site. In all I would say BdK was mainly responsible from creating and maintaining 100 miles of roadway. This capable of supporting constant heavy equipment traffic. This he was good at. What he was weak at, was keeping himself out of trouble. What follows now are some short clips of the times we had together. With snapshots of the situations that BdK got himself into, over and over.

One of my first great memories of him was a time when he was cruising one of his roads. He was checking out his many crews. Basically just living life and minding his own business, in company with his road works foreman, Lazo. Somewhere out between two of the villages. Which we had connected by gravel, they came upon a policeman walking along the side of the road. This was not an unusual occurrence. As I stated before, there were no roads into this area prior to our arrival. So walking was the major form of transport for the police (or horse transport for those lucky enough). BdK being the kind of guy he was, stops and offers this guy a ride to wherever he was heading.

Again, this was standard practise. Also, no vehicle ever passed a police officer, in the Andes, without stopping and giving them a ride to a point, as close to their destination, as possible. So, everything is as normal. The stars are aligned. Then, after greetings and a brief chitchat. The policeman clambers into the truck squeezing himself between BdK and his large, large foreman. Off they go, the mood is cheerful, with the cop wriggling himself into the space between Bdk and his large companion.

Well, sometime in the midst of this squirming and jockeying for position, he gets his sidearm twisted around and it discharges, right into his leg! BBBllllaaaammm! Now this is not such a happy occasion and wipes the normal “shit eating grin” from BdK’s face. Luckily, it seemed, this was a flesh wound, however it was still a shot in the leg, so the officer was a lot more focused on it, than the other two. Quickly BdK drove to our company Posta Medica, where the policeman was given emergency first aid. An amusing story, that thank god, was not fatal and it should have ended there, right? Not so fast, this is Peru, nothing with the potential for drama, such as this is ever going to finish so easily.

Next had to come an investigation. And a major “goat roping’ it was. It was enough to bring a tear to the eye of any self respecting, Peruvian drama queen. Everyone was interviewed and after much chewing of the fat (Peruvians talking endlessly, around and around the subject), it was decided that the fault laid clearly with BdK. After all, didn’t he stop and disrupt this guy’s morning stroll along the road, didn’t he offer him a ride, didn’t BdK indicate where the officer was to sit, and finally, wasn’t BdK the senior person present during the incident (and obviously the most likely to have funds to pay damages)? With this profound decision arrived at, they took ol’ BdK and locked him up in the local carcel (jail).

OOoohhhh didn’t we all hoot with laughter? I heard things like “keep him there”, “don’t worry, a couple of days of his shit and they’ll be sending him back here”, and “well looks like we need a new road superintendent, do we have another lazy bastard hanging around doing nothing”? Our group was a nurturing group! After the payment of a fine (awarded to make sure you never want to do another good deed), the payment of the policeman’s medical expenses and pay for his time off, they let BdK “walk” with an admonishment to never “cause to be shot” another policeman in Peru. Poor ol’ BdK took a lot of ‘schtick” from us for a long time. That is, up until his next run-in with the policia.

The next affair BdK got himself into came during a celebration of Peru Day, the annual national holiday, marking their Independence from Spain. This day falls on the 28th of July and is celebrated by everyone in Peru, including all foreign visitors and expats. On this day, everyone, and I mean everyone, from all of our offices and worksites, in the mountains, were gathered in front of our offices. We were lined up in rows and listened to speeches from our leaders, the most senior Peruvians on the site, as well as the Peruvian police. It was a very formal and humble occasion, everyone was on their best behaviour and paying respects to our Peruvian hosts and to their “day”.

Near the end of this gathering, and after a small parade of local dignitaries, all those assembled sang the Peruvian national Anthem and a flag raising ceremony was started. With great dignity the police marched out, carrying a folded flag and hoisted it, very solemnly, to the top of the flagpole. At just this moment, BdK’s dog (a big old shit eating mangy animal, not unlike his master), chose this exact time to mosey out from amongst the crowd, sidle up next to the cop who was raising the flag, lifted a leg, and in a salute to all those gathered, unleashed a torrent of dog pee onto the flag pole. The crowd was stunned, shocked and a complete silence fell over the audience.

This only broken by a loud outrageous laugh, spewing from BdK’s mouth. Although it was hilarious, the rest of us kept quite silent. Well, this pretty much put the final touches on the festivities and we started to disperse back to our work fronts. Not however, BdK who was now, once again, in custody of the police. Back to jail he goes and a new investigation for insulting the flag is underway. Now, the shooting of the policeman, rose to the level of a “fine”, but the desecrating of the flag was gonna be a capital crime investigation. Geezus, BdK was now getting quite a rap sheet built up with the local police.

Once again, after an all day investigation, a fine, some formal apologies and lots of verbal abuse from his “friends” BdK was released back to us. Although these types of stories are trivial in nature, it is to them, that my mind always returns. I hope you can find some enjoyment in them. I find a lot of happiness in the recounting of such minor events in my history. Although these stories seem unbelievable, they are, in fact, absolutely true and unembellished, and are mere snapshots of times in my life.