San Theodoros - Geography

Geography

Determining the location of the county is difficult, given the conflicting references in the books. The capital, Los Dopicos, is shown in The Broken Ear as having a seaport, whereas in Tintin and the Picaros, it appears to be inland. It is possible that the capital's situation is similar to that of San Salvador, El Salvador, where the inland downtown area and coastal suburbs are separated by a small mountain. In the TV series, at the beginning of The Broken Ear when the museum is closed and the janitor was dusting the exhibits and whistling, it was shown that there was a map in the museum that San Theodoros and Nuevo Rico is somewhere near Guyana. In Tintin and the Picaros, the Paris Flash report clearly claims that the country is, as a matter of fact, in South America, since Bianca Castafiore reportedly "continued her brilliant progress through South America", after successfully visiting Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, and is to visit San Theodoros. In the very same book, Captain Haddock, on an attempt to call General Tapioca, says "Hello, International? Give me South America... Tapiocapolis... General Tapioca!" which lies as yet another proof that the country is located in South America.

The country has a few magnificent Paztec pyramids in Trenxcoatl, including one called Hotuatabotl featured in the Picaros. (Paztec is a pun merging Aztec with pastèque, watermelon. The names of the pyramids, puns on "trench coat" and "hot water bottle" respectively, are meant to look like Nahuatl, e.g. the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl.) In the jungle areas of the country live the Indian tribes of Bibaro (pun of Latin bibere, "to drink") and Arumbajo (or Arumbaya).