Mario Vargas Llosa learned to read in Cochabamba.

Author Mario Vargas Llosa (Premio Romulo Gallegos 1967, Premio Cervantes 1994, Nobel Prize for Literature 2010) was born in Arequipa, Peru in 1936. He moved to Cochabamba with his mother when he was 1 year old. He lived in the house (see above) at 168 Calle Ladislao Cabrera from 1937 to 1945. He attended Colegio La Salle, a few blocks from his house.

From Cochabamba his family moved to Piura, Peru, and from there to Lima, and the rest is history. The connection to Cochabamba remains: his first wife, Julia Urquidi Illanes, was born in Cochabamba, as was his second wife, Patricia Llosa Urquidi (they have three children: Alvaro, Gonzalo, and Morgana).