Lost, but not forgotten

Before stinking up a theatre near you, the latest James Bond film (improbably named "Quantum of Solace") is raising a stink on location in northern Chile. The problem? The story takes place in Bolivia but is being filmed in Chile. That happens all the time, though right? So, how can it be a problem? Well the part of Chile being used used to be part of Bolivia until Chile took it in the War of the Pacific. But, the War of the Pacific ended in 1883, right, so who cares now? Mister, EVERYBODY cares.

The Bolivians are mad because Chile is impersonating them on land that used to be theirs. The Chileans are mad because the movie is dressing up people as Bolivians and having them run around acting like this part of Chile is actually Bolivia.

I am not making this up. Read more about it here.

On a related note, Mrs. Angus recently had a Bolivian student in one of her classes who had served in their military. He claimed that when Bolivian soldiers put bullets in their guns (not a real modern arsenal there I guess) they chant, "un Chileno, dos Chilenos......" as each one goes in.