Aracataca

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Location of the municipality and town of Aracataca in the Magdalena Department.

Aracataca (or coloquially sometimes referred to as "Cataca") is a town and municipality located in the Department of Magdalena, Colombia's Caribbean Region. Aracata is a town river founded in 1885. The town stands beside the river of the same name, the Aracataca River that flows from the near by Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range and into the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta. Aracataca is located some 80 km south of Department capital Santa Marta.

1 History
2 Geography and climate
3 Economy
4 Administrative divisions
- 4.1 Rural
- 4.2 Urban
  - 4.2.1 Barrios (neighborhood)
5 Transportation
6 Festivities
7 Trivia
8 References
9 External links

Flag of Aracataca

Aracata is a Town River founded in 1885. It achieved the status of municipality in 1912 , segregated from the municipality of Pueblo Viejo.

On June 25, 2006, a referendum to rename the town "Aracataca-Macondo" failed due to a low turnout. ^[1]^[2]

The municipality borders to the north with the municipalities of Zona Bananera, Santa Marta and Cienaga, to the east with the Cesar Department, to the south wi the municipality of Fundación, and to the west with the municipalities of El Retén and Pueblo Viejo.

Aracataca's climate is tropical: warm and humid year-round.

Oil palm plantations in the municipality of Aracataca.

Aracataca relies heavily on agriculure mainly producing Oil palm, rice, cotton, sugar cane, common bean, plantain, bananas, yuca, tomato and on livestock raising like cattle, equines, mules, donkeys, domesticated birds, goats and porks. Commerce represents another form of income and is mostly done informally, especially by the main highway to Santa Marta where large lines of stands selling beach towels are placed.

Buenos Aires
Cauca
Sampues
La Fuente.

Aracataca contains 13 veredas:

Tehobromina
El Torito
Macaraquilla
La escondida
Bocatoma
La Ribiera
La Fuente
Cerro Azul
El Volante
El porvenir
Marimonda

Aracataca has 3 caseríos:

Serankua
Yechikin
Dwanawimaku

The town of Aracataca has 33 Barrios: La Esperanza, La esmeralda, Zacapita, 2 de febrero, 20 de Julio, Ayacucho, Nariño, Loma Fresca, 7 de Agosto, El Carmen, Cataquita, Macondo, El Suiche, El Pradito, 11 de Noviembre, 7 de Abril, Ciudadela macondo, San José, Base, Marujita, Las delicias, Centro, Boston, El Porvenir, 1 de Mayo, Galán, San Martín, Bello Horizonte, Raíces, Macondo, Villa del Río I y II.

Aracataca railway

Transportation in and around Aracataca is mainly done over land since the rivers are not navigatable and there are a few small rudimentary airfields used by small aircrafts for agricultural fummigations. The municipality and town are crossed by the Highway 45 that extends from Santa Marta, crosses Aracataca, Fundación, El Copey, Bosconia, Curumani into the Cesar Department and turns south towards the Colombian Andean Region. The railway no longer works for public transportation, it is used almost exclusively to transport Coal from the region of La Loma in Central Cesar Department to the Port of Santa Marta. There are several small companies that offer inter-municipal and inter-departamental transportation on medium-size buses, minivans and taxi cabs.

Aracatacans celebrate the Roman Catholic tradition of Three Kings on January 6 of every year, Carnivals and the holy week between February and March, a cultural week, The Festival of the Unedited Song (Festival de la Canción Inédita), The municipality's anniversary in April and the River Festival (Festival del Río).

Bilboard of Gabriel García Márquez in Aracataca. The billboard reads; "I feel I am an American from every country, without never renouncing to the nostalgia for my land, to which I returned one day and discovered that between the reality and nostalgia was the Feedstock for my work".--Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The town is the birthplace of Gabriel García Márquez and is widely recognized as the model for the mythical "Macondo", the central village in García Márquez's masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude.