I live in a city that is bordered by the sea, the one that tourists look for when summer arrives. I could go to the sea any day of the year, because it was close to us, ten minutes from the house. Dad would take us there every Sunday, from morning to afternoon, and there he would make us sand castles and buy us grape or strawberry ice cream, which would turn our tongues red or purple, every week. # Maybe that's why, when school vacations came, my parents preferred to take us to the countryside, to my maternal grandfather's hacienda or to my maternal grandmother's house. My grandfather lives in San Antonio and my grandmother lived (she is now dead) in a small town called Tristé, about two hours from Cumaná, the city where I live.

I have already told before about the odyssey it was for my parents to go on trips with 4 girls, not only because of the process that meant waking up and being ready at the planned time, but also because of our cravings: every thing we saw that they were selling on the road, we wanted to buy it for us. We craved the corn on the cob, the cachapa, the ice cream, but also the hat, the rag doll and even some little animal they were selling: # _Papa, please, buy us that little goat. Please, please, please - we shouted, jumping in the cart, like guacharacas. # _No sir. Remember that you can't crave anything," Dad said firmly, sure that later on we would crave something else.

I remember those years and although I liked to travel, I did not like to go to the countryside. The countryside meant that I had to adapt to my environment: the bathroom was outside the house, everyone got up early, food was cooked on a wood fire, we had to use repellent 24 hours a day because the mosquitoes would draw our blood and we were forbidden to walk barefoot because there were many small animals loose on the ground.

The only good thing was that we all bathed in the river, as if it were a communal bath. The river was a block away from the hacienda and at noon, at lunchtime, we all went down to bathe. The river served to get to know each other, to talk, to know about each other. Other children from the town, like us, would come to the river to bathe, but also attracted by the curiosity of meeting the girls who had come from the city. # In the river we made friends and arranged to meet in the town square, another common place where people gathered. There, while the adults played truco or dominoes, we children bought candy and strolled around.

Later, when my sisters and I became teenagers, my parents kept the custom of taking us to the countryside on vacations and although we were old enough to say we didn't want to go to the hacienda and make our arguments, our parents wouldn't allow us to stay alone in the house, so they forced us to go with them.

I was about 15 years old when that summer I met a boy of about 18 who worked at the hacienda. From the first moment we arrived to spend the vacations, that boy became my shadow: wherever I went, the boy appeared. He was my grandfather's farmhand, so he had free movement on the hacienda and although my father didn't like him being around me like a fly, he couldn't do or say anything.

That was the last summer we went on vacation to the hacienda. After that, my parents traveled alone and we stayed home and fooled around. Over time, I have greatly appreciated those trips because we unknowingly not only created stronger bonds between us as a family, we also built beautiful and unforgettable memories.