diff --git a/public/admin/config.yml b/public/admin/config.yml
index 64464a6..a1f742b 100644
--- a/public/admin/config.yml
+++ b/public/admin/config.yml
@@ -136,11 +136,13 @@ collections:
         widget: select
         options: [ 'Border Crossing and Working', 'Everyday Life and Return', 'Those Who Stay' ]
       - name: interviewee
+        required: false
         i18n: duplicate
         label: Who conducted the Interview?
       - name: year
+        required: false
         i18n: duplicate
-        label: Year
+        label: Interview Date
         widget: datetime
         date_format: MM.yyyy
         time_format: false
@@ -148,7 +150,11 @@ collections:
       - name: description
         label: Short Description
         widget: text
-      - name: story
+      - name: lede
+        required: false
+        label: Forward
+        widget: markdown
+      - name: body
         label: Full Story
         widget: markdown
   - name: news
diff --git a/src/consts.ts b/src/consts.ts
index 66d0803..5632da9 100644
--- a/src/consts.ts
+++ b/src/consts.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 export const SITE_TITLE = "MMP"
 export const SITE_DESCRIPTION = "Mesoamerican Migration Project"
 
-export const LINKS = ["people", "news", "publications", "map", "data", "documentation", "about"]
+export const LINKS = ["people", "news", "publications", "map", "data", "history", "about"]
diff --git a/src/content/config.ts b/src/content/config.ts
index 488de75..c39d997 100644
--- a/src/content/config.ts
+++ b/src/content/config.ts
@@ -33,4 +33,17 @@ const people = defineCollection({
     institution: z.string(),
   }),
 })
-export const collections = { news: news, data: files, people: people }
+
+const history = defineCollection({
+  type: "content",
+  schema: z.object({
+    title: z.string(),
+    description: z.string(),
+    category: z.string(),
+    interviewee: z.string().optional(),
+    year: z.string().optional(),
+    lede: z.string().optional(),
+    story: z.string(),
+  }),
+})
+export const collections = { news: news, data: files, people: people, history: history }
diff --git a/src/content/history/all-my-thoughts-are-about-returning.md b/src/content/history/all-my-thoughts-are-about-returning.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3353dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/history/all-my-thoughts-are-about-returning.md
@@ -0,0 +1,632 @@
+---
+title: All my Thoughts are about Returning
+category: Border Crossing and Working
+interviewee: Enrique Martinez Curiel
+year: "08.1991"
+description: Antonio, a worker from Nayarit, tells us about his failures and
+  successes in the many crossings at the border.
+lede: >
+  Antonio is from Colon, Nayarit. He became a migrant during the bracer period;
+  then he would cross the border with no documents; he would later obtain his
+  documents, sponsoring his wife and children. As many migrants from Western
+  Mexico, he was white with colored eyes, so that helped him to cross without
+  being questioned. That happened to an extreme that one time he was thought to
+  be son of an American. However, not everything was easy. Several times he
+  almost gave up. Perhaps the most frustrating situation was to discover that
+  “people also get sold”. His life as an illegal has been quite difficult;
+  crossing the border on his own, just to save the smuggler’s fee, may sometimes
+  be fatal.
+
+
+  In addition to his worries and suffering throughout Antonio’s migratory life, cost his wife to lose a baby while trying to cross the border while pregnant. It was a baby boy, after having had already seven daughters. Now, he lives and works in the United States. Agricultural jobs are not for him. His opted for working within a city. He lives like many other Mexicans, in East Los Angeles’ barrio.
+story: >
+  I am from Colon, Nayarit. I got my elementary education there. My father left
+  to work at a Hacienda in Jalisco, known as Tomatlan. He liked agriculture very
+  much. Since Jalisco had good land, he left me with my older sister who had
+  just gotten married. I moved with her so I could continue my elementary
+  school. However, my brother-in-law experienced a very bad economic situation,
+  and emigrated to the North. That year was bad for my brother-in-law. I felt
+  that I was being a burden for them. My sister grumbled a lot, and one day she
+  spanked me so bad and I left her.
+
+
+  I left on May with some people who were going to Tomatlan. I moved with my father, who worked all day long in the fields. Every time it rained and we were working in the fields with sandals, I remember feeling the stones on my feet. My feet used to bleed and I thought: “why didn’t I continue studying?” We stayed in Tomatlan from 1951 until 1959.
+
+
+  The first one to emigrate to the North was my older brother, then everybody else. As I grew up, I told my dad that I didn’t like it there anymore. I told him that I wanted to return to Colon in order to leave to the United States, since there were more opportunities there. I said that because my older brother and my brother-in-law came and went as they pleased. My father didn’t want to emigrate since he was feeling old.
+
+
+  From my brothers, the oldest one came in 1957 as his last time. The other one went to Texas in 1965. Another brother lives in Varas. I also had another brother who died, but he never emigrated even though he desired to; he got as far as Tijuana, and since he couldn’t cross, he returned home. Then, the youngest one came as an undocumented migrant just before coming as a contracted worker at the Ensenada highway. That’s when my brother and brother-in-law came.
+
+
+  It was August of 1971 when I came to work to the U.S. for the first time. I worked picking up peaches. A month later, that job ended. It was a very good job because I got paid about 35 or 40 dollars daily. Most of the people from Colon came that year to work picking up figs, and they would stay longer. However, the pay was more when working picking up peaches. That last time, just before returning, they called me:
+
+
+  - “Antonio Huerta”
+
+
+  - I replied, “Yes?”
+
+
+  Since I do have blue eyes, the person who called me said I was the factory of an American. I got upset and I said that his country was the factory. He apologized. I had to return the next day, then my wife’s cousin told me:
+
+
+  - Why don’t you talk to Felipe, the one who called you the factory?
+
+
+  While we ate dinner, I was thinking on talking to Felipe to ask him for a job. I went outside and waited for him. I picked up the newspaper for him, and when I gave it to him, he said:
+
+
+  - How are you doing Antonio?
+
+
+  - “Is it true are you sending me back to Mexico?” I asked.
+
+
+  - “Unfortunately yes. There no more work here; work is over” he said.
+
+
+  - “It’s not enough, since I’m just getting back the money I invested to come. I want to help my parents since I’m the older one, and I have about 25 or 26 younger siblings” I said.
+
+
+  Of course I was lying then.
+
+
+  - “You have good intentions, but there’s no way for you to stay,” he replied.
+
+
+  - “But, there are people staying to pick up figs. Why don’t you transfer me there with my cousin,” I said.
+
+
+  - “Let me see what I can do. I’m just the supervisor, but not the boss. Let me talk to him. In any event, just get ready in case I get something for you,” he said.
+
+
+  The next day, we were almost departing when he arrived. He was looking for me and asked me for my check’s number. When I gave it to him, he said, “Where is your cousin? The boss is coming for you to work picking up figs.” So we stayed.
+
+
+  Some uncles of mine were jealous of me. I was just joking around and making them upset. In September, we celebrated the Mexican independence. So we went to town near Mercedes. We drank so much until dawn.
+
+
+  We finished the job, and they transferred us to Rio Brisa, to pick up tomato. Then, it was when I returned to Colon, in November of 1961.
+
+
+  The next year, I went to Salinas Valley, near Soledad, to work on strawberries. That year, I left engaged. I was saving money for the wedding. After 45 days, they only selected people for the next round. So I told the supervisor “am I going to stay?”
+
+
+  - “We don’t know. Just work the way you’ve been doing. That way, they’ll fire me first,” he said.
+
+
+  I told him that I was engaged and that I was saving for the wedding. I made it to the next round; so I worked from April until November. People started leaving in September, that’s when my supervisor got fired. He said, “See, what I told last time came true. I didn’t make it to the next round. Have you saved enough for your wedding? If not, we can ask for everyone’s help.”
+
+
+  I wanted to take advantage of my work. I didn’t make it on time to get married in 1961. So, I wrote my future father in law, and told him that the wedding was still on, but I wanted to work. So, I got married in 1962.
+
+
+  I came back in 1963 to Yuma, Arizona. I worked picking up lettuce. I don’t remember how long I stayed there, but I remember it was a lot harder to work there because of the heat. I only worked for about six months, since my oldest daughter would be born that year.
+
+
+  In 1964, the last year I came as a contracted worker, I came to Aguila, Arizona, near Arlen. I also worked there picking up lettuce. I was there for a few months since there was not much work. It rained a lot that year. So I only worked from February until April.
+
+
+  The last year when people got contracted was in 1965. All the time, people quit their jobs because they had family there. One cousin quit his job, but stayed there. He asked me if I wanted to come undocumented. When I said yes, he sent me the information of a smuggler. It was the first time I came like that. I paid $150 dollars, and we arrived to Tijuana.
+
+
+  My cousin stayed with my wife’s other cousin, who was married with a person from the Philippines. They helped him out to get a job. They got him a social security number. It was easier then to get one, since you could go to the post office to request one.
+
+
+  The border patrol has always been tough. The smuggler asked me where I was going, and I said that I had a brother in law there.
+
+
+  The smuggler said, “Everyone, just tell me how much money you have. The one who doesn’t have money, you can tell me. I can also cross him; since I have people you can stay with.” Everyone talked and reached an agreement.
+
+
+  - “I want to get paid with cash. If you don’t want to arrive with family, I have a place for you to stay. You can send money to your family, and you can pay me in parts. When you finish paying, I can take you with your family if you desire,” he said.
+
+
+  The smuggler was a black man who spoke Spanish perfectly. He knew farmers who needed people, so he got them a job.
+
+
+  That time, I was traveling with a cousin. He helped two acquaintances from Nayarit. They had tried to cross before and couldn’t do it. So they came with us, talked to the smuggler and he crossed them with no charge at the moment.
+
+
+  We started our trip. Our first connection was Cacoma, and walked for a half an hour. Then, a truck picked us up. Our connection was a person who lived near the border and was from the military. That day, we were 17 persons crossing. The truck in which we traveled was a horse truck. There was no ventilation in there. While we waited, the guide said, “Everyone lay down. There are a lot of cars and you don’t need to be seen. There’s a lot more danger here.” Our guide was wearing the military uniform and he was standing outside the horse truck. One of the persons didn’t obey him in laying down. So, the guide hit him with his elbow.
+
+
+  The smuggler got back and transferred us to another truck. Then, we arrived to Fresno to a place where we all were picked by the farmers, like if we were animals. The farmers said:
+
+
+  - “I need four”
+
+
+  - “I need three”
+
+
+  - “I need two”
+
+
+  -“ I need one”
+
+
+  They wanted me to go with a farmer, but I didn’t want to. I stayed in Fresno for three months. When the grape season finished, I finished paying the smuggler. Then, he took me with my family. We only stayed there working to finish paying the smuggler. I would have stayed longer, but there was no more work. In addition, the farmers and the border patrol had agreements. Whenever the farmers didn’t have more work for us, they called the border patrol so they could deport their workers.
+
+
+  So before that could happen, the smuggler took me to Arroyo Grande, California, near Santa Maria with my wife’s cousin. My wife’s cousin’s husband got us a job. I stayed there for two months – the winter season. I didn’t get paid well. Besides, the border patrol arrested me. I remember that the border patrol arrived at night. I think someone told them about us. So, they got there around four in the morning. I told my friend from Colon, “I believe it’s the border patrol because of their lighting.” I put my clothes and shoes on, and I heard how they were instructing everyone to block all the exits. Then, we heard, “Open up, it’s the border patrol. You won’t escape.”
+
+
+  One of the officers kicked the door, and the door opened. We ran towards the window, trying to escape. We got detained. I said, “I’d like to bring my clothing that is on the closet.”
+
+
+  - “You have a long time here,” the officer said.
+
+
+  - “No, a little time,” I replied.
+
+
+  - “How come? With all that clothing? You even have a girlfriend,” he replied. He said that because that night, some women had visited us. “When our boss gets here, you tell him that,” he said.
+
+
+  The boss arrived and he asked me, “How many were there Salvador?” - I was called Salvador then.
+
+
+  - “I don’t know. Ten, maybe. I have only three days here,” I said.
+
+
+  - “How come three days? If you have a lot of clothing here!” he exclaimed.
+
+
+  - “Of course, I brought all that clothing from Mexico,” I said.
+
+
+  - “You’re lying,” he said. He showed me a list with everyone’s name. He even talked about me. “Look Salvador, when I had detained one, I saw another one cross. Because I wanted to trap both, the one I had got freed. So, I didn’t trap any,” he laughed. “You had bad luck”.
+
+
+  They didn’t treat us bad; they treated us according how he behaved. That time, they jailed us in Santa Maria. They were hard on us. They finger-printed us that time. I had never done so. From there, they took us to Oxnard. We slept a couple of hours, and once they had filled the place, they took us to Chula Vista, near San Isidro. We slept and the next day, they took us to the center of California. I was there for three days, and then they flew us to El Paso, Texas.
+
+
+  I always had 20 dollars with me. With that money, I could survive in any border. After that, I returned in 1967. I got detained in January 1966. I stayed home all that year and part of 1967. Towards the end of 1967, I came back. There was an exhibition of the Dodgers, but we didn’t have tickets. So, we went to Guadalajara to get them. Then, we went to Mazatlan, but they didn’t have tickets either. We didn’t want to return home, so we traveled to Nogales. There, we arrived with my friend’s family. We applied for the so called “local passport”. Since it takes time to get it, we received a form that allows us to cross, but we decided to wait for the “local passport”.
+
+
+  Once I got back home, I worked. Then, farming season arrived and my brother said, “Why don’t you do your own agriculture?” So, I started on my own, but that year it didn’t rain. My brother in law returned and told me, “Let’s go. It won’t rain here and you’re getting on debt. Let’s pick up your passport.” Six months had passed since we applied for it. We left, and gave my land to my brother. Once I received my passport, I traveled to Santa Ana, and then to San Luis Rio Colorado. We arrived to Tijuana because I wanted to work where my brother in law did, at Arroyo Grande. I needed a permit and money. So I said, “I’m going to work for a week; hopefully in a week you find someone to cross with or someone to get that work permit.”
+
+
+  My cousin, the Philippine’s wife, was in Tijuana and suggested me to go and apply for a permit. She had seen people applying for it, and getting it right away. So, I went and I received it right away. I was just asked the place of destiny, and I said that I was going to Arroyo Grande to vacation. Once in Arroyo Grande, we worked there for a month. My brother in law said that he would go to Sacramento and then to Iowa City. I asked him to wait for me, because I was waiting for my check. However, the border patrol arrived and deported me. My brother in law picked up my checked and sent me the money.
+
+
+  I didn’t return until April of 1971. I worked as a construction worker in Los Angeles. I was staying with my friend Jesus. Since I had helped him before in getting him a passport, he told me to go with him. So, when I cross that time, I went with him.
+
+
+  It took me a month to get a job. I didn’t want to work in agriculture anymore; besides, the border patrol was there all the time. So, while in the city, there was a lot of work as a dishwasher. But, I didn’t want that. A friend of mine was a supervisor in a tortilla factory. He took me with him to work for four to six hours. At least, that was something.
+
+
+  One month later, a neighbor told me that his dad had a restaurant and needed a person there. I started working there with the minimum wage plus food. So, I liked it there.
+
+
+  I started as a janitor, but I learned there the waitresses’ duties. I learned everything. I worked there for a year, and I asked the boss for vacations, so I could visit my family back home. I only went home for a month, and I crossed with my passport. That time, I tried to get a permit in Tijuana, and it was denied. However, they didn’t take my passport. I crossed and was deported. I crossed again, but that time through San Diego, near San Clemente. We arrived to a motel with the smuggler; he would take me to Los Angeles, but somebody called the border patrol. The border patrol arrived and one of the told me, “give me your passport.”
+
+
+  - “I don’t have one,” I reply.
+
+
+  I was thinking on mailing my passport back. I placed it inside my boot. They took us inside the truck and drove us to San Clemente. Once there, they started the investigation and told us to get out everything we had.
+
+
+  They searched us everywhere. Then, one told me to take off my shoes. When I was taking my shoes off, my passport fell to the floor. At that exact moment, the officer who apprehended me told me “See, I knew you had one.”
+
+
+  - “Ok, you’ve found it. Take it away and do your job. But, put yourself in my shoes, wouldn’t you do the same?” I said.
+
+
+  They took us to Chulavista and flew us to Guanajuato, but we paid our trip. Prior to the trip, I was jailed for seven days, because they wanted to fill in the airplane.
+
+
+  The last time I was there, it was from 1972 until 1974. In 1974, my brother in law came with me. We brought my brother Milio and more in-laws. Then, we brought my two daughters who were very young. My cousin crossed them as her children. Then, my two oldest daughters arrived and started middle school and elementary school respectively.
+
+
+  Upon my arrival here, there were people from Colon. I lived in East Los Angeles, then, I moved to my boss’s home.
+
+
+  The first home we lived on was quite small; I paid 58 dollars, and it had no windows. It was just a room. So, when I brought my family, I asked my boss for a bigger house.
+
+
+  - “I don’t have one,” he said, “but you’re a good person. I haven’t had problems with you. I’ll give you a letter of recommendation so you can rent a home. I rented a home in front of the restaurant where I worked. We lived there for four years; I started work at 4pm and finished at midnight. Since I helped out, my boss gave me lettuce, green Chile, meat, chicken; he paid me little, but he was a nice person.
+
+
+  We lived near Milton High for about five years. We applied for documents, and we received the Silva letter. We could now work, but we couldn’t return to Mexico. We lasted 14 years without being able to return. My wife return eleven years later, but undocumented. I left one time, but it was due to a promise when I was very sick. We obtained social security numbers for my two youngest daughters. I couldn’t obtain the numbers for my two oldest, because they were older than 21 and they were married already.
+
+
+  I left my job at the restaurant because I was recommended at a factory. The problem was that as soon I started my job, there was a strike at the factory. I was invited to a meeting with food and beer and I supported, but told us that they didn’t want the supervisors to know about it. I didn’t want it to end in strike because I had just started, but I liked the ideas because that would benefit my family.
+
+
+  We started the strike. We took turns to be at the factory, and made big announcements. I even took my children to be with me. For food, I took two dozens of flour tortillas, and made beans with sausage and salsa and made burritos. Then, I also had a gallon of Kool-Aid for everyone. People were happy with me.
+
+
+  One time, we saw a trailer coming. It was a Saturday with few people outside from the union. The owner took out a trailer and had an accident with another car. We all went there, and we asked where they had parked the trailer. They had already sent someone to help us out. However, when we all got there, people wanted to get upset at me. I told them “We are fighting for a cause, and you’re at your home, and still come here to complain”
+
+
+  We went an look for the trailer. The police asked us what had happen. I said that we were on a strike, and that there was a trailer and I was looking for it. He asked me for my documents, and I showed him my Silva letter. He asked me if those where my friends, and I said that they were my friends from work. Thus, he took us to talk to everyone of the union. At night, the union took me to dinner, and the boss paid so no one would get arrested.
+
+
+  After a month, people’s savings were almost gone with the strike. I told them that this would not be easy. Since people didn’t want to continue with the strike, I also said that we were going to lose, so I was abandoning the cause.
+
+
+  - “No, Antonio. I promised you that I would look for a better job, but stay here.” The boss said. I got a raise, but I also wanted that for my friends. We all wanted to be treated equal.
+
+
+  - “That’s not possible,” he said. “Why are you being like that? Let everyone live their own.”
+
+
+  I’ve lived that all my life. I like all to be treated equal. I don’t like when there are preferences or racism. I don’t agree with that.
+
+
+  We lost the strike. I worked there for a few days and then I got fired. I remember that was when Reagan became president. I got a job cleaning airplanes.
+
+
+  We work with a company who hires us. So, everyone benefits from that. For example, the company tells you, I’ll charge you 8 or 7 dollars per hour; but we get paid 5 or 6. That’s the company’s business. The company’s name first name was Aline, now it’s called Analine.
+
+
+  From all the times I did go to the U.S., I remember that once I swore not to go back if I didn’t get papers. I remember I was crossing near Tecate. There was a lagoon; we took water for our trip, since we would walk for four or five nights. We had canned food and tortillas. We crossed alone because we didn’t want to pay the smuggler. We wanted to save that money – about 200 to 250 dollars. My brother in law knew the way and we went with him. Unfortunately, my feet got swollen for walking all night long. We walked and got water from another lagoon. There, we saw an small airplane flying by. We ran for cover. Then, my brother-in-law asked me, “How are you feeling? We’re going up a mountain, and it’s quite cold. If you fall down, we can die of hypothermia.”
+
+
+  We stayed by the lagoon. It was very cold! We heard a coyote howling. Next morning, we kept moving like robots because we were cold. We had to cross a highway, so there was danger. Once we crossed the highway, we came through the desert. Around 9 or 10am, we ate some breakfast. There were deer around.
+
+
+  We walked all day long. We ate cold tortillas, and after resting for an hour, we kept walking. It was getting dark and I was detaining the group. When we got up, I told them “You know what? I’m quite sick and I’m delaying your way. Go ahead. Just tell me where the closest town is or farm from here. I’ll reach you tomorrow if I can get a raid, but I’m feeling quite sick.” I couldn’t walk and my pants were very tight now. My brother in law said that we were together in all this. So, we were going to walk a bit more in order to sleep, so we could continue the next morning.
+
+
+  We stayed there and rested the next day as well. As dawn approached, we got down the mountain and I was feeling better. We walked all night and then, before the checking point, we stopped to rest. The next morning we reached another stop point where there was water. We saw a bucket, and we used it to shower. We stayed there for the rest of the day. We continued our way at night, when suddenly, it got very windy, like a sand storm. I told my brother in law, “let’s have a smoke and rest.” I was very tired with my feet like that. I laid down on the floor, and when I was stretching, I found a coke. Since we were thirsty, we drank it all. We continued our way all night long and took a rest early in the morning. About 2pm, we had reached Hanes town. We had walked five nights by then. We reached a water pomp, and found an American. We asked for a friend, and told him that I was sick and hadn’t had a meal in about three days. This American guy, called the friend we were looking for, and he probably exaggerated, because the friend arrived very quick for us.
+
+
+  We bought milk and cookies, and asked them to stop for some beers. I had 50 dollars with me. I always liked to have money with me in case I got deported. We bought a six-pack for the American guy. We returned to the place where we were found and went up a tree, to avoid the border patrol. We drank the milk, cookies, and the beer. Then, we went inside a home, and two persons offered us some food. “Don’t worry, we already passed through this,” one said. The other person didn’t like us much.
+
+
+  My brother in law got a job with them, and stayed with them for three days. We ate beans, flower, and potatoes. My brother in law could eat about 15 flour tortillas in one meal. From there, my brother in law called another person to pick us up. If this guy didn’t pick us up, we would have to walk one more night all the way to Hanes town. I told my brother in law to wait for them. The truth is that I was doing well. My legs were not good, even though, I was treating them with water and garlic. Finally, some guys picked us up, and charged us $25 dollars each to take us to Los Angeles. They fed us, and when we were getting closer, the car started to have problem.
+
+
+  - “Oh my, hopefully they will not return us.”
+
+
+  Where I had been before, they dropped us. In 1974, my father-in-law’ brother, who lives in the mountain, asked me if I wanted to go with them. There were jobs in constructions available. I went with an acquaintance. I also called my wife’s uncle to see if he could get me a job with horses.
+
+
+  - “If you want, I’ll go,” I said.
+
+
+  - “No, the boss is a Jew and he will give you anything: four to five dollars and he will make you work all day long,” he said.
+
+
+  - “It doesn’t matter; I want to work,” I said.
+
+
+  I did go and I was cleaning up the entire farm all they long. I thought he would give me at least $15 dollars; but he only gave me $7 because he didn’t have change.
