Taita Tume and Mama Saloma

Cabo Blanco is a fishing village located in northwestern Peru, appearing on colonial maps as a reference point for conquering navigators under the name “Cabo de Nieve.” Two marine currents converge on its coast: the Humboldt Peruvian Current and the Equatorial Current. This results in the El Niño phenomenon, which gives the area its hydrobiological richness and legendary fish. It’s called the “World Fishing Paradise,” for this reason. Cabo Blanco’s perfect tubular waves are praised by surfers and the extensive beach is a permanent attraction, making it a little paradise in northern Peru.

More than a century ago, with the discovery of oil fields in northern Peru, it was necessary in Cabo Blanco to build a pier to allow ships to dock and send crude oil worldwide. This obviously attracted a large wave of workers who migrated from all over Peru to support the construction.

The first settlers arrived in 1909 and among them, Don José Vicente Tume Chunga, “Taita Tume,” born in Bajo Piura.

Taita Tume lived in Vichayal, 2 hours south of Cabo Blanco, with his mother, Doña Manuela Chunga. Doña Manuela heard that a watchman was needed north of Pariñas, in a construction site to build a dock. She told Vicente, who liked the idea and decided to apply for the job. He worked for a man named Mr. Campbell, the manager of the Oilfields Lobitos Company (later the International Petroleum Company – IPCo.-) in Vichayal, now a district of Paita.

They rode to Lagunitos, an oil camp near Negritos. From Lagunitas, they went down to the beach in Negritos, heading north, passing Talara, then Lobitos, and arrived in Restín. From there, they went further north along the coast, looking for the best place to build a dock that the oil company needed to transport the crude oil already being produced in large quantities in the surrounding lands. The crude oil would be stored in giant tanks that would later be placed in the hills and transported by international ships arriving every week.

Restín was an oil camp with a beautiful beach; now only the cemetery remains as evidence of a human settlement. Taita Tume and Mr Campbell continued north, arriving at a place known to sailors as “Cabo Blanco,” where they stayed to observe the tides. Mr Campbell explained that that was going to be Vicente’s role. He alone was going to keep track of the tides – hours and dates – noting how long a rough sea lasted and how long the sea remained calm. The data he collected later would have served to inform the engineers and builders to build the dock. Taita Tume then remained in those lonely places, entrusted to God.

Every afternoon he went to the beach and found plenty of fish in the pools between the rocks. He made a large hook with an iron rod and caught a few groupers, gutted and dried them in the sun. There were more fish species the sea would offer everyday, such as snappers and parrotfish, and shellfish, such as lobsters, octopuses, snails, limpets, and barnacles, stuck to the rocks, all in abundance. He never lacked fresh fish or shellfish. The company built a cabin that would be his shelter and every two weeks they brought him water and provisions. The cabin later became a house.

The materials for the construction of the pier arrived by sea and were stored near the hill. When they had collected many pipes of different diameters, tram rails, planks, and wooden beams one foot thick, they brought cement and workers with machines arrived. It took two years to build the pier, and more to build a gravel road from Lobitos to connect Cabo Blanco.

The construction company brought fishermen from other places to help build the colossal pier and supply the town with food. People from Sechura and Bajo Piura came, forming a small fishing community. Ten years later, Cabo Blanco grew more populated. It became a link between the company managers and the fishermen.

Once, when Vicente was on guard at the pier, he heard cries coming from his guard cabin at night. He told the road workers in the morning, but they thought he was joking. However, the same thing happened the following nights, and he insisted until exasperated, they decided to go and check out. He indicated the approximate location of where the cries were coming from; they dug there and found several human bones – seventeen in total. They must have been there for decades, in memory of a tragedy that occurred at sea. The men buried the bones in a mass grave and placed a cross on it. That night the cries stopped. And Taita Tume continued guarding the pier.

Later, with the pier in place, the Lobitos Petroleum Company (CPL) arrived and the oil boom began. The pier supported the pipeline and transported crude oil from the storage tanks to the international ships anchored in front of the port. It also allowed the most famous movie stars and magnates of the 1950s to pass through Cabo Blanco. And thanks to the stories of the fascinating people coming and going from Cabo Blanco, it was possible for Vicente to travel too.

In the 1950s, high-sea sport fishing was promoted recreationally in the community. A group of entrepreneurs founded the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club. They attracted famous visitors including Ernest Hemingway, Mike Lerner, Bob Hope, Lord Mountbatten, Bill Hatch, biologist Francesca La Monte, Maisy, James Stewart, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, Cantinflas, Henry Ford, Ray Flanagan, Van Heflin, Doris Day, Paul Newman, Spencer Tracy, Marilyn Monroe, Luis Miguel Dominguín, Lucía Bosé, Gary Cooper, Ted Williams, Nelson Rockefeller, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, among other rich and famous actors, actresses, and entrepreneurs.

Vicente became a link between the administrators of the Lobitos Petroleum Company (CPL), the International Petroleum Company (IPCo), and the local fishermen. With the support of his neighbors, he petitioned the company to build houses, supply natural gas and drinking water, and provide other benefits to the community that was now his own. And in this community he found love when he met Doña Salomé Tume, also known as “Mama Saloma,” who will be the mother of his children and  his partner for the rest of his life. Together they gave birth to a big family that still lives and shapes Cabo Blanco and the Peruvian coasts. Descendants, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren of Taita Tume are prominent professionals in Peru and abroad.

