- Punta Arenas, Peru
Punta Arenas, a
campsite that was originally built by American constructors, is located in thenorthern area of theSouth American country ofPeru , in thecity ofTalara , Piura.Punta Arenas was designed to house the supervisors and administrative
staff of theInternational Petroleum Company (IPC), which was later to become BP Oil. It does not take too long to notice the resemblance between Punta Arenas and the area ofCoral Gables inFlorida , which is coincidentally where theheadquarters of the IPC used to be back in the 1940s.The campsite was organized around the letters of the
alphabet . Each block of 10 houses was assigned a letter, and each house was given a number. Therefore, a given house would be B-10, or W-5. As years went by, and as need for more houses grew, letter combinations like CH and Z were added. Once anemployee of the company (originally Americans) was appointed supervisor, he and his family were relocated and entitled to one of these houses on a loan basis. Some blocks of houses were specifically designed forunmarried persons, featuring individual rooms with sharedbathrooms .When Punta Arenas came into existence, it featured all the
facilities that aresident American family would need: 110-volt A/C, a constantgas supply, an exclusive two- poolclub for residents, abeach , one private residence for the company manager and another one for official guests overlooking the beach, and an elementary andmiddle school which initially followed the American school system.Sidewalks were nonexistent, although unnecessary due to the 25-km/h speed limit that ruled. All houses were equally attractive and comfortable: red bricks, flat roofs, ample space, roomy areas and manicured lawns. As time went by, and as the Peruviangovernment took over theoil refinery after acoup , A/C power gradually moved to Peruvianstandards (220 volts), and the school started to follow the Peruvian school system offeringsecondary education . Still, the campsite was definitely the most convenient and safest place to grow a family.During the 1970s, Punta Arenas kept a certain reminiscense of its initial years: A few Americans remained in Talara and, thus, lived in the area. Certain American customs like
Thanksgiving andHalloween were kept until all the American citizens left or retired from the oil company (renamed asPetroperú ). In the 1980s, virtually no Americans lived in Talara or in Punta Arenas. Theeconomic crisis of the time, mostly caused byAlan García 's first disastrous government period, turned Punta Arenas into a source ofenvy to low-income families who lived in the outskirts of Talara and who saw Punta Arenas and its inhabitants as beneficiaries of a series of privileges that no others could have access to. As an example: During the floods of 1983 (caused by "El Niño "), while thepopulation of thecity struggled to findfood at excessive prices, Petroperú took great care of its supervisors and its families by making sure that food supplies (including freshmeat andpoultry ) were shipped over by specially-charteredairplane flights. Other privileges that supervisors and families enjoyed weretransportation , freeeducation , school materials,water ,electricity andgas , something that was clearly a catch for anyone who accepted to relocate in a now-isolated area of the country.Towards the end of the 20th century, Punta Arenas became slowly uninhabited due to the fall of Petroperu and its
management problems caused byAlberto Fujimori 's treatment of the company's funds as a source ofpetty cash for the country. The so-called "luxury " in the area did not seem to match the crisis in the rest of Peru. As an attempt to keep Punta Arenas alive, the houses were offered forsale orrent toprivate third parties, which did not prove successful. In recent years, many of the houses have been vandalized and demolished, partly because of the lack of use andmaintenance . Only the houses that surround the club and the school remain.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.