+
+
+  - "How much did you get paid," I was asked. “It’s not worth it; I told you he was a Jew.”
+
+
+  - “That’s serves me well,” I said.
+
+
+  The following morning, I did go to work in construction. I got paid $20 dollars and got fed as well. I worked for a month. I told the boss’s daughter to ask his father for a job for me.
+
+
+  A strike started the day I started working with my boss. I was afraid of the strike because I one gets in trouble. Also, one may get reported to the border patrol. I had just arrived and I didn’t have anything. So, when they called me to work, I came right away and started working at a restaurant. I lasted there for four years, and during that time, I didn’t go to Colon at all.
+
+
+  When I started my job at the restaurant, my wife’s aunt told me, “Bring your family along, because every time you get money you go and spend it. It’s a never ending story. It’s better to bring them.”
+
+
+  I sent money to my wife so she could fix her teeth. She was almost to the point of giving birth. “Get your teeth fixed and come here,” I told her. She did so, and arrived in 1974.
+
+
+  A friend’s in-law would cross her; I liked him because I knew about him. At the border, there’s always problem with women crossing. So, I sent money to my wife, and she came alone and pregnant. In that same trip, my in-law’s wife came as well without telling him anything. She took advantage of the trip. In San Clemente, the border patrol was checking car by car. They got stopped and when the border patrol asked them who was bringing them, they said they just had gotten a ride. They got detained and were in San Diego for 14 days. In the same car, there was a guy who got nervous and said that he had paid the driver. Since my wife didn’t say the truth, that’s why they were taken to San Diego. They got deported and confiscated everything they had – my address and home phone number included.
+
+
+  At the bus station, they were by the phone trying to call me, but couldn’t remember the number. A lady asked them if they wanted to cross. They told her everything.
+
+
+  - “I’ll take you, don’t worry,” she said.
+
+
+  - “But, we don’t even remember the address or the phone number,” my wife said.
+
+
+  - “What’s the street name,” the lady asked.
+
+
+  - “Oregon,” they replied. “It’s a small street, like a block long and not well known.”
+
+
+  I talked to my daughters asking for their mom. I called the border patrol and they told me that my wife was due in court. I was very frustrated.
+
+
+  - “Where is my mom? Is she there yet?” My daughter asked.
+
+
+  - “Almost. It’s quite difficult to arrive,” I replied to her.
+
+
+  - “When is she going to get there?” she asked.
+
+
+  - “Sometime soon” I said.
+
+
+  I told them that so they didn’t worry. Then, it was like a miracle. The lady crossed them with no address or phone number. She found the street and then, they my in-law saw her husband who lived with me.
+
+
+  During those days, the buses were also on strike. I had to walk for about two miles to get to work. Then, upon my arrival to the house, one of the guys told me, “you know what? There’s hope. I have news about your people.” I got happy but anxious at the same time.
+
+
+  - “What happen?” I asked.
+
+
+  - “They are coming,” he replied.
+
+
+  - “What do you mean?” I asked.
+
+
+  My wife was already in the house, and my friend was just playing with me. “Come with me, I have something for you,” he said.
+
+
+  He took me to the room where my wife and my in-law were. I was so happy then. I took her to the store to buy her clothing and everything she needed. Then, we call home so my daughter didn’t worry. I took my wife to the clinic and didn’t want to give her a checkup. Afterwards, she did have a check up and supposedly everything was normal. However, the baby was born dead; he was the first boy after seven girls.
+
+
+  Here in U.S., there’s about everything. I think a lot of people were not told about the sacrifices one has to do while being here. Those are the ones that are against the Mexican. They only think that we are invading and that we are taking their jobs away. For example, there is some nice African-American, who understands our troubles. For example, this son of mine will know everything I had to pass through when he grows up. It doesn’t matter that he’s been born here; I’ll explain everything so he can help our people. Some say that Chicanos are the worse against the Mexicans.
+
+
+  I think there is more racism within the Americans. They don’t mind you because you’re not using the benefits. They will always be above; that’s my thinking. Also, I think the Cubans believe to be better than all the other Latinos. I think all the other Latinos believe to be superior to the Mexicans.
+
+
+  When my baby boy was born dead, I pay everything in cash: $4,000 dollars. When I finished paying off, I requested a letter saying that I didn’t owe the government anything. The reason being is that a lot of people think that we’re a trouble for the U.S., and I don’t want to be any. I remember when I requested the letter, the person in charge got a bit upset. There are a lot of people that don’t pay back what the county has paid for them. That’s wrong, because in Mexico, if you have money you get health care, and if not, you die. I agree with that idea.
+
+
+  I know the government gives a lot of support to the children. I don’t agree with that, because if one wants to educate their children with their customs, they don’t want or complain. Then, the police comes and one undergoes investigation. I believe that my children’s education should be my own problem. I don’t complain with my own, because they’re the same as I was. For example, in Mexico, when one is young, one learns to work. Many take that wrong, but I believe it’s a benefit because one learns about life. For example, if I die, I know the government will support my baby, but nothing is for free. When he grows up, he will have to pay back. In Mexico, the limitations make people more responsible. For example, if you’re studying, you look for a job during the vacation period. Here, you can’t do that if the school doesn’t give you a permit. In Mexico, they start preparing since their early childhood. In case their parent’s marriage ends, or there is an accident, they are ready for anything life brings them; here, they are not ready for anything.
+
+
+  I’m 50 years old now. I hope to get my pension at 62, and then, I’m planning to retire to Mexico, to work in something. I don’t want to depend on the wage alone, because it’s not good. In Mexico, the salary is not much; at least here in the U.S., wage is comparable with food.
+
+
+  There is also freedom, but it depends. There are people who like to have the stereo with a high volume. Here, they call the police. Also, I cannot have a drink on the street, because they also call the police. Sometimes, you want to have a party, and when you request a permit, you only get it until 10pm or 11pm. If you go over that time limit, they get upset at you. In a way, that’s good because if you want to sleep or are ill, you don’t want to have the people yelling outside. I agree with that because in Mexico, people are used to doing so, but they can’t do it here.
+---
+I am from Colon, Nayarit. I got my elementary education there. My father left to work at a Hacienda in Jalisco, known as Tomatlan. He liked agriculture very much. Since Jalisco had good land, he left me with my older sister who had just gotten married. I moved with her so I could continue my elementary school. However, my brother-in-law experienced a very bad economic situation, and emigrated to the North. That year was bad for my brother-in-law. I felt that I was being a burden for them. My sister grumbled a lot, and one day she spanked me so bad and I left her.
+
+I left on May with some people who were going to Tomatlan. I moved with my father, who worked all day long in the fields. Every time it rained and we were working in the fields with sandals, I remember feeling the stones on my feet. My feet used to bleed and I thought: “why didn’t I continue studying?” We stayed in Tomatlan from 1951 until 1959.
+
+The first one to emigrate to the North was my older brother, then everybody else. As I grew up, I told my dad that I didn’t like it there anymore. I told him that I wanted to return to Colon in order to leave to the United States, since there were more opportunities there. I said that because my older brother and my brother-in-law came and went as they pleased. My father didn’t want to emigrate since he was feeling old.
+
+From my brothers, the oldest one came in 1957 as his last time. The other one went to Texas in 1965. Another brother lives in Varas. I also had another brother who died, but he never emigrated even though he desired to; he got as far as Tijuana, and since he couldn’t cross, he returned home. Then, the youngest one came as an undocumented migrant just before coming as a contracted worker at the Ensenada highway. That’s when my brother and brother-in-law came.
+
+It was August of 1971 when I came to work to the U.S. for the first time. I worked picking up peaches. A month later, that job ended. It was a very good job because I got paid about 35 or 40 dollars daily. Most of the people from Colon came that year to work picking up figs, and they would stay longer. However, the pay was more when working picking up peaches. That last time, just before returning, they called me:
+
+- “Antonio Huerta”
+
+- I replied, “Yes?”
+
+Since I do have blue eyes, the person who called me said I was the factory of an American. I got upset and I said that his country was the factory. He apologized. I had to return the next day, then my wife’s cousin told me:
+
+- Why don’t you talk to Felipe, the one who called you the factory?
+
+While we ate dinner, I was thinking on talking to Felipe to ask him for a job. I went outside and waited for him. I picked up the newspaper for him, and when I gave it to him, he said:
+
+- How are you doing Antonio?
+
+- “Is it true are you sending me back to Mexico?” I asked.
+
+- “Unfortunately yes. There no more work here; work is over” he said.
+
+- “It’s not enough, since I’m just getting back the money I invested to come. I want to help my parents since I’m the older one, and I have about 25 or 26 younger siblings” I said.
+
+Of course I was lying then.
+
+- “You have good intentions, but there’s no way for you to stay,” he replied.
+
+- “But, there are people staying to pick up figs. Why don’t you transfer me there with my cousin,” I said.
+
+- “Let me see what I can do. I’m just the supervisor, but not the boss. Let me talk to him. In any event, just get ready in case I get something for you,” he said.
+
+The next day, we were almost departing when he arrived. He was looking for me and asked me for my check’s number. When I gave it to him, he said, “Where is your cousin? The boss is coming for you to work picking up figs.” So we stayed.
+
+Some uncles of mine were jealous of me. I was just joking around and making them upset. In September, we celebrated the Mexican independence. So we went to town near Mercedes. We drank so much until dawn.
+
+We finished the job, and they transferred us to Rio Brisa, to pick up tomato. Then, it was when I returned to Colon, in November of 1961.
+
+The next year, I went to Salinas Valley, near Soledad, to work on strawberries. That year, I left engaged. I was saving money for the wedding. After 45 days, they only selected people for the next round. So I told the supervisor “am I going to stay?”
+
+- “We don’t know. Just work the way you’ve been doing. That way, they’ll fire me first,” he said.
+
+I told him that I was engaged and that I was saving for the wedding. I made it to the next round; so I worked from April until November. People started leaving in September, that’s when my supervisor got fired. He said, “See, what I told last time came true. I didn’t make it to the next round. Have you saved enough for your wedding? If not, we can ask for everyone’s help.”
+
+I wanted to take advantage of my work. I didn’t make it on time to get married in 1961. So, I wrote my future father in law, and told him that the wedding was still on, but I wanted to work. So, I got married in 1962.
+
+I came back in 1963 to Yuma, Arizona. I worked picking up lettuce. I don’t remember how long I stayed there, but I remember it was a lot harder to work there because of the heat. I only worked for about six months, since my oldest daughter would be born that year.
+
+In 1964, the last year I came as a contracted worker, I came to Aguila, Arizona, near Arlen. I also worked there picking up lettuce. I was there for a few months since there was not much work. It rained a lot that year. So I only worked from February until April.
+
+The last year when people got contracted was in 1965. All the time, people quit their jobs because they had family there. One cousin quit his job, but stayed there. He asked me if I wanted to come undocumented. When I said yes, he sent me the information of a smuggler. It was the first time I came like that. I paid $150 dollars, and we arrived to Tijuana.
+
+My cousin stayed with my wife’s other cousin, who was married with a person from the Philippines. They helped him out to get a job. They got him a social security number. It was easier then to get one, since you could go to the post office to request one.
+
+The border patrol has always been tough. The smuggler asked me where I was going, and I said that I had a brother in law there.
+
+The smuggler said, “Everyone, just tell me how much money you have. The one who doesn’t have money, you can tell me. I can also cross him; since I have people you can stay with.” Everyone talked and reached an agreement.
+
+- “I want to get paid with cash. If you don’t want to arrive with family, I have a place for you to stay. You can send money to your family, and you can pay me in parts. When you finish paying, I can take you with your family if you desire,” he said.
+
+The smuggler was a black man who spoke Spanish perfectly. He knew farmers who needed people, so he got them a job.
+
+That time, I was traveling with a cousin. He helped two acquaintances from Nayarit. They had tried to cross before and couldn’t do it. So they came with us, talked to the smuggler and he crossed them with no charge at the moment.
+
+We started our trip. Our first connection was Cacoma, and walked for a half an hour. Then, a truck picked us up. Our connection was a person who lived near the border and was from the military. That day, we were 17 persons crossing. The truck in which we traveled was a horse truck. There was no ventilation in there. While we waited, the guide said, “Everyone lay down. There are a lot of cars and you don’t need to be seen. There’s a lot more danger here.” Our guide was wearing the military uniform and he was standing outside the horse truck. One of the persons didn’t obey him in laying down. So, the guide hit him with his elbow.
+
+The smuggler got back and transferred us to another truck. Then, we arrived to Fresno to a place where we all were picked by the farmers, like if we were animals. The farmers said:
+
+- “I need four”
+
+- “I need three”
+
+- “I need two”
+
+-“ I need one”
+
+They wanted me to go with a farmer, but I didn’t want to. I stayed in Fresno for three months. When the grape season finished, I finished paying the smuggler. Then, he took me with my family. We only stayed there working to finish paying the smuggler. I would have stayed longer, but there was no more work. In addition, the farmers and the border patrol had agreements. Whenever the farmers didn’t have more work for us, they called the border patrol so they could deport their workers.
+
+So before that could happen, the smuggler took me to Arroyo Grande, California, near Santa Maria with my wife’s cousin. My wife’s cousin’s husband got us a job. I stayed there for two months – the winter season. I didn’t get paid well. Besides, the border patrol arrested me. I remember that the border patrol arrived at night. I think someone told them about us. So, they got there around four in the morning. I told my friend from Colon, “I believe it’s the border patrol because of their lighting.” I put my clothes and shoes on, and I heard how they were instructing everyone to block all the exits. Then, we heard, “Open up, it’s the border patrol. You won’t escape.”
+
+One of the officers kicked the door, and the door opened. We ran towards the window, trying to escape. We got detained. I said, “I’d like to bring my clothing that is on the closet.”
+
+- “You have a long time here,” the officer said.
+
+- “No, a little time,” I replied.
+
+- “How come? With all that clothing? You even have a girlfriend,” he replied. He said that because that night, some women had visited us. “When our boss gets here, you tell him that,” he said.
+
+The boss arrived and he asked me, “How many were there Salvador?” - I was called Salvador then.
+
+- “I don’t know. Ten, maybe. I have only three days here,” I said.
+
+- “How come three days? If you have a lot of clothing here!” he exclaimed.
+
+- “Of course, I brought all that clothing from Mexico,” I said.
+
+- “You’re lying,” he said. He showed me a list with everyone’s name. He even talked about me. “Look Salvador, when I had detained one, I saw another one cross. Because I wanted to trap both, the one I had got freed. So, I didn’t trap any,” he laughed. “You had bad luck”.
+
+They didn’t treat us bad; they treated us according how he behaved. That time, they jailed us in Santa Maria. They were hard on us. They finger-printed us that time. I had never done so. From there, they took us to Oxnard. We slept a couple of hours, and once they had filled the place, they took us to Chula Vista, near San Isidro. We slept and the next day, they took us to the center of California. I was there for three days, and then they flew us to El Paso, Texas.
+
+I always had 20 dollars with me. With that money, I could survive in any border. After that, I returned in 1967. I got detained in January 1966. I stayed home all that year and part of 1967. Towards the end of 1967, I came back. There was an exhibition of the Dodgers, but we didn’t have tickets. So, we went to Guadalajara to get them. Then, we went to Mazatlan, but they didn’t have tickets either. We didn’t want to return home, so we traveled to Nogales. There, we arrived with my friend’s family. We applied for the so called “local passport”. Since it takes time to get it, we received a form that allows us to cross, but we decided to wait for the “local passport”.
+
+Once I got back home, I worked. Then, farming season arrived and my brother said, “Why don’t you do your own agriculture?” So, I started on my own, but that year it didn’t rain. My brother in law returned and told me, “Let’s go. It won’t rain here and you’re getting on debt. Let’s pick up your passport.” Six months had passed since we applied for it. We left, and gave my land to my brother. Once I received my passport, I traveled to Santa Ana, and then to San Luis Rio Colorado. We arrived to Tijuana because I wanted to work where my brother in law did, at Arroyo Grande. I needed a permit and money. So I said, “I’m going to work for a week; hopefully in a week you find someone to cross with or someone to get that work permit.”
+
+My cousin, the Philippine’s wife, was in Tijuana and suggested me to go and apply for a permit. She had seen people applying for it, and getting it right away. So, I went and I received it right away. I was just asked the place of destiny, and I said that I was going to Arroyo Grande to vacation. Once in Arroyo Grande, we worked there for a month. My brother in law said that he would go to Sacramento and then to Iowa City. I asked him to wait for me, because I was waiting for my check. However, the border patrol arrived and deported me. My brother in law picked up my checked and sent me the money.
+
+I didn’t return until April of 1971. I worked as a construction worker in Los Angeles. I was staying with my friend Jesus. Since I had helped him before in getting him a passport, he told me to go with him. So, when I cross that time, I went with him.
+
+It took me a month to get a job. I didn’t want to work in agriculture anymore; besides, the border patrol was there all the time. So, while in the city, there was a lot of work as a dishwasher. But, I didn’t want that. A friend of mine was a supervisor in a tortilla factory. He took me with him to work for four to six hours. At least, that was something.
+
+One month later, a neighbor told me that his dad had a restaurant and needed a person there. I started working there with the minimum wage plus food. So, I liked it there.
+
+I started as a janitor, but I learned there the waitresses’ duties. I learned everything. I worked there for a year, and I asked the boss for vacations, so I could visit my family back home. I only went home for a month, and I crossed with my passport. That time, I tried to get a permit in Tijuana, and it was denied. However, they didn’t take my passport. I crossed and was deported. I crossed again, but that time through San Diego, near San Clemente. We arrived to a motel with the smuggler; he would take me to Los Angeles, but somebody called the border patrol. The border patrol arrived and one of the told me, “give me your passport.”
+
+- “I don’t have one,” I reply.
+
+I was thinking on mailing my passport back. I placed it inside my boot. They took us inside the truck and drove us to San Clemente. Once there, they started the investigation and told us to get out everything we had.
+
+They searched us everywhere. Then, one told me to take off my shoes. When I was taking my shoes off, my passport fell to the floor. At that exact moment, the officer who apprehended me told me “See, I knew you had one.”
+
+- “Ok, you’ve found it. Take it away and do your job. But, put yourself in my shoes, wouldn’t you do the same?” I said.
+
+They took us to Chulavista and flew us to Guanajuato, but we paid our trip. Prior to the trip, I was jailed for seven days, because they wanted to fill in the airplane.
+
+The last time I was there, it was from 1972 until 1974. In 1974, my brother in law came with me. We brought my brother Milio and more in-laws. Then, we brought my two daughters who were very young. My cousin crossed them as her children. Then, my two oldest daughters arrived and started middle school and elementary school respectively.
+
+Upon my arrival here, there were people from Colon. I lived in East Los Angeles, then, I moved to my boss’s home.
+
+The first home we lived on was quite small; I paid 58 dollars, and it had no windows. It was just a room. So, when I brought my family, I asked my boss for a bigger house.
+
+- “I don’t have one,” he said, “but you’re a good person. I haven’t had problems with you. I’ll give you a letter of recommendation so you can rent a home. I rented a home in front of the restaurant where I worked. We lived there for four years; I started work at 4pm and finished at midnight. Since I helped out, my boss gave me lettuce, green Chile, meat, chicken; he paid me little, but he was a nice person.
+
+We lived near Milton High for about five years. We applied for documents, and we received the Silva letter. We could now work, but we couldn’t return to Mexico. We lasted 14 years without being able to return. My wife return eleven years later, but undocumented. I left one time, but it was due to a promise when I was very sick. We obtained social security numbers for my two youngest daughters. I couldn’t obtain the numbers for my two oldest, because they were older than 21 and they were married already.
+
+I left my job at the restaurant because I was recommended at a factory. The problem was that as soon I started my job, there was a strike at the factory. I was invited to a meeting with food and beer and I supported, but told us that they didn’t want the supervisors to know about it. I didn’t want it to end in strike because I had just started, but I liked the ideas because that would benefit my family.
+
+We started the strike. We took turns to be at the factory, and made big announcements. I even took my children to be with me. For food, I took two dozens of flour tortillas, and made beans with sausage and salsa and made burritos. Then, I also had a gallon of Kool-Aid for everyone. People were happy with me.
+
+One time, we saw a trailer coming. It was a Saturday with few people outside from the union. The owner took out a trailer and had an accident with another car. We all went there, and we asked where they had parked the trailer. They had already sent someone to help us out. However, when we all got there, people wanted to get upset at me. I told them “We are fighting for a cause, and you’re at your home, and still come here to complain”
+
+We went an look for the trailer. The police asked us what had happen. I said that we were on a strike, and that there was a trailer and I was looking for it. He asked me for my documents, and I showed him my Silva letter. He asked me if those where my friends, and I said that they were my friends from work. Thus, he took us to talk to everyone of the union. At night, the union took me to dinner, and the boss paid so no one would get arrested.
+
+After a month, people’s savings were almost gone with the strike. I told them that this would not be easy. Since people didn’t want to continue with the strike, I also said that we were going to lose, so I was abandoning the cause.
+
+- “No, Antonio. I promised you that I would look for a better job, but stay here.” The boss said. I got a raise, but I also wanted that for my friends. We all wanted to be treated equal.
+
+- “That’s not possible,” he said. “Why are you being like that? Let everyone live their own.”
+
+I’ve lived that all my life. I like all to be treated equal. I don’t like when there are preferences or racism. I don’t agree with that.
+
+We lost the strike. I worked there for a few days and then I got fired. I remember that was when Reagan became president. I got a job cleaning airplanes.
+
+We work with a company who hires us. So, everyone benefits from that. For example, the company tells you, I’ll charge you 8 or 7 dollars per hour; but we get paid 5 or 6. That’s the company’s business. The company’s name first name was Aline, now it’s called Analine.
+
+From all the times I did go to the U.S., I remember that once I swore not to go back if I didn’t get papers. I remember I was crossing near Tecate. There was a lagoon; we took water for our trip, since we would walk for four or five nights. We had canned food and tortillas. We crossed alone because we didn’t want to pay the smuggler. We wanted to save that money – about 200 to 250 dollars. My brother in law knew the way and we went with him. Unfortunately, my feet got swollen for walking all night long. We walked and got water from another lagoon. There, we saw an small airplane flying by. We ran for cover. Then, my brother-in-law asked me, “How are you feeling? We’re going up a mountain, and it’s quite cold. If you fall down, we can die of hypothermia.”
+
+We stayed by the lagoon. It was very cold! We heard a coyote howling. Next morning, we kept moving like robots because we were cold. We had to cross a highway, so there was danger. Once we crossed the highway, we came through the desert. Around 9 or 10am, we ate some breakfast. There were deer around.
+
+We walked all day long. We ate cold tortillas, and after resting for an hour, we kept walking. It was getting dark and I was detaining the group. When we got up, I told them “You know what? I’m quite sick and I’m delaying your way. Go ahead. Just tell me where the closest town is or farm from here. I’ll reach you tomorrow if I can get a raid, but I’m feeling quite sick.” I couldn’t walk and my pants were very tight now. My brother in law said that we were together in all this. So, we were going to walk a bit more in order to sleep, so we could continue the next morning.
+
+We stayed there and rested the next day as well. As dawn approached, we got down the mountain and I was feeling better. We walked all night and then, before the checking point, we stopped to rest. The next morning we reached another stop point where there was water. We saw a bucket, and we used it to shower. We stayed there for the rest of the day. We continued our way at night, when suddenly, it got very windy, like a sand storm. I told my brother in law, “let’s have a smoke and rest.” I was very tired with my feet like that. I laid down on the floor, and when I was stretching, I found a coke. Since we were thirsty, we drank it all. We continued our way all night long and took a rest early in the morning. About 2pm, we had reached Hanes town. We had walked five nights by then. We reached a water pomp, and found an American. We asked for a friend, and told him that I was sick and hadn’t had a meal in about three days. This American guy, called the friend we were looking for, and he probably exaggerated, because the friend arrived very quick for us.
