Back in February, I visited the mother of Jorge, one of my former Pittsfield ESOL students. Jorge & I have sporadically kept in touch via email & since I'm leaving in a matter of days, he wanted me to try to see his mother again. We arranged for me to visit her today. I arrived at Feria Libre, the biggest market in Cuenca, where I had agreed to meet Jorge's sister, Gloria, at 10 AM. The market is teeming with hundreds of vendors selling every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable. The place is electrical. I was glad to wait for her there as it provided a last opportunity to take it in. She was a few minutes late and came running, clutching a handful of scallions. I couldn't help but be struck by how different we looked from each other as we walked to catch a bus to go to her town. There I was in my jeans & t-shirt, wearing my big white hat that protects me from the sun, while she was hatless with her long black braid going down her back and wearing a beautiful velvet skirt and white beaded blouse. In that part of town, I was most definitely in the minority.
From Feria Libre, we took a 40 minute bus ride to Giron, where she lives. I was very pleased with the gift that I brought for Jorge and Gloria's mother--2 photos that included Jorge, that I was able to print that had been in my computer from the end of the school year party last June 2011. Jorge's mother hasn't seen him for 10 years & hasn't seen a picture of him. She teared up looking at the photo and kept stroking his picture with her fingers as if she was touching him. It was so moving.
They gave me lunch, which was enough for about 3 people. First, there was soup that had a chicken leg in it and yuca, one of the few vegetables that I don't care for. There was also a large plate of steaming mote, of which I can only eat a little. Then another dish arrived loaded with potatoes and the biggest chicken leg and thigh I've ever seen. I felt badly that I couldn't finish the food, but there was just too much.
When we had run out of things to talk about it seemed like it was time for me to return to Cuenca. Jorge's mother insisted on accompanying me on the bus back to the market, where I had met her daughter in the morning. It was hard to say goodbye, but we did. From there I would have had to take a city bus to get home, but thought I'd start by walking. It was a nostalgic walk. For a while now I have been trying to take everything in to try to keep things filed in my memories.
Since I was in no rush to go home and Hugo had told my yesterday that he might be free this afternoon, I called him. Sure enough, he loved the idea of getting together, especially because he could practice English. He picked me up and we went to an organic market, walked around a bit and ended up buying 2 beers and going to a park to talk & drink the beer, which was a nice way to end the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment