In her prologue, Santiago stands in front of a shelf of guavas in a New York grocery store. She remembers the guavas of her youth in Puerto Rico and discusses how she and her family knew whether one was ripe or needed more time to soften. It is a brief, vivid passage full of sensory details. She focuses on the tang of the juice, the ease with which the teeth can sink into the perfect fruit, and the roughness of the rind. She states that she had her last guava the day she left Puerto Rico, on her way to the airport. Now she moves towards the apples are pears of her adulthood, leaving the guavas of youth behind. 

When she is four years old, Esmeralda and her family move to Macun, a Puerto Rican town. The new house is made of corrugated tin and the conditions are cramped. The children sleep in hammocks and there are many repairs to be done. Esmeralda tells the reader that she is called “Negi,” because of her dark skin. Her father is shown to be a handy, useful man, and he allows her to help with home repairs.

While she helps him, she reflects on her desire to become a jibara, the word for people who lived in the country.