My Dear Reader: What This Blog is About

OK, so I have been found by friends and acquaintances who have watched and sometimes helped me struggle over this research for the past five years. The blog began as a personal challenge to research the story behind a poignant letter written in 1881 from the mountains in Peru to a young girl in America.

Some of you know that I have been trying to put this story into book form, and several have been anxious to read what I have discovered. However, I find it difficult to find all the parts of the story to make it suitable for a book.

The biggest help that I have received has been from friends recently met through this research. These friends are scattered across the globe. They include, but are not limited to, a French archivist, an American archeologist, a roller coaster historian, a Peruvian naval officer, and descendants of the protagonists in the story. I have also received help from the many Chilean, Peruvian, and Bolivian scholars still grappling with the scars of the War of the Pacific.

With so many parts of the story missing, I considered making this into a fiction story, but realize that this is not the legacy I wish to leave. This would make a good movie. I've played with picking out the actors. I think Colin Ferrell with those dark eyebrows and boyish charm would be just right to play Paul Boyton, but am still struggling with who should play George Kiefer...George Clooney came to mind (he has a sort of distant and enigmatic aura) but he seems a bit old for the part. Of course, feeling like I ought to be loyal to Brad Pitt, I've considered him for the Paul Boyton part, but Colin really seems better to me.

Anyway, I realized I was saddled with trying to make this book closely document the events that inexorably drew two Americans into the tragic story of the War of the Pacific. And beyond that, realized that you, my dear reader, may hold the parts of the story missing in your hands. So, this shall be my attempt to provide an interactive way in which this story and its many mysteries can be brought to light. I know that there are many documents, diaries, old letters, and artifacts sitting in dusty attics or housed in old shoeboxes whose significance remains undiscovered. And there are archives of personal and business papers scattered across the U.S. and Latin America that would shed light on these events. I invite you to participate.