She'd turned hunger into a form of self-protection.
-- Narrator (Pages 1 - 2)

Importance: At the start of the story, Herminia, Koralia, Milagros, and Milagros's baby arrive in Cúcuta after traveling all day. The narrator says that they are all hungry except for Herminia. Ever since starting their monthly, and now weekly crossings from Venezuela into Colombia, Herminia has stopped eating. In this moment, the narrator explains why Herminia has begun refusing to eat. She believes that by starving herself she might turn herself from a burden into an asset to her family. The line introduces Herminia's intense fear of abandonment, and the author's thematic interests in physical and emotional hunger.

She had the reserved air of the Andean páramo, bowed legs and hair pulled into a modest bun.
-- Narrator (Pages 1 - 2)

Importance: Of all the things that have changed about Herminia in in recent days, the thing that remains the same is her resolved and stoic manner...