Getting to know Gabo

I bet you are wondering who this Gabo is. Gabo may not ring a bell but it is what his friends and family called him. His real name is Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author of 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and one of the best and most famous authors of South America, especially after wining the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

On our way down from the coast, we visited Aracataca, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's birthplace, and this is how I got to get to know Gabo. Aracataca is a very small sleepy town, not really a town you would expect such an important author to be born. We visited the house where he lived as a boy (now a museum) and learnt about some of his story: Gabo lived with his grandparents, and his role model and person he was closest to was his grandfather. His grandfather inspired his love for words and writing, and gave him his first dictionary at a very young age. His grandfather would also make small metal fishes in his workshop while Gabo or Gabito (as a kid) drew on the walls with crayons or wrote stories in his book. It is quite a coincidence that we came here after visiting La Guajira as Gabo’s grandparents had come from La Guajira. As a kid, Gabo spent most of his time with the two servants living with the family from La Guajira and he had said that spending time with them inspired characters he included in his books. In fact lots of his characters in many of his books were based on members of his family and other people in the house.

We also learnt about a very exciting and scary incident that happened when Gabo was young. In Aracataca, there was a local bull ring where men would go to to watch bull fights. One day, women in his family came in the room where Gabo was reading, shrieking and grabbed him because the bull had escaped from his enclosure and had entered the family's kitchen! Luckily, the bull's handlers managed to take it back before it did any harm. But, for little Gabito, it must have been an unforgettable experience. 

If I am honest, it is a bit weird writing about an author whose books I haven't read but his life seems fascinating and I can't wait to read his books when I am older. 

If you want to know more about Gabo, you can check out this little video that tells his story. Happy viewing!

ps. Soon, and I mean soon, I will do the quiz.  

pps. I (Ismene) am going to write a post about our next stop (a small town called Mompox). See you in a little bit. Bye