La enfermedad que entró a Macondo y lo condenó - Cien Años de Soledad

The plague of insomnia arrived in Macondo with Visitación. Visitación was a Guajira Indian woman who lived with the Buendía family as a servant. She came with her brother Cataure, fleeing a disease that had decimated her tribe: a disease that prevented sleep. Not for one night, not for one week—forever. Those who contracted it ceased to need sleep and were unable to have it, and in that state of perpetual wakefulness, they began to lose their memory. The disease entered the Buendía house through Rebeca—a girl who arrived one day carrying a sack of bones that turned out to be the remains of her parents, without anyone knowing exactly where she had come from or who had sent her. Rebeca ate dirt and lime from the walls, had the habit of sucking her thumb, and her eyes, like a frightened animal, were signs of deep trauma that the Buendías interpreted. They adopted her. And along with her, they adopted the disease she carried. At first, the insomnia seemed like a gift. #onehundredyearsofsolitude #gabrielgarciamarquez #books