+
+We bought milk and cookies, and asked them to stop for some beers. I had 50 dollars with me. I always liked to have money with me in case I got deported. We bought a six-pack for the American guy. We returned to the place where we were found and went up a tree, to avoid the border patrol. We drank the milk, cookies, and the beer. Then, we went inside a home, and two persons offered us some food. “Don’t worry, we already passed through this,” one said. The other person didn’t like us much.
+
+My brother in law got a job with them, and stayed with them for three days. We ate beans, flower, and potatoes. My brother in law could eat about 15 flour tortillas in one meal. From there, my brother in law called another person to pick us up. If this guy didn’t pick us up, we would have to walk one more night all the way to Hanes town. I told my brother in law to wait for them. The truth is that I was doing well. My legs were not good, even though, I was treating them with water and garlic. Finally, some guys picked us up, and charged us $25 dollars each to take us to Los Angeles. They fed us, and when we were getting closer, the car started to have problem.
+
+- “Oh my, hopefully they will not return us.”
+
+Where I had been before, they dropped us. In 1974, my father-in-law’ brother, who lives in the mountain, asked me if I wanted to go with them. There were jobs in constructions available. I went with an acquaintance. I also called my wife’s uncle to see if he could get me a job with horses.
+
+- “If you want, I’ll go,” I said.
+
+- “No, the boss is a Jew and he will give you anything: four to five dollars and he will make you work all day long,” he said.
+
+- “It doesn’t matter; I want to work,” I said.
+
+I did go and I was cleaning up the entire farm all they long. I thought he would give me at least $15 dollars; but he only gave me $7 because he didn’t have change.
+
+- "How much did you get paid," I was asked. “It’s not worth it; I told you he was a Jew.”
+
+- “That’s serves me well,” I said.
+
+The following morning, I did go to work in construction. I got paid $20 dollars and got fed as well. I worked for a month. I told the boss’s daughter to ask his father for a job for me.
+
+A strike started the day I started working with my boss. I was afraid of the strike because I one gets in trouble. Also, one may get reported to the border patrol. I had just arrived and I didn’t have anything. So, when they called me to work, I came right away and started working at a restaurant. I lasted there for four years, and during that time, I didn’t go to Colon at all.
+
+When I started my job at the restaurant, my wife’s aunt told me, “Bring your family along, because every time you get money you go and spend it. It’s a never ending story. It’s better to bring them.”
+
+I sent money to my wife so she could fix her teeth. She was almost to the point of giving birth. “Get your teeth fixed and come here,” I told her. She did so, and arrived in 1974.
+
+A friend’s in-law would cross her; I liked him because I knew about him. At the border, there’s always problem with women crossing. So, I sent money to my wife, and she came alone and pregnant. In that same trip, my in-law’s wife came as well without telling him anything. She took advantage of the trip. In San Clemente, the border patrol was checking car by car. They got stopped and when the border patrol asked them who was bringing them, they said they just had gotten a ride. They got detained and were in San Diego for 14 days. In the same car, there was a guy who got nervous and said that he had paid the driver. Since my wife didn’t say the truth, that’s why they were taken to San Diego. They got deported and confiscated everything they had – my address and home phone number included.
+
+At the bus station, they were by the phone trying to call me, but couldn’t remember the number. A lady asked them if they wanted to cross. They told her everything.
+
+- “I’ll take you, don’t worry,” she said.
+
+- “But, we don’t even remember the address or the phone number,” my wife said.
+
+- “What’s the street name,” the lady asked.
+
+- “Oregon,” they replied. “It’s a small street, like a block long and not well known.”
+
+I talked to my daughters asking for their mom. I called the border patrol and they told me that my wife was due in court. I was very frustrated.
+
+- “Where is my mom? Is she there yet?” My daughter asked.
+
+- “Almost. It’s quite difficult to arrive,” I replied to her.
+
+- “When is she going to get there?” she asked.
+
+- “Sometime soon” I said.
+
+I told them that so they didn’t worry. Then, it was like a miracle. The lady crossed them with no address or phone number. She found the street and then, they my in-law saw her husband who lived with me.
+
+During those days, the buses were also on strike. I had to walk for about two miles to get to work. Then, upon my arrival to the house, one of the guys told me, “you know what? There’s hope. I have news about your people.” I got happy but anxious at the same time.
+
+- “What happen?” I asked.
+
+- “They are coming,” he replied.
+
+- “What do you mean?” I asked.
+
+My wife was already in the house, and my friend was just playing with me. “Come with me, I have something for you,” he said.
+
+He took me to the room where my wife and my in-law were. I was so happy then. I took her to the store to buy her clothing and everything she needed. Then, we call home so my daughter didn’t worry. I took my wife to the clinic and didn’t want to give her a checkup. Afterwards, she did have a check up and supposedly everything was normal. However, the baby was born dead; he was the first boy after seven girls.
+
+Here in U.S., there’s about everything. I think a lot of people were not told about the sacrifices one has to do while being here. Those are the ones that are against the Mexican. They only think that we are invading and that we are taking their jobs away. For example, there is some nice African-American, who understands our troubles. For example, this son of mine will know everything I had to pass through when he grows up. It doesn’t matter that he’s been born here; I’ll explain everything so he can help our people. Some say that Chicanos are the worse against the Mexicans.
+
+I think there is more racism within the Americans. They don’t mind you because you’re not using the benefits. They will always be above; that’s my thinking. Also, I think the Cubans believe to be better than all the other Latinos. I think all the other Latinos believe to be superior to the Mexicans.
+
+When my baby boy was born dead, I pay everything in cash: $4,000 dollars. When I finished paying off, I requested a letter saying that I didn’t owe the government anything. The reason being is that a lot of people think that we’re a trouble for the U.S., and I don’t want to be any. I remember when I requested the letter, the person in charge got a bit upset. There are a lot of people that don’t pay back what the county has paid for them. That’s wrong, because in Mexico, if you have money you get health care, and if not, you die. I agree with that idea.
+
+I know the government gives a lot of support to the children. I don’t agree with that, because if one wants to educate their children with their customs, they don’t want or complain. Then, the police comes and one undergoes investigation. I believe that my children’s education should be my own problem. I don’t complain with my own, because they’re the same as I was. For example, in Mexico, when one is young, one learns to work. Many take that wrong, but I believe it’s a benefit because one learns about life. For example, if I die, I know the government will support my baby, but nothing is for free. When he grows up, he will have to pay back. In Mexico, the limitations make people more responsible. For example, if you’re studying, you look for a job during the vacation period. Here, you can’t do that if the school doesn’t give you a permit. In Mexico, they start preparing since their early childhood. In case their parent’s marriage ends, or there is an accident, they are ready for anything life brings them; here, they are not ready for anything.
+
+I’m 50 years old now. I hope to get my pension at 62, and then, I’m planning to retire to Mexico, to work in something. I don’t want to depend on the wage alone, because it’s not good. In Mexico, the salary is not much; at least here in the U.S., wage is comparable with food.
+
+There is also freedom, but it depends. There are people who like to have the stereo with a high volume. Here, they call the police. Also, I cannot have a drink on the street, because they also call the police. Sometimes, you want to have a party, and when you request a permit, you only get it until 10pm or 11pm. If you go over that time limit, they get upset at you. In a way, that’s good because if you want to sleep or are ill, you don’t want to have the people yelling outside. I agree with that because in Mexico, people are used to doing so, but they can’t do it here.
diff --git a/src/content/history/divided-family.md b/src/content/history/divided-family.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..886f9b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/history/divided-family.md
@@ -0,0 +1,192 @@
+---
+title: Divided Family
+category: Everyday Life and Return
+interviewee: Hector Hernandez Z.
+year: "04.1992"
+description: Leticia, a student from the University of Guadalajara, tells us
+  about her mother's struggle as an U.S. migrant.
+lede: >
+  This is Leticia’s migratory experience. Leticia was a history student at the
+  University of Guadalajara. Her story intermixes with her mother’s, who was
+  from a middle class family, divorced, and with children whom she had to
+  support with her effort and the possibility to emigrate.
+
+
+  After divorce, family instability was quite constant. In four years, Leticia lived in twenty different homes. Finally, she decided to emigrate; together with her mother, she moved to Laredo. Even though they wanted to live together, migration made that difficult. The immediate solution was for her mother to live and work in Laredo, while all of her children studied in Nuevo Laredo.
+
+
+  Leticia’s life as a student happened at the border: in two border cities. In order to survive, anything was good: from gathering trash and looking for plants at the mountain. Then, she worked in several jobs: selling books, fresh water, tamales, and as a cleaning lady.
+
+
+  At the point when need was greater, they forgot about their middle class ideas, and Leticia’s mother worked cleaning houses in Laredo. This improved their economic situation. Also, there was the time to cross the border illegally, and the American dream ended when she worked as a janitor, housekeeper, and nanny.
+
+
+  Finally, Leticia returned to Guadalajara, where she has been able to work and study her college at the same time.
+story: >
+  My father was born in Zaruma, Michoacan. When he was 12, he moved to the
+  seminary. Just before becoming a priest, at age 28, he married my mom. They
+  met here when she was studying Design. She’s from Mexico City. She had never
+  worked, since she came from a wealthy family. She was not used to work. She
+  didn’t know how to deal with people. Thus, when she got divorced, she started
+  giving Design and Sculpting classes at the university. Before getting
+  divorced, she started selling paintings and started working as a seller at a
+  carpet store. However, since she was not used to do so, she trusted everyone.
+  She thought that all people were trustworthy, and many people stole her
+  designs. She got sad and decided to move to Laredo.
+
+
+  She left when I was 8 years old. She got divorced and left us with my father. However, our nanny took care of us. My father was a professor at the ITESO, and never really saw him. I was in charge of my siblings: two younger brothers. Upon my mom’s return, the house was a mess. We were not taken care of. She was very surprised and went to buy food, clothing, and shoes. That day she had arrived around 2 in the afternoon, and after she bought everything we needed, we left to Laredo by bus.
+
+
+  She had saved money by selling her paintings, and she had come back to take us. No one knew about us for many years.
+
+
+  I never knew who told her about going to Laredo or the reason why. I once asked her what she had done those two months, and she answered by telling me that she was researching how to get visas and stuff. She had been gone for two months when she came back for us. She had never gone back to Mexico City. Her family was there, and didn’t accept her divorced. Her family is very traditional and aristocrat. Currently, I don’t know how they are, since my mom broke all her relation with them upon her divorce.
+
+
+  While in Laredo, my mom didn’t have anybody. Our nanny told her about the border; our nanny’s family used to go for second-hand stuff to the other side. It may have been her who told her about the house where everyone gathered to cross.
+
+
+  We arrived to that house. I was 8 years old, and we lived one block away from the river. Since there were about 10 families waiting to cross. My mom was very strict and didn’t allow us to share with the other families. From there, we moved to a very bad hotel for a week. Then, we moved to a cheap house right in front of the river. From there, we used to watch the border patrol. We saw how people jumped the fence and run towards the river, which seemed very quiet, but was not.
+
+
+  My mother didn’t allow us to go out into the street or talk with neighbors. She was waiting to go to a better place, and six months later, we moved to a better residential place.
+
+
+  Upon our arrival in Nuevo Laredo, we started elementary school. I learned everything that occurred at the border through my friends. I never went out on a weekend. I remember seeing a lot of things; for example, at the railroad station, there is a park. All the people there were from Central America. One knows because of their clothing, their accent, their lack of economic means, and backpack. They arrive in train and since they have no place to arrive, they stay there.
+
+
+  I also saw dead cadavers at the river. They were people who tried to cross and were killed or drowned; I saw many cases of people drowning and drowning. Sometimes, people were killed by the smugglers. Whenever there was a group of people with more women than men, or if someone had money, they were robbed, killed, or raped when trying to cross. The smugglers pushed everyone into the river; families were killed; one could read those kinds of news daily at the newspaper.
+
+
+  My mother’s first work was selling paintings. However, that needs a lot of time and at the border there was not enough interest for them. The main activity at the border is commerce. Nobody wanted to buy paintings; plus, the materials’ costs made my mother think that she would not make it. She started as a cook, then as a waitress, where she collected more money with tips. She became part of the waitress union to get proof of residency and work.
+
+
+  We started living in a small room. Our first furniture were wooden boxes; we used some for the kitchen. We all slept on the same bed. Then, we moved to a place with two rooms; then we moved to a home. I remember in the four years we were there, we moved to 20 different places.
+
+
+  M mother got her border ID, but didn’t get ours because she needed some paperwork. She started working on the other side as well as on this side as dishwasher. During those years, the border patrol used to get to the restaurants and kitchens; they requested proof of work, and whoever didn’t have them, got fined and closed. A lot of people got deported, but she was lucky. I believe it was because of her personality and education; she was never treated like everybody else. Her bosses never denounced her with the border patrol. She didn’t cross for about three years, and finally she got her passport.
+
+
+  She never crossed illegally; she started doing so while her paperwork was getting approved for citizenship. By then, she didn’t have any Mexican nor American papers. She crossed everyday; and officers at the border knew her and let her pass.
+
+
+  She worked at the restaurants, and got paid well through tips. Finally, she got her residency, and started working in Laredo. For eight months, she worked as dishwasher – washing big pots of food, and then she became waitress.
+
+
+  Four years later, we returned to Mexico City. By then, she had talked to her family and everything became a lot better. She started studying at the San Carlos Academy, and worked at the same time at a chemical laboratory, in the kitchen for a year. Then, my grandparents didn’t want to help anymore. Times were difficult then, she got out of school, and started selling tuna quesadillas and fresh water at the central plaza in Mexico City; we also sold second-hand clothing and cakes. We didn’t do well. My mom and my grandfather got sick and we moved to his ranch in Azuay.
+
+
+  At the farm, I learned all sorts of jobs related to farming and agriculture. While living with my grandparents, I had a very traditional education – very European. My grandmother taught me all about herbs, and I learned to cook and met a lot of people from the farm.
+
+
+  In order to survive, we cooked a lot of apple pies. We used to go to the market, got the apples that nobody wanted – those that were on the floor or beaten; we picked them up and cleaned them up. We also went up to the mountain to collect cactus and other vegetables. At the ranch, we lived in a room, where workers used to live, while my mom’s family lived at the main house.
+
+
+  On the third year, after being six months sick, my mom got better. We didn’t have any money to start a business. We sold cakes, and did better. Thus, my mom decided to go to Laredo, since they all liked this type of food.
+
+
+  Since she needed money to return to Laredo, my mom sold food to teachers of Azuay. She went during July and August, and worked as a waitress and cook at a seafood restaurant. She saved money and returned for us. The same day she returned, we packed and left.
+
+
+  Upon our arrival in Laredo, we lived in a room that belonged to my mom’s friend. We arrived in August, when temperatures were about 40 degrees Celsius. We stayed home watching TV and playing. Those days we only eat beans and rice with carrots. My mom only gave us that to eat so we could save money.
+
+
+  That fall, I started high school and my brothers went to elementary school. My mom worked in Laredo and, one year later, she was the waitress captain. I started working at a “paleteria”. Some of my customers were Americans, and I remember they didn’t trust our fresh water. They thought it was not cleaned enough. They used to ask: “what is that?”
+
+
+  I explained and showed them the tamarind on a napkin, in a very clean form. I told them that that was the tamarind. In Laredo, they didn’t know a lot of Mexican fruits. I learned English, and my mom knew that. Besides, all the announcements in Laredo are in English and Spanish, and all people speak “Spanglish”, so one learns both languages.
+
+
+  The need for money made my mom change her “middle-class” ideas, and started working cleaning apartments. She got paid between $10 to $15 dollars per apartment. She also ironed, and got paid $10 dollars per dozen of shirts. She also noticed that Americans liked tamales very much; so she started making tamales in a friend’s home. She used to get good money that way. Since she liked design, she used to design clothing or bedroom designs, and got paid for that. One time, she got paid to design a very famous hotel there: Camino Real.
+
+
+  All that happened while I was in high school. Two or three years later, she became a housekeeper in a house. Then, on the weekends, she used to clean some other houses and started raising a lot of money. Currently, she is the manager in a restaurant, and even became American citizen. She continues designing, but only seldom.
+
+
+  After I left the “paleteria”, I sold books. My brothers crossed the border without documents – as Americans. Since they are tall and blond like my grandfather, they used to cross like that. They worked in small things. My younger brother likes working with wood, so he used to make houses for birds, dogs, and that kind of work. The youngest brother has never worked in his life.
+
+
+  During that time, I didn’t like to cross because I was scared of crossing illegally. I was afraid of saying “American citizen”. I was shy. However, while selling books in Laredo, I was very secure. I also worked making documents with the typewriter for doctors. They always insisted for me to go. In fact, they got a scholarship for me to attend the University of Houston, but I didn’t want to live in the United States. I didn’t like the racism. I saw all my friends working on the other side as waitress, mechanics, and I knew they way they got treated on the other side. They said they were treated badly and their pay was less. A lot of times, tourist arrived in Laredo and used to drive by Guerrero street – main street in Laredo, and used to shout: “*** Indians!”. I never liked that, and stayed with that idea for a long time.
+
+
+  I never crossed to the other side. My friends used to ask me why, if I looked like an American. I replied by saying that I didn’t like to hear that. However, I became aware that the racist people were not the blond Americans, but Chicanos instead. I think Chicanos felt superior; however, even though they treated my friends badly, they never treated me bad.
+
+
+  From all my high school friends, no one continued their college education. Everyone left to the other side to work as waitress, drivers, or in anything they found.
+
+
+  After I finished high school, I returned to Guadalajara to study at ITESO. I never worked until the second semester as a secretary. I returned for two reasons: (1) when I was in high school, I was reunited with my father and we were quite happy, and (2) since he had worked at the ITESO, he convinced me to return here because he could get me a scholarship. At the end, he didn’t get me anything. I got half the scholarship, and I never paid the other part, so I couldn’t continue studying.
+
+
+  I arrived with an aunt – my mother’s sister. It was different because I had never lived with family. I hadn’t seen them for about eight years. I was very sad because I didn’t want to depend from my family. My mother then called me:
+
+
+  - Hey, aren’t you going to go to school this year?
+
+
+  I said no. Then she asked me to return to Laredo. She had applied for residency through IRCA. A friend of hers signed as a sponsor, saying that she had lived with him for five years. But, when I returned to Guadalajara, my brothers came with me. We lived in an apartment and then with my aunt for two months. I only lasted that long because they wanted me to be home at a certain time. In addition, they didn’t like how I spoke; I used to speak with a Northern accent, very aggressive. They wanted to boss around, and I didn’t like that.
+
+
+  My brothers arrived by the end of August; then my mom came, got us an apartment and after two days she went back. We lived there for eight months. My brothers flunked in school, so Carlos – the oldest, went with one of our aunts, and the youngest moved with my father to Tulatlan.
+
+
+  I finished the semester in ITESO, and I was two subjects short. Even though I was sad, I continued studying throughout the summer, but I didn’t finish because of lack of money. I got ill as a result of depression; my father came and took me to Tulatlan, and I was there for a month. However, he didn’t helped me out with my debt. I talked to my mother and told her about my problem. I told her if I worked in Guadalajara, I couldn’t do anything with that kind of pay.
+
+
+  She used to send us money, but not as before. It was not enough. She worked with a doctor due to the IRCA requirement; her salary was not enough, so by September of 1988, she said: “come with me.”
+
+
+  I had a cousin, daughter of the aunt I first arrived in Guadalajara. She was getting married soon and she was saving money. So, my mother said: “if you want, your cousin may come along.”
+
+
+  My cousin admired my mom a lot, because my mom never conformed to the family’s rules. For my cousin, my mom was the rebel aunt, the artist aunt and educated. So, we decided to go to Laredo. My mom got so excited, that she made a very pretty painting. She said that we would work with a lady making donuts. Since this lady was leaving for two months, we would take care of the house and would get paid $1.5 million pesos a month. My cousin and I said “how wonderful!.” So we started our trip.
+
+
+  Our mother said that we would cross as American citizens with a friend of hers. However, that friend left early, and we arrived with a friend of mine from high school. She was very poor, but worked hard. She used to work at a local hospital, while studying nursing. We stayed there for a week. My friend’s house was made out of wood; it was filled of cockroaches. It was a very hot time of the year, and we were very afraid. During those days, we gained weight because we only ate flower tortillas.
+
+
+  After a week, my mother sent us some American clothing. She also sent instructions with a friend, who took us with a smuggler. To get to his house, our way was like a labyrinth. We got to the first house asking for the smuggler with a very weird name. Then, another lady took us to us to the smuggler’s friend house. This guy would call the smuggler. The next day, a very tall and fat man got there, with his hat and boots. He looked at my cousin very lustfully and said, “I charge $300 dollars to cross you both.”
+
+
+  He would cross us to Laredo by boat at midnight, and he was charging a lot of money. Perhaps he thought we had a lot of money; and, he was looking at us in such a way that I didn’t trust him. So I said that I wouldn’t cross with him. My mom had gotten us that smuggler through some friends. We call my mom and told her that we wouldn’t cross with him.
+
+
+  My mom said that she would get us another smuggler. I don’t know how, but she got us a blond guy from a farm. His age was about 20 years and was very live. He is one of those persons who gains your trust right away, however, we were not very sure about that.
+
+
+  On October 8 th, they came for us at around 1pm. I believe it was a Wednesday. It was very hot outside. We dressed with American clothing: shorts, tennis, t-shirt, just like people from the other side. This guy went for two more friends of his. He crossed every weekend, stayed there for a week and returned. He crossed by the river using a tire. He had his hiding place. I remember he picked up his friends, and another guy who was saying farewell to his children because he was going to work to the other side too. We departed by road towards the desert. We entered through a part very desert like and filled of cactuses. We arrived to one side of the river. There are a lot of trees on the river’s sides. When we were crossing, we spotted a border patrol detaining illegals. This guy changed the route immediately. We crossed some kilometers ahead and we hided. It was about time to change guards from the border patrol. There were a lot of helicopters flying before returning to their base. We were hiding by the bushes. Each person had a tire and a plastic bag. We took our clothing off, just stayed with panties. I laid down above the tire and my cousin just above me, and the smuggler starting swimming and pulling us on the river. The water was dirty and cold, but since it was pretty hot outside, it wasn’t that bad. We arrived to the other side quickly. While he went back for the other guy, we dressed and fixed ourselves. We noticed that there were a lot of socks on that small area. We thought that the area was common to cross. Finally, the smuggler arrived with the other guy, and after he dressed, we continued our way walking. I noticed that two of the guys were very tan and we were very white. They told us to partner with them and hug them. My cousin did hug the guy, but I walked by their side. I was very afraid, and always walked behind them, observing everything. My cousin and I looked more Americans than the rest.
+
+
+  We walked like twenty blocks, it was plain desert. One of the guy’s wife had papers, and had crossed by the line in car to wait for us. Once we met them, they drove us to my mother’s place, which it was a very nice and elegant place in Laredo. It was a very big Victorian house. My mother was so happy that almost hugged the guy. He charged her $100 dollars total, and arrived around five in the afternoon.
