The Mixquiahuala Letters

The summer following their study abroad trip, Teresa and Alicia stay with Teresa’s mother. Teresa and Libra are still married, but he has gone to California to look for work. Alicia has spent the last year mourning both her ex-boyfriend Rodney and Adán, who has written to her. She paints watercolors to try and get over her heartbreak. Teresa writes that her mother and older sisters never maintained their relationships with other women after they married, and that one of her older sisters has separated from her husband. Teresa and Alicia invite Teresa’s sister to spend time with them in activities Teresa calls “The New Woman’s Emergence” (35). By the end of the summer, however, Alicia goes home, Teresa’s sister returns to her husband, and Teresa follows Libra to California.

Teresa and Alicia are in New York City, before Teresa leaves for California. In Washington Square a pimp approaches the women and tries to convince Teresa to go to dinner with him, telling her that she could make substantial money as a prostitute. She refuses his invitation and avoids the square during the rest of her trip.