Week 10: Locations

by Sara Corona Goldstein

Pachuca — Guadalupe Elena Blanco had moved to Santa Teresa from here less than a week before she was killed in July 1996. (p. 513)

Secondary School 30, in Colonia Felix Gomez— Marina Rebolledo was found here in August 1996. (p. 516)

Colonia Plata Angelica (Jessica) Nevares,  a dancer, lived here. (p. 516)

Culiacan, Sinaloa — Angelica Nevares was from here before moving to Santa Teresa five years prior. (p. 516)

Morelos — Perla Beatriz Ochoterena was from here before she lived in Santa Teresa. (p. 517)

Colonia Mancera — Adela Garci­a Ceballos lived here with her eventual killer, Ruben Bustos. (p. 518)

Pueblo Azul — Lola and Janet Reynolds are found dead near here at the end of September 1996. (p. 519)

Rillito, Arizona — the Reynolds sisters were from here. (p. 520)

Nayarit — Maria Sandra Rosales Zepeda was from here. (p. 522)

Podesto ravine— Luisa Cardona Pardo’s body is found here in November 1996. (p. 524)

Colonia La Preciada – Luisa Cardona Pardo lived here. (p. 525)

Podesta ravine —Lalo Cura and Ordonez discover another body here. (p. 525)

Colonia El Cerezal — Estefana Rivas and Hermania Noreiga, half-sisters, are found in a house here in December 1996. (p. 526)

Yuma, Arizona — Ronald Luis Luque’s father tells Juan de Dios Marti­nez that this son planned to go here. (p. 530)

Paris — Elvira Campos dreams of running away to Paris and starting over. (p. 535)

Colonia Del Valle — Sergio Gonzalez and Marcario Lopez Santos talk to General Humberto Paredes at his home here about snuff films. (p. 536)

Buenos Aires — an Argentinian correspondent for a newspaper from here spends three days in Santa Teresa. He visits El Rey del Taco and watches a snuff film in a house in northern Santa Teresa. (p. 540)

Los Angeles, California — the Argentinian correspondent interviews actors here for his article on Santa Teresa and the snuff film industry. (p. 541)

Buenos Aires — Mike and Clarissa Epstein invent the term “snuff film” here in 1972 while filming a movie here. (p. 541)

Tigre, Argentina — the Epsteins and their crew shoot part of their film here. (p. 542)

A ranch in the pampa, Argentina — Estela’s ranch is here, where the Epsteins and JT and their crew spend time shooting their movie. (p. 542)

El Rosario, Santa Teresa — Guadalupe Guzman Preito is found here in March 1997. (p. 545)

Cerro Estrella — Jazmin Torres Dorantes is found here in March 1997. (p. 546)

San Miguel de Horcasitas —Carolina Fernandez Fuentes’ parents live here. (p. 547)

El Pajonal— three students and a history professor from UCLA find the skeleton of a girl here at the end of March 1997. (p. 547)

Guanajuato —the Gonzaez Resendiz family, who believe a body found in El Chile to be that of their daughter, Irene, are from here. (p. 549)

Hermosillo— Juan Arredondo, the second medical examiner in Santa Teresa, is from here. (p. 550)

Medellin, Colombia —Arrendondo traveled here once to represent the Institute of Forensic Anatomy and the University of Santa Teresa at a symposium held here once, and came back a changed man. (p. 550)

Irapuato, Irapuato — Rigoberto Fri­as, the third medical examiner, is from here. (p. 550)

Colonia Serafin Garabito — Frias lives here. (p. 550)

Villaviciosa — the entire line of Maria Expositos lived here. (p. 555)

Colonia Mexico— Rafael Exposito stays here briefly with a whore he meets before killing Celestino Arraya in 1934. (p. 557)

Ensenada — the secretary for Santa Teresa’s Department of Sex Crimes moved here, leaving only Yolanda Palacio working there. (p. 563)

Week 9: Locations

by Sara Corona Goldstein

Cerro Estrella — another woman is found here at the end of September 1995. (p. 466)

Colonia Lomas del Toro — Estrella Ruiz Sandoval’s older sister lives here. (p. 467)

Casas Negras — Rosa Maria Medina’s father found the stone outside their house here. (p. 468)

Downtown Santa Teresa — Klaus Haas’s computer store is here. (p. 474)

Colonia Veracruz — Juan Pablo Castalan, the boy who works at Haas’s computer store, lives here. (p. 475)

