GOING NORTH

GOING NORTH

My sister found a way to pay for the coyote and lent me the money for the passage. There was one coyote that brought me to the Mexican border, He charged 50,000 Quetzales. Another brought me through Mexico to the US border and a third coyote brought me through the deserts of the US to Los Angeles. They demanded $15,000 more.

There was a rich neighbor who lent us the money. I suppose you could call him a millionaire. He wanted to know why I wanted the money and where I was going when I was still such a young girl. He wanted to know how we would pay him back. I said I was determined to go and that I would pay him back. He took our house and land as collateral. We didn’t lose the house because I worked and sent the money to Guatemala.

I was warned of the bad coyotes in the passage and 4 of us women and some children stayed together. We left Guatemala in a car. In Mexico we were in a truck. At the border we were locked in an apartment and told to be very quiet so we would not be reported. They said, “Hide yourself or lose your money!”

We entered the United States desert walking—no car, no food, no water. Walking day and night for about 2 weeks in the desert. By now our group had swelled to about 25 people with many men. They were from Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador. We would drink water left for cows and that’s what we did.