The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Title/Author: The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Publisher: Vintage International Pages: 106 ISBN: 0-679-72205-x In a nutshell In February 1955, eight crew members of the Caladas, a Colombian destroyer, were washed over-alive, on a deserted beach in northern Colombia. Several of them drowned shortly before arriving at the port of Cartagena de Indias due to the existence of overweight contraband aboard the vessel. Ten days after the shipwreck, one of the sailors, Luis Alejandro Velasco, turned up on a deserted beach and became a hero overnight. Therein began his telling and selling his story to the media, including El Spectador where Marquez worked. Only this time, he tells the whole story, one that wasn't sanitized or authorized by the Colombian government. What I liked The lesson learnt - accepting adversity and making the best out of it. Velasco was lost and alone on a drifting life raft, far away from civilization. Nature was his friend and foe. She t...