Strange Pilgrims (original Spanish-language title: Doce cuentos peregrinos) is a collection of twelve loosely related short stories by the Nobel Prize–winning Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. Not published until 1992, the stories that make up this collection were originally written during the seventies and eighties. Each of the stories touches on the theme of dislocation and the strangeness of life in a foreign land, although quite what "foreign" means is one of García Márquez's central questions. García Márquez himself spent some years as a virtual exile from his native Colombia. The 12 Stories The twelve stories are: Bon Voyage, Mr President (Buen Viaje, Señor Presidente) The Saint (La Santa) Sleeping Beauty and the Airplane (El Avión de la Bella Durmiente) I Sell My Dreams (Me Alquilo para Soñar) "I Only Came to Use the Phone" (Solo Vine a Hablar por Teléfono) The Ghosts of August (Espantos de Agosto) María dos Prazeres Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen (Diecisiete Ingleses Envenenados) Tramontana Miss Forbes's Summer of Happiness (El Verano Feliz de la Señora Forbes) Light is Like Water (La Luz es como el Agua) The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow (El Rastro de tu Sangre en la Nieve) Story summaries Bon Voyage, Mr. President An overthrown Latin American president, Mr. President, is exiled to Martinique. The 73-year-old man develops a peculiar pain in his ribs, lower abdomen, and groin. He travels to Geneva, Switzerland in search of a diagnosis. After extensive medical testing, he is informed that the problem resides in his spine. A risky operation is recommended to relieve the pain. The President meets a fellow countryman, Homero Rey, who works as an ambulance driver at the hospital. Homero schemes to sell an insurance plan and funeral package to the sick man, but the President is no longer wealthy and lives frugally. He is reduced to selling his dead wife's jewelry and other trinkets to pay the cost of his medical expenses and operation. Homero and his wife, Lázara, grow fond of Mr. President. They provide financial assistance and care for him after he is discharged from the hospital. The President returns to Martinique. His pain is unimproved but no worse either. He resumes many of his bad habits and considers going back to the country he once ruled, only this time as the head of a reform group. The Saint The story is centered on a character named Margarito Duarte