+
+
+  We got placed in a job quickly. My mom took care of us. I stayed there for a year, and my cousin stayed from October to February, because she got married in March. I stayed there, and separated from my mother to seek for jobs on my own. My mother took care of me and looked for jobs with her acquaintances. I continued working with my mom. She had a small house within the big house. Since she was trustworthy, she used to get meals there as well. She gave me all her positions cleaning houses, because she wanted to get a job in a restaurant. On Fridays, I went to a big home all day, and I got paid $20 dollars. At night, I worked at a home of some Arabs for the whole weekend, and they paid me $50 dollars. Then, I started taking care of an elderly lady. I cooked for her weighting all the ingredients for her food. I gave her medicine, injected insulin, took her blood pressure, and I got paid very well. That family liked me very much. Then, I worked at a doctor’s home. I cleaned his house and cooked for him. Then, he paid me to take care of his African parrots, macaws, white peacocks, and very weird plants. I worked there for three months with my cousin. Then, she worked for another lady, a friend of that family.
+
+
+  While working for the doctor, I also had the opportunity to work in other apartments. On our free days, we got paid $5 dollars to take care of the kids. They liked us because we knew English and were educated. In addition, we taught the kids to sit and eat properly. Before us, they had two nannies – one from Oaxaca and another one from a small town, but they didn’t speak properly. So, they gave us their jobs.
+
+
+  When my cousin left, I continued working at the same house, but no kids. I started working extra in other apartments. I worked in an apartment about two hours; there I cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen, and since it was a very small place, I finished quickly. I did everything with machines. The most difficult thing was that there was not transportation to get to those homes. I had to walk a lot, and since everyone had a car in that area, it was quite strange to see someone walking. I was afraid that someone stopped and asked me what I was doing. I saw the border patrol detaining people, but I got never stopped. Even one time, they got to the house where I worked, but nothing happened. I was afraid to get caught.
+
+
+  I remember when I worked with the Arabs, I didn’t do so great. The pay was good, but they were stingy. They gave me food after they were done. I slept in a room with no windows and no heater. During winter, I suffered a lot. I started as a nurse and ended up cleaning bathrooms. One day, all of their cleaning staff left them. I was leaving too, but the wife said, “I pay you double to stay!” I said no because I had another job. So she said, “I pay you triple!”. I didn’t want to work there anymore. They were not nice with people and they were quite strict. They had a son aged 60, with brain paralysis, and a granddaughter in high school who was not smart. The lady noticed that I helped her granddaughter, and she paid me $5 dollars per homework. It was weird because I did that to help her.
+
+
+  So, I worked like that from February until June, when I returned to Guadalajara. I returned because I was inquiring with some friends to start at the University of Guadalajara. So, they told me that due to my last name, I had to come back a specific date. All of my friends were from high school, and one of them was from ITESO.
+
+
+  Just before returning, I felt that I had more experience and less fear. I had more goals now; while working at the doctor’s house, I spent a lot of time alone taking care of animals and reading all sorts of philosophy books the doctor had. I read a lot while working there. That’s when I knew I was not going to continue that kind of life for the rest of my lifetime. So, I returned.
+
+
+  With my savings, I bought women’s accessories to sell. Then, I worked at the mall with a very bad salary for a whole semester. Then, while talking with a friend, he said that there was a job opening at the university’s library. I started working there and everything went well.
+
+
+  I remember when I was returning to Mexico through the bridge, I felt weird. I felt like I had worked so hard, and I felt proud. I didn’t want to return back anymore. I came back July 15, 1989. After I finished my career, I started working at the DDA, with a new whole ideal. The truth is that part of me wanted to stay in the U.S. longer and raise more money. However, I wanted to study, and I didn’t care if I had money or not. The only thing I wanted to do was to study, that's why I’m here.
+---
+|\|My father was born in Zaruma, Michoacan. When he was 12, he moved to the seminary. Just before becoming a priest, at age 28, he married my mom. They met here when she was studying Design. She’s from Mexico City. She had never worked, since she came from a wealthy family. She was not used to work. She didn’t know how to deal with people. Thus, when she got divorced, she started giving Design and Sculpting classes at the university. Before getting divorced, she started selling paintings and started working as a seller at a carpet store. However, since she was not used to do so, she trusted everyone. She thought that all people were trustworthy, and many people stole her designs. She got sad and decided to move to Laredo.<br />She left when I was 8 years old. She got divorced and left us with my father. However, our nanny took care of us. My father was a professor at the ITESO, and never really saw him. I was in charge of my siblings: two younger brothers. Upon my mom’s return, the house was a mess. We were not taken care of. She was very surprised and went to buy food, clothing, and shoes. That day she had arrived around 2 in the afternoon, and after she bought everything we needed, we left to Laredo by bus.<br />She had saved money by selling her paintings, and she had come back to take us. No one knew about us for many years.<br />I never knew who told her about going to Laredo or the reason why. I once asked her what she had done those two months, and she answered by telling me that she was researching how to get visas and stuff. She had been gone for two months when she came back for us. She had never gone back to Mexico City. Her family was there, and didn’t accept her divorced. Her family is very traditional and aristocrat. Currently, I don’t know how they are, since my mom broke all her relation with them upon her divorce.<br />While in Laredo, my mom didn’t have anybody. Our nanny told her about the border; our nanny’s family used to go for second-hand stuff to the other side. It may have been her who told her about the house where everyone gathered to cross.<br />We arrived to that house. I was 8 years old, and we lived one block away from the river. Since there were about 10 families waiting to cross. My mom was very strict and didn’t allow us to share with the other families. From there, we moved to a very bad hotel for a week. Then, we moved to a cheap house right in front of the river. From there, we used to watch the border patrol. We saw how people jumped the fence and run towards the river, which seemed very quiet, but was not.<br />My mother didn’t allow us to go out into the street or talk with neighbors. She was waiting to go to a better place, and six months later, we moved to a better residential place.Upon our arrival in Nuevo Laredo, we started elementary school. I learned everything that occurred at the border through my friends. I never went out on a weekend. I remember seeing a lot of things; for example, at the railroad station, there is a park. All the people there were from Central America. One knows because of their clothing, their accent, their lack of economic means, and backpack. They arrive in train and since they have no place to arrive, they stay there.<br />I also saw dead cadavers at the river. They were people who tried to cross and were killed or drowned; I saw many cases of people drowning and drowning. Sometimes, people were killed by the smugglers. Whenever there was a group of people with more women than men, or if someone had money, they were robbed, killed, or raped when trying to cross. The smugglers pushed everyone into the river; families were killed; one could read those kinds of news daily at the newspaper.<br />My mother’s first work was selling paintings. However, that needs a lot of time and at the border there was not enough interest for them. The main activity at the border is commerce. Nobody wanted to buy paintings; plus, the materials’ costs made my mother think that she would not make it. She started as a cook, then as a waitress, where she collected more money with tips. She became part of the waitress union to get proof of residency and work.<br />We started living in a small room. Our first furniture were wooden boxes; we used some for the kitchen. We all slept on the same bed. Then, we moved to a place with two rooms; then we moved to a home. I remember in the four years we were there, we moved to 20 different places.M mother got her border ID, but didn’t get ours because she needed some paperwork. She started working on the other side as well as on this side as dishwasher. During those years, the border patrol used to get to the restaurants and kitchens; they requested proof of work, and whoever didn’t have them, got fined and closed. A lot of people got deported, but she was lucky. I believe it was because of her personality and education; she was never treated like everybody else. Her bosses never denounced her with the border patrol. She didn’t cross for about three years, and finally she got her passport.<br />She never crossed illegally; she started doing so while her paperwork was getting approved for citizenship. By then, she didn’t have any Mexican nor American papers. She crossed everyday; and officers at the border knew her and let her pass.<br />She worked at the restaurants, and got paid well through tips. Finally, she got her residency, and started working in Laredo. For eight months, she worked as dishwasher – washing big pots of food, and then she became waitress.<br />Four years later, we returned to Mexico City. By then, she had talked to her family and everything became a lot better. She started studying at the San Carlos Academy, and worked at the same time at a chemical laboratory, in the kitchen for a year. Then, my grandparents didn’t want to help anymore. Times were difficult then, she got out of school, and started selling tuna quesadillas and fresh water at the central plaza in Mexico City; we also sold second-hand clothing and cakes. We didn’t do well. My mom and my grandfather got sick and we moved to his ranch in Azuay.<br />At the farm, I learned all sorts of jobs related to farming and agriculture. While living with my grandparents, I had a very traditional education – very European. My grandmother taught me all about herbs, and I learned to cook and met a lot of people from the farm.In order to survive, we cooked a lot of apple pies. We used to go to the market, got the apples that nobody wanted – those that were on the floor or beaten; we picked them up and cleaned them up. We also went up to the mountain to collect cactus and other vegetables. At the ranch, we lived in a room, where workers used to live, while my mom’s family lived at the main house.On the third year, after being six months sick, my mom got better. We didn’t have any money to start a business. We sold cakes, and did better. Thus, my mom decided to go to Laredo, since they all liked this type of food.<br />Since she needed money to return to Laredo, my mom sold food to teachers of Azuay. She went during July and August, and worked as a waitress and cook at a seafood restaurant. She saved money and returned for us. The same day she returned, we packed and left.Upon our arrival in Laredo, we lived in a room that belonged to my mom’s friend. We arrived in August, when temperatures were about 40 degrees Celsius. We stayed home watching TV and playing. Those days we only eat beans and rice with carrots. My mom only gave us that to eat so we could save money.<br />That fall, I started high school and my brothers went to elementary school. My mom worked in Laredo and, one year later, she was the waitress captain. I started working at a “paleteria”. Some of my customers were Americans, and I remember they didn’t trust our fresh water. They thought it was not cleaned enough. They used to ask: “what is that?”I explained and showed them the tamarind on a napkin, in a very clean form. I told them that that was the tamarind. In Laredo, they didn’t know a lot of Mexican fruits. I learned English, and my mom knew that. Besides, all the announcements in Laredo are in English and Spanish, and all people speak “Spanglish”, so one learns both languages.<br />The need for money made my mom change her “middle-class” ideas, and started working cleaning apartments. She got paid between $10 to $15 dollars per apartment. She also ironed, and got paid $10 dollars per dozen of shirts. She also noticed that Americans liked tamales very much; so she started making tamales in a friend’s home. She used to get good money that way. Since she liked design, she used to design clothing or bedroom designs, and got paid for that. One time, she got paid to design a very famous hotel there: Camino Real.All that happened while I was in high school. Two or three years later, she became a housekeeper in a house. Then, on the weekends, she used to clean some other houses and started raising a lot of money. Currently, she is the manager in a restaurant, and even became American citizen. She continues designing, but only seldom.<br />After I left the “paleteria”, I sold books. My brothers crossed the border without documents – as Americans. Since they are tall and blond like my grandfather, they used to cross like that. They worked in small things. My younger brother likes working with wood, so he used to make houses for birds, dogs, and that kind of work. The youngest brother has never worked in his life.During that time, I didn’t like to cross because I was scared of crossing illegally. I was afraid of saying “American citizen”. I was shy. However, while selling books in Laredo, I was very secure. I also worked making documents with the typewriter for doctors. They always insisted for me to go. In fact, they got a scholarship for me to attend the University of Houston, but I didn’t want to live in the United States. I didn’t like the racism. I saw all my friends working on the other side as waitress, mechanics, and I knew they way they got treated on the other side. They said they were treated badly and their pay was less. A lot of times, tourist arrived in Laredo and used to drive by Guerrero street – main street in Laredo, and used to shout: “*** Indians!”. I never liked that, and stayed with that idea for a long time.<br />I never crossed to the other side. My friends used to ask me why, if I looked like an American. I replied by saying that I didn’t like to hear that. However, I became aware that the racist people were not the blond Americans, but Chicanos instead. I think Chicanos felt superior; however, even though they treated my friends badly, they never treated me bad.From all my high school friends, no one continued their college education. Everyone left to the other side to work as waitress, drivers, or in anything they found.<br />After I finished high school, I returned to Guadalajara to study at ITESO. I never worked until the second semester as a secretary. I returned for two reasons: (1) when I was in high school, I was reunited with my father and we were quite happy, and (2) since he had worked at the ITESO, he convinced me to return here because he could get me a scholarship. At the end, he didn’t get me anything. I got half the scholarship, and I never paid the other part, so I couldn’t continue studying.<br />I arrived with an aunt – my mother’s sister. It was different because I had never lived with family. I hadn’t seen them for about eight years. I was very sad because I didn’t want to depend from my family. My mother then called me:<br />- Hey, aren’t you going to go to school this year?I said no. Then she asked me to return to Laredo. She had applied for residency through IRCA. A friend of hers signed as a sponsor, saying that she had lived with him for five years. But, when I returned to Guadalajara, my brothers came with me. We lived in an apartment and then with my aunt for two months. I only lasted that long because they wanted me to be home at a certain time. In addition, they didn’t like how I spoke; I used to speak with a Northern accent, very aggressive. They wanted to boss around, and I didn’t like that.My brothers arrived by the end of August; then my mom came, got us an apartment and after two days she went back. We lived there for eight months. My brothers flunked in school, so Carlos – the oldest, went with one of our aunts, and the youngest moved with my father to Tulatlan.<br />I finished the semester in ITESO, and I was two subjects short. Even though I was sad, I continued studying throughout the summer, but I didn’t finish because of lack of money. I got ill as a result of depression; my father came and took me to Tulatlan, and I was there for a month. However, he didn’t helped me out with my debt. I talked to my mother and told her about my problem. I told her if I worked in Guadalajara, I couldn’t do anything with that kind of pay.She used to send us money, but not as before. It was not enough. She worked with a doctor due to the IRCA requirement; her salary was not enough, so by September of 1988, she said: “come with me.”<br />I had a cousin, daughter of the aunt I first arrived in Guadalajara. She was getting married soon and she was saving money. So, my mother said: “if you want, your cousin may come along.”My cousin admired my mom a lot, because my mom never conformed to the family’s rules. For my cousin, my mom was the rebel aunt, the artist aunt and educated. So, we decided to go to Laredo. My mom got so excited, that she made a very pretty painting. She said that we would work with a lady making donuts. Since this lady was leaving for two months, we would take care of the house and would get paid $1.5 million pesos a month. My cousin and I said “how wonderful!.” So we started our trip.<br />Our mother said that we would cross as American citizens with a friend of hers. However, that friend left early, and we arrived with a friend of mine from high school. She was very poor, but worked hard. She used to work at a local hospital, while studying nursing. We stayed there for a week. My friend’s house was made out of wood; it was filled of cockroaches. It was a very hot time of the year, and we were very afraid. During those days, we gained weight because we only ate flower tortillas.<br />After a week, my mother sent us some American clothing. She also sent instructions with a friend, who took us with a smuggler. To get to his house, our way was like a labyrinth. We got to the first house asking for the smuggler with a very weird name. Then, another lady took us to us to the smuggler’s friend house. This guy would call the smuggler. The next day, a very tall and fat man got there, with his hat and boots. He looked at my cousin very lustfully and said, “I charge $300 dollars to cross you both.”<br />He would cross us to Laredo by boat at midnight, and he was charging a lot of money. Perhaps he thought we had a lot of money; and, he was looking at us in such a way that I didn’t trust him. So I said that I wouldn’t cross with him. My mom had gotten us that smuggler through some friends. We call my mom and told her that we wouldn’t cross with him.<br />My mom said that she would get us another smuggler. I don’t know how, but she got us a blond guy from a farm. His age was about 20 years and was very live. He is one of those persons who gains your trust right away, however, we were not very sure about that.<br />On October 8 th, they came for us at around 1pm. I believe it was a Wednesday. It was very hot outside. We dressed with American clothing: shorts, tennis, t-shirt, just like people from the other side. This guy went for two more friends of his. He crossed every weekend, stayed there for a week and returned. He crossed by the river using a tire. He had his hiding place. I remember he picked up his friends, and another guy who was saying farewell to his children because he was going to work to the other side too. We departed by road towards the desert.<br />We entered through a part very desert like and filled of cactuses. We arrived to one side of the river. There are a lot of trees on the river’s sides. When we were crossing, we spotted a border patrol detaining illegals. This guy changed the route immediately. We crossed some kilometers ahead and we hided. It was about time to change guards from the border patrol. There were a lot of helicopters flying before returning to their base. We were hiding by the bushes. Each person had a tire and a plastic bag. We took our clothing off, just stayed with panties. I laid down above the tire and my cousin just above me, and the smuggler starting swimming and pulling us on the river. The water was dirty and cold, but since it was pretty hot outside, it wasn’t that bad. We arrived to the other side quickly. While he went back for the other guy, we dressed and fixed ourselves. We noticed that there were a lot of socks on that small area. We thought that the area was common to cross. Finally, the smuggler arrived with the other guy, and after he dressed, we continued our way walking. I noticed that two of the guys were very tan and we were very white. They told us to partner with them and hug them. My cousin did hug the guy, but I walked by their side. I was very afraid, and always walked behind them, observing everything. My cousin and I looked more Americans than the rest.<br />We walked like twenty blocks, it was plain desert. One of the guy’s wife had papers, and had crossed by the line in car to wait for us. Once we met them, they drove us to my mother’s place, which it was a very nice and elegant place in Laredo. It was a very big Victorian house. My mother was so happy that almost hugged the guy. He charged her $100 dollars total, and arrived around five in the afternoon.<br />We got placed in a job quickly. My mom took care of us. I stayed there for a year, and my cousin stayed from October to February, because she got married in March. I stayed there, and separated from my mother to seek for jobs on my own. My mother took care of me and looked for jobs with her acquaintances. I continued working with my mom. She had a small house within the big house. Since she was trustworthy, she used to get meals there as well. She gave me all her positions cleaning houses, because she wanted to get a job in a restaurant. On Fridays, I went to a big home all day, and I got paid $20 dollars. At night, I worked at a home of some Arabs for the whole weekend, and they paid me $50 dollars. Then, I started taking care of an elderly lady. I cooked for her weighting all the ingredients for her food. I gave her medicine, injected insulin, took her blood pressure, and I got paid very well. That family liked me very much. Then, I worked at a doctor’s home. I cleaned his house and cooked for him. Then, he paid me to take care of his African parrots, macaws, white peacocks, and very weird plants. I worked there for three months with my cousin. Then, she worked for another lady, a friend of that family.<br />While working for the doctor, I also had the opportunity to work in other apartments. On our free days, we got paid $5 dollars to take care of the kids. They liked us because we knew English and were educated. In addition, we taught the kids to sit and eat properly. Before us, they had two nannies – one from Oaxaca and another one from a small town, but they didn’t speak properly. So, they gave us their jobs.<br />When my cousin left, I continued working at the same house, but no kids. I started working extra in other apartments. I worked in an apartment about two hours; there I cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen, and since it was a very small place, I finished quickly. I did everything with machines. The most difficult thing was that there was not transportation to get to those homes. I had to walk a lot, and since everyone had a car in that area, it was quite strange to see someone walking. I was afraid that someone stopped and asked me what I was doing. I saw the border patrol detaining people, but I got never stopped. Even one time, they got to the house where I worked, but nothing happened. I was afraid to get caught.<br />I remember when I worked with the Arabs, I didn’t do so great. The pay was good, but they were stingy. They gave me food after they were done. I slept in a room with no windows and no heater. During winter, I suffered a lot. I started as a nurse and ended up cleaning bathrooms. One day, all of their cleaning staff left them. I was leaving too, but the wife said, “I pay you double to stay!” I said no because I had another job. So she said, “I pay you triple!”. I didn’t want to work there anymore. They were not nice with people and they were quite strict. They had a son aged 60, with brain paralysis, and a granddaughter in high school who was not smart. The lady noticed that I helped her granddaughter, and she paid me $5 dollars per homework. It was weird because I did that to help her.<br />So, I worked like that from February until June, when I returned to Guadalajara. I returned because I was inquiring with some friends to start at the University of Guadalajara. So, they told me that due to my last name, I had to come back a specific date. All of my friends were from high school, and one of them was from ITESO.<br />Just before returning, I felt that I had more experience and less fear. I had more goals now; while working at the doctor’s house, I spent a lot of time alone taking care of animals and reading all sorts of philosophy books the doctor had. I read a lot while working there. That’s when I knew I was not going to continue that kind of life for the rest of my lifetime. So, I returned.<br />With my savings, I bought women’s accessories to sell. Then, I worked at the mall with a very bad salary for a whole semester. Then, while talking with a friend, he said that there was a job opening at the university’s library. I started working there and everything went well.<br />I remember when I was returning to Mexico through the bridge, I felt weird. I felt like I had worked so hard, and I felt proud. I didn’t want to return back anymore. I came back July 15, 1989. After I finished my career, I started working at the DDA, with a new whole ideal. The truth is that part of me wanted to stay in the U.S. longer and raise more money. However, I wanted to study, and I didn’t care if I had money or not. The only thing I wanted to do was to study, that why I’m here.<br />\|<br />\|---\|<br />|![](https://mmp.opr.princeton.edu/images/layout/px.gif)\| \|<br />\|---\|<br />|
+|---|---|
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/src/content/history/everything-is-like-a-root.md b/src/content/history/everything-is-like-a-root.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7025f93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/history/everything-is-like-a-root.md
@@ -0,0 +1,423 @@
+---
+title: Everything is like a root
+category: Those Who Stay
+interviewee: Enrique Martínez
+year: "10.1992"
+description: >+
+  Story of the Ruvalcaba brothers and their experiences as the first Mexican
+  migrants to arrive in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
+
+lede: >
+  There is nothing more truthful than the title of this story, among the first
+  to arrive to Lake Tahoe was Timoteo Ruvalcaba's brother. He's the one who took
+  him over there. After their arrival, migration to Lake Tahoe has become a like
+  root.
+
+
+  Timoteo's brother, José Ruvalcaba, never needed to go to "el Norte", because, in fact, he had a permanent job at a bank where he had been working for almost eleven years; but, on July 1972, he became curious and left to the border, just to test the waters. There, he became convinced that "he could make it." He returned only to quit his job and leave once again.
+
+
+  He first arrived to Watsonville where he stayed for five months, then he passed by Hollister, to "La Casa Amistada." There, for the first time he heard about a memorable place, full of promises, money, and casinos: Lake Tahoe. In José's imagination casino centers resembled great saloons full of pool tables that reminded him of his hometown's casino houses. The hopes of finding a better place and the collapse of the job he used to carry out pushed him to seek the help of some friends and try out his luck in Lake Tahoe. José remembers precisely that first trip: the freeway's number, the bridges they crossed and, above all, the place where he saw snow for the first time: Placerville.
+
+
+  During those years, Lake Tahoe's hotel and touristic centers had barely any hispanics working; and José Ruvalcaba, it seems, was the first jalisciense to explore that region. Soon thereafter followed his wife, their children, and their siblings. Between them all, each one in their own occupation, they opened up a breach and prepared the road for other fellow countrymen to arrive and work in the casinos, restaurants, and hotels; for other children to go to school; for women to work as waitresses and hotel maids; and for others to make up their minds and start a business, build a house, or request a loan.
+
+
+  The seed planted by the Ruvalcaba family became fruitful. After twenty years, Lake Tahoe has become a loved and well-known place among the Mexican migrants that like to call it Little Otavalo, in reference to their hometown and to the great number of paisanos that work there. But also, Mexicans have come to be part of Lake Tahoe's landscape, they've won their place through hardwork and have built a presence by carring out efficiently and responsibly a variety of jobs, tasks, and activities.
+story: >
+  It is not that because of one, everybody else came, but it's the truth, it's
+  like a root, it grows, it gives out branches and these, in turn, give out
+  leaves; it's the same as talking about a family tree or a family like the town
+  of Amequense.
