Ulises Lima
Lima is a reference to the world-renowned book, Ulysses, by James Joyce. Bolano perhaps used this name to refer to the life and journey Lima lived as being compared to the one lived by Ulysses.
Arturo Belano
It has been speculated that Bolano based the story off of the experiences he himself had as a young creative. The name Belano is very similarly to Bolano and therefore begs the idea that Belano is based off of Bolano himself and is a representation, or alter-ego so to speak, of the life he lived.
