Time to Go

I have spent time with my aunts; Chi Chi and Patty, on various occasions starting at just 2 years old. I have always known them and their children and soon their children’s children. Being an only child there was something extra special knowing I had all of this family in what seemed like a completely different world. To know that there was this bond and history that was bigger than me but that I was still a part of really helped define who I was. The last time I was able to see my sweet Chi Chi and Patty was at my wedding. While I was so incredibly touched that they were able to make it for one of the most important days of my life, I was more excited to see the reunion between them, my Titi and my uncle Manuel. To see these wonderful siblings join after years apart and become kids again when they are together is a piece of magic that is easily taken for granted. To hear their stories or different accounts of the same situations and to see their childhood from each of their own eyes.. I wish I would’ve been a little more in the moment, but you know how weddings go… I guess I mostly wish I knew what I was witnessing when I was there to be a part of it. 

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It was time to leave Oruro. It was a very sad time for me because I loved living in that house and that town. Tin was no longer as in demand once steel, plastic and other materials became more widely available. Companies were losing money and shutting down. The entire town became a shell of what it once was. Things were getting bad and my dad needed to get a job that would get him some money. So my mom and I went to LaPaz and we went to the office that my dad had worked in 17 or so years before. She asked the President of the company if it was possible to have a place for my dad so we could come back to LaPaz. The man was so wonderful he said “absolutely whenever he wants to come back we have a place here for him”. So with that idea we went back to Oruro to get everything ready to move. We sold the house, and had to sell most of the furniture. My dad and brothers went ahead to LaPaz so my brothers could start school and I stayed with my mom to pack things up and get everything ready. In La Paz we moved to a small house, it was a nice house, but much smaller in comparison. The house that we lived in in Oruro eventually got turned into a school, so that gives you an idea of how big and lovely it was. 

There was a very important event in our lives that took place shortly before we moved. It was the beginning of Carnival and my mom was expecting my youngest sister Patty. There was a big theater production at Carnival and I was supposed to be part of it but that day my mom started having contractions. I had to go but I remember I really didn't want to because I wanted to be with my mom. All of us were born in the house with a midwife and usually Abuelita Esther, my grandmother, would come to be with my mom but this time she couldn’t be there for two days after. That night I went to bed eagerly awaiting my sister’s arrival. I had a bedroom with my other little sister Chi Chi. She had her own bed but she always used to jump in my bed and sleep with me, and at a certain time that night my dad came into our room with a perfect little baby girl in a basket. My mom was resting and my dad was exhausted and he told me that I had to take care of her that night. So he gave me this tiny little baby to watch all night. She of course slept but I didn’t, I stayed up watching her. Everyone in town always thought that Patty was my daughter because I was 17 when she was born. A lot of people probably still think that, although she WAS born and put immediately in my arms. It was a very special bond. It was a few months after that we left to go to La Paz. 

It was time for us to go to La Paz, we had finally sold the house in Oruro and were ready to join my dad and brothers there. It was very painful for me, I liked La Paz but I never had any friends there. We arrived there and everything had changed. Immediately I started to work, at first at a school and then a government job with the United Nations. It was a very simple job, I had to translate a few letters a day and had my own office. One day I was running late and was rushing to catch the bus and this relative of my mother gave me a bunch of papers and asked if I would distribute them. I had no idea what they were talking about and didn’t have time to clarify. I grabbed the stack of papers and threw them on my desk when I got to work and went to sign in. When I came back to my desk the papers were gone. About a day later I got a letter that I was fired. They stated they didn’t need my services any more and I could not figure out what I had done wrong. I ended up finding out that those papers were about taking a stand against the government and of course I was working for the government. So that was the only time I had ever been fired from a job. But after that is when I worked at the all boys school. I was old enough where I thought now that I am making some money I could buy some things I wanted but my parents needed it to go towards my brother's schooling. So anyway it was just not the easiest time to meet new people or make new friends. I did have cousins and aunts and uncles there, so that was a plus. I always saw them over holidays or summers but I really got to spend more time with them and get to know them. But other than that La Paz was a beautiful city with beautiful people but it wasn’t home.