Author Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez began his career as a writer and journalist in the coastal cities of Cartagena and Barranquilla. It was here that he and friends began to read, among others,
the works of William Faulkner .
This huge wall around the old city of Cartagena was a structure built to protect such treasures as gold and emeralds from pirates and privateers. Sir Francis Drake, a famous British voyager during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, ransacked the city in 1686 after the fortresses were enlarged and strengthened.
