Barranquilla

Since that time, Gabito (short for Gabo, the nickname given by family and close friends) gave evidence of his literary vocation. Yet the writer’s decisive years and experiences took place between 1950 and 1953, when his occupation as a journalist opened huge doors to the talent of this writer of novels.

Gabito visited Barranquilla for the first time on November 9, 1929, on the occasion of his sister Margot’s birth. Despite being only two and a half years old, he would remember the impression caused by traffic lights and their changing colors. Yet clearer memories arose from his second visit to the city on December 17, 1930, when his grandmother Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes took him to meet Aída Rosa, his newborn sister, who would become a nun.

Gabriel García Márquez lived in Barranquilla at various times, including his adolescence, when he attended high school at Colegio San José.

In 1939, his family moved to Sucre, but in February 1940, Gabo began high school at Colegio San José in the city center, beside the church by the same name. Here he met classmates who would later become great friends, like future journalist and director of El Heraldo, Juan B. Fernández Renowitzky. (…)

In 1941, he had to interrupt 8th grade because of health problems. He returned to his father and siblings in Sucre for his recovery. He later came back to his school in Barranquilla.

Eduardo Márceles Daconte

The Years at El Heraldo

“Once in Barranquilla (1950), he works on the editorial staff of El Heraldo, where he publishes a column entitled “La Jirafa”, under the pseudonym of Septimus. He meets Ramón Vinyes, the “Catalan Wiseman”. With Álvaro Cepeda Samudio, Germán Vargas, Alfonso Fuenmayor, Alejandro Obregón, Juan B. Fernández, and other friends, he founds the sports-literary magazine Crónica. Su mejor week end [Chronicle.Your best weekend]. Conrado Zuluaga, El vicio incurable de contar, Panamericana, Bogotá, 2005 [The incurable vice of telling]

Consult the complete texts in in Las rutas de García Márquez guide, available at the following bookshops: Librería Nacional in Cartagena and Barranquilla and Librería Ábaco in Cartagena.