WATCH OUT CHILE, HERE COMES BUBBALOO AND IS SHE PISSED – 2007 – PART TWO

This next piece is difficult to write. Mostly because it is difficult for me to describe exactly, the feelings and emotions that went into making this excursion. Bubbaloo, the invariable leader of our touring team, was not jumping up and down and cheering a trip to Chile. That was unusual for her. Hell, usually she would beat everyone to the airport, if a good trip was even suggested. This time she seemed a bit reticent. She did allow that she would go as far as Tacna, on the southern border of Peru, and then “possibly” on too Chile.

When I dug into her, seeming, lack of enthusiasm, surrounding the “storming” of Chile, I found that she still harboured resentment towards Chileans, Chile, and Chileans who were former Peruvians. This all stemmed from Chile’s invasion of Peru in the early 1880’s. “Geezus”, I thought, “does she ever have a long memory”! Lord knows, I had already learned, she could hold a grudge, but I never knew it could extend this far. What hope did I ever have, of her forgetting any of my minor transgressions from the past?

Because of her distain for all things Chilean, she was struggling to whip up the enthusiasm to travel there. On top of all the lingering memories of military defeat, she harboured other grudges. For example, didn’t the Chileans also profess to having the best Pisco in the world. Blasphemy! It was her opinion that they did not know shit when it came to making Pisco. She protested, “didn’t everyone in the world, know that Peru was the only place that made real Pisco”? Also weren’t the Chileans still holding one whole Peruvian city (Arica) hostage since 1880 (or so). And didn’t Chile have the world’s ugliest cuyes. What the hell did they know about raising and eating cuyes, anyway? Not to mention all of the other Peruvian food dishes they had stolen and now pretended were Chilean creations. She had a lot of repressed feelings about Chile, and was therefore not so eager to go there. I think she would have, more easily, reconciled, herself, to a trip to the North Pole to live in an igloo, with no bathroom, for a month.

I suppose, in my mind, her latent feelings about Chile and all of its inhabitants, made me feel slightly paranoid. What the hell, “what if I got her there and she started another international conflict”? Geezus, anyone that knows her, understands that she is quite capable of doing just that! On the other hand, JimboRed was just plain curious to see her confront them on their own turf. Maybe it was the devil in me, however, I positively shivered, with excitement, at the thought of seeing her causing chaos at the border. “Damn right”, I think, “we gotta do this”! The trouble I have in the retelling; is setting the exact mood for this trip. But now, maybe you can understand the “atmosphere”, permeating this part of our vacation.

So, a couple of days after our return from the dry run at Mollendo and Mejia, we packed once again and together with our posse, we embarked for the south, to Tacna and then possibly Chile. I did check Bubbaloo’s bags a couple of extra times to make sure she was not carrying anything concealed that could start another conflict with Chile. Feeling pretty satisfied that it was safe to go, Jimbored and the posse, boarded a bus for Tacna. Our spirits were high. Bubbaloo boarded also, but not quite as enthusiastically. Off we went, down, out of Arequipa, onto the Atacama Desert and headed southwest on the Pan American Highway.

The bus ride was uneventful. Of course the onboard facilities were unusable within the first 15 minutes. However, that was no longer a surprise to us. We purchased our lunch onboard and settled in for a 350 km, 5 hour ride to Tacna, on the southern boarder of Peru. As usual, I had something to read on the trip, but soon fell asleep. We arrived about mid afternoon, in Tacna. As always, on the Atacama desert it was sunny, dry and hot, even this far south. Tacna, at first glance seemed much like other Peruvian cities with 200+ years of history. Not surprisingly for Peru, it had a big Catholic cathedral, smack in the middle of town, where it could oversee the activities and morals of its’ parishioners.

In the centre of the main plaza, there was a huge arch, commemorating the Peruvian leaders Bolognesi and Grau. I did not say it, but it surely looked like one half of the Macdonald’s Golden Arches was used as its model. At first glance, Tacna did not look like a modern city, but had that old Spanish style charm, in much of the buildings and brick and stone paved plaza. The Plaza De Armas, also featured a huge fountain. There we stood and took pictures of each other. I guess, just like the tourists we were. There was not a huge bustle of people surging and milling around the centre. More it looked quiet and peaceful, with a laidback mood. The economy of Tacna, at this time, was based on the mining of sodium nitrate as well as the manufacture and sale of textiles.

We checked into a hotel, near the centre of town, dumped our gear and got ready for action. The first thing we did was seek out a guide, with a car, to show us the sights. Of course this guy drives directly to the scene of one of the major battles between Chile and the Peruvian/Bolivian alliance. It was as if, our driver sensed Bubbaloo’s heightened anxiety at being near the Chilean border. Maybe he was trying to get her “juices” flowing. I will make a kind of side track at this point, and try to explain, as much as I can remember of this conflict, that still had many in Peru, pissed at Chile. You could surely include Bubbaloo’s dad, Papi, in this group. He like the rest of the clan, had a long, long unforgiving memory. Just set a bottle of Chilean Pisco in front of him, if you wanted a good old fashioned “ass chewing” directed at you.