Tijuana — Haas owns another computer store here. (p. 476)

Denver, Colorado — Haas lived here briefly, according to Juan Pablo – though he didn’t, really. (p. 476)

Colonia El Cerezal — Haas lives here. (p. 477)

Tampa, Florida — Haas lived here and was accused of attempted rape by Laurie Enciso, among other things. (p. 477)

Bielefeld, West Germany — Haas was born here in 1955. (p. 478)

Colonia Centena — Haas owns another computer store here. (p. 478)

El Alamillo — the rancher in one of the four private cells in the Santa Teresa jail is from here. (p. 481)

Cananea — Enrique Hernandez was born here. (p. 491)

San Blas, in northern Sinaloa — four gunmen show up at a warehouse here and kill two watchmen, then steal the shipment of coke they were guarding. (p. 492)

A road between La Discordia and El Sasabe — one of Campuzano’s trucks was attacked and stolen here. (p. 492)

El Ojito ravine — Adela Garcia Estrada is found here in November 1995. (p. 493)

Colonia La Vistosa — another dead woman is found here on November 20, 1995. (p. 493)

Colonia Sur — Beatriz Concepcion Roldan is from here. (p. 494)

Colonia Morelos, near Morelos Preparatory School — the body of Michelle Requjo is found here in December 1995. (p. 495)

Colonia Las Flores – Rosa López Larios, found in December 1995, was from here. (p. 497)

Colonia Álamos – Ema Contreras, also found in December 1995, was from here. (p. 498)

El Obelisco – a settlement just outside Santa Teresa, sometimes called El Moridero, near where two bodies were found in early 1996. (p. 502)

Cerro Estrella — another girl is found here in March 1996. (p. 503)

Colonia Carranza — Sagrario Baeza Lopez, whose work ID showed up on the body of a victim in the first week of April 1996, lives here. (p. 507)

Guadalajara — Rene Alvarado was from here. (p. 508)

Colonia Madero-Norte — Paula Sánchez Garcias, a dancer at El Pelicano, lived here. (p. 509)

Colonia San Bartolome — Ana Hernandez Cecilio, mistakenly pronounced dead, lived here. (p. 510)

Colonia Maytorena — Arturo Olivarez lived here. (p. 510)

Week 8: Locations

by Sara Corona Goldstein

Huntsville, Arizona— Lucy Anne Sander lived here. (p. 406)

Mississippi — Lucy Anne Sander was born here. (p. 406)

Calle Verdejo, in Colonia Centro-Norte — the American consulate is here. (p. 407)

Diego Riveras School, in Colonia Lomas del Toro— Monica Duran Reyes was kidnapped from here. Rebecca Fernandez de Hoyos is found in this Colonia, also. (p. 412)

Oaxaca — Rebecca Fernandez de Hoyos is from here. (p. 412)

Internal Affairs on Avenida Madero-Norte — a whorehouse where Harry Magaña befriends Demetrio Águila. (p. 415)

Calle Luciarnaga in Colonia Ruben Dari­o — Águila has a house here, where he lets Magaña stay. (p. 415)

Churcarit — Magaña discovers a love letter written to Miguel Montes by a girl from here. Magaña and Águilar agree that this is Montes’ hometown. (p. 422)

Calle Alondra, in Colonia Podesta — in November 1994 a woman’s body is found here in on the second floor of a building under construction. (p. 424)

Profesor Emilio Cervantes, in Colonia Lomas del Toro – Silvana Pérez Arjona attended school here until she had to drop out. (p. 426)

Nácori Grande — Florita Almada (La Santa) was born here. (p. 429)

Villa Pesqueria — Florita Almada and her family move here. She marries a livestock dealer. (p. 429)

Hermosillo — Reinaldo’s TV show, on which Florita Almada appears, has its station here. (p. 434)

Guaymas — the ventriloquist on Reinaldo’s TV show is from here. (p. 434)

Churcarit — Harry Magaña travels here, meets María del Mar Enciso Montes, and visits Miguel Montes’ house. (p. 437)

Tijuana — Magana travels here, calls his friend from the LAPD, and meets Raul Rami­rez Cerezo and Chucho. (p. 440)

Calle Santa Catarina, in Colonia Carranza — Magaña goes to Elsa Fuentes’ house here. (p. 445)

Toconilco, Durango — Elsa Fuentes’ mother lives here. (p. 447)

Calle Portal de San Pablo — Magaña goes here, to Francisco’s house. (p. 448)