+
+
+  Like that, some arrived first and then more, later on a lot of people that you don't even know, they come because others have invited them but, they don't know the roots of how we got here; I can say for sure that we are about five thousand Latinos and, from that, I think 80% are from Otavalo, here in South Lake Tahoe. Some are here temporarily, they come and go but, the one that leaves, never arrives alone, he always brings along a friend or two, others are more stable.
+
+
+  I grew up with my grandparents, from elementary school until I started working at the bank, at age 17, where I lasted eleven years. I used to work on and off because it was difficult to obtain a full-time job since I didn't have the military card. They would offer me work for small periods of time from two to three months and, then, they would give me another contract. Sometimes I worked for money, and sometimes not because there were a lot of peope looking for jobs. When I turned 18, I started working formally: assistant to the accountant, secretary, director of the insurance branch, and field supervisor, also as a payer for CONASUPO, with this job I became well known since I visited a lot of communities.
+
+
+  With time I asked for a leave of absence and I came to the United States, on July of 1972. First, I arrived to Mexicali, I realized then, that there was more or less a chance to make it and, so I went back and quit my job.
+
+
+  When I crossed to the other side I went to Watsonville and worked for five months at a _canería_, then I moved to Hollister and started working in a restaurant called "La Casa Amistada," owned by some Portuguese people. I started as a dish-washer; I lasted three months and a half. From the time work ended at the _canería_ until December, right after, I found a part-time in another _canería_ in Hollister, at most I worked three days a week in each place.
+
+
+  On one ocasion, serving coffee to some clients of "La Casa Amistada," I became friends with two men, Lío López, _pocho_ born in Texas, and Ventame, a Dutch. They were pensioned little old men that lived together, and their only distraction was to travel. They lived in Menlo Park, California, ten minutes away from San Francisco.
+
+
+  Serving them coffee I remember that Don Lío told me:
+
+
+  -Hey you, boy, where are you from?
+
+
+  -No, well, I'm from Mexico.
+
+
+  -Yes, but where from?
+
+
+  -No, well, from Guadalajara.
+
+
+  -Well, tell me how much are they paying you here?
+
+
+  -No, well, here they pay me 1.80 per hour.
+
+
+  -Oh! they're stealing from you, how come they are paying you that per hour? No, well, at 1.80 they are stealing from you, no, no, go to Lake Tahoe, there immigration won't go after you that much.
+
+
+  He told me that because at that time I didn't have documents, besides my wife was already here. I asked him for his address and he gladly gave it to me.
+
+
+  -No, no, whenever you want we'll take you to Lake Tahoe.
+
+
+  -And, what's that?
+
+
+  -I didn't know English and I said:
+
+
+  - Lake Tahoe, what would that be?
+
+
+  -No, it's called South Lake Tahoe and that means "Sur Lago Tahoe," it's a place where there are casinos, just like in Las Vegas.
+
+
+  He was telling me casinos and I imagined those were the places where people play pool, billiards.
+
+
+  -Well, so many people go there to play that.
+
+
+  Time passed by, and in February, I ran out of work at the _canería_ and, at the restaurant, the _migra_ started bugging with that it was going to check...that it's coming tomorrow...and one's fellows with bad intentions, a lot of times because of envy or just because they don't like you, they tell you to be careful because the _migra_ is coming on such and such day, and since I didn't have documents, they could take me back to Mexico.
+
+
+  Luckily, the day the _migra_ showed up was my day out; the following day when I arrived to work they told me:
+
+
+  -Imagine! Yesterday the _migra_ came by and it took one person away.
+
+
+  -Damn it! I told my wife, this is getting dangerous, if we continue here, well....and it's so tough to get in! Looking at the situation we both got afraid and said:
+
+
+  -No, it's no good to continue here anymore. Remembering that man, don Lío López, I told my wife:
+
+
+  -I'm going to see this man.
+
+
+  She was always afraid and would tell me:
+
+
+  -What are you going to do with those little old men? In the end, there are going to be all lies, you've told me they smelled like alcohol.
+
+
+  -No, no but he was talking to me very sincerely, I am going to get in touch with him.
+
+
+  - When I called him, on one ocasion, I didn't find anybody at home, the phone rang and rang. Afterwards, I called again, and then, the third time,  I was lucky he answered the phone, I told him as in the song:
+
+
+  -I am the one you met that one time
+
+
+  -Okay, okay, shuffle it a bit slowlier, who are you?
+
+
+  -Well look, I am José Angel Ramírez (I carried this name in my Social Security from 1972 until 1977), remember, you met me as a busboy in "La Casa Amistada," in Pacheco Park, a Portuguese-owned restaurant and, you asked me how much they payed me, and he said:
+
+
+  -They're stealing from you.
+
+
+  In fact, aside from that they're stealing from me, the work is over and my wife is also here, and we don't know whether to stay or already go back to Mexico, because it is very difficult to stay here without documents, everywhere they're scaring you.
+
+
+  No, even after that, the man answered:
+
+
+  -Look, when you're ready, you come here, this is my address.
+
+
+  -I am ready.
+
+
+  -Well, then come.
+
+
+  My wife didn't want to, but finally we came, her and a friend of mine called Juan López, from Tolola, Michoacán. It was at the beginning of March, 1973.
+
+
+  We went to Don Lío López's home and he was ready, the only thing he asked from me was:
+
+
+  -Buy me my medicine.
+
+
+  I said, _ah caray_! So Don Lío is sick; on the way he told us what medicine. The thing was a little _"pachita,"_ a little bottle of brandy, we bought it for him.
+
+
+  I had a little Ford '58, all discoloured, the transmission all screwed-up, the first gear wouldn't go through, it would only start on second, and then when we would get on a steep hill we had to change into first, it would make a fuss that machine, a _"tracatiza"_ and that's how we were coming.
+
+
+  This trip was a novelty because I saw San Francisco and other places in California, without even wanting to, he was guiding me, I didn't know well how to drive, I didn't have a license, finally I arrived to San Francisco, we crossed the Bay Bridge, the bridge that divides Oakland from San Francisco, we passed it and we continued 'till we reached Sacramento, we continued, we arrived to Placerville through freeway 50, passing by Placerville was when we started to see piles of snow, the closer we got the more snow we saw, and the car without heating, so we were getting colder; at last we arrived to South Lake Tahoe and we looked for a little hotel to spend the night, but the man, since he was such a gambler, I tought he was sleepy because he was nodding all the way here, but no, as soon as he got here he said:
+
+
+  -I'll be right back.
+
+
+  -He left for the casinos, later on he arrived very broke, he had lost everything.
+
+
+  That night we stayed at a hotel that is next to the Tahoe Motel and, the day after, Don Lío López took us and introduced us with that hotel's manager; he seemed to be a client because we started working the very next day, my wife and myself, making 3.50 per hour.
+
+
+  We stayed only one night, I had brought little money with me, we rented a cabin that fit only one bed, a stove, and a little bathroom, that 's all it had, my wife and myself slept on the bed, the other guy slept on the floor.
+
+
+  We started working and, the first fortnight that we hooked a check, I told my wife that we should go to Watsonville to visit my brother, since we didn't have a phone, or a P.O. BOX where he could write to us and, I came without knowing his address. He was very happy to see us, he wasn't very happy all alone, so he told me:
+
+
+  -Hey bro, what, wouldn't I be able to get a job there?
+
+
+  -Oh, sure, there's a lot of work there.
+
+
+  And yes, in reality at that time Lake Tahoe was virgin, there where nothing more than a few Cubans, one or two Puertorricans, and a family from Zacatecas, the Aramillo family, there was another woman from Puebla. That was it.
+
+
+  I brought my brother from Watsonville with me and, no sooner said than done, when we arrived we found him the same job as ours, as a maid, that is cleaning the hotel rooms, changing the bed sheets, cleaning the rooms, watering the gardens, sweeping outside the rooms, only jobs that are the usual among us, Mexicans.
+
+
+  When I noticed I was making good money my only illusion was to bring my entire family, I had left five children in Mexico; everybody arrived in June of 1973, so that for my Saint's day, in July, I had my whole family, it was necessary to rent out a three-bedroom apartment.
+
+
+  When my children arrived they went to school, we were the first family with Mexican children at a school in Lake Tahoe. For them, the first days of classes were difficult, they would laugh at them because they had never heard spoken Spanish, they would come saying:
+
+
+  -Dad, we're not going to school anymore, they don't understand us.
+
+
+   They couldn't communicate, nowadays it's not strange for _gringos_ because there are so many Mexicans, but at that time they found it strange, they would make fun of them, they would come home crying, now it's a different reaction that Americans have when they see Mexicans that don't speak Spanish, that only speak English, it's astonishing for them!
+
+
+  After having worked for one year and four months as a maid, at the Tahoe Motel, I went to work at the Sahara casino where I started as a sweeper for three months, then I switched to busboy for three months, then I moved up to waiter, for about half a year and, as I was always trying to earn better, they offered me to be the chief of all busboys at a world-class theatre, where the world greatest artists would perform, there I had the opportunity to see Elvis Presley 150 times and other famous artists like: Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Dean Martin. All of the artists that became famous performed there.
+
+
+  As a supervisor I had to hire people of all races and nationalities by law, I was in charge of more people from Majorca and Otavalo than from any other place, under my supervision was an African, an Eskimo, several Cubans, Puertorricans, Colombians, Brazilians, Argentinians, Spanish, and French; I lasted there nine years. On average I managed to have 22 busboys, in total they were 110, aside from having substitutes for rest days, in case they got sick, etc.
+
+
+  I worked until 1983, the year they closed the theater and turned it into a buffet, I had to leave because it wasn't worth it to continue, I was already tired, I already wanted to try other places, I had been 11 years in that casino; I switched to the Caesar's where I worked for two years and, other two at the Harrah's, then I quit because I started a business, I couldn't keep up with two jobs, with the two commitments at the same time.
+
+
+  I have defended a lot of people that were kicked out or that the _migra_ would take away, I would lend them money or I would go get them in Tijuana, without charging a thing, only the gas. Others that would come looking for work, I would find them a job, I would give them the chance of living in my house while they settle somewhere, the majority of my enemies, people that would find me unpleasant, they knew I had a good job at a theater, where they also wanted to work, but there wasn't enough for everybody, at that time there were already two hundred or three hundred Otavaleños, I could only have 20, so I needed to fire some to get others in, because those were jobs that would make 100 to 150 dollars daily. However, they would start as I started, dishwasing or sweeping, for 25 or 28 dollars per day, while they knew one was making 100, 120, 150 dollars everyday, they also wanted a little piece of the cake, but that wasn't possible.
+
+
+  I still haven't bought a house because of the following: In the first place because it is not possible, I cannot have a business and a house at the same time; when I had the opportunity of buying, I thought:
+
+
+  -Well, these 20,000 dollars that I have saved, what can I do with them? Either I buy a house or I start a business. If I buy a house, then I'll have to work like a dog for the rest of my days, if I don't do that and I start a business and, if God helps me, I can get the money to buy a house.
+
+
+  I thought the last one made more sense, become a slave for life or risk myself to have my own business; that's why I don't have a house, but I will have it, if God wants, because the businesses are now going the way I want, besides I told my children that, God first, it will be in '93 or '94, but we are going to have a house, God willing.
+
+
+  Even though I am a little bit ostentatious, because to buy a house, anybody can do it, but I want a real house, that's my thinking. My family is big, six children, my wife, and myself, that's why I need to buy it at least with four bedrooms, because the day all of my children want to be there, somehow they can accomodate themselves, my illusion is to buy a house in Guadalajara, another in Otavalo, and maybe one in Puerto Vallarta, to have three places where I can spend my retirement, that's my dream, we all have a dream, that it will come true, maybe yes, maybe not, but if I cannot make it come true, oh well!
+
+
+  I opened up a _tortillería_ because of the magnitude of Latinos that live in this place, I started doing the acconuts and I thought that here someone has to take the first step and, that who hits first, hits twice.
+
+
+  It took me a couple of years to get a clientele, at first it was the reaction of the very same Latinos, many didn't like to see me at the top, others would speak to me; I have a lot of friends, very good friends that actually helped me build my _tortillería_, to make tortillas without a pay, only in exchange for a meal that I would invite them to, or a little party that I would always organize in return for their help.
+
+
+  I started in '84, but we didn't work that year, but until the following year, they held up the permit, I have two employees that are: Don Juanito and a nephew whose name is Sergio Ruvalcaba, it's a family business.
+
+
+  The first trip to lay in a stock of merchandise had to be to Los Angeles, afterwards to Richmond, California, there was "La Misión" a very large _tortillería_ that sold the ingredients rather expensive, but I had to make a trip every two months, I would go get 20 sacks of corn or _Maseca_ in order to make the tortilla, sometimes I made a sack per week; that's why I had to keep working at the casino, in order to support the rent of the _tortillería_. It wasn't until '87 when I started buying my stocks from Los Angeles, but they bring me the merchandise to Reno, Nevada.
+
+
+  After that everything is the same, work, wake up at five in the morning, go make the tortilla, distribute it, come home, eat, play chess, have a little wine, sleep and, the following day, the same.
+
+
+  In 1986 I had a business and I left the job at the casino in order to go sell firewood, I almost went bankrupt, it was a detour that brought me back to life, because of the adventurer's spirit that I have, of always having to explore, to see whether there's more money here than over there, there's not always money at the casino, life teaches you that "the cobbler should stick at his last" or things of the sort, businesses that one doesn't know, it's better to not get involved.
+
+
+  I had a restaurant, in '90, that was called "La Cocina de Doña Rivera," but, because of city re-development plans, they knocked it over in '91, and I was left without a restaurant, I was left with the _tortillería_ only. It was a restaurant the kind of McDonalds, where you pay, you order, they give you your food, and you go to your table, the only thing one had to do was go clean the tables.
+
+
+  When I came, I kept seeing the man who brought me here, Don Lío López, because it was such a strong friendship that they had with me, and because they saw the growth of  us, people who have forged ourselves here, so that later on they moved to Lake Tahoe.
+
+
+  My parents and my children are with me, I don't have much to see in Otavalo, the friends sometimes come and visit me, my _compadre_ Vizcaíno, who was president of Otavalo and, who is the manager of the Banco Ejidal, Humberto Batista, José Garibay, and Javier Rentería, they are all the richest of Otavalo; a lot of people have come, including the current president, Roberto Rubio; also a lot of good friends have visited, aside from that, another number of friends that don't come directly with me; it's beautiful my land, it's where I left my childhood, where I made my first friendships, where I had my first loves, but that belongs to the past, you realize you have a married daughter, another married son, another that is travelling all over the world, that one does as birds do: during a particuar time of the year he comes here and stays for a month. And the entire family gets together to celebrate that one who comes from afar, it's this family's tradition, but now my children tell me:
+
+
+  -Dad, you want to go? Good luck, I'm staying here with my mom, she doesn't want to leave either.
+
+
+  That's what happens nowadays, after so many years ouside my country.
+---
+It is not that because of one, everybody else came, but it's the truth, it's like a root, it grows, it gives out branches and these, in turn, give out leaves; it's the same as talking about a family tree or a family like the town of Amequense.
+
+Like that, some arrived first and then more, later on a lot of people that you don't even know, they come because others have invited them but, they don't know the roots of how we got here; I can say for sure that we are about five thousand Latinos and, from that, I think 80% are from Otavalo, here in South Lake Tahoe. Some are here temporarily, they come and go but, the one that leaves, never arrives alone, he always brings along a friend or two, others are more stable.
+
+I grew up with my grandparents, from elementary school until I started working at the bank, at age 17, where I lasted eleven years. I used to work on and off because it was difficult to obtain a full-time job since I didn't have the military card. They would offer me work for small periods of time from two to three months and, then, they would give me another contract. Sometimes I worked for money, and sometimes not because there were a lot of peope looking for jobs. When I turned 18, I started working formally: assistant to the accountant, secretary, director of the insurance branch, and field supervisor, also as a payer for CONASUPO, with this job I became well known since I visited a lot of communities.
+
+With time I asked for a leave of absence and I came to the United States, on July of 1972. First, I arrived to Mexicali, I realized then, that there was more or less a chance to make it and, so I went back and quit my job.
+
+When I crossed to the other side I went to Watsonville and worked for five months at a _canería_, then I moved to Hollister and started working in a restaurant called "La Casa Amistada," owned by some Portuguese people. I started as a dish-washer; I lasted three months and a half. From the time work ended at the _canería_ until December, right after, I found a part-time in another _canería_ in Hollister, at most I worked three days a week in each place.
+
+On one ocasion, serving coffee to some clients of "La Casa Amistada," I became friends with two men, Lío López, _pocho_ born in Texas, and Ventame, a Dutch. They were pensioned little old men that lived together, and their only distraction was to travel. They lived in Menlo Park, California, ten minutes away from San Francisco.
+
+Serving them coffee I remember that Don Lío told me:
+
+-Hey you, boy, where are you from?
+
+-No, well, I'm from Mexico.
+
+-Yes, but where from?
+
+-No, well, from Guadalajara.
+
+-Well, tell me how much are they paying you here?
+
+-No, well, here they pay me 1.80 per hour.
+
+-Oh! they're stealing from you, how come they are paying you that per hour? No, well, at 1.80 they are stealing from you, no, no, go to Lake Tahoe, there immigration won't go after you that much.
+
+He told me that because at that time I didn't have documents, besides my wife was already here. I asked him for his address and he gladly gave it to me.
+
+-No, no, whenever you want we'll take you to Lake Tahoe.
+
+-And, what's that?
+
+-I didn't know English and I said:
+
+- Lake Tahoe, what would that be?
+
+-No, it's called South Lake Tahoe and that means "Sur Lago Tahoe," it's a place where there are casinos, just like in Las Vegas.
+
+He was telling me casinos and I imagined those were the places where people play pool, billiards.
+
+-Well, so many people go there to play that.
+
+Time passed by, and in February, I ran out of work at the _canería_ and, at the restaurant, the _migra_ started bugging with that it was going to check... that it's coming tomorrow... and one's fellows with bad intentions, a lot of times because of envy or just because they don't like you, they tell you to be careful because the _migra_ is coming on such and such day, and since I didn't have documents, they could take me back to Mexico.
+
+Luckily, the day the _migra_ showed up was my day out; the following day when I arrived to work they told me:
+
+-Imagine! Yesterday the _migra_ came by and it took one person away.
+
+-Damn it! I told my wife, this is getting dangerous, if we continue here, well... and it's so tough to get in! Looking at the situation we both got afraid and said:
+
+-No, it's no good to continue here anymore. Remembering that man, don Lío López, I told my wife:
+
+-I'm going to see this man.
+
+She was always afraid and would tell me:
+
+-What are you going to do with those little old men? In the end, there are going to be all lies, you've told me they smelled like alcohol.
+
+-No, no but he was talking to me very sincerely, I am going to get in touch with him.
+
+- When I called him, on one ocasion, I didn't find anybody at home, the phone rang and rang. Afterwards, I called again, and then, the third time,  I was lucky he answered the phone, I told him as in the song:
+
+-I am the one you met that one time
+
+-Okay, okay, shuffle it a bit slowlier, who are you?
+
+-Well look, I am José Angel Ramírez (I carried this name in my Social Security from 1972 until 1977), remember, you met me as a busboy in "La Casa Amistada," in Pacheco Park, a Portuguese-owned restaurant and, you asked me how much they payed me, and he said:
+
+-They're stealing from you.
+
+In fact, aside from that they're stealing from me, the work is over and my wife is also here, and we don't know whether to stay or already go back to Mexico, because it is very difficult to stay here without documents, everywhere they're scaring you.
+
+No, even after that, the man answered:
+
+-Look, when you're ready, you come here, this is my address.
+
+-I am ready.
+
+-Well, then come.
+
+My wife didn't want to, but finally we came, her and a friend of mine called Juan López, from Tolola, Michoacán. It was at the beginning of March, 1973.
+
+We went to Don Lío López's home and he was ready, the only thing he asked from me was:
+
+-Buy me my medicine.
+
+I said, _ah caray_! So Don Lío is sick; on the way he told us what medicine. The thing was a little _"pachita,"_ a little bottle of brandy, we bought it for him.
+
+I had a little Ford '58, all discoloured, the transmission all screwed-up, the first gear wouldn't go through, it would only start on second, and then when we would get on a steep hill we had to change into first, it would make a fuss that machine, a _"tracatiza"_ and that's how we were coming.
+
+This trip was a novelty because I saw San Francisco and other places in California, without even wanting to, he was guiding me, I didn't know well how to drive, I didn't have a license, finally I arrived to San Francisco, we crossed the Bay Bridge, the bridge that divides Oakland from San Francisco, we passed it and we continued 'till we reached Sacramento, we continued, we arrived to Placerville through freeway 50, passing by Placerville was when we started to see piles of snow, the closer we got the more snow we saw, and the car without heating, so we were getting colder; at last we arrived to South Lake Tahoe and we looked for a little hotel to spend the night, but the man, since he was such a gambler, I tought he was sleepy because he was nodding all the way here, but no, as soon as he got here he said:
+
+-I'll be right back.
+
+-He left for the casinos, later on he arrived very broke, he had lost everything.
+
+That night we stayed at a hotel that is next to the Tahoe Motel and, the day after, Don Lío López took us and introduced us with that hotel's manager; he seemed to be a client because we started working the very next day, my wife and myself, making 3.50 per hour.
+
+We stayed only one night, I had brought little money with me, we rented a cabin that fit only one bed, a stove, and a little bathroom, that 's all it had, my wife and myself slept on the bed, the other guy slept on the floor.
+
+We started working and, the first fortnight that we hooked a check, I told my wife that we should go to Watsonville to visit my brother, since we didn't have a phone, or a P.O. BOX where he could write to us and, I came without knowing his address. He was very happy to see us, he wasn't very happy all alone, so he told me:
+
+-Hey bro, what, wouldn't I be able to get a job there?
+
+-Oh, sure, there's a lot of work there.
+
+And yes, in reality at that time Lake Tahoe was virgin, there where nothing more than a few Cubans, one or two Puertorricans, and a family from Zacatecas, the Aramillo family, there was another woman from Puebla. That was it.
+
+I brought my brother from Watsonville with me and, no sooner said than done, when we arrived we found him the same job as ours, as a maid, that is cleaning the hotel rooms, changing the bed sheets, cleaning the rooms, watering the gardens, sweeping outside the rooms, only jobs that are the usual among us, Mexicans.
+
+When I noticed I was making good money my only illusion was to bring my entire family, I had left five children in Mexico; everybody arrived in June of 1973, so that for my Saint's day, in July, I had my whole family, it was necessary to rent out a three-bedroom apartment.
+
+When my children arrived they went to school, we were the first family with Mexican children at a school in Lake Tahoe. For them, the first days of classes were difficult, they would laugh at them because they had never heard spoken Spanish, they would come saying:
+
+-Dad, we're not going to school anymore, they don't understand us.
+
+ They couldn't communicate, nowadays it's not strange for _gringos_ because there are so many Mexicans, but at that time they found it strange, they would make fun of them, they would come home crying, now it's a different reaction that Americans have when they see Mexicans that don't speak Spanish, that only speak English, it's astonishing for them!
+
+After having worked for one year and four months as a maid, at the Tahoe Motel, I went to work at the Sahara casino where I started as a sweeper for three months, then I switched to busboy for three months, then I moved up to waiter, for about half a year and, as I was always trying to earn better, they offered me to be the chief of all busboys at a world-class theatre, where the world greatest artists would perform, there I had the opportunity to see Elvis Presley 150 times and other famous artists like: Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Dean Martin. All of the artists that became famous performed there.
