Summary

At the top of the mountain, Makina sees snow for the first time. When she descends the mountains, she sees the truck that Chucho described. She is impatient to keep moving and stares out the window, thinking about all the people waiting for her to return.

As they approach the city, Makina observes that, “Signs prohibiting things thronged the streets, leading citizens to see themselves as ever protected, safe, friendly, innocent, proud, and intermittently bewildered, blithe and buoyant” (56). As she walks through the streets, Makina also detects another presence: “These were her compatriots, her homegrown, armed with work: builders, florists, loaders, drivers” (57). As she visits restaurants, she also discovers that “they were here, too, more armed than anywhere else, cooks and helpers and dishwashers” (58).

She stumbles across a flower shop and an old man. He tells her to come with him...