Escalator Friends

I had a moment yesterday that I will never forget. I was in a supermarket in Santiago buying things for my second annual “Pre-Thanksgiving Party.”  The supermarket, called La Sirena, is more or less America’s equivalent of Wal-Mart. It’s almost as big and unnecessary, and if you need to go to one store to buy a)food b)paint c)a new stereo system d)a wardrobe e)a bike- well then, La Sirena is the store for you.   

The second floor of the store is where all the clothes are located. A woman who works in my CTC is having a baby boy in February (PS- the father of the baby is refusing to claim his newfound parenthood, which is unfortunately a common story here, but for another day), and I bought a T-shirt for the upcoming baby shower. As I was riding the escalator down to the first level, I noticed a Haitian man standing nervously at the bottom of the stairs. At first I thought he was waiting for someone, but as I made my effortless exit off the escalator, it was obvious he was trying to figure out how exactly to ride an escalator and get up to the second level. 

He soon realized the stairs he stood in front of were for coming down, and he quickly moved over to the up-stairs. Then his wife/girlfriend/sister/friend, a female, came over and the two of them watched the black grated metal appear from seemingly nowhere, to suddenly make steps before them. I continued to watch, as they both hesitated. The woman especially, would cautiously put her right foot forward a little, but then hurriedly move it back when it came time to actually take the plunge. 

So, I did what anyone would do. I walked up on the other side of the woman, grabbed her hand and told her, “ven,” or come. She probably didn’t speak Spanish, but she also didn’t really have a chance to think about it, because I was holding onto her and we were already going up the stairs. She fumbled a little, but not much, and in less than two seconds she was standing next to me on the moving stair. The man jumped on right behind us, and they smiled and spoke in Creole to each other. When the stairs leveled out, she was a little nervous, but I kept hold of her hand and we both sort of jumped off the escalator together. The man got off and we shook hands and smiled at each other, and then I turned to my right and headed right back down the down side of the escalator. As they were walking away, the man turned around and saw me going down the stairs. We smiled at each other and waved, as if to say, “thanks, see you soon.”

I know it’s not much really, but I think it’s one of my proudest moments since I’ve been on this island.