Herminia

Herminia is an elderly woman from Táchira, a state in Venezuela divided by the Andes mountains. She is mother to Koralia, grandmother to Milagros, and great-grandmother to Milagros's unnamed baby.

In the narrative present, Herminia is tired of crossing the border from Venezuela into Colombia. Despite the profound nature of her exhaustion and discomfort, Herminia is too afraid to stay home while Koralia and Milagros venture to the Cúcuta market. She believes that if she stays behind, her family will never return for her. However, she also fears that on the journeys her family will discard her on some backroad near the border. In order to make herself feel like less of a burden to the family, Herminia stops eating. In the recent past she has lost so much weight she would be nearly unrecognizable to even those who knew her well.

When Herminia was younger...