Upon meeting Piedad

Upon meeting Piedad, my house mother, the doubts that had been implanted into my brain throughout the day, immediately subsided. She was the first of the house parents to arrive at the hotel and I was happy about this as some of the younger volunteers where starting to try my patience after a day of adding “P.S.” to the end of all their sentences (I’ve gathered that the use of the “ P.S.” statement is used to signify a spoken sentence that is supposed to be an afterthought from the initial statement . I considered it funny at first, then plain out annoying once all of them started to say it, then thought about trying it out to so I could sound early 20 something cool,, only to realize once again how lame it sounded).

Piedad had an instant smile for me and I for her as Pete, the WT Field Director, took a picture of us. Smiles and a hug, really are all that one needs to bring one back to a level of comfort that makes you feel as if everything (including being annoyed by “P.S.” statements) is going to be okay for the next year. As we were departing with my two bags, which I am sure flabbergasted Piedad, one of the volunteers, Kieth, graciously offered to carry one of them to the taxi. Piedad tried to explain to the two of us that we were going to have to walk a couple blocks for a taxi because some of the streets were closed for a marathon so I refused the help.
Off we go, Piedad and Nicole, madre y hija, with Nicole lugging a large pack on her shoulders and a large suitcase behind her and Piedad carrying, refusing to wear, Nicole’s small backpack and binder. We go a few blocks through Mariscal, which is also called GringoTown, to one of the main streets, with Piedad grabbing my hand and saying “Cuidado” every time we cross an intersection. The first street we try for taxis proves to be fruitless, the taxis are either packed or going the opposite direction. Piedad decides we need to walk back towards the hotel and up a few more blocks to another busy intersection; notice the word up, put emphasis on it and then remember the luggage as well as the fact that Quito sits at 10,000 feet. Let me take a moment to describe the setting a bit more. Quito’s weather is much like San Francisco’s during the day with a tad bit of humidity added to it. This means you always need to have a jacket handy and once the sun goes down you’ll probably be wearing it, which I was, upon Piedad’s insistence that I must not catch a cold. However, let me note that when you are carrying two large bags the jacket only serves to seal in the humidity surrounding your body and heating it like a hot bath would. By the time we get to the next large intersection both of us are winded and I am sweating like I just ran the marathon that has us walking the streets of Quito like this in the first place and I am wishing I could have taken Keith up on his offer. There are traffic jams everywhere, we have exited Mariscal and entered into a poorer neighborhood where I have to navigate the suitcase past the families trying to sell fruits and day old newspapers on the sidewalks. Piedad is determined to get us a taxi yet every time we stop at what she thinks will be “the” intersection the same thing happens, the taxis are full or they are stuck in traffic going the opposite way. We have now been walking about 45 minutes at an angle of about 35 degrees. I’m learning a lot on this walk, mostly about Piedad. Even though are communication is minimal I can tell she is a strong woman with a lot of love in her heart. She smiles a lot yet I can see a sad story on her face of about 40.
We finally get to a point where we can no longer go up and it is here that our luck changes. A taxi stops and we both struggle to get the larger suitcase into the trunk, jump in and immediately start to laugh at the situation. We laugh even more as we realize that the taxi ride only lasts five minutes and we should have just finished out few blocks home. A tranquil small home filled with love and trinkets, lots of trinkets.

There is more than a feeling in my stomach telling me that this first walk home will be turning into a metaphor for the challenges I will face this year. At the very least I now have the comfort of knowing where home is and have Piedad to laugh with once I get there.