<Li> Diego Samaritano--The captain of the riverboat on which Fermina and Florentino ride at the end of the novel . </Li> <Li> América Vicuña--The fourteen - year - old girl who towards the end of the novel is sent to live with Florentino; he is her guardian while she is in school . They have a sexual relationship, and after being rejected by Florentino and failing her exams, she kills herself . Her suicide illustrates the selfish nature of Florentino's love for Fermina . </Li> <P> The story occurs mainly in an unnamed port city somewhere near the Caribbean Sea and the Magdalena River . Given that Rafael Núñez is mentioned as the "author of the national anthem", the country is likely Colombia . While the city remains unnamed throughout the novel, descriptions and names of places suggest it is based on Cartagena with the addition of the Magdalena River, which meets the sea at the nearby city of Barranquilla . The fictional city is divided into such sections as "The District of the Viceroys" and "The Arcade of the Scribes ." The novel takes place approximately during the half century between 1880 and 1930 . The city's "steamy and sleepy streets, rat - infested sewers, old slave quarter, decaying colonial architecture, and multifarious inhabitants" are mentioned variously in the text and mingle amid the lives of the characters . Locations within the story include: </P> <Ul> <Li> The house Fermina shares with her husband, Dr. Juvenal Urbino . </Li> <Li> The "transient hotel" where Florentino Ariza stays for a brief time . </Li> <Li> Ariza's office at the river company . </Li> <Li> The Arcade of the Scribes . </Li> <Li> The Magdalena River . </Li> </Ul>

When is love in the time of cholera set