Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s hometown

John Otis - GlobalPost May 2, 2009 15:39 ET

Renovating a literary giant's childhood home

After numerous failed tourist schemes, Aracataca residents hope a Garcia Marquez museum will succeed.

By John Otis - GlobalPost
Published: May 6, 2009 05:59 ET
Updated: May 9, 2009 08:21 ET

ARACATACA, Colombia — Like the surreal and doomed Macondo, the town that inspired Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s "One Hundred Years of Solitude" can’t seem to catch a break.

Over the years, the residents of Aracataca — a sun-scorched community of 26,000 located in the banana belt of northern Colombia — have dreamed up all kinds of schemes to attract literary tourists to their town.

Officials built an elaborate fountain in honor of Garcia Marquez, who helped popularize the magic realism genre and is widely viewed as one of Latin America’s greatest writers. But due to a water shortage, the fountain doesn’t flow.

A few years ago, the mayor held a referendum to change the name of the town to Aracataca-Macondo. But the re-branding effort failed because not enough people showed up to vote.

Garcia Marquez himself returned to his hometown in 2007 to help establish a tourist train that was supposed to draw visitors to Aracataca (pronounced ah-ra-ca-TA-ca). But after the inaugural run, the service was canceled.

“This town ought to be a treasure,” said school teacher Aura Ballesteros. “But we’ve been abandoned.”

Yet townsfolk are not giving up. A project to renovate Garcia Marquez’s childhood home and turn the structure into a museum is in its final stages. The ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for May 2009 and there are rumors that the great man himself might show up for the event.

More than past projects, the museum seems — at least on paper — true to the spirit of the writer.

The stories that Garcia Marquez absorbed while growing up in the crowded house fired his imagination and helped give birth to the Buendia clan of "One Hundred Years of Solitude." The novel, widely viewed as Garcia Marquez’s masterpiece, chronicles the birth, life and death of Macondo and several generations of the dreamy, impractical and superstitious Buendia family.

“Often, our house in Aracataca, our huge house, seemed as if it were haunted,” Garcia Marquez once said. “All those early experiences have somehow found themselves in my literature.”

Comments:

No Comments.

Login or Register to post comments

Recent on Colombia:

War-zone tourism

John Otis - Colombia - November 8, 2009 09:45 ET

It's a national park “where the rainbow becomes a river.” And it's nearly empty.

Soccer team's murder leaves villagers scared

Charlie Devereux - Venezuela - November 4, 2009 06:55 ET

The murder of an amateur soccer team has heightened tensions between Colombia and Venezuela.

Colombia's rebel turncoats

John Otis - Colombia - October 29, 2009 07:12 ET

A government propaganda blitz urges FARC rebels to give up the fight. It seems to be working.

In the jungle with the Colombian army

John Otis - Colombia - October 29, 2009 07:06 ET

A reporter accompanies a Colombian army mission and observes why winning the war remains so difficult.

Angel, or FARC in disguise?

Nadja Drost - Colombia - October 10, 2009 11:49 ET

Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba evokes strong reactions from supporters and detractors alike.

Colombia's spy scandal

John Otis - Colombia - October 1, 2009 05:54 ET

The intelligence agency has been spying on Colombians — but most don't care if it means they're safer from guerrillas.

Putting a community, and its land, underwater

Nadja Drost - Colombia - September 23, 2009 06:05 ET

Peasants are angry about being pushed off their land for a hydroelectric project whose energy might not even go to Colombians.

Is South America in an arms race?

Nadja Drost - Colombia - September 20, 2009 06:27 ET

Major arms purchases stoke fears of flaring regional tensions on an increasingly militarized continent.

Essay: How to deal with kidnappings

John Otis - Worldview - September 18, 2009 06:02 ET

As the Taliban takes more high-profile hostages, there are lessons to be learned from Colombia's war with the FARC.

Digging up the dead

John Otis - Colombia - September 9, 2009 05:45 ET

Colombia is excavating its civil war dead for the first time — sometimes by going into active war zones.

A Colombian's quest

John Otis - Colombia - September 6, 2009 16:15 ET

Video: The father of a soldier held prisoner symbolically crucified himself to call attention to the plight of Colombia’s hostages.

Anti-Chavez and anti-Uribe protesters face off

Nadja Drost - Colombia - September 6, 2009 14:59 ET

Social networking organizes international protests against the Venezuelan president.

New waves of displacement

Charlie Devereux - Venezuela - September 4, 2009 15:18 ET

Colombia's offensive against armed groups has increased the flow of refugees across the Venezuela border.

Run off their land

John Otis - Colombia - September 4, 2009 05:49 ET

Farmers displaced by war and ignored by politicians are searching for a new life in Bogota's slums.

Bribery accusations in case against Chevron

John Otis - Colombia - September 2, 2009 11:32 ET

In case over Amazon cleanup, Chevron releases videotapes it says implicate the judge in a bribery scheme.

Return of the dictators?

John Otis - Colombia - September 2, 2009 08:14 ET

Colombia's Alvaro Uribe is the latest in a string of Latin American leaders to push for more time in office.

A new stage for drug deals and turf wars

Nadja Drost - The Americas - August 29, 2009 17:00 ET

Panama, once one of Latin America's safest countries, is now home to gangs and drug violence.

A jailed teacher and a prison library

Nadja Drost - Colombia - August 25, 2009 09:19 ET

Colombia's penitentiaries are increasingly filled with political prisoners accused of belonging to insurgent groups.

Cockfighting: cruelty or culture?

John Otis - Colombia - August 21, 2009 12:37 ET