Statues and murals bear his likeness. Schools and libraries are named after him. Hotels, barbers, nightclubs and bicycle repair shops bear references to his work.
In the stuffy Colombian mountain town of Aracataca, it’s impossible to walk down a single street without seeing allusions to its most famous former resident: the winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature, Gabriel García Márquez.
Yellow butterflies are seen throughout the city, a nod to one of its famous literary images. The house where he lived as a child has been transformed into a museum full of original furniture, including the cradle where he slept.
The library, called Remedios La Bella Municipal Public Librarywhich takes its name from the character Remedios the Beautiful from his novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, features a glass case with his books translated into various languages.
Aracataca, a once dusty, dilapidated city of 40,000 plagued by unemployment and a lack of basic services, was transformed by his connection to García Márquez, Colombia’s most famous author and one of the titans of world literature.
Ten years ago, the town had little to offer tourists and did little to further its connection to the author, beyond a museum and a billiard hall that called itself Macondo Billiard, named after the fictional town in “ One hundred years of solitude”. “
But since García Márquez’s death in 2014, interest in him and his hometown, which inspired some of his most famous works, has increased.
Many call the writer by his nickname, Gabo, and the town has become a sort of Gabolandia.
Walk down any block and there are visible reminders of the author: signs with his name, murals, statues, street signs and numerous stands selling everything from baseball caps to coffee mugs bearing the likeness of Mr. García Márquez .
With the release of his last posthumous book, “Until August,” there are high hopes among Aracataca officials and residents that the surrounding publicity will attract even more tourists.
“We have seen changes in all aspects,” said Carlos Ruiz, the director of the museum where Mr. García Márquez’s father worked as a telegraph operator. He collaborated with the regional government to revive literary tourism in the city.
“What we want is for Aracataca to be strengthened through Gabo,” Ruiz said, adding that 22,000 tourists visited last year, up from 17,500 in 2019.
The city celebrates Mr. García Márquez’s birthday every year on March 6, but this year the celebrations were bigger, with more participants and more activities.
The celebration included a story and poetry competition with a dance performance by girls dressed as yellow butterflies. A librarian disguised as Mr. García Márquez to read passages from “One Hundred Years of Solitude” to children. In the evening, a theater group staged the show “Love in the Time of Cholera”.
Mr. García Márquez did not want his latest book published, and the literary merits of the work are already in question. But, in his hometown, the work aroused intense enthusiasm.
“There is great anticipation, especially because in this work the protagonist is a woman,” said Claudia Aarón, 50, a school teacher.
“How beautiful,” he added, “that our great master still allows us to enjoy his work even after his death.”
Ms. Aarón, dressed in bright yellow like many others at the poetry contest, recalled the last time the writer came to Aracataca, in 2007, when he rode around town in a horse-drawn carriage.
“It was amazing,” he said. “He and his wife, they greet like the queen of the city.”
“Many things help us and motivate us to continue living here, to fight for this culture,” said Rocío Valle, 52, another teacher attending the poetry competition. “Thank God and thank Gabo.”
Mr. García Márquez was born in Aracataca in 1927 and was raised largely by his maternal grandparents before moving to Sucre to live with his parents at age 8.
Although his stay in Aracataca was relatively short, the city became the model for the fictional city of Macondo. (There was a referendum in 2006 change the name of Aracataca to Macondo, which ultimately failed.)
In his memoir “Living to Tell the Tale,” the the novelist remembered this when he returned to Aracataca as a young man, “the glare of the heat was so intense that it was like looking at everything through wavy glass.”
Nowadays in Aracataca, Mr. García Márquez’s works are taught as early as kindergarten, with children asked to draw pictures based on his stories that are read aloud, Ms. Aarón said.
A group of teenagers gathered outside a store Wednesday said García Márquez’s Nobel Prize legacy inspired them to be creative and imaginative in the classroom. They argued about which of his works was their favorite: “The incredible and sad story of the innocent Erendira and her heartless grandmother” or “The story of a shipwrecked sailor.”
Alejandra Mantilla, 16, said she was proud to see tourists from as far away as Europe and China visit the city, especially as Colombia still struggles to overcome its reputation for drugs and violence.
“Colombia is perhaps one of the most isolated countries because of drug trafficking and everything,” he said. “So it’s good that it gives a good image to the country.”
Iñaki Otaoño, 63, and his wife, who lives in Spain, made sure to make Aracataca one of their stops during their month-long trip to Colombia. Mr. Otaoño said he has read all of Mr. García Márquez’s works.
“We’re a bit monomaniacal about this gentleman,” he said. “We had to know where the book is set.”
He said they planned to buy his new book once they arrived in Bogota.
“Better to buy it here in your country, right?” He said.
The regional government has been working to revive a railroad that passes through Aracataca, currently used only to transport coal, to carry passengers as part of a “Macondo route.” A large hotel with a swimming pool and bakery is also under construction.
Increased tourism has provided greater financial opportunities.
When Jahir Beltrán, 39, lost his job as a coal miner, he worked briefly in construction and agriculture before a friend suggested he work as a tour guide.
He began studying Mr. García Márquez’s writing and hired a tailor to make him a uniform so he could dress as Col. Aurelio Buendía, one of the protagonists of “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
“All this knowledge, both from the writer and from ancient Aracataca, helped me pass it on to tourists,” said Mr. Beltrán, who now works full time as an independent tour guide.
Fernando Vizcaíno, 70, a retired banker, got the idea to turn his house into a hostel about six years ago when he saw visitors starting to arrive in greater numbers. He called it the Tourist House of Magical Realism, and he and his wife decorated it in bright colors, chock-full of homages to Mr. García Márquez.
Mr. Vizcaíno said his father was a friend of the author’s family and carried letters back and forth between Mr. García Márquez’s parents when they were young and pursuing a forbidden love, a courtship that inspired “Love in the Times of cholera”.
“Here in Aracataca he is still alive,” he said.