Querétaro — Paula Garcia Zapatero is from here. (p. 454)

Sage, California — Abe (Conan) Mitchell, the American consul, spends time in his cabin here. (p. 455)

Escondido, California— Mitchell’s wife stays here with her sister while he is in Sage. (p. 455)

Michoacan — Monica Posades and her family are from here. (p. 461)

Vasconelos Preparatory School, in Colonia Reforma — Marisa Hernández Silva attended school here. (p. 463)

Week 6: Locations

by Sara Corona Goldstein

Harlem, New York —Fate meets the Mohammedan Brotherhood here during a pro-Palestine demonstration just after 9/11. (p. 290)

Bronx, New York— Fate has an appointment with Khalil of the Mohammedan Brotherhood. (p. 292)

Mexico City —Guadalupe Roncal works for a newspaper here. (p. 296)

New York University —Fate went to college here. (p. 300)

Sioux City, Iowa —Chuck Campbell went to college here. (p. 300)

Arena del Norte boxing stadium — Fate goes here once in the morning, then again for the fight in the evening. He meets Rosa Amalfitano here. (p. 303, 305)

Veracruz, Mexico — Rosa Méndez asks if Fate has ever been here; “something bad must have happened” to her here. (p. 310)

El Rey del Taco – Fate, Rosa, Rosita, Chucho, Cruz, and Corona eat here after the fight. (p. 312)

Hermosillo—Garcia, one of Merolino’s sparring partners, spent eight years in prison here for killing his sister. (p. 319)

Charly Cruz’s house— Fate & co. end up here the night of the fight. (p. 319)

Fire, Walk With Me— a 24-hour cybercafe in Santa Teresa to which the clerk at Fate’s motel gives him directions. Fate does not go. (p. 339)

Santa Teresa prison — Rosa Amalfitano and Fate go with Guadalupe Roncal here to interview the chief suspect for the murders. (p. 345)


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Week 5: Locations

by Sara Corona Goldstein

Paradise City, Chicago— Jimmy Lowell, the chief boxing correspondent for Black Dawn dies here. (p. 235)

New York City — Qunicy Williams (Oscar Fate) lives here. (p. 239)

Detriot —Fate travels here to interview Barry Seaman. (p. 239)

Jackson Tree, Michigan — two passengers on Fate’s flight to Detroit tell a story about a man named Bobby who capsized his fishing boat here, nearly freezing to death. (p. 240)

Athens, South Carolina — the bartender at Pete’s Bar in Detroit fought his last fight here. (p. 242)

Rebecca Holmes Park, Detroit — Fate and Seaman walk through his park before going into the church where Seaman gives his sermon. (p. 245)

Los Angeles, California — Seaman spent his childhood here. (p. 246)

Algeria; China — Seaman traveled here in his youth with the Black Panthers. (p. 247)

Santa Cruz, California – Marius Newell was killed here. (p. 247)

Folsom, Soledad, and Walla-Walla prisons – Seaman spent time here, trading cigarettes. (p. 249)

New York – Seaman goes here to get his cooking/history book published. (p. 251)

Route 80, between Des Moines and Lincoln – Seaman talks about seeing stars here. (p. 252)

Santa Teresa – an American disappears here, as reported by Dick Medina while Fate sleeps. (p. 258)

Brooklyn – Antonio Ulises Jones, the last Communist in Brooklyn, lives here. He is Fate’s first published story for Black Dawn. (p. 258)

Woodward Avenue, Detriot – Fate buys The Slave Trade by Hugh Thomas here; drinks some tea. (p. 261)

Tucson, Arizona — Fate flies here on his way to Santa Teresa to cover Count Pickett’s boxing match. (p. 263)

The Southwest coast of Africa; Corisco; Elmina (a Portuguese fort on the Gold Coast) — all places mentioned on page 361 of The Slave Trade by Hugh Thomas. (p. 263)

Cochise’s Corner—the restaurant where Fate eats on his way to the Mexican border. It is either three hours or an hour and a half away from Santa Teresa. (p. 264)

Patagonia; Adobe – towns Fate passes through on his way to the Mexican border. (pp. 270, 271)

Las Brisas – the motel in the northern part of Santa Teresa where Fate stays. (p. 272)

Arena del Norte boxing stadium – the stadium where the fight between Count Pickett and El Merolino Fernández will be held. (p. 272)

Hotel Sonora Resort – the hotel where most of the reporters are staying in Santa Teresa. (p. 273)

