Santa Fe enters the story through two departures from home: Philip Cachora goes there to become an artist, and years later Delia Ortiz reaches toward the city after discovering the scale of her husband’s betrayal. It is less a fully depicted setting than a distant place whose people become important at moments of separation and crisis.

Philip Cachora’s Departure

Philip Cachora left for Santa Fe to become an artist, and Julia Joaquin acknowledges that he succeeded. His move is presented as a long-standing absence from Delia’s life, one that makes the city a marker of distance as well as artistic ambition.

Delia’s Search for Help

After finding Philip passed out with a sixteen-year-old male prostitute, Delia left their apartment and checked into the Savoy. Alone and afraid that Philip might have exposed her to AIDS, she waited for the results of her tests and eventually called Santa Fe information. She chose a listing for M. A. Cachora without an address, passing over listings with male first names, and reached a woman who identified herself as Marcella Cachora.

A Distant Connection

Marcella urged Delia to leave Philip and keep her number in case she needed someone to talk to while awaiting her test results. Delia thanked her but never called again; the exchange gave her what she needed to know. In this episode, Santa Fe functions as a practical route to a family connection beyond Delia’s immediate life in Washington, not as a refuge she ultimately enters.