During the cold seasons Vicente, Mama Saloma and their kids moved from Cabo Blanco to the beaches of the north, where he built a cabin to shelter from the winter weather while fishing on a balsilla with other friends, including Mr. Máximo Jacinto “Don Macha”, a sort of local celebrity, together with other nine fishermen who caught the great black marlin. They visited the fishing areas along the shore in places such as “Quebrada Verde,” – where the cabin was located – “Puerto Rico,” and “El Ñuro.” At Puerto Rico beach there was a beached mother-of-pearl shell and Doña Juana Tume, daughter of Taita Tume, found a giant pearl the size of a pigeon egg. Doña Juana is now ninety-two years old and is the only surviving daughter of Taita Tume.

One of Vicente’s sons, Mr. Rufino Tume, as well as two of his sons-in-law, Jesús Ruíz “Taita Mama” and Miguel Custodio, were part of a crew of nine who participated in the capture of the world record Black Marlin, weighing 1560 pounds. Another son-in-law, Pablo Córdova, was the bartender who attended and chatted for countless hours with writer Ernest Hemingway at the fishing club bar. Another son-in-law, Mr. Baltazar Chapilliquén, was a leader and national representative of artisanal fishermen and belonged to the National Federation of Artisanal Fishermen of Peru.

Mr. Baltazar’s two older sons are fishing experts with expertise in fisheries engineering. Simon, the eldest, held numerous internships with fishing experts in Japan. He is a skilled fisherman and one of the experts at the Paita Fishing Training Center. He has also conducted tests in fish farms with high-demand species, such as cabrilla, cabrillón, and mero murique. He believes it is possible to create fish farms with these species, potentially securing future food supplies for the population. Simon, Baltazar’s other son, is an artisanal fisherman and diver who has often sailed the sea of Cabo Blanco on the small sailboat “Simbad,” beyond thirty miles from the coast in search of tuna. In 2005, he was awarded “Fisherman of the Year” by the Ministry of Fisheries in recognition of his outstanding aquaculture projects in his province. He is also a professor of Fisheries Technology at IST Talara.

Baltazar’s engineer son, Mr. Carlos Chapilliquén, is currently a leader of the fishermen of Cabo Blanco (President of the Fishermen’s Guild). Under his leadership, a modern pier was built, the new Artisanal Fishing Landing (DPA) of Cabo Blanco, one hundred years after his great-grandfather, Vicente “Taita Tume,” was a guard at the first pier. Carlos specializes in deep-sea fishing, developing his expertise in catching tuna and albacore with trolling.

Carlos Chapilliquén and his counterparts from the neighboring cove of “El Ñuro” made it possible for the artisanal sailboat to be declared national heritage, as stated in the newspaper El Peruano: “Declare Cultural Heritage of the Nation to the knowledge, wisdom, and practices associated with traditional navigation and fishing with artisanal sailboats in the coves of Cabo Blanco and El Ñuro in the province of Talara, department of Piura.” During his tenure, he also institutionalized the “Regata del Siglo,” perpetuating the sailing fishing boat competitions practiced in Cabo Blanco since ancient times.

Orestes Tume, one of Taita Tume’s eldest sons, was a skilled swordfish harpooner during Máncora’s golden age. He was also a great grouper fisherman who skillfully maneuvered sailboats. Rufino Tume, Taita Tume’s youngest son, was the captain of the yacht “Miss Peru” and took Ernest Hemingway in search of the thousand-pound marlin referenced in his novel “The Old Man and the Sea.” Rufino appears in one of Ted Williams’s films catching a large black marlin in Cabo Blanco. His descendants have successfully dedicated themselves to business activities related to fishing and its commercialization. Cruz Ruiz Tume, Taita Tume’s grandson, is another of Cabo Blanco’s great fishermen. He is the son of Jesus Ruiz “Taita Mama,” captain of the yacht “Miss Texas” and one of the nine artisanal fishermen famous for fishing the big black marlin. Cruz Ruiz dedicated himself to large-scale fishing, captaining a small 12-ton vessel with a purse seine net. Don Eusebio Ecca, popularly known as “Chevo,” another of Taita Tume’s sons-in-law, was an experienced fisherman of large groupers, fishing with cable line boarding – bottom trolling fishing, a legacy inherited by some of his descendants who are prominent fishermen in northern Peru. Don Miguel Custodio, Taita Tume’s son-in-law and crew member of one of the yachts, is a skilled bait maker for catching marlins. Most of his descendants have dedicated themselves to fishing activities.

Taita Tume passed away over 100 years of age in February 1984, leaving an extended family that always honors his memory in every moment and act.

The woman with whom Don Taita Tume shared most of his life until his final days, “Mama Saloma,”; was a worthy homemaker and good companion; she supported him at home and worked in the sale of salted fish to Huaquillas on the Ecuadorian border. She bought fresh fish such as liza, mackerel, horse mackerel, or bonito, processed, sliced, salted, and packed it in sacks by quintals. They were sold in Aguas Verdes (Tumbes) and taken to Huaquillas in Ecuador. This business generated good income and helped support the family. On the way back, they brought products from the border, such as oranges, bananas, pineapples, and cookies to sell to the residents of Cabo Blanco. A supportive woman, she educated her daughters, Marina, Cristina, Mercedes, Juana, and Josefina, to form excellent families.

Josefina, the youngest daughter, is the mother of the author of this note:  José Luis Chapilliquén Tume; very proud to be the grandson of Taita Tume, born in Cabo Blanco. I am a teacher and a fisherman by profession. Heir to a long line of seafaring men and women.