Much is known about the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014) and his most popular novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1982) around the world. Also, it is well known by natives and foreigners that he patented a new literary style known as Magical Realism, and that many people associate with the idea of ​​exoticism in this tropical country. Now, although this idea is not entirely far from reality, it can be assured that part of the author's inspiration to shape this narrative style is based on the customs, landscapes and stories of his native land: Aracataca, and Cartagena and Barranquilla, cities that saw him grow and train as a reporter and writer.

Gabriel García Márquez is the first of seven men and four women, he is the son of Gabriel Eligio García Martínez (1901-1984), a bastard son and telegrapher who had given up his job to settle in Barranquilla as a self-taught homeopath, and Luisa Santiaga Márquez Iguarán ( 1905-2002). From the latter he inherited much of the family tradition that profoundly marked his first seven years of life, due to the fact that childhood was spent in the home of his maternal grandparents, Nicolás Ricardo Márquez Mejía (1864-1937) and Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes (1863-1947 ). Papalelo, as his grandfather was called, one day he placed in his hands a colossal illustrated book and in whose pages the entire universe emerged: a dictionary. For her part, Mina, the grandmother, healer and confectioner, bequeathed her an entire entourage of women. Among aunts, sisters, Indian chaperones and daughters of someone who inhabited the house, little Gabriel discovered, in encrypted languages, female secrets while they soaped him in the shower.

Many of the foreigners who visit the country today, claim to feel very comfortable and attracted by the customs, climate and inhabitants of the country, although they confess that they are surprised by a city like Bogotá, so cold, gray and rainy. It seems that the idea of ​​the thick tropical jungle, the colorful landscapes, the exotic animals and the constant scorching sun, is diluted between the cement, the traffic and the pollution. Although what they finally discover is a land of contrasts, a landscape as diverse as its people and customs, a land of magical realism where anything can happen, because sometimes it seems to come out of a fictional story. Perhaps the sensation that some of them perceive when they arrive in Colombia is the same as that of those first Spanish conquerors who, under the command of Christopher Columbus, were discovering this land and recording stories of the Amazon, mermaids and fantastic monsters in their diaries.

And it is not surprising that the land of magical realism that García Márquez presents in his many stories, perhaps represented in the iconic Macondo, coincide with the reality of many people who visit and live in this country. There is a well-known phrase that says: reality is stranger than fiction, and that applies perfectly to the idea we have of Colombia. For example, in a compilation of chronicles and reports by the author, he tells the story of a Marquesita, known as the Marquesita de la Sierpe, and who apparently inspired one of his novels: Love and Other Demons (1994). This is a legendary Spanish landowner who lived in the region long ago, known for its many miracles and for possessing great wealth. The author describes it as:

the Marquesita She was a kind of great mother to those who served her at La Sierpe. He had a large and sumptuous house in the center of what is now known as La Ciénaga de la Sierpe […] he could be in several places at once, walk on water […] The only thing he could not do was resurrect the dead. dead, because the soul of the dead did not belong to him. "La Marquesita had a pact with the devil," they explain in La Sierpe. (Garcia Marquez, 1982, p. 14)

all around the Marquesita is magical. She not only owns great wealth, but she also inherited, to certain selected people, some of her supernatural powers like curing those bitten by snakes or healing cattle tormented by worms.

So, and although García Márquez never conceived it as such, a whole legend, a movement, a complete universe was forged around him, where reality, full of incredible stories, colorful landscapes and others, make up the idea of ​​magical realism. In this diverse land there is space for everyone who wants to discover what Colombia is, but with the eyes of a small child who discovers rain for the first time. So what: Welcome to the land of magical realism!

By: Diana Marcela Loaiza

Bibliography: García, G. (1982). Chronicles and reports. Medellín: Black Sheep.