In Guayaquil they met for the first and only time, two men who barely bordered 40 years, but who looked much more, as if his life had been an infinite sum of sacrifices and battles.
It was true: between the two there were hundreds of battles and heroics. One was called Joseph and the other Simon; José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar.
San Martin came from the South, from Buenos Aires, like a triumphant rebel, crossing mountains, fighting for the freedom of America. From the North came Bolivar and his mark of heroism illuminated the history of the continent.
The two colossi met in private. San Martin wanted the territory of Peru to be integrated into the government of the Río de la Plata; Bolívar considered Peru to be part of big Colombia.
And in the end there was mystery about the spirit and the atmosphere of the meeting. The dialogue seemed cold, distant and in a gesture of courtesy with San Martin, the night closed with a dance in his honor.
But San Martin felt that tonight his destiny as a fighter ended in America; He gave the order to take the suitcase to his brig and left for Europe, never to return.
That meeting, or better, that disagreement between the freedom fighters, happened on a day like today, June 26, 1822.
And the monument of the boardwalk, remember that meeting for the story:
