In Aracataca, the town where the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Gabriel García Márquez, was born, his legacy is perceived and honored in a very particular way.  

The municipality is 87 kilometers away from the city of Santa Marta, and can only be accessed by land via the Caribbean Trunk Avenue. The trip takes approximately one hour and thirty minutes. 

If you are following the writer's footsteps, you will be interested to know that this is the first place that fueled his great talent. You will need a day and a night to fall in love with this beautiful town, its friendly people, and the places that evoke the great Cataqueño writer.

There, in the heart of the banana-growing region and at the foot of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the Department of Magdalena, the writer lived his childhood until he was eight years old.

In the early stages of life, the foundations for the physical, emotional, mental, and cultural development of human beings are laid. This is why this Caribbean municipality is attributed with the Macondian heritage and the atmosphere that Gabriel García Márquez recreated in his masterpieces, copying his memories of streets, houses, cultural dynamics, and the particular atmosphere of the town.

Visiting this small and inspiring municipality, where the architectural spaces that witnessed his life with his family are preserved, and where the characteristics of the writer's narrative can be breathed, becomes the perfect excuse to enrich and transfer the works of literature, performing a personal exercise with the help of imagination, to the environment that inspired them.

The etymology of the word Aracataca has its origin in the pre-Columbian era. Although the meaning of its roots is unclear, it is believed that these lands were inhabited by the Chimila tribe, during the time of the “Cacique Ara,” who named the river that crosses the urban area of the town “Cataca,” meaning “Clear Water.”

The History of Aracataca

When the Spaniards arrived, they settled in this territory, which they called Aracataca. Centuries later, this river descending from the Sierra would inspire the Nobel Prize winner to describe the environment of the village where one of the distinguished characters of his literature, José Arcadio Buendía, lived. 

Many say that Aracataca is Macondo, and to some extent, they are right. Everything that García Márquez narrates in his books, especially details like the dusty cloud covering the almond trees and the inhabitants' yearning for progress, finds its true roots in Aracataca. 

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The name “Macondo” was taken by the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude from the gate of a banana plantation through which he passed while traveling on the train that arrived and departed from his hometown. 

Macondo is actually the name of a tree whose discovery is credited to Alexander Von Humboldt. The botanical species “Cavanillesia Platanifolia” grows up to 35 meters tall, native to the tropical dry forest that predominates in the Atlantic Coast. With a thick trunk and lush exuberance, its flowers are yellow with reddish hues, and its wood is used to make canoes and household containers.  

The main tourist attractions of this beautiful town are all related to the writer and his life.  The streets and walls of the town are adorned with the author's written words, serving as a perpetual tribute to his memory.

The Gabriel García Márquez House Museum is the most visited tourist site, attracting over 25,000 tourists annually. Entrance is free. It recreates the fourteen spaces where the writer spent his childhood, including Colonel Nicolás Márquez's office (Gabo's grandfather), the living room, the silverware workshop, the dining room, the hospital room, the begonia corridor, the child's room, the kitchen, the guajiro room, and the patio, among others. At the end, you can personally leave a contribution for its maintenance.

The National Postal Administration Telegrafista House, a picturesque white house with red doors, is considered a Historical and Cultural Heritage of Colombia. It was where the writer's father, Don Eligio García, worked.  Its entrance is also free.

What to Do?

You cannot miss visiting the Old Railway Station, an antique museum with a beautiful yellow facade, where, in the 1920s, thousands of people arrived, attracted by the banana boom. 

It was a place that inspired and connected our character with the other world, where itinerant art collections are exhibited. It also has a restaurant and sells local crafts. It is also an information point for travelers, offering tourist guides and bicycle tour options around the town.

The Macondo Linear Park is a special 355-meter-long place where you can breathe the essence of García Márquez's work under the almond trees. It was built to accompany an old irrigation canal adorned with a vast artistic mural, where over fourteen local artists and those from neighboring towns have painted nearly thirty works based on parts of the author's novels.

It has a path ideal for strolling and enjoying the parks and the canal, where travelers can take a bath and refresh themselves with its cold waters. Aracataca also has several spas to visit, including the Arroyo de Matute, Arroyo de Cataquita, Arroyo de Tayrona, and the Aracataca River.

 

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Once in Aracataca, you cannot miss the Monument to Remedios La Bella, the Tomb of Melquíades, the school where the writer studied, and the San José Church.  All of these places are enriched with the oral tradition that forms part of the place’s identity.

This trip is truly an immersion into the person of Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez, the full name he was given at birth. It is also a perfect excuse to enjoy the cuisine filled with exquisite preparations made with plantains and palm oil, the two crops that surround the municipality.

You can try cayeye (boiled plantain with cheese), sancocho (chicken or fish stew on a wood stove), peto, yuca cake, and rice cake with meats, all of which are must-tries when visiting Aracataca. Don’t miss out on the treats that nourished this man who introduced the world to this noble town in Magdalena.

We don't know for sure if Aracataca was already Macondo before Gabo's time, or if it was he who turned his hometown into that village with his magical stories. That’s why you can’t miss visiting it; only the experience of breathing in the air of Aracataca will give you a real answer. Let yourself be surprised by Aracataca and García Márquez!