Winter Break in
Central America

Necessity

They lost my bag,

But I want to go back.

To pick my own banana and suck on fresh sugarcane,

See Christopher and Mario.

I want to surround myself in a language I barely know,

Say "Adio" when I pass a stranger on the dirt road,

And listen to Abbii practice her Spanish with Chico.

I had more bug bites than freckles,

But I want to go back.

I'd like to take another scoop of Gallo Pinto and have masplatanos

And then help finish the path and the overhang with the Don.

His home is beautiful; I loved his black boots.

Sit on that hillside, peel my mandarin Nesto brought me, and then watch him run away and

chase the girls.

I really want to go back

Because to go back is to experience it all again.

That brick house with Mario's head peeping through the square window.

Forget this industrial cutthroat culture and mindless consumption.

Without electricity or running water these people always have a good day.

They get to wake up and stare at the mountains till the sun melts the clouds away.

 I really, really want to go back to those two weeks.

My smile just hasn't been as wide since I've been back and

My chin has been sinking slowly into my chest.

Because here there are no mountains and no banana trees to look at.

Maybe if I understood like the Ramons, I could be as happy as the Ramons.

Written by Allison Meyer