^[1]Aracataca, Colombia | Literary ambitions of a local football team have outpaced those of this coastal town, home to Nobel Prize–winning author Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez ^[2]. In March, a referendum will decide whether the name of the town changes to Aracataca-Macondo, appending the name of the fictional hamlet from One Hundred Years of Solitude. But lower-division side Macondo FC already had made the name change ^[1], along with a radio station and nursery school. “More than a physical place, Macondo is a state of mind,” says the author’s brother, Jaime. Yet some locals stick by the original name honoring Cataca, an indigenous chief. Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez has previously written about his passion for fútbol in his essay “El juramento ^[3]” (see Jorge Pérez González‘s recent article ^[4] in Mundo Deportivo), recounting a game between Atlético Junior of Barranquilla and Millonarios of Bogotá.

Update: Voter turnout in Jun 06 was insufficient to enact a change in name to Aracataca-Macondo, reports the New York Times (Simon Romero, “The Town’s Biggest Event since the Banana Fever Ended ^[5],” 7 Mar 07).