General Tapioca is the rival of General General Alcazar. He is first mentioned in The Seven Crystal Balls when Tintin finds Alcazar reduced to a knife throwing stage act because of Tapioca’s coup.

The general’s name gives us another clue to the location San Theodoros. Tapioca, the bland yet somehow disgusting foodstuff, comes from the plant Cassava. Though widespread in the Americas it was first cultivated at a 1400 year old Mayan site Joya de Ceren. Located in present day El Salvador.

General Tapioca’s name in conjunction with the other Mayan references in the books, adds to the evidence that San Theodoros is located in central America and not South America as had been assumed.

I’m rereading Tintin and the Picaros and it is amazing how many little things I did not notice before.

Tintin for Nuclear Disarmament

Written in the mid-70s, Tintin and the Picaros saw Tintin updated for a new generation. Gone are the trademark plus-fours and Tintin appears more mature, less innocent about the world. This signs are subtle, such as the CND sticker on Tintin’s helmet on page 1, but whether this is a deliberate attempt to modernise the character or a reflection on Herge’s growing weariness of Tintin’s naivety it is impossible to tell.

Haddock and Whisky

Herge’s relationship with alcohol through all the books is interesting but in Tintin and the Picaros we see it develop. The undoubtedly alcoholic Haddock was always a strange companion for the T-Total Tintin. Alcohol is certainly presented as a negative influence and numerous times it gets Captain Haddock, Snowy and very occasionally Tintin into trouble. In Picaros, we see Haddock cured of his taste for whisky (unknowingly) with a pill that is a remarkably like a super-strong version of Disulfiram.

One interesting take on alcohol in Tintin and the Picaros are these two panels from page 8. The text reads “Are you depressed? Does the day seem long? We have the answer. Loch Lomand”. A typically Herge ironic attack on advertising and alcohol. Totally unconnected with this, on the same page (panel 8) Captain Haddock uses the word pachyrhizus about General Tapioca. Pachyrhizus is a small genus of five or six species of tropical and subtropical plants, mostly found in Bolivia.

Later on in the book we see Loch Lomand whisky being responsible for drunkenness amongst the native Arumbayas and the Picaros rebels under General Alcazar.

Tintin Monkeys Around

On of the questions about Tintin and the Picaros (and Tintin and the Broken Ear) is where the country of San Theodoros is located. There are several contradictory clues. On page 28, whist Tintin seems to be back into his normal adventuring style despite his uncharacteristic unwillingness to get involved early on the book, a monkey saves Tintin’s life. The monkey looks like a Titi monkey, common in Colombia to Brazil, Peru and north Paraguay. This puts San Theodoros more in a more southerly location than previously assumed.

Further wildlife clues can be found on page 37 of Tintin and the Picaros. A cayman crocodile, an adaconda and an electric eel (Gymnotus) all make an appearance. There are several varieties of cayman crocodiles but the largest (and most likely to attack a human) is Spectacled Caiman and is common in Venezuela but can be found as far north as El Salvador. The largest and most common of the anaconda family is the Eunectes murinus that can grow us to 25 feet (7.6 m) in length. The species is found in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. The gymnotus or electric knifefish can be found all over the south and central americas, from southern Mexico to Argentina.

Herge’s Ambivalence to the Picaros

One of the striking things about Tintin and the Picaros is how little Tintin cares about the country of San Theodoros. In earlier books, Tintin would be leading the revolution for the sake of the people. In this book, Tintin is lax in coming to his friends help early on in the book. Later on, he almost walks away from helping Alcazar with the revolution.

The most telling of aspect of the book are the comparison between page 11 (panel 9) and page 62 (panel 11). Both are images of the slums of the capital. In both, there are shanty town houses and rubbish strewed streets. The only difference is the name of the capital has been changed. With this, is Herge indicating his own disillusion with the world? Rejecting the idea that one man, no matter how good or brave, can save so many poor and downtrodden people. If so, Tintin and the Picaros represent a low point for Tintin and Herge.

Tintin and the Picaros, like the best of Herge’s work, leaves us with more questions about Herge than it answers.

Continuing my work on updating the Tintin Map, I’m looking into San Theodoros. This fictional country appeared in Tintin and the Picaros (TatP) and The Broken Ear. It is described as a Latin American country and Castafiore stops there after visiting Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela. However, the temple Tintin visits in TatP clearly looks Mayan, compare the photo of the Chichen Itza temple with the one on page 25 of Tintin and the Picaros. This ancient culture was dominant in present day Mexico but did extend into Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and western Honduras.

In The Broken Ear, the countryside, dress and general look of San Theodoros has a predominately Mexican feel. The use of spanish prefixes in both the county’s name, the capital (Los Dopicos) and the capital its neighbours Nuevo-Rican (San Facion) suggest Mexico or another Central American such as Costa Rica.

Tintin sails to Los Dopicos from Le Harve. There is no mention of the Panama canal so San Theodoros’ capital must be on the east coast of central or south America.

As with all of Herge’s fictional places, he did not tie himself down to specifics but instead took what he need from different places. Locations are further confused by differences between the originals and their translations and between different editions as Herge habitually made many changes when updating albums. Herge lacked consistency in his own work as well. Los Dopicos is a port city in The Broken Ear but by Tintin and the Picaros it seems to be inland.

Putting the different clues together – Mayan pyramids, styles of dress and buildings, coastal location and the strong Spanish influence on names, I think the east coast of the Mexico including the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize and Honduras is the best fitting region.