See the Birthplace of Nobel Prize Winning Author Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel prize winning author of One Hundred Years of Solitude was born in the town of Aracataca approximately 44 miles south of Santa Marta. While in Santa Marta it would be a good time to do a trip to the town, especially if you like reading great novels.

Google Earth view of Aracataca .

• The Arabesque church where he was Baptized
• Casa Museo, his childhood home, now a museum.
• The Casa del Telegrafista featured in his novels, Calle 9 5-30
• The Aracataca River

Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the town of Aracataca.

Train Station

The Gypsy Residence

Festivals

• Three Kings
• The Festival of the Unedited Song
• The municipality's anniversary in April
• River Festival

BBC news mentioned in an article June 6, 2006 that there had been a petition to change the name of the town from Aracataca to Macondo, the fictional setting for the writer's most famous work, One Hundred Years of Solitude but it failed, although 90% of those who voted approved not enough people cast their ballots. Novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez

• In Evil Hour
• One Hundred Years of Solitude
• The Autumn of the Patriarch
• Love in the Time of Cholera
• The General in His Labyrinth, this story about Simon Bolivar takes place in and around Santa Marta.
• Of Love and Other Demons
• Memories of My Melancholy Whores

How to get there.

I did this trip from Santa Marta by bus and it's not too difficult, if you do the same thing you will not have any problems.

Buses leave Santa Marta every half hour for 8000 Colombian pesos which is a little more than $4.00 US and it takes approximately 1.5 hours to get there, the buses are new and clean and everyone is friendly.

We left at 7:00 in the morning and arrived in Aracataca on time at around 8:30 am and had an uneventful trip, we were met by one of the many pedal powered tricycle type cabs that wait for the bus and the tour started.

The best way to see the main sites is to pay approximately 20.000.000 pesos $10.00 US and you will see the main sites without getting into trouble walking into the wrong part of town if there is one.

We finished seeing everything by about 12;30 and omly had to wait a few minutes to take the return bus to Santa Marta, making the bus station at just after 2:00.

The tour of the home of Gabriella Garcia Marquez was very interesting with the Colombian weather cooperating as usual with temperatures hovering around the 30˚C mark.

As the bus is heading south, the right side of the bus is best for photos in the morning.

Our Tour Guide and Taxi for the tour. About $10.00 US for 2-3 hours

Restaurants
El Fogonazo Cra 4 6-40

Hotel rooms in town.
$5.00 Residencia Ocaña Calle 8 2-64
$12.00 Residencia Bucaramanga Calle 8

Hotel rooms in Fundacion.
Caroli Cra 8 5-30
Centro del Viajero

Childhood home and now museum

Hours of operation

• Tuesday to Saturday 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
  
• Sunday 9:00 am to 2:00 pm
• Monday closed