On Foot / A Pie

Last Friday I went on a site visit with some of the educators from La Obra. We started to walk. Past the field where kids play soccer in between horses grazing. Past the teenagers hanging out at the abandoned bus stop. We ask a man pushing his daughter in a stroller for directions. “A little bit farther that way” he says. We keep walking. We finally arrive. Two little girls are playing out front. They are painting each other’s fingernails. The older sister enters the house to fetch her mother. The house has a sheet hanging in the doorway instead of a front door. The mother, with a baby on her hip, comes out to greet us. Her daughter has not been showing up at La Obra lately. After a brief conversation, we continue to the next house on the list. At this house, a man and women are sorting bottles from a huge burlap sack. The woman, with sleeves rolled to the elbows, greets us. Her hands, dirty from work, hang at her sides. Her daughter has not been showing up at La Obra lately. After a short conversation we head back to La Obra the way we came.
After La Obra, I hop on the #328 bus for what seems the umpteenth time this year. I get home, change my clothes and head out the door for a run. I pass the people on the front steps of el hogar. Some are waiting for the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Others are waiting for a bus. I pass the corner store where I buy fruit and vegetables. I pass the man with one leg on the corner. I finally get to La Rambla and keep running. I run past the lifeguard station. Past the Buceo Yacht Club. It is windy and surfers are taking advantage of the waves at Playa Honda. I run past condominiums and apartment buildings that make me feel like I am on Miami Beach. I keep running until I get to Plaza Virgilio. I am a little surprised I made it this far. By now it is dark and the cargo ships on the Rio de la Plata are little dots of light on the horizon. I turn around and start to walk back home. I walk past a man sleeping on a bench. I walk past a group of friends sharing a mate. I walk back the way I came until I reach the steps of el hogar. I make myself some manzanilla tea and go to bed. It has been a long Friday on my feet.