In any event, what appears to have happened, at least in my foggy memory, was this. Remember, my memory remains a poet, and not a historian. So please forgive any inaccuracies. It goes without saying, that in this world, the winner of all major conflicts, is the one, who gets to write the history book. Therefore, the Chilean version of events is undoubtably different than those of the Peruvians. It seems like “landlocked” Bolivia wanted to have (or had) a Port access to the Pacific, for use in importing and exporting goods to their country. Perhaps It was also true that Peru, had either granted them one, or had formed an alliance with Bolivia to give them a strip of land running from the western borders of Bolivia to the ocean.

It also appears that this access ran right along the border of Peru and Chile. Needless to say, I don’t think the Chileans were to wild about the idea of another foreign power on their doorstep. So they decided to put a stop to this alliance. Others would say, that, because the Tacna area of Peru, had rich mineral deposits, Chile had decided to take control of the area, and the minerals, and make them their own. Either way, or a combination of both, saw Chile invading Peru at their border. One main battle occurred near Tacna at the place we visited. Chile won this battle and subsequently went all the way up the coast to Lima, Peru. There, using naval forces, and some say help from the English, they captured the Peruvian capitol. Peru surrendered and capitulated.

At this point, Chile decided to dictate peace terms. They cut off a big province of Peru, called Tarapaca’, which included Tacna and Arica and made it a Chilean possession. This province and the two cities were held by Chile under an agreement, that, after ten years of peace, Chile would let the citizens of each city decide whether the wanted to be Chilean or Peruvian. In the end, I think this border dispute lasted 50 years. Ultimately, it was settled and the port city of Arica voted to stay in Chile and Tacna voted to return to Peru. The border between Chile and Peru was drawn, just to the north of Arica and a few miles south of Tacna. Bolivia, one of the main participants, got nada. No access to a port, no strip of land to the sea, nothing. To this day Bolivia remains landlocked, and has to deal with either Peru or Chile if they want to transport goods from the ocean to their country.

I am sure that some might say, “JimboRed you are so full of bullshit!” And they may possibly be right. Or, maybe ol’ Jimbo, is not losing it, to the extent people think. In any event, I have tried to summarize what I remember of this conflict. Much of it was what I could remember, from inscriptions in the memorial and museum we visited on the Peruvian side at Tacna. Then mixed with what we read from the Chilean monument and museum that we visited the very next day in Arica. So maybe I have a blended version, or maybe my version is close enough. What was clear was Ol’ Bubbaloo’s opinion. That is, that the Chilean’s made a sneak attack on the peaceful Peruvians, to steal their mineral riches and to steal their much loved city, Arica.

I apologize for the history, as seen by JimboRed, interlude. However I just wanted to show what I understood of the issue, that had Bubbaloo so upset. I did not care who did what to whom, and for sure was not going to argue Peruvian history, with her. Whatever side she was on, I was on exactly the same side. We spent the rest of our first afternoon wandering around the war memorial, battlefield and museum. My memory is of a very hot, dry, sparse growth area, with no place to hide, either from the beating sun or the cursed Chileans. I had a distinct feeling that, there, on this piece of desert, was not a place I would have liked for my last stand.

The monument was magnificent, placed atop a hill called Intiorko (an ancient Quechua name of Inca origin, I think). It was formed of concrete spires of trapezoidal shape. Each column pointing at an angle to the sky, and each representing a contingent or battalion of fighters from Peru or Bolivia. The spires were meant to align along an east/west axis representing the alliance between Peru and Bolivia. The tallest was to signify the scale of the struggle for Tacna, fought on this site. There was also a huge mound of boulders piled up on one side, representing the direction and force of the Chilean attack. It was indeed, humbling. You could almost feel the spirits of those lost in this battle, as you walked around.

Inside the monument was a small but very interesting museum. Of course the theme was the battle and the participants. Articles of war, including guns and ammunitions were on display, as well as, clothing and instruments of daily life for the soldiers. I found a great deal to interest me in. I felt a very distinct sadness, when looking at these personal items and thinking of the brave souls who gave their lives here. A few years earlier, I had this very same feeling when walking around The Alamo in Texas. It is hard to describe, but I heard no yelling, shouting, laughter or children running about. We spent two or three hours there. I came away, somewhat understanding how Bubbaloo felt about this piece of Peruvian history.

For our first evening in Tacna we were hosted by a part of Bubbaloo’s, step mother’s family. I must say, in many places and in different times in Peru, we encountered members of Mami’s family. They were always happy to see us and always offered their hospitality. I have no way of counting, but Mami seemed to have hundreds of close relatives. This part of the family invited us to their house to share a Pisco cocktail and trade news of the family. They were very gracious and put up with my babbling in Spanglish. They listened politely to my tall tales, but were more interested in listening to Bubbaloo speak of the family. We laughed, talked, took pictures and after a pleasant evening returned to our hotel. Exhausted!