A ranch on the egde of Santa Teresa – El Merolino set up camp here before the fight. (p. 274)

Oceanside, California – Omar Abdul is from here. (p. 275)

Mexico City – Charly Cruz tells a story about Robert Rodriguez, who makes his first movie while living here in a whorehouse with El Perno, a pimp. (p. 280)

A ranch outside Las Vegas – Count Pickett is probably staying here before the fight. (p. 283)

Los Angeles, California – Hércules Carreño fights his last fight here, against Arthur Ashley. Carreño barely makes it to the eighth round and Ashley earns his nickmname, The Sadist. (p. 288)

Chicago – Chuck Campbell works for Sport Magazine here. (p. 289)

Week 4: Locations

by Sara Corona Goldstein

Mondragon, San Sebastian, Spain — Lola’s favorite poet is institutionalized in an insane asylum here. She lives here for a while. (p. 165)

Barcelona — Amalfitano and Lola live here with their daughter, Rosa. Lola says that she met and slept with the poet at a party he and the gay philosopher have here. (p. 165, 167)

Pamplona, Zaragoza — places Lola and Imma stay on their way to San Sebastian. (p. 166-167)

Mondragon cemetary —Lola is driven here by Larrazabal who she sleeps with and later lives with; she also lives here a short time. (p. 175)

Bayonne, Landes, Pau, and Lourdes, France — Lola travels to these places during her time in France before settling in Paris. (p. 180).

Paris — Lola has a job and a son (Benoit) here. (p. 181)

Sant Cugat, Barcelona — Amalfitano is living here with Rosa when Lola visits them for the last time. (p. 183)

Buenos Aires — Duchamp comes up with the idea of hanging a geometry book on a clothesline outside while staying here. (p. 191)

Rianxo, La Coruna — Rafael Dieste, author of Testamento geometrico, is born here in 1899. (p. 195)

Santiago de Compostela — Dieste dies here in 1981. (p. 195)

A merendero, 10 miles outside Santa Teresa —Amalfitano, Rosa, Professor Perez, and her son take a trip here. (p. 199, 204)

Colonia Lindavista, Santa Teresa—Amalfitano’s house is here. (p. 199)

Los Zancudos, outside of Santa Teresa— Marco Antonio Guerra takes Amalfitano here, where they drink Los Suicidas mezcal. (p. 215)

Santiago de Chile — Lonko Kilapán publishes O’Higgins is Araucanian here in 1978. (p. 216)

Week 3: Locations

by Michael Cooler

Deaths in the last section of The Part About The Critics (pages 102 – 159):

No actual “deaths” but references to the murders in Mexico.

p. 137 – “Then Espinoza remembered that the night before, one of the boys had told them the story of the women who were being killed. All he remembered was that the boy had said there were more than two hundred of them and he’d had to repeat it two or three times because neither Espinoza nor Pelletier could believe his ears.”

“From 1993 or 1994 to the present day…And many more women might have been killed. Maybe two hundred and fifty or three hundred.”

This is information that the critics were not aware of. Bolano has presented the critics as fairly insular up to this point, and finally they are getting a glimpse of the world around them. Espinoza reacts to the news by throwing up in a bathroom stall, while an ominous voice soothes Espinoza.  What are we to make of this?  To Espinoza, the voice seems like a comfort, but there is also something sinister in the voice that says “That’s all right, buddy, go ahead and puke.”  Almost as if the next thing this voice might say is, “And then step out of the stall and I’ll cut your throat.”  But Espinoza is still so privileged or fortunate that he does not detect an evil tone in the voice he hears.

p. 151 “As they drank Cuba libres, Rebeca told him that two of the girls who later showed up dead had been kidnapped on their way out of the club. Their bodies were dumped in the desert.” Espinoza gets unknowingly close to death with Rebeca at the dance club.  Here Bolaño further places the aloof character of Espinoza in close proximity to real and dangerous violence. Espinoza and Pelletier have been safe in their upscale hotel, but now Espinoza is brushing cheeks with the death that exists in Santa Teresa (although as a wealthy person he will escape Santa Teresa as Rebeca and the women of the city cannot).

by Sara Corona Goldstein

Berlin — El Cerdo is introduced to Mrs. Bubis here at a “cultural charreada.” (p. 102)

Santa Teresa (near Hermosillo), Mexico — according to El Cerdo, Achimboldi flies here after their night in Mexico City. (p. 104)

