Love in the Time of Cholera

Hildebranda brings Fermina out of her cell. One day they dress up in old gowns to get their picture taken in the market, and men walking by mock them. Urbino drives by in his carriage and drives them home. Along the way, he jokes with Hildebranda, and Fermina grows furious at their antics. Hildebranda cannot contain her delight with Urbino that night, and the next day, Fermina finally replies to Urbino’s letter.

Florentino hears news of Fermina’s wedding to a man of prestige, and he weeps uncontrollably for a week. His mother secures him a telegraph operator’s position in a faraway city in the mountains and sends him away on a river boat. Before he goes, he plays Fermina a love song one last time: “At midnight, he put on his Sunday suit and went to stand alone under Fermina Daza’s balcony […]” (133).

An outbreak of war and the threat of cholera on the banks of the river imprison Florentino on the river boat. He loses his virginity to a woman who pulls him into a cabin one night, and this act enables him to feel some relief from his suffering over Fermina Daza. Once he arrives at his destination, however, he cannot endure the thought of living apart from his true love. He returns on the next passage to his city and vows never to leave. Florentino is relieved to hear that Fermina is honeymooning in Europe, and he begins a relationship with a grieving war widow, the Widow Nazaret, who also finds solace from her unhappiness in sex. After a siege in the city ends, the Widow Nazaret becomes an unpaid prostitute, calling herself “the only free woman in the province” (146). From that casual affair, Florentino goes on to fill twenty-five notebooks with the names of his conquests, more than six hundred women in total.

Meanwhile, Fermina dreads the night of her first sexual encounter with her husband. After the wedding, which is one of the most illustrious affairs of the century, Fermina Daza and Urbino enjoy lovemaking, primarily because Urbino is patient with and attentive to his nervous wife. They spend many months in Paris, making love each day, and Fermina Daza adapts to life there with ease. But when she returns to her city, she is dismissive of their time away, claiming that Europe is not as impressive as it seems.