- [first lines]
- Catalina Guzman: [narrating] Many things happened in the country that year. Among other things, I met Andres at a cafe under the arches. Where else could it be? Everything happens in Puebla. From courtships to murders. As if no other place existed.
- Andres Ascencio: They're a bunch of pricks.
- Catalina Guzman: Who is?
- Andres Ascencio: Just say yes. I can see in your eyes that you agree.
- Catalina Guzman: Okay, but who are you talking about?
- Andres Ascencio: All of them. Who else?
- Catalina Guzman: [narrating again] Of course I agree. To me, "all of them" were the people from Puebla who acted as if they owned the city. Not us, children of a farmer who stopped milking cows because he'd learned to make cheese. Not him, Andres Ascencio, who became a general out of luck and every trick other than having been born in a military family.