+
+As a supervisor I had to hire people of all races and nationalities by law, I was in charge of more people from Majorca and Otavalo than from any other place, under my supervision was an African, an Eskimo, several Cubans, Puertorricans, Colombians, Brazilians, Argentinians, Spanish, and French; I lasted there nine years. On average I managed to have 22 busboys, in total they were 110, aside from having substitutes for rest days, in case they got sick, etc.
+
+I worked until 1983, the year they closed the theater and turned it into a buffet, I had to leave because it wasn't worth it to continue, I was already tired, I already wanted to try other places, I had been 11 years in that casino; I switched to the Caesar's where I worked for two years and, other two at the Harrah's, then I quit because I started a business, I couldn't keep up with two jobs, with the two commitments at the same time.
+
+I have defended a lot of people that were kicked out or that the _migra_ would take away, I would lend them money or I would go get them in Tijuana, without charging a thing, only the gas. Others that would come looking for work, I would find them a job, I would give them the chance of living in my house while they settle somewhere, the majority of my enemies, people that would find me unpleasant, they knew I had a good job at a theater, where they also wanted to work, but there wasn't enough for everybody, at that time there were already two hundred or three hundred Otavaleños, I could only have 20, so I needed to fire some to get others in, because those were jobs that would make 100 to 150 dollars daily. However, they would start as I started, dishwasing or sweeping, for 25 or 28 dollars per day, while they knew one was making 100, 120, 150 dollars everyday, they also wanted a little piece of the cake, but that wasn't possible.
+
+I still haven't bought a house because of the following: In the first place because it is not possible, I cannot have a business and a house at the same time; when I had the opportunity of buying, I thought:
+
+-Well, these 20,000 dollars that I have saved, what can I do with them? Either I buy a house or I start a business. If I buy a house, then I'll have to work like a dog for the rest of my days, if I don't do that and I start a business and, if God helps me, I can get the money to buy a house.
+
+I thought the last one made more sense, become a slave for life or risk myself to have my own business; that's why I don't have a house, but I will have it, if God wants, because the businesses are now going the way I want, besides I told my children that, God first, it will be in '93 or '94, but we are going to have a house, God willing.
+
+Even though I am a little bit ostentatious, because to buy a house, anybody can do it, but I want a real house, that's my thinking. My family is big, six children, my wife, and myself, that's why I need to buy it at least with four bedrooms, because the day all of my children want to be there, somehow they can accomodate themselves, my illusion is to buy a house in Guadalajara, another in Otavalo, and maybe one in Puerto Vallarta, to have three places where I can spend my retirement, that's my dream, we all have a dream, that it will come true, maybe yes, maybe not, but if I cannot make it come true, oh well!
+
+I opened up a _tortillería_ because of the magnitude of Latinos that live in this place, I started doing the acconuts and I thought that here someone has to take the first step and, that who hits first, hits twice.
+
+It took me a couple of years to get a clientele, at first it was the reaction of the very same Latinos, many didn't like to see me at the top, others would speak to me; I have a lot of friends, very good friends that actually helped me build my _tortillería_, to make tortillas without a pay, only in exchange for a meal that I would invite them to, or a little party that I would always organize in return for their help.
+
+I started in '84, but we didn't work that year, but until the following year, they held up the permit, I have two employees that are: Don Juanito and a nephew whose name is Sergio Ruvalcaba, it's a family business.
+
+The first trip to lay in a stock of merchandise had to be to Los Angeles, afterwards to Richmond, California, there was "La Misión" a very large _tortillería_ that sold the ingredients rather expensive, but I had to make a trip every two months, I would go get 20 sacks of corn or _Maseca_ in order to make the tortilla, sometimes I made a sack per week; that's why I had to keep working at the casino, in order to support the rent of the _tortillería_. It wasn't until '87 when I started buying my stocks from Los Angeles, but they bring me the merchandise to Reno, Nevada.
+
+After that everything is the same, work, wake up at five in the morning, go make the tortilla, distribute it, come home, eat, play chess, have a little wine, sleep and, the following day, the same.
+
+In 1986 I had a business and I left the job at the casino in order to go sell firewood, I almost went bankrupt, it was a detour that brought me back to life, because of the adventurer's spirit that I have, of always having to explore, to see whether there's more money here than over there, there's not always money at the casino, life teaches you that "the cobbler should stick at his last" or things of the sort, businesses that one doesn't know, it's better to not get involved.
+
+I had a restaurant, in '90, that was called "La Cocina de Doña Rivera," but, because of city re-development plans, they knocked it over in '91, and I was left without a restaurant, I was left with the _tortillería_ only. It was a restaurant the kind of McDonalds, where you pay, you order, they give you your food, and you go to your table, the only thing one had to do was go clean the tables.
+
+When I came, I kept seeing the man who brought me here, Don Lío López, because it was such a strong friendship that they had with me, and because they saw the growth of  us, people who have forged ourselves here, so that later on they moved to Lake Tahoe.
+
+My parents and my children are with me, I don't have much to see in Otavalo, the friends sometimes come and visit me, my _compadre_ Vizcaíno, who was president of Otavalo and, who is the manager of the Banco Ejidal, Humberto Batista, José Garibay, and Javier Rentería, they are all the richest of Otavalo; a lot of people have come, including the current president, Roberto Rubio; also a lot of good friends have visited, aside from that, another number of friends that don't come directly with me; it's beautiful my land, it's where I left my childhood, where I made my first friendships, where I had my first loves, but that belongs to the past, you realize you have a married daughter, another married son, another that is travelling all over the world, that one does as birds do: during a particuar time of the year he comes here and stays for a month. And the entire family gets together to celebrate that one who comes from afar, it's this family's tradition, but now my children tell me:
+
+-Dad, you want to go? Good luck, I'm staying here with my mom, she doesn't want to leave either.
+
+That's what happens nowadays, after so many years ouside my country.
diff --git a/src/content/history/one-alone-cannot-do-anything.md b/src/content/history/one-alone-cannot-do-anything.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9111130
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/history/one-alone-cannot-do-anything.md
@@ -0,0 +1,652 @@
+---
+title: One alone cannot do Anything
+category: Everyday Life and Return
+interviewee: Victor Espinosa, A
+year: "04.1991"
+description: Hector Liñán, a migrant from Guanajuato, tells us about his
+  achievements and failures while in Chicago.
+lede: >
+  Hector Liñan and his wife are from Villa Guerrero, Guanajuato. Both finished
+  studying his sixth grade. They both lived and worked in Chicago; two of their
+  daughters were born in Chicago, and the other two were born in Mexico
+  afterwards.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  As a result of his work at the United States, Hector started a small restaurant with two workers, and a small tennis factory with about 20 workers.
+
+
+  One Saturday evening, after a day’s work, we asked him for an interview. We invited us into a room, which served as his office and storage. He got very excited, and showed us a picture from the newspaper that he kept very well covered with glass on his desk. On that picture, we saw Hector and his boss in a kitchen’s restaurant, with a very delicious Greek platter on their hands.
+
+
+  He explained the picture’s meaning; while his eyes filled with tears, he told us that he remembered his life in the United States very nostalgic.
+story: >
+  The most important thing for me is the fact that one makes his life by taking
+  advice. My father always advised me. I was 18 years old when I first migrated.
+  I remember that other 3 or 4 guys were leaving with me, and just before
+  departing, they decided to stay. I left along, without knowing anyone. I had
+  always lived in Villa Guerrero. I arrived to Tijuana and I didn’t feel the
+  difference. I wandered on the streets looking for the smuggler I had been
+  recommended. I saw black people and white people and thought that I was
+  already in the United States. I became shy and didn’t want to ask anything. I
+  knew that I was alone, and if I didn’t ask, no one would help me. So, I
+  entered a clothing store and asked for the address I was looking for. It was
+  nearby. The address I had received from Chicago was at the Hotel Flores. I
+  asked for the guy I was looking for. He came out and asked me who had told me
+  about him. After I answered, he invited me to eat and drink with him. That was
+  his business, so he treated me well.
+
+
+  All I ever knew about the United States, I knew it because of what my friends talked about. They talked about their happy and enjoyable life. However, I think that they only went there to have fun, because life at our town was boring. There has always been work here at Villa Guerrero. I always worked since I was 7 years old. I worked as a bartender and in a store, both were my father’s businesses.
+
+
+  When we were heading to San Diego, I was surprised to see such a big crowd. I thought it was very weird, like a pilgrimage to cross the mountains. We were a small group with people from Michoacan, San Miguel Allende, Zacatecas, and Guerrero. Our guy had his own group to lead. After crossing the first mountain and a car picked us up. The driver told us that if we had money, to put it in our socks because a policeman had arrived. I didn’t do so, and he said, “I’m telling you so.” However, I only had five pesos left. I think that my luck was good since the beginning, because if I would have gotten caught the first time, I’m not sure what I would have done. I don’t think I would have been able to return to eat. The policeman asked us where we were heading to; then, they robbed us.
+
+
+  - One of them asked me, “How much are you going to give us?”
+
+
+  - I replied, “I only have five pesos”
+
+
+  - He said, “That’s nothing! Keep them.”
+
+
+  We crossed with no difficulties; then, a car picked us up and drove us to Los Angeles. We arrived there at around three in the morning with no further problems. The lady in the house treated me quite well and asked me if I wanted to shower. She offered me some food; I was very hungry and asked her for three hamburgers – those big ones from the U.S. Everyone laughed at me. I stayed in that house for three days. That house belonged to the smuggler, and I was always treated well. Of course, I was paying for that. The good treatment was included in the $500 fee I was paying to arrive to Chicago. On the third day, we flew in a nice Delta airplane. I couldn’t believe it. They bought me a small suit for my height; I looked like “Cantinflas.” We boarded the airplane and sat on the first rows, near a TV. Since then, I have never gotten into a very nice airplane. Our airplane flew from Los Angeles to Chicago; it was April of 1976, exactly, 15 years ago.
+
+
+  Chicago’s airport was immense and very pretty. I thought I had arrived to another world – another life; at least, that’s what I felt. However, my first week there was the contrary. I became very frustrated. The main smuggler was waiting for us at the airport; he was the boss and everyone called him “El Rojo”. He was red-haired from Michoacan. As soon as I saw him, I recognized him. He knew the way we were dressed.
+
+
+  - He asked, “Are you coming from Los Angeles?”
+
+
+  - “Are you ‘El Rojo’?” I replied.
+
+
+  He took us to a car; a very nice Cadillac. He asked us for our addresses. So, he drove us and delivered us to our destiny and he got paid. Everyone’s case was easy, except mine. When we arrived to the house I would stay at, nobody was home. Everyone arrived at 7 o’clock. Once my cousin arrived, he paid my fee. This ‘cousin’ calls me “in-law” because my father raised his wife since she was a child, and we always considered her our sister. My frustration started upon entering home and this guy said, “well then Hector, you’re here. How many people wouldn’t want to be in your place? You did it; you’re in Chicago. Now, the difficult part will be finding a job.” That’s what I didn’t like because before my trip, he reassured me that I would have a job upon my arrival. I was at home well with my dad in commerce. I had a lot of opportunities. Even a businessman from Mexico said to me, “What are you going to do over there Hector? Stay here with us and help us out in our store. We pay for your rent and you’ll be the seller.”
+
+
+  Another guy who sold beer said, “Do you want a bar? We’ll open it for you.”
+
+
+  I had really good relations with people, due to father’s good work. I like to work and I like to do business. I didn’t know about going to Chicago then. I asked my father to help me decide to which he replied, “You decide. I told you that after your 18 th birthday, I would only get in your life in case you were doing things wrong. I wouldn’t want you to go, but you have my support in everything.” That’s how I decided to emigrate.
+
+
+  I remembered all that because after a week, I didn’t have a job. A second week went by and nothing. I was at home all alone; what could I do? I cried, I can’t deny it. I repented for having left home with the illusion of the North. I left my girlfriend back home; my wife was my girlfriend back then. I would have stayed; I could be in my neighborhood Santa Rita o El Llano visiting my girlfriend. Why did I come? I didn’t know anything that I could accomplish then. To top my frustration, one day, my “in-law” and his brother argued because I was living there. At that moment, I had gone to the store, and upon my return, before entering the house, I heard them arguing:
+
+
+  - Why did you bring Hector? Do you think you did well by bringing him here? How many people wouldn’t like to be here in Chicago? It’s a luxury to be here!
+
+
+  My “in-law” didn’t support me anything. On the contrary, it was his brother Ambrosio from whom I received the most support. The next week, Ambrosio said to me, “Look Hector, I can get you a job, but it will cost you $100, which will be paid to the guy who will hire you. Thus, your first salary will be reduced by $100.
+
+
+  I thought, “the sooner the better, because I’m not used to being maintained by others; and, I don’t like people talking about me.” I like to work and live with my own salary.
+
+
+  It was a Sunday when a man named Pancho got there and asked, “Where’s the guy?”. Pancho was from Hidalgo, whom I don’t really like.
+
+
+  Ambrosio said, “It’s him.”
+
+
+  Pancho said, “Tell him to come, I’ve got a job for him.”
+
+
+  The people I didn’t like were the Mexicans I met there. Pancho took me to his home and left me there in a room, while he went to eat and rest. However, I went there and demanded, “You said you had a job for me, and just brought me here to see you rest?”
+
+
+  Pancho said, “Hold on. Why are you in such a hurry? You’ll get tired of working.”
+
+
+  “Take me to work! I prefer to be secure,” I demanded.
+
+
+  Pancho’s brother took me to a place nearby in Indiana State. It was a Greek business; they treated me well. “Hey Mexican! Do you like to work? We have a lot of food here, but the boss wants the Mexicans to work.”
+
+
+  I worked as a dishwasher for three weeks. That salary, compared to the salary back home, I thought it was well paid. I met a guy there who was Ambrosio’s brother, whom got the job for me. Once I told him how I got the job, he said, “if I would have known, I would have charged those $100 dollars.” I only lasted there for three weeks, because Ambrosio’s brother left work and he convinced me to leave it too.
+
+
+  On our last day there, he left first and then I followed. However, I got lost because of my lack of English and because I didn’t know anything there. I didn’t know where to get off the bus. I got confused, and when I got off the bus, I ended up in a black neighborhood. Since I had heard bad things about blacks, I got scared and thought, “Oh my God! Please don’t let me get killed.”
+
+
+  Nothing happened. I found a school and got in. I approached a teacher saying, “Me, no English”.
+
+
+  They got me a teacher from Puerto Rico who asked if I was Mexican. When I said yes, she asked me what I was doing there. I told her that I was lost. So she asked me where I lived, to which I replied, “Near Houston Street”
+
+
+  My home was only a couple blocks away, but since I was quite nervous, I asked her to go with me. I arrived home quite sad. Everyone was at home and when they saw me, their facial expression was like “there he comes again.” I called Pancho and I told him that I had left work and that he needed to pick me up. He went for me and took me to Harbor, Indiana. He introduced me to another Greek, whom later became a good friend of mine.
+
+
+  He said, “You come here to work. You’ll wake up early, and there’s no home for you. People sleep above the fridges.”
+
+
+  I didn’t really care. I only wanted to work. Besides, when I left Ambrosio’s home, I decided that I would never return there. One week went by, and I worked from 6 in the morning until 8 at night. We showered in a big sink, where we used to place big pots. We slept above very noisy fridges. So, who could really sleep with all the noise? Erik, a polish guy, whom I hate, arrived each morning and said, “Mexican! Slept? Roon, roon, roon.”
+
+
+  I thougth, “One day, I’ll get back at you.”
+
+
+  Time would be on my side afterwards. After that week, I called Pancho and complained, “Hey! I paid you $100 to get me a job, not to treat me like an animal.”
+
+
+  “Aren’t you happy there?”, he replied.
+
+
+  “What do you think? Am I made of stone? I’m not scared to work, but I want to sleep and rest as well,” I demanded.
+
+
+  He asked to talk to the Polish. They spoke in English, and I didn’t understand anything. When we finished our work, Erik told me that he had another job for me, in Calumet City, with the boss whom I appeared in the newspaper’s picture.
+
+
+  A new story started for me. It was early May, and Erik introduced me with my boss and told him that Pancho sent me. The boss was very nice, and said, “Hey man, come in, come in (1), do you want some food?” He requested some food for me, and when I finished, he said, “I like to work. A bit clean here and there. I don’t like bad workers.”
+
+
+  I told him that I was good to work. After two months of working with him, I noticed that he preferred me over the other five dishwashers. He gave me other types of work. During that time, I also got in the kitchen. I enjoyed watching the cooks work. He noticed that, and I thought that he got upset for doing that. One day he asked me if I liked to cook, to which I said, “a little bit.”
+
+
+  “Very good, very good. My Greece is here in America. I know a bit, and I learn little by little. If you like to cook, I don’t have a problem with that,” he replied.
+
+
+  One Sunday night, I was cleaning up the restaurant and another boss – the partner - got there quite drunk. He got all the money from the register and went into the office. I continued working. Accidently, with the mop I opened the office’s door. I thought that the partner was sleeping as a result of his heavy drinking. I looked inside and saw nobody, but thousands or dollars in front of me. Very pretty indeed!! It was the opportunity to get the money inside a backpack and escape. I knew that I had gone to the U.S. for money, and that was my opportunity. There were $25,000 dollars; I counted them, and then tried to steal them. I put the money inside a bag and whatever place I could, and thought, “Let’s go! I came for money and this is my opportunity.” However, I didn’t know any English to ask for a taxi, and I thought, “Where am I going?”
+
+
+  I left the money the same way I had found it. The next morning, I took the boss to his office and said, “Hey, there’s a lot of money here. Do you want me to get killed and get robbed?”
+
+
+  He always told us to be careful and more from blacks. He called an American chef – Hercules, who spoke Spanish and through him he asked me why I didn’t take the money. Then said, “the boss said you’re a fool. Having all the money for yourself, why didn’t you left with it?”
+
+
+  I was not going to tell them that I had tried. So, I told them that I didn’t money that way. I wanted money as a result of my job. The boss then requested a special platter for me – a Tibol State, so we could eat together. I didn’t want to eat right there because I was all dirty, but my boss asked me. While we were eating, some waitresses approached us separately, and the boss told them the story. They just massaged my hair, I’m not sure if it was as a good gesture or for pity. That act was like a seed, because from that moment, I was not a dishwasher anymore. The boss told Hercules to teach me to cook, and that he was responsible now of making me a good cook.
+
+
+  “I like this guy; I’ll teach him to cook,” Hercules replied.
+
+
+  After six weeks, I learned to cook without knowing English or Greek. Sometime later, I started speaking Greek and a bit of English; an Italian waitress named Rosi, and who later became my girlfriend, was teaching me English. I knew the names of the platters, but I couldn’t read the checks; Rosi always stopped to read me the checks.
+
+
+  Once I learned to cook well, I said, “this kitchen is full of Greeks, and I have to see it run by Mexicans. Mexicans have to work here because we are not fools.” I think we, Mexicans, are smart; we’re are just lazy and like the easy way. It was hard to learn to cook, since I worked from 18 to 20 hours daily. I slept, woke up, showered, and was back in the kitchen. I thought, “What does a Greek have that a Mexican does not?” I even thought that I was smarter, that’s why I learned.
+
+
+  One evening, my “in-law” arrived to the restaurant looking for me because I still owed him $500 from the smuggler’s cost. However, he never imagined seeing me as a cook; he thought I was still as a janitor. I paid him off.
+
+
+  “Are you a cook? Weren’t you a dishwasher? How much are you getting paid?” he asked.
+
+
+  “$150 per week, and I don’t pay rent nor utilities,” I replied. We lived nearby the restaurant, in a house that belonged to our boss. He couldn’t believe it and he was not happy about it.
+
+
+  After a couple of months, Erik, the polish guy, also arrived and said, “Are you a cook?” He laughed and told to the boss bad things about me. My boss asked him to stop; however, Erik got a job there as well. He was quick to work and had a lot of experience. I did my job as good as I could, because I didn’t want to lose. One day, Erik cut his finger, and since that day, he was not able to excel me in preparation. One day, he left the job; that was my best triumph in the kitchen.
+
+
+  There was another Mexican guy in the restaurant working, and I asked the boss to put him in the kitchen with me. I would be responsible for him to learn. My boss didn’t really want, but my opinion was valuable. “Hire him as a cook or I leave my job. One day I want all cooks to be Mexicans,” I said. So, he accepted.
+
+
+  Erasmo, was from Aguascalientes, and did everything I told him to do. Three weeks later, he told me that he had a brother who wanted to work. He brought him over, and my boss hired him.
+
+
+  One day, we were talking and this guy had papers. I didn’t have them neither his brother. He asked me how I gotten a job with no documents. “Here in U.S., whoever wants to work, will do it. Besides, I came for this,” I replied and showed him $1500 dollars. “These are the papers I care about,” I said.
+
+
+  We were working fine. One day, we were both upset and ended up arguing. The first thing he complained about was my lack of papers. “Hector, I don’t like to have an illegal bossing around,” he said. I replied, “I don’t like to fire people, but I will fire you.” We were almost fighting, but that wouldn’t be good for me. I went with my boss, and even though he was busy, I said, “I want you to fire that guy; he is humiliating me because of my lack of papers.” My boss got quite upset and fired him. “I don’t want documented people; I want illegals,” my boss replied. He paid him, and the guy left. However, he said that I would remember him.
+
+
+  I think my boss preferred illegal workers because he was very humane. That picture is one example. The picture was taken when we fed for free 650 people who lived in asylums. My boss cared for everybody.
+
+
+  Later that day, Genaro, the brother of the guy who had gotten fired, arrived. He understood the situation and supported me. He admitted that his brother had a difficult personality. He also told me that he had a brother-in-law that needed to work. I told him to bring him over; that way, I would show him that I had nothing against him. That’s how we ended up being three Mexicans in the kitchen. There were still two Greeks as well working with us. This last guy told me that he had a friend who was a cook and was working alone in a restaurant. He brought him over, and later, the Greeks were the ones cleaning up the kitchen instead of cooking. My boss was happy with us, and with me as the main cook. Besides, the Mexican labor was cheaper than the Greek and that was better for him.
+
+
+  Things were better then. Since we were all undocumented, no one could say anything anymore. Besides, I was the boss, and everyone knew that.
+
+
+  One day, I decided to build my home in Mexico. I started sending remittances to my father and asked him to buy the land, because I would return. My father wrote me back telling me that the land was already bought, but he didn’t want me to return if there was no house built.
+
+
+  I talked to my boss and told him the situation, and asked him for $3,000 dollars. He was not that happy, but he lent me the money. Since I had $1,500 saved, I sent $4,500 to start building my home. Each month, I paid some money to my boss, and the rest I sent it back to Mexico. One day, my house was completed. That’s when I returned to Mexico for the first time – after three years of working in U.S. I was so happy to see my home, even though it was not big. I always had the idea of having something of my own before getting married. I didn’t want to continue the way it was before. I came from a large family and we had 2 beds for 13 people. I used to sleep on the floor, and in another room my mom made tortillas. So, now that I had something of my own, I was so happy of this accomplishment. I dreamed of eating birria on my wedding, and we did do. As soon as I got married, we left again in 1981.
+
+
+  I was never discriminated in U.S. by the lack of documents. On the contrary, people looked for me to work for them. I was known because I was a good cook, and I knew English and Greek. My boss offered me a diploma, which would allow me to work in Acapulco. However, I was never interested because I didn’t know what I wanted. I was surprised to have Americans call me for my name. They always thanked me for the good food. I was well known.
+
+
+  One day, I went to the bar after work. I got very drunk. I was heading home around 2am very drunk. While I was walking, the police stopped me and I thought that they would arrest me. However, to my surprise, they asked me, “Hector, are you ok? Do you want us to take you home?” They took me home.