Stevenson’ grave in Samoa — Marcel Schwob travels here in 1901 with his manservant, Ting, and nearly dies of pneumonia (the reason Morini cites for not traveling with the other three to Mexico). (p. 106)

Mexico City — Pelletier, Espinoza, and Norton travel here together and spend a night in the hotel where El Cerdo met Archimboldi. (p. 107)

Hermosillo, Mexico — the three critics fly here from Mexico City and drive through Sonora to Santa Teresa. (p. 110)

Hotel Mexico, Santa Teresa, Mexico —the three critics stay here while searching for Archimboldi (p. 111); this is also where they first meet Amalfitano. (p. 114)

Tucson, Arizona — Pelletier and Espinoza drive Norton here for her flight back to London. (p. 135)

A ravine near Montreux, Switzerland — Edwin Johns dies here, accidentally. (p. 150)

Turin, Italy — Norton goes to stay with Morini. (p. 152)

El Cerdo & Archimboldi in Mexico City

In this section of the novel, Bolano gives us a nice little tour of some of the tourist sites in Mexico City. The story that Alatorre tells the critics is that:
1. El Cerdo received a call telling him to go to a hotel near the airport.

2. El Cerdo meets Hans Reiter/Archimboldi there. Eventually El Cerdo asks if he’d like to take a drive around Mexico City or go out for a drink. It’s two in the morning. Archimboldi has a flight to Hermosillo at 7 am.

The airport in Mexico City is called Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez and it’s not on the outskirts of town: it’s right in the middle of things. It borders ten small neighborhoods and two industrial zones. There are several large chain hotels facing the airport or on the airport grounds: the Hilton, the Ramada, the Fiesta Inn, the Camino Real.

3. El Cerdo takes him to Plaza Garibaldi, a mecca of mariachi music.

4. El Cerdo takes Archimboldi to the Zocalo, Mexico City’s Central Square.

5. They wander over to the Plaza de Santo Domingo.

6. El Cerdo drives them down to the iconic Angel statue on Avenue Reforma, but it’s too dark to see the angel at the top of the monument.

7. They head back to the hotel and El Cerdo drops Archimboldi off at the airport.

Here is a map that shows roughly the route they take from the airport to Plaza Garibaldi, to the Zocalo, the Plaza Santo Domingo, the Angel statue, and then back to the airport hotel (I am doing some guesswork on the driving route here).


View El Cerdo y Archimboldi in a larger map

Updated Map

Brooks has kindly updated our 2666 map [current through page 102].

View 2666 Locations in a larger map

As a reminder, here is the remaining schedule:

Week 3: February 8 — pages 102-159
Week 4: February 15 — pages 163-228
Week 5: February 22 — pages 231-290
Week 6: March 1 — pages 291-349
Week 7: March 8 — pages 353-404
Week 8: March 15 — pages 404-465
Week 9: March 22— pages 466-513
Week 10: March 29 — pages 513-564
Week 11: April 5 — pages 565-633
week 12 : April 12 — pages 637-701
week 13 : April 19— pages 702-765
week 14 : April 26 — pages 766-830
week 15 : May 3, 2010 — pages 831-893

Week 2: Locations

by Sara Corona Goldstein

Week Two (pp. 51-102)

Palermo, Italy — a Serbian critic asserts in a published paper that Archimboldi traveled here and bought a plane ticket to Morocco. (p. 55)

London — at the beginning of 1997, Norton invites both Pelletier and Espinoza to visit her. (p. 57)

Berlin, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Mainz — respectively: an assembly, congress, symposium, and conference, each attended by a different combination of the four critics. (p. 62)

London — Pelletier and Espinoza visit Norton again; they meet Alex Pritchard. (p. 64)

Bologna, Italy — Pelletier, Espinoza, and Morini attend a conference on Archimboldi. They ask his advice about their romantic imbroglio. (p. 71)

Saint George’s Road, London— Pelletier and Espinoza beat a Pakistani cab driver while Norton looks on. (p. 74)

Berlin — while attending a conference here, Pelletier and Espinoza visit their first brothel. (p. 80)

Auguste Demarre Clinic near Montreux, Switzerland— Pelletier, Espinoza, and Morini visit the lunatic asylum and meet with Edwin Johns. (p. 87)

Toulouse, France — during a seminar here, the four critics meet Rodolfo Alatorre. (p. 99)

Mexico City, Mexico — Alatorre’s friend Almendro (aka El Cerdo) receives a call from (a man he claims is) Archimboldi and goes to meet him. (p. 100)




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