The second morning we were up bright and early, ate our breakfast in the Hotel, and then gathered our stuff to go see what Chile was all about. Again we hired the same driver and he deposited us at the border crossing a few miles south of Tacna. It was early morning and quite crowded with Peruvians wanting to cross to Chile. And on the other side Chileans wanting to cross into Peru. You could not tell the difference, same clothes, same style, same language, same origin and ancestors. We got into the line and waited our turn to cross. Inevitably, there were forms to be filled out. Bubbaloo and Coco took care of those. I remember a slight feeling of uneasiness in this line up. I can’t put my finger on it. But perhaps, because Bubbaloo did not want to go to Chile, and Coco was a member of the Peruvian armed forces, I had conjured all sorts of reasons for Chile not to let us enter.

However, enter we did. The agent looked at us, asked the why, how long, and where, questions. I’m not sure he even heard or cared about the answers. With a couple of big old stamps on our passports, he motions for us to get out of his sight. He then grunts at the next people in line to come forward. On the Chilean side of the border, a long line of taxis awaited us. When you looked back to the Peruvian side, the same taxis, same drivers, and same line was there. My god, I thought, these were all Peruvian people on both sides of the border. I think that was Bubbaloo’s very point. We selected a car and driver and headed off to see Arica, now a city of Chile.

After a short drive from the border we were dropped at the entrance, to what appeared to be an outside mall. The street was blocked off, to vehicular traffic, at each end, and the sidewalks were filled with vendors. Stores of every description lined both sides of the street. One of the most startling things we saw, were the “golden arches”, rising high above everything else. This was truly an unusual sight. McDonalds had not yet arrived in Peru, so we were not used to seeing it. To me it looked out of place in a city that definitely had an old world Spanish charm to it. We walked the length of the mall and into the older part of the city.

Arica was a port city which was quite evident. You could see all types of ocean going vessels parked near the boundary of the city. Just to the south of the city, Chile had created their own monument to the struggle of 1880. In its own way it was every bit as impressive as that found, a few miles away, outside of Tacna. It also had a museum and also told their own version of events as they believed it. Their monument to the war with Peru, stood high atop a hill. Once there you were presented with an unrestricted view of the city and port facilities. Again, we spent a couple of hours roaming the monument area and visiting the museum. I found it very interesting. I think Bubbaloo was still seething.

One thing I noticed while visiting both museums, was the size of the uniforms, the soldiers wore. In today’s world, those clothes would not have fit, even a 13 year old “McDonalds chomping” kid of today. We looked at armaments from both sides. They were very similar and consisted of mainly, rifles or swords. The pistols we saw, were mostly reserved for the officers. It was highly interesting to me. Coco, being of military background, also spent a good deal of time looking at the military equipment. I just know he was thinking, “It was your lucky day that you didn’t have to deal with me in that battle. Because now we would be standing on Peruvian land”!

The main things I took away from this visit to Arica, was that Arica looked a little more modern in its buildings and infrastructure. This possibly due to the revenues from a very busy sea port and lots of international trade. Both cities appeared to be of equal size, with Tacna being slightly bigger at around 220,000 people when we visited. Arica, at the same time was, I believe around 180,000 inhabitants. The rest of the day we spent, strolling around the city centre, looking at the cathedral in the square, sitting by a fountain in the main plaza and generally snooping around to see what made Chile, different from Peru. We found nothing. Everything looked the same in both places. If there was a difference, it was not in the people, rather it was in the governments.

In about mid afternoon, we started to wander our way towards the open mall area and our departure point for Tacna. I remember being so excited going back towards the mall. I just knew we would have enough time to visit the Golden Arches. And behold, as we entered to the mall, we could see them in the distance. My pace quickened, my heart rate quickened, I started to sweat a bit, and my stomach was telling me, that my throat was cut. We had been away from Canada for only 10 days, at this point, but already I had this irresistible craving for a Big Mac. Geezus, what do they put in those things, that can have a full grown man, so addicted. Here I am travelling a country with the most delicious and exotic foods known to man, and I am near catatonic for want of a burger.

So, there ends my memory of the time, I took Bubbaloo to Chile. We took a cab back to the border. One more night in Tacna, and then we left the south of Peru by bus. The trip did nothing to soften her opinion of Chile or Chileans. To this day, if I ever need to see if she is alive and just ignoring me, all I have to do is mention something good about Chile. That sets her off. Her antennae come up and she immediately bristles. Even in the middle of writing this, she had to interrupt and tell me something mean about Chile. Stay tuned everyone, this 2007 trip to Peru is not finished yet. There is more exciting action to come. For instance, what about a trip to where we used to work?