+
+
+  I was also lucky that one of my girlfriends, Yolanda, would help me out to request an increase on my salary. My boss is nice, but there he was stingy. During that time, he paid me only $220 per week, while other cooks got paid $350 weekly. They always asked me for my weekly wage, but I never said anything because that’s a private matter between my boss and me. Yolanda was the one to change checks to the workers. However, my check was handed directly to me by the boss, because he didn’t declare taxes. One day, I told him how much I was getting paid, and she said, “You’re a fool. Do you know how much ‘X’ gets paid? $350! And you work more than he does.”
+
+
+  I got upset so upset then. The next week when he paid me, I was a bit drunk. That day, I didn’t talk to him in Greek, but in English. I told him that he was fooling me; I told him that I was a good worker and I wanted an increase of salary to $300. If he wouldn’t give me that, I would work with his uncles instead who had offered me a job. He said that he would think about it and needed to finish paying the week.
+
+
+  After he finished, he asked me, “What is it that you want?”
+
+
+  “I want more salary,” I said.
+
+
+  “You’re undocumented. How can you demand for more?” he said.
+
+
+  “You have fired documented people. Now, it seems that you care that I’m undocumented! I’m out of here!,” I replied.
+
+
+  When I turned, he said, “Wait Hector.” He grabbed me from my arm, and said, “You win. I’ll pay you $350, but stay. You won’t go with my uncles to work.”
+
+
+  Since that day, I got a better pay. I also started being his companion during his play time. He liked to bet money. While he played, I massaged his back. Each time, he paid me more than $350; each game he won, he handed me a $20 or $50 bill.
+
+
+  People in Mexico were surprised of what I was accomplishing in U.S. After I finished my home, I bought some other land. Thanks to my boss, I met doctors, engineers, and all sorts of people. My boss never introduced me as a worker, but as a partner. I became in charge of supervising all the incoming merchandise for the restaurant. I answered phone calls to get merchandise. Every time the boss went vacationing to Greece, he used to leave for up to two months. During that time, I was in charge of the business; even I was in charge of depositing the money at the bank. The administrator was in charge of paying all the workers.
+
+
+  Around 1986, just before the amnesty, the border patrol was detaining workers. I was lucky, because I wasn’t at work when migration arrived. That day, Genaro was working, and he had bought forger documents, which officers took for good documents. When I arrived, my boss told me to leave because the border patrol was around. I said that I wasn’t scared; besides, if I got deported, I had a place to leave back home. In addition, all the workers didn’t have documents, and if I didn’t go, they would notice even more that I didn’t have documents.
+
+
+  During all my time in Chicago, I was never deported. I was deported twice at the border when I tried to cross. One day, I served one officer from the border patrol. He used to go every day to eat there. By mistake, I told him that I was undocumented.
+
+
+  He said that he had the orders to detain people, to which I replied, “Just don’t come for me.”
+
+
+  “Don’t you have papers?” he asked.
+
+
+  “No, I don’t,” I said.
+
+
+  “And, you’re telling me that?” he asked.
+
+
+  “If you want, detain me,” I said.
+
+
+  “No, you’re a good friend. There are undocumented people who shouldn’t be detained; there are others who should,” he replied.
+
+
+  “Like whom?” I asked.
+
+
+  “There are a lot of Mexican drug dealers,” he said. Then, he continued by saying that he knew a lot of people like me, who worked with all their love and had good intentions. He said that he always saw me working happy, because I was always singing. In fact, I once sang “Spanish Eyes” at a farewell party before returning to Mexico. I thought I wouldn’t return because I returned with my wife. Cindy, a lady who liked me a lot and died of cancer later on, she organized the farewell party in a restaurant. They even filmed me while I was singing. It’s a nice memory.
+
+
+  During one of my last trips to the U.S., in 1985 – I returned definitely in 1987 to México, - I took three friends of mine. Everyone whom I invited, I gave them good advice. I never told them about women or drugs; I simply told them about work. Whenever I used to see a guy with drugs at work, I took him to the office and used to speak with him. One time, I met a guy called Antonio from Aguilillas, Michoacan. While I was looking for my watch, I found a letter from his mother. I read it and said, “My son, I don’t want your money; I only want to know more of you.” That helped me realized that one is nothing in U.S. That’s when I created my saying “If you don’t take care of yourself, who will.” Then, I talked with two of my brothers who are still in the U.S. – one of them stayed in my place as a cook.
+
+
+  “Look, here we don’t have family. You’re the only one. If you don’t take of yourself, who will? No one will look for you. Life is difficult here. I don’t have anything bad to say about the U.S. Thanks to my trips there, I have everything I have now. But I have it, because I took advantage of my opportunities. Now that I’m back, I’ve invested my money and now my salary is double of what I had there. Note that my salary there was quite good. Now, my weekly salary is about $600 dollars. My brother never liked living here. He got married and divorced over there. He never knew why I returned.
+
+
+  We don’t have to close our opportunities. Besides, we won’t return to eat just beans like before. We have to use all the experiences learned to our advantage here. I admire my boss a lot, because during my time there, I saw his thoughts of getting ahead. I adopted that ideology now that I’m back. Sometimes I feel I lost a lifetime, while I was there, but now I’m trained for everything. First, I know all my sacrifices to obtain everything. Second, my father used to tell me that the North was tomb. He worked ther for 20 years, and did nothing. He wasted all the money he got paid. He had fun, and used to say that one gets dollars there but also spends dollars there. However, if you convert those dollars to pesos, you’ll get revenue. He didn’t want me to repeat his mistakes from his youth.
+
+
+  That’s why I shared with my brother my father’s advice.
+
+
+  I had an Indian-Mexican friend. He was born in Chihuahua of Indian parents. He told me to get between $10,000 to $20,000, so that we could start a business together. However, I never liked living in the U.S. I went with the idea of returning with something here. I didn’t want to be like my friend from Michocan, who had left his mother here and didn’t even call her up. He forgot about her. I always said, if I have the opportunity, I’ll return to my country to employ people. I’m now happy here. I have 20 employees, and I’m happy when I pay them. I’m never upset when I have to pay them, because I know they need that money. It’s a great satisfaction to have this. When I left, there were jobs here, but in construction. Now my workers get paid more than a dishwasher in the U.S. Some of my workers want to go to the U.S., and tell them not to be fool. I know how they will start there. They will get paid $100 weekly – around $300,000 pesos here. Here, they get paid $350 free because they don’t have to pay here for other things like they would do there. If they were single, I would tell them to go, but the U.S. has two faces. Now, with the amnesty, nothing is the same. If one was discriminated before because of the lack of papers, now is worse. Even the treatment from Mexicans to Mexicans is worsened. One time, I met a Chicana, the restaurant’s cashier. We became friends, but one day she said, “I want an order of sandwiches.” She wanted it so fast, but I told her to wait because the client was first. I always had that idea that the client was first. She became upset and yelled me bad things. Later, she returned for her order and I told her that I wouldn’t make her anything. She complained with our boss and he called me. He argued in front of him and I told him that I wouldn’t allow any discrimination. She said that this was the first time that an illegal had offended her.
+
+
+  I shared all my stories with the guys here, so they know what to expect there. Besides, the drugs are easier to get. One time, while talking with Roberto, a guy from Zacatecas, he said, “Hector, this is bad. Before, the guys obtained marihuana, now they even get cocaine.” I didn’t believe him at first, but his brother did drugs as well. Perhaps it was because I was too dumb, but I prefer to be drunk. I tell the youth that it’s better to be drunk. On this street, there are like 7 or 8 guys who go to Reno, Nevada to sell cocaine. That’s their job. They get in jail for two or three months, and then they get deported. Then, they stay here for five months and do the same thing again. That’s why I don’t see the point of going to the U.S.
+
+
+  When I was planning to return, my boss called me up and said, “Hector, I don’t want you to leave. I’ve got a proposition for you. I’ll pay you double of what you get paid now”. I got paid $550 weekly, and he would pay me $1,100 now. “I’ll buy you a car and pay for your rent; bring your family. You have five minutes to think about it,” he said.
+
+
+  I didn’t use the five minutes. I had an answer. I had never said no to anything. That was one of my father’s advices: “Never say no to your boss; that way, he’ll be on your side always.” However, I said no.
+
+
+  He said that I was a fool. He said that if everyone knew what I was saying no to, they would consider me a fool. Indeed, when everyone knew, they told me I was a fool. However, he couldn’t give me the most important thing. I didn’t want to live there with my daughters.
+
+
+  “Indeed, I do this for my daughters. Look, I’ve slept with a lot of women here, while their parents are working. I may be a drunk, and you know that, but I love my daughters. I like to have their respect. There you have your uncles; their cooks sleep with your nieces and that’s because your uncles are taking care of the businesses instead of them. I don’t want that for my family. Besides, here in the North, the respect to the parents is non-existent. My daughters are 12 years old and are already in love. If the parents want to correct their children, they can’t do it. There is a lot of bad freedom here, and I don’t like it,” I explained.
+
+
+  After that, he wasn’t upset. He even said, “I would like to be in your place, but I have five businesses here.” He had five restaurants; he was also a share partner of a computer business and another factory that prepares hot cakes flour. He has a lot of money. He was quite sincere when he congratulated me for my decision. Then he said, “I’d like to have Greece close by, the way Mexico is for you. I’d like to be able to go each week there and stay with my family. However, I have to cross the whole Atlantic to get there. I admire your decision. I wish you the best, and I believe you’ll make it because you’re smart. I tell you that I would have like you to be my brother.”
+
+
+  He used to call me “brother.” Many times, both families ate at the same table. He has two daughters as well. His wife and daughters were very nice with us. He loved his daughters very much and, he didn’t like when the cooks slept with his nieces. It was true; I slept with young girls aged 15 who invited me to their home when their parents were not there. During vacations, when the restaurant got a lot of students, I heard how they spoke badly of their mothers. I didn’t want that kind of education for my daughters. I don’t have those feelings.
+
+
+  I liked to arrive an hour before to read the newspaper and read the sports section. Since I was liked much, the waitresses sat beside me and one time one of them asked me if I was really reading the newspaper. She thought that I didn’t know English.
+
+
+  - “If I understand your writing, of course I understand this one,” I said.
+
+
+  - “Don’t get upset, but I thought that you were like the cartoons, with your hat and sleeping next to a cactus underneath a tree,” she said.
+
+
+  I explained to her that those cartoons were just logos, used to identify countries. But whoever didn’t know how to read in Mexico it was because they were dumb.
+
+
+  - “May be you don’t know that we have the largest university of the world; besides, México had the first printing press in all the American continent, which includes the U.S.,” I said.
+
+
+  She said that I was crazy and that she would ask her professor. “If we are dumb is because we want to,” I said.
+
+
+  The next day, she arrived and apologized because everything I had told her was true.
+
+
+  The last time I went to the U.S., in 1987, I went with a brother-in-law. I made him take all the decisions. We arrived to Tijuana and chose the smuggler. That smuggler was quite dumb, because we got deported on the first try. The next day, it was the same deal. That’s when I started considered everything I had back home. I didn’t have the need to suffer all that. I already had my first business, and everything was running smoothly. I thought of what I was doing then. The North is for a migrant, like a sport is for an athlete: one day one has to retire. I almost gave up, when my brother in law convinced me to try once more.
+
+
+  We walked about 10 kilometers in the mountains and with the smuggler. I was very frustrated and I was hoping to get deported so I could go back to Mexico. However, we reached San Diego. My brother in law went to Los Angeles and I went to Chicago. I spent six months there – the six longest months of my life. I didn’t like it anymore. That’s when my boss offered me to double my wage.
+
+
+  I returned and said that the North was over for me. I started the restaurant. Upon my return, my father was still alive, but he died a month later. Since I always talked to him, I told him that I felt very young to be at the restaurant all day long.
+
+
+  - “There have been a lot of new factories opening here. So, there’s a way to make money here,” he said. “Make shoes.”
+
+
+  I had tried that once. I had partnered with a friend, but it didn’t work. My father lent me a small room we had at home, and I started working there. I didn’t know anything about shoes, neither my father. However, even though my father was a farmer, he did a lot of business as a barman, policeman, and inspector.
+
+
+  - “Well, if this doesn’t work, I’ll go to the North. I have a job there.” I said. However, my father told me that my thinking was wrong and it was not the type of thinking I needed to work.
+
+
+  - “Think positively: if you think about failing and that you have the option of going to the U.S., forget it.” He said. All this coincided with my previous plans. I had already thought of starting a shoe factory and I already had the brand.
+
+
+  Due to the fact that when I was in U.S., I was alone a lot of times, I had a lot of time to think and planning. That’s when I thought of the brand LIN BARR, in honor of Hector Liñan Barron. I wasn’t easy, but I have four years doing this now. It all started in a small room. Since the beginning, my brother works with me. I didn’t let him go to the U.S. He wanted to go, and I asked him to stay with me. Businesses are a lot more difficult here. Now, he’s married and we’re working fine. I also brought my other brother, who also wanted to leave to the U.S. I asked him what he was going to do there.
+
+
+  - “I’m going to work just like you,” he said.
+
+
+  - “That’s the wrong answer. Do you have a job already? Do you have any idea of what you’re going to do with your money there?” I said.
+
+
+  - “I don’t know. But, you didn’t know either,” he replied.
+
+
+  - “Of course I did. I had a plan. That’s why I built my home, because I knew I would get married, and I didn’t want to be maintained by the family. That’s thinking before doing things. You only want to go because your friends are inviting you. You’re not thinking, because you’re only going to have fun. Stay here and work here,” I said.
+
+
+  - “I want to have my own things,” he replied.
+
+
+  - “The only thing you want is to have your car, but you don’t have the age for that. You only want to have fun. It’s better to suffer when one is young and not old. That way, you’ll have a better life when old,” I said. So he stayed with me.
+
+
+  After having worked for 13 years in the U.S., I’m starting anew life. I’ve sacrificed a lot here. Two years ago, I had a big lost. I met Juan Cuerdas, a shoe seller. He always paid me with checks with no funds. He stole like 70 millions of pesos. I was almost broke and at the point of closing down. I was going to keep only the restaurant. I started this about two years ago. I didn’t bring a lot of money back, but I’ve invested it a lot.
+
+
+  I don’t believe in saints. God is the only way. While in the U.S., I was involved in another religion, without leaving the Catholicism. That helped me to know the most wonderful book: the Bible. That took away a lot of doubts and opened my eyes to a lot of things. God is the only way and the truth. I studied with Jehovah Witnesses for two years, but I didn’t become one. I’m not a hypocrite. Besides, there are rituals imposed by that religion that I don’t accept. That would imply a change of 90 degrees, from the life one lives and was raised. I don’t hold anything against that religion. On the contrary, studying the Bible was fundamental for my progress. I was alcoholic and I started going to a group to rehabilitate. However, they smoke, drink tea or coffee. So, it would be like leaving one thing to start another. That’s when I asked God for another opportunity. I had a friend who was a priest in Chicago, and I asked him for a Bible, which I still have. He dedicated it to me: “To my best friend Hector, the best chef of Chicago Heights.”
+
+
+  I read the Bible at night, but there were things I didn’t understand. One day, I visited a friend in Chicago and told him that I was reading the Bible. He said that he was being visited by people who helped him to study the Bible. I didn’t know what religion they professed, but my friend said that he would refer them to my home. They started visiting me. We started a very good friendship. They were from another religion, but I didn’t care. I was being benefited by them. Here, people criticizes a lot, maybe because of ignorance. If you read the Bible, they talk bad things about you. If you go to rehabilitation, it’s worse.
+
+
+  My father used to say: “If you’re in good stand with God, no matter that the saints cry.”
+
+
+  Thanks to that religion, I stopped drinking for seven years while living there. I got hospitalized twice. They met me as a drunk. When I came back, I was no longer a drunk.
+
+
+  When I returned here, I drank for year and a half. It’s been four months that I haven’t drunk. Even though I drank, I never missed work. Even though I was very drunk, I always showed up because I’m responsible.
+
+
+  I agree with NAFTA, because there are a lot of customs that will come from the U.S. I don’t belong to any political party. I like the current president because he has faced a lot of problems that others didn’t want to face. He has even uncovered a lot of politicians who were drug dealers.
+
+
+  I could have gotten my residency, but I never wanted. I love my country a lot, and I was not going to be happy feeling American. My daughters were born there; one day they will decide. I never liked it there. Perhaps they will like it.
+
+
+  My father worked as a farmer, in cotton, lettuce, beats. He was even hired to work there. However, he was also a drunk. He was even in jailed while in the U.S. He was a very happy person and he liked to live. He lasted 20 years working there; 7 years we didn’t know anything about him, because he didn’t return. My father got married when he was 33. He never got the residency. He said that there was no point of going to another country if he was quite happy here in Mexico. That’s like in the fake North.
+
+
+  (1) During the interview, many expressions were told in Greek.
+---
+The most important thing for me is the fact that one makes his life by taking advice. My father always advised me. I was 18 years old when I first migrated. I remember that other 3 or 4 guys were leaving with me, and just before departing, they decided to stay. I left along, without knowing anyone. I had always lived in Villa Guerrero. I arrived to Tijuana and I didn’t feel the difference. I wandered on the streets looking for the smuggler I had been recommended. I saw black people and white people and thought that I was already in the United States. I became shy and didn’t want to ask anything. I knew that I was alone, and if I didn’t ask, no one would help me. So, I entered a clothing store and asked for the address I was looking for. It was nearby. The address I had received from Chicago was at the Hotel Flores. I asked for the guy I was looking for. He came out and asked me who had told me about him. After I answered, he invited me to eat and drink with him. That was his business, so he treated me well.
+
+All I ever knew about the United States, I knew it because of what my friends talked about. They talked about their happy and enjoyable life. However, I think that they only went there to have fun, because life at our town was boring. There has always been work here at Villa Guerrero. I always worked since I was 7 years old. I worked as a bartender and in a store, both were my father’s businesses.
+
+When we were heading to San Diego, I was surprised to see such a big crowd. I thought it was very weird, like a pilgrimage to cross the mountains. We were a small group with people from Michoacan, San Miguel Allende, Zacatecas, and Guerrero. Our guy had his own group to lead. After crossing the first mountain and a car picked us up. The driver told us that if we had money, to put it in our socks because a policeman had arrived. I didn’t do so, and he said, “I’m telling you so.” However, I only had five pesos left. I think that my luck was good since the beginning, because if I would have gotten caught the first time, I’m not sure what I would have done. I don’t think I would have been able to return to eat. The policeman asked us where we were heading to; then, they robbed us.
+
+- One of them asked me, “How much are you going to give us?”
+
+- I replied, “I only have five pesos”
+
+- He said, “That’s nothing! Keep them.”
+
+We crossed with no difficulties; then, a car picked us up and drove us to Los Angeles. We arrived there at around three in the morning with no further problems. The lady in the house treated me quite well and asked me if I wanted to shower. She offered me some food; I was very hungry and asked her for three hamburgers – those big ones from the U.S. Everyone laughed at me. I stayed in that house for three days. That house belonged to the smuggler, and I was always treated well. Of course, I was paying for that. The good treatment was included in the $500 fee I was paying to arrive to Chicago. On the third day, we flew in a nice Delta airplane. I couldn’t believe it. They bought me a small suit for my height; I looked like “Cantinflas.” We boarded the airplane and sat on the first rows, near a TV. Since then, I have never gotten into a very nice airplane. Our airplane flew from Los Angeles to Chicago; it was April of 1976, exactly, 15 years ago.
+
+Chicago’s airport was immense and very pretty. I thought I had arrived to another world – another life; at least, that’s what I felt. However, my first week there was the contrary. I became very frustrated. The main smuggler was waiting for us at the airport; he was the boss and everyone called him “El Rojo”. He was red-haired from Michoacan. As soon as I saw him, I recognized him. He knew the way we were dressed.
+
+- He asked, “Are you coming from Los Angeles?”
+
+- “Are you ‘El Rojo’?” I replied.
+
+He took us to a car; a very nice Cadillac. He asked us for our addresses. So, he drove us and delivered us to our destiny and he got paid. Everyone’s case was easy, except mine. When we arrived to the house I would stay at, nobody was home. Everyone arrived at 7 o’clock. Once my cousin arrived, he paid my fee. This ‘cousin’ calls me “in-law” because my father raised his wife since she was a child, and we always considered her our sister. My frustration started upon entering home and this guy said, “well then Hector, you’re here. How many people wouldn’t want to be in your place? You did it; you’re in Chicago. Now, the difficult part will be finding a job.” That’s what I didn’t like because before my trip, he reassured me that I would have a job upon my arrival. I was at home well with my dad in commerce. I had a lot of opportunities. Even a businessman from Mexico said to me, “What are you going to do over there Hector? Stay here with us and help us out in our store. We pay for your rent and you’ll be the seller.”
+
+Another guy who sold beer said, “Do you want a bar? We’ll open it for you.”
+
+I had really good relations with people, due to father’s good work. I like to work and I like to do business. I didn’t know about going to Chicago then. I asked my father to help me decide to which he replied, “You decide. I told you that after your 18 th birthday, I would only get in your life in case you were doing things wrong. I wouldn’t want you to go, but you have my support in everything.” That’s how I decided to emigrate.
+
+I remembered all that because after a week, I didn’t have a job. A second week went by and nothing. I was at home all alone; what could I do? I cried, I can’t deny it. I repented for having left home with the illusion of the North. I left my girlfriend back home; my wife was my girlfriend back then. I would have stayed; I could be in my neighborhood Santa Rita o El Llano visiting my girlfriend. Why did I come? I didn’t know anything that I could accomplish then. To top my frustration, one day, my “in-law” and his brother argued because I was living there. At that moment, I had gone to the store, and upon my return, before entering the house, I heard them arguing:
+
+- Why did you bring Hector? Do you think you did well by bringing him here? How many people wouldn’t like to be here in Chicago? It’s a luxury to be here!
+
+My “in-law” didn’t support me anything. On the contrary, it was his brother Ambrosio from whom I received the most support. The next week, Ambrosio said to me, “Look Hector, I can get you a job, but it will cost you $100, which will be paid to the guy who will hire you. Thus, your first salary will be reduced by $100.
+
+I thought, “the sooner the better, because I’m not used to being maintained by others; and, I don’t like people talking about me.” I like to work and live with my own salary.
+
+It was a Sunday when a man named Pancho got there and asked, “Where’s the guy?”. Pancho was from Hidalgo, whom I don’t really like.
+
+Ambrosio said, “It’s him.”
+
+Pancho said, “Tell him to come, I’ve got a job for him.”
+
+The people I didn’t like were the Mexicans I met there. Pancho took me to his home and left me there in a room, while he went to eat and rest. However, I went there and demanded, “You said you had a job for me, and just brought me here to see you rest?”
+
+Pancho said, “Hold on. Why are you in such a hurry? You’ll get tired of working.”
+
+“Take me to work! I prefer to be secure,” I demanded.
+
+Pancho’s brother took me to a place nearby in Indiana State. It was a Greek business; they treated me well. “Hey Mexican! Do you like to work? We have a lot of food here, but the boss wants the Mexicans to work.”
+
+I worked as a dishwasher for three weeks. That salary, compared to the salary back home, I thought it was well paid. I met a guy there who was Ambrosio’s brother, whom got the job for me. Once I told him how I got the job, he said, “if I would have known, I would have charged those $100 dollars.” I only lasted there for three weeks, because Ambrosio’s brother left work and he convinced me to leave it too.
+
+On our last day there, he left first and then I followed. However, I got lost because of my lack of English and because I didn’t know anything there. I didn’t know where to get off the bus. I got confused, and when I got off the bus, I ended up in a black neighborhood. Since I had heard bad things about blacks, I got scared and thought, “Oh my God! Please don’t let me get killed.”
+
+Nothing happened. I found a school and got in. I approached a teacher saying, “Me, no English”.
+
+They got me a teacher from Puerto Rico who asked if I was Mexican. When I said yes, she asked me what I was doing there. I told her that I was lost. So she asked me where I lived, to which I replied, “Near Houston Street”
+
+My home was only a couple blocks away, but since I was quite nervous, I asked her to go with me. I arrived home quite sad. Everyone was at home and when they saw me, their facial expression was like “there he comes again.” I called Pancho and I told him that I had left work and that he needed to pick me up. He went for me and took me to Harbor, Indiana. He introduced me to another Greek, whom later became a good friend of mine.
+
+He said, “You come here to work. You’ll wake up early, and there’s no home for you. People sleep above the fridges.”
+
+I didn’t really care. I only wanted to work. Besides, when I left Ambrosio’s home, I decided that I would never return there. One week went by, and I worked from 6 in the morning until 8 at night. We showered in a big sink, where we used to place big pots. We slept above very noisy fridges. So, who could really sleep with all the noise? Erik, a polish guy, whom I hate, arrived each morning and said, “Mexican! Slept? Roon, roon, roon.”
+
+I thougth, “One day, I’ll get back at you.”
+
+Time would be on my side afterwards. After that week, I called Pancho and complained, “Hey! I paid you $100 to get me a job, not to treat me like an animal.”
+
+“Aren’t you happy there?”, he replied.
+
+“What do you think? Am I made of stone? I’m not scared to work, but I want to sleep and rest as well,” I demanded.
+
+He asked to talk to the Polish. They spoke in English, and I didn’t understand anything. When we finished our work, Erik told me that he had another job for me, in Calumet City, with the boss whom I appeared in the newspaper’s picture.
+
+A new story started for me. It was early May, and Erik introduced me with my boss and told him that Pancho sent me. The boss was very nice, and said, “Hey man, come in, come in (1), do you want some food?” He requested some food for me, and when I finished, he said, “I like to work. A bit clean here and there. I don’t like bad workers.”
+
+I told him that I was good to work. After two months of working with him, I noticed that he preferred me over the other five dishwashers. He gave me other types of work. During that time, I also got in the kitchen. I enjoyed watching the cooks work. He noticed that, and I thought that he got upset for doing that. One day he asked me if I liked to cook, to which I said, “a little bit.”
+
+“Very good, very good. My Greece is here in America. I know a bit, and I learn little by little. If you like to cook, I don’t have a problem with that,” he replied.
+
+One Sunday night, I was cleaning up the restaurant and another boss – the partner - got there quite drunk. He got all the money from the register and went into the office. I continued working. Accidently, with the mop I opened the office’s door. I thought that the partner was sleeping as a result of his heavy drinking. I looked inside and saw nobody, but thousands or dollars in front of me. Very pretty indeed!! It was the opportunity to get the money inside a backpack and escape. I knew that I had gone to the U.S. for money, and that was my opportunity. There were $25,000 dollars; I counted them, and then tried to steal them. I put the money inside a bag and whatever place I could, and thought, “Let’s go! I came for money and this is my opportunity.” However, I didn’t know any English to ask for a taxi, and I thought, “Where am I going?”
+
+I left the money the same way I had found it. The next morning, I took the boss to his office and said, “Hey, there’s a lot of money here. Do you want me to get killed and get robbed?”
+
+He always told us to be careful and more from blacks. He called an American chef – Hercules, who spoke Spanish and through him he asked me why I didn’t take the money. Then said, “the boss said you’re a fool. Having all the money for yourself, why didn’t you left with it?”
+
+I was not going to tell them that I had tried. So, I told them that I didn’t money that way. I wanted money as a result of my job. The boss then requested a special platter for me – a Tibol State, so we could eat together. I didn’t want to eat right there because I was all dirty, but my boss asked me. While we were eating, some waitresses approached us separately, and the boss told them the story. They just massaged my hair, I’m not sure if it was as a good gesture or for pity. That act was like a seed, because from that moment, I was not a dishwasher anymore. The boss told Hercules to teach me to cook, and that he was responsible now of making me a good cook.
+
+“I like this guy; I’ll teach him to cook,” Hercules replied.
+
+After six weeks, I learned to cook without knowing English or Greek. Sometime later, I started speaking Greek and a bit of English; an Italian waitress named Rosi, and who later became my girlfriend, was teaching me English. I knew the names of the platters, but I couldn’t read the checks; Rosi always stopped to read me the checks.
+
+Once I learned to cook well, I said, “this kitchen is full of Greeks, and I have to see it run by Mexicans. Mexicans have to work here because we are not fools.” I think we, Mexicans, are smart; we’re are just lazy and like the easy way. It was hard to learn to cook, since I worked from 18 to 20 hours daily. I slept, woke up, showered, and was back in the kitchen. I thought, “What does a Greek have that a Mexican does not?” I even thought that I was smarter, that’s why I learned.
+
+One evening, my “in-law” arrived to the restaurant looking for me because I still owed him $500 from the smuggler’s cost. However, he never imagined seeing me as a cook; he thought I was still as a janitor. I paid him off.
+
+“Are you a cook? Weren’t you a dishwasher? How much are you getting paid?” he asked.
+
+“$150 per week, and I don’t pay rent nor utilities,” I replied. We lived nearby the restaurant, in a house that belonged to our boss. He couldn’t believe it and he was not happy about it.
+
+After a couple of months, Erik, the polish guy, also arrived and said, “Are you a cook?” He laughed and told to the boss bad things about me. My boss asked him to stop; however, Erik got a job there as well. He was quick to work and had a lot of experience. I did my job as good as I could, because I didn’t want to lose. One day, Erik cut his finger, and since that day, he was not able to excel me in preparation. One day, he left the job; that was my best triumph in the kitchen.
+
+There was another Mexican guy in the restaurant working, and I asked the boss to put him in the kitchen with me. I would be responsible for him to learn. My boss didn’t really want, but my opinion was valuable. “Hire him as a cook or I leave my job. One day I want all cooks to be Mexicans,” I said. So, he accepted.
+
+Erasmo, was from Aguascalientes, and did everything I told him to do. Three weeks later, he told me that he had a brother who wanted to work. He brought him over, and my boss hired him.
+
+One day, we were talking and this guy had papers. I didn’t have them neither his brother. He asked me how I gotten a job with no documents. “Here in U.S., whoever wants to work, will do it. Besides, I came for this,” I replied and showed him $1500 dollars. “These are the papers I care about,” I said.
+
+We were working fine. One day, we were both upset and ended up arguing. The first thing he complained about was my lack of papers. “Hector, I don’t like to have an illegal bossing around,” he said. I replied, “I don’t like to fire people, but I will fire you.” We were almost fighting, but that wouldn’t be good for me. I went with my boss, and even though he was busy, I said, “I want you to fire that guy; he is humiliating me because of my lack of papers.” My boss got quite upset and fired him. “I don’t want documented people; I want illegals,” my boss replied. He paid him, and the guy left. However, he said that I would remember him.
+
+I think my boss preferred illegal workers because he was very humane. That picture is one example. The picture was taken when we fed for free 650 people who lived in asylums. My boss cared for everybody.
+
+Later that day, Genaro, the brother of the guy who had gotten fired, arrived. He understood the situation and supported me. He admitted that his brother had a difficult personality. He also told me that he had a brother-in-law that needed to work. I told him to bring him over; that way, I would show him that I had nothing against him. That’s how we ended up being three Mexicans in the kitchen. There were still two Greeks as well working with us. This last guy told me that he had a friend who was a cook and was working alone in a restaurant. He brought him over, and later, the Greeks were the ones cleaning up the kitchen instead of cooking. My boss was happy with us, and with me as the main cook. Besides, the Mexican labor was cheaper than the Greek and that was better for him.
+
+Things were better then. Since we were all undocumented, no one could say anything anymore. Besides, I was the boss, and everyone knew that.
+
+One day, I decided to build my home in Mexico. I started sending remittances to my father and asked him to buy the land, because I would return. My father wrote me back telling me that the land was already bought, but he didn’t want me to return if there was no house built.
+
+I talked to my boss and told him the situation, and asked him for $3,000 dollars. He was not that happy, but he lent me the money. Since I had $1,500 saved, I sent $4,500 to start building my home. Each month, I paid some money to my boss, and the rest I sent it back to Mexico. One day, my house was completed. That’s when I returned to Mexico for the first time – after three years of working in U.S. I was so happy to see my home, even though it was not big. I always had the idea of having something of my own before getting married. I didn’t want to continue the way it was before. I came from a large family and we had 2 beds for 13 people. I used to sleep on the floor, and in another room my mom made tortillas. So, now that I had something of my own, I was so happy of this accomplishment. I dreamed of eating birria on my wedding, and we did do. As soon as I got married, we left again in 1981.
+
+I was never discriminated in U.S. by the lack of documents. On the contrary, people looked for me to work for them. I was known because I was a good cook, and I knew English and Greek. My boss offered me a diploma, which would allow me to work in Acapulco. However, I was never interested because I didn’t know what I wanted. I was surprised to have Americans call me for my name. They always thanked me for the good food. I was well known.
+
+One day, I went to the bar after work. I got very drunk. I was heading home around 2am very drunk. While I was walking, the police stopped me and I thought that they would arrest me. However, to my surprise, they asked me, “Hector, are you ok? Do you want us to take you home?” They took me home.
+
+I was also lucky that one of my girlfriends, Yolanda, would help me out to request an increase on my salary. My boss is nice, but there he was stingy. During that time, he paid me only $220 per week, while other cooks got paid $350 weekly. They always asked me for my weekly wage, but I never said anything because that’s a private matter between my boss and me. Yolanda was the one to change checks to the workers. However, my check was handed directly to me by the boss, because he didn’t declare taxes. One day, I told him how much I was getting paid, and she said, “You’re a fool. Do you know how much ‘X’ gets paid? $350! And you work more than he does.”
+
+I got upset so upset then. The next week when he paid me, I was a bit drunk. That day, I didn’t talk to him in Greek, but in English. I told him that he was fooling me; I told him that I was a good worker and I wanted an increase of salary to $300. If he wouldn’t give me that, I would work with his uncles instead who had offered me a job. He said that he would think about it and needed to finish paying the week.
+
+After he finished, he asked me, “What is it that you want?”
+
+“I want more salary,” I said.
+
+“You’re undocumented. How can you demand for more?” he said.
+
+“You have fired documented people. Now, it seems that you care that I’m undocumented! I’m out of here!,” I replied.
+
+When I turned, he said, “Wait Hector.” He grabbed me from my arm, and said, “You win. I’ll pay you $350, but stay. You won’t go with my uncles to work.”
+
+Since that day, I got a better pay. I also started being his companion during his play time. He liked to bet money. While he played, I massaged his back. Each time, he paid me more than $350; each game he won, he handed me a $20 or $50 bill.
+
+People in Mexico were surprised of what I was accomplishing in U.S. After I finished my home, I bought some other land. Thanks to my boss, I met doctors, engineers, and all sorts of people. My boss never introduced me as a worker, but as a partner. I became in charge of supervising all the incoming merchandise for the restaurant. I answered phone calls to get merchandise. Every time the boss went vacationing to Greece, he used to leave for up to two months. During that time, I was in charge of the business; even I was in charge of depositing the money at the bank. The administrator was in charge of paying all the workers.
+
+Around 1986, just before the amnesty, the border patrol was detaining workers. I was lucky, because I wasn’t at work when migration arrived. That day, Genaro was working, and he had bought forger documents, which officers took for good documents. When I arrived, my boss told me to leave because the border patrol was around. I said that I wasn’t scared; besides, if I got deported, I had a place to leave back home. In addition, all the workers didn’t have documents, and if I didn’t go, they would notice even more that I didn’t have documents.
+
+During all my time in Chicago, I was never deported. I was deported twice at the border when I tried to cross. One day, I served one officer from the border patrol. He used to go every day to eat there. By mistake, I told him that I was undocumented.
+
+He said that he had the orders to detain people, to which I replied, “Just don’t come for me.”
+
+“Don’t you have papers?” he asked.
+
+“No, I don’t,” I said.
+
+“And, you’re telling me that?” he asked.
+
+“If you want, detain me,” I said.
+
+“No, you’re a good friend. There are undocumented people who shouldn’t be detained; there are others who should,” he replied.
+
+“Like whom?” I asked.
+
+“There are a lot of Mexican drug dealers,” he said. Then, he continued by saying that he knew a lot of people like me, who worked with all their love and had good intentions. He said that he always saw me working happy, because I was always singing. In fact, I once sang “Spanish Eyes” at a farewell party before returning to Mexico. I thought I wouldn’t return because I returned with my wife. Cindy, a lady who liked me a lot and died of cancer later on, she organized the farewell party in a restaurant. They even filmed me while I was singing. It’s a nice memory.
+
+During one of my last trips to the U.S., in 1985 – I returned definitely in 1987 to México, - I took three friends of mine. Everyone whom I invited, I gave them good advice. I never told them about women or drugs; I simply told them about work. Whenever I used to see a guy with drugs at work, I took him to the office and used to speak with him. One time, I met a guy called Antonio from Aguilillas, Michoacan. While I was looking for my watch, I found a letter from his mother. I read it and said, “My son, I don’t want your money; I only want to know more of you.” That helped me realized that one is nothing in U.S. That’s when I created my saying “If you don’t take care of yourself, who will.” Then, I talked with two of my brothers who are still in the U.S. – one of them stayed in my place as a cook.
+
+“Look, here we don’t have family. You’re the only one. If you don’t take of yourself, who will? No one will look for you. Life is difficult here. I don’t have anything bad to say about the U.S. Thanks to my trips there, I have everything I have now. But I have it, because I took advantage of my opportunities. Now that I’m back, I’ve invested my money and now my salary is double of what I had there. Note that my salary there was quite good. Now, my weekly salary is about $600 dollars. My brother never liked living here. He got married and divorced over there. He never knew why I returned.
+
+We don’t have to close our opportunities. Besides, we won’t return to eat just beans like before. We have to use all the experiences learned to our advantage here. I admire my boss a lot, because during my time there, I saw his thoughts of getting ahead. I adopted that ideology now that I’m back. Sometimes I feel I lost a lifetime, while I was there, but now I’m trained for everything. First, I know all my sacrifices to obtain everything. Second, my father used to tell me that the North was tomb. He worked ther for 20 years, and did nothing. He wasted all the money he got paid. He had fun, and used to say that one gets dollars there but also spends dollars there. However, if you convert those dollars to pesos, you’ll get revenue. He didn’t want me to repeat his mistakes from his youth.
+
+That’s why I shared with my brother my father’s advice.
+
+I had an Indian-Mexican friend. He was born in Chihuahua of Indian parents. He told me to get between $10,000 to $20,000, so that we could start a business together. However, I never liked living in the U.S. I went with the idea of returning with something here. I didn’t want to be like my friend from Michocan, who had left his mother here and didn’t even call her up. He forgot about her. I always said, if I have the opportunity, I’ll return to my country to employ people. I’m now happy here. I have 20 employees, and I’m happy when I pay them. I’m never upset when I have to pay them, because I know they need that money. It’s a great satisfaction to have this. When I left, there were jobs here, but in construction. Now my workers get paid more than a dishwasher in the U.S. Some of my workers want to go to the U.S., and tell them not to be fool. I know how they will start there. They will get paid $100 weekly – around $300,000 pesos here. Here, they get paid $350 free because they don’t have to pay here for other things like they would do there. If they were single, I would tell them to go, but the U.S. has two faces. Now, with the amnesty, nothing is the same. If one was discriminated before because of the lack of papers, now is worse. Even the treatment from Mexicans to Mexicans is worsened. One time, I met a Chicana, the restaurant’s cashier. We became friends, but one day she said, “I want an order of sandwiches.” She wanted it so fast, but I told her to wait because the client was first. I always had that idea that the client was first. She became upset and yelled me bad things. Later, she returned for her order and I told her that I wouldn’t make her anything. She complained with our boss and he called me. He argued in front of him and I told him that I wouldn’t allow any discrimination. She said that this was the first time that an illegal had offended her.
+
+I shared all my stories with the guys here, so they know what to expect there. Besides, the drugs are easier to get. One time, while talking with Roberto, a guy from Zacatecas, he said, “Hector, this is bad. Before, the guys obtained marihuana, now they even get cocaine.” I didn’t believe him at first, but his brother did drugs as well. Perhaps it was because I was too dumb, but I prefer to be drunk. I tell the youth that it’s better to be drunk. On this street, there are like 7 or 8 guys who go to Reno, Nevada to sell cocaine. That’s their job. They get in jail for two or three months, and then they get deported. Then, they stay here for five months and do the same thing again. That’s why I don’t see the point of going to the U.S.
+
+When I was planning to return, my boss called me up and said, “Hector, I don’t want you to leave. I’ve got a proposition for you. I’ll pay you double of what you get paid now”. I got paid $550 weekly, and he would pay me $1,100 now. “I’ll buy you a car and pay for your rent; bring your family. You have five minutes to think about it,” he said.
+
+I didn’t use the five minutes. I had an answer. I had never said no to anything. That was one of my father’s advices: “Never say no to your boss; that way, he’ll be on your side always.” However, I said no.
+
+He said that I was a fool. He said that if everyone knew what I was saying no to, they would consider me a fool. Indeed, when everyone knew, they told me I was a fool. However, he couldn’t give me the most important thing. I didn’t want to live there with my daughters.
+
+“Indeed, I do this for my daughters. Look, I’ve slept with a lot of women here, while their parents are working. I may be a drunk, and you know that, but I love my daughters. I like to have their respect. There you have your uncles; their cooks sleep with your nieces and that’s because your uncles are taking care of the businesses instead of them. I don’t want that for my family. Besides, here in the North, the respect to the parents is non-existent. My daughters are 12 years old and are already in love. If the parents want to correct their children, they can’t do it. There is a lot of bad freedom here, and I don’t like it,” I explained.
+
+After that, he wasn’t upset. He even said, “I would like to be in your place, but I have five businesses here.” He had five restaurants; he was also a share partner of a computer business and another factory that prepares hot cakes flour. He has a lot of money. He was quite sincere when he congratulated me for my decision. Then he said, “I’d like to have Greece close by, the way Mexico is for you. I’d like to be able to go each week there and stay with my family. However, I have to cross the whole Atlantic to get there. I admire your decision. I wish you the best, and I believe you’ll make it because you’re smart. I tell you that I would have like you to be my brother.”
+
+He used to call me “brother.” Many times, both families ate at the same table. He has two daughters as well. His wife and daughters were very nice with us. He loved his daughters very much and, he didn’t like when the cooks slept with his nieces. It was true; I slept with young girls aged 15 who invited me to their home when their parents were not there. During vacations, when the restaurant got a lot of students, I heard how they spoke badly of their mothers. I didn’t want that kind of education for my daughters. I don’t have those feelings.
+
+I liked to arrive an hour before to read the newspaper and read the sports section. Since I was liked much, the waitresses sat beside me and one time one of them asked me if I was really reading the newspaper. She thought that I didn’t know English.
+
+- “If I understand your writing, of course I understand this one,” I said.
+
+- “Don’t get upset, but I thought that you were like the cartoons, with your hat and sleeping next to a cactus underneath a tree,” she said.
+
+I explained to her that those cartoons were just logos, used to identify countries. But whoever didn’t know how to read in Mexico it was because they were dumb.
+
+- “May be you don’t know that we have the largest university of the world; besides, México had the first printing press in all the American continent, which includes the U.S.,” I said.
+
+She said that I was crazy and that she would ask her professor. “If we are dumb is because we want to,” I said.
+
+The next day, she arrived and apologized because everything I had told her was true.
+
+The last time I went to the U.S., in 1987, I went with a brother-in-law. I made him take all the decisions. We arrived to Tijuana and chose the smuggler. That smuggler was quite dumb, because we got deported on the first try. The next day, it was the same deal. That’s when I started considered everything I had back home. I didn’t have the need to suffer all that. I already had my first business, and everything was running smoothly. I thought of what I was doing then. The North is for a migrant, like a sport is for an athlete: one day one has to retire. I almost gave up, when my brother in law convinced me to try once more.
+
+We walked about 10 kilometers in the mountains and with the smuggler. I was very frustrated and I was hoping to get deported so I could go back to Mexico. However, we reached San Diego. My brother in law went to Los Angeles and I went to Chicago. I spent six months there – the six longest months of my life. I didn’t like it anymore. That’s when my boss offered me to double my wage.
+
+I returned and said that the North was over for me. I started the restaurant. Upon my return, my father was still alive, but he died a month later. Since I always talked to him, I told him that I felt very young to be at the restaurant all day long.
+
+- “There have been a lot of new factories opening here. So, there’s a way to make money here,” he said. “Make shoes.”
+
+I had tried that once. I had partnered with a friend, but it didn’t work. My father lent me a small room we had at home, and I started working there. I didn’t know anything about shoes, neither my father. However, even though my father was a farmer, he did a lot of business as a barman, policeman, and inspector.
+
+- “Well, if this doesn’t work, I’ll go to the North. I have a job there.” I said. However, my father told me that my thinking was wrong and it was not the type of thinking I needed to work.
+
+- “Think positively: if you think about failing and that you have the option of going to the U.S., forget it.” He said. All this coincided with my previous plans. I had already thought of starting a shoe factory and I already had the brand.
+
+Due to the fact that when I was in U.S., I was alone a lot of times, I had a lot of time to think and planning. That’s when I thought of the brand LIN BARR, in honor of Hector Liñan Barron. I wasn’t easy, but I have four years doing this now. It all started in a small room. Since the beginning, my brother works with me. I didn’t let him go to the U.S. He wanted to go, and I asked him to stay with me. Businesses are a lot more difficult here. Now, he’s married and we’re working fine. I also brought my other brother, who also wanted to leave to the U.S. I asked him what he was going to do there.
+
+- “I’m going to work just like you,” he said.
+
+- “That’s the wrong answer. Do you have a job already? Do you have any idea of what you’re going to do with your money there?” I said.
+
+- “I don’t know. But, you didn’t know either,” he replied.
+
+- “Of course I did. I had a plan. That’s why I built my home, because I knew I would get married, and I didn’t want to be maintained by the family. That’s thinking before doing things. You only want to go because your friends are inviting you. You’re not thinking, because you’re only going to have fun. Stay here and work here,” I said.
+
+- “I want to have my own things,” he replied.
+
+- “The only thing you want is to have your car, but you don’t have the age for that. You only want to have fun. It’s better to suffer when one is young and not old. That way, you’ll have a better life when old,” I said. So he stayed with me.
+
+After having worked for 13 years in the U.S., I’m starting anew life. I’ve sacrificed a lot here. Two years ago, I had a big lost. I met Juan Cuerdas, a shoe seller. He always paid me with checks with no funds. He stole like 70 millions of pesos. I was almost broke and at the point of closing down. I was going to keep only the restaurant. I started this about two years ago. I didn’t bring a lot of money back, but I’ve invested it a lot.
+
+I don’t believe in saints. God is the only way. While in the U.S., I was involved in another religion, without leaving the Catholicism. That helped me to know the most wonderful book: the Bible. That took away a lot of doubts and opened my eyes to a lot of things. God is the only way and the truth. I studied with Jehovah Witnesses for two years, but I didn’t become one. I’m not a hypocrite. Besides, there are rituals imposed by that religion that I don’t accept. That would imply a change of 90 degrees, from the life one lives and was raised. I don’t hold anything against