One-Way Cycle

María narrates in first person her mother Adela’s journey from Asturias to Havana in 1929. On this trip, she follows her sister Segunda, who had left years earlier and to whom she was very close. Adela, like her sister, grew up cleaning and washing clothes in the prao, a field that was always covered in snow, causing her constant ovarian pain in the cold. Painful and heavy periods are a heavy burden, but thanks to sisterhood and understanding, Adela will gain the confidence to take control of her life at the end of her journey. The story María tells us is a story of migration, one that has always existed and will continue to exist. It is also a cycle—one that repeats itself in many lives—but one that has only one meaning: it is a cycle of departure.