The General in His Labyrinth explores the labyrinth of Bolívar's life through the narrative of his memories, in which "despair, sickness, and death inevitably win out over love, health, and life". Following the success of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera", García Márquez decided to write about the "Great Liberator" after reading an unfinished novel by his friend Álvaro Mutis. He borrowed the setting—Bolívar's voyage down the Magdalena River in 1830—from Mutis. García Márquez spent two years researching the subject, encompassing the extensive memoirs of Bolívar's Irish aide-de-camp, Daniel Florencio O'Leary, as well as numerous other historical documents and
Cholera Hospital nearly 5,000 reported in 1849. Dr. Valey and Dr. Gull, who treated New York City cholera patients at this time, reported that cholera was only contagious when persons came in contact with those who are sick already. They believed that the disease was transmitted when people breathed the air which cholera victims exhaled. The physicians recommended an airy environment for those suffering from the illness. Victims should be kept away from marshes, garbage, and dirty water. They recommended the ill be quarantined at Cholera Hospital. It was selected by the New York City Board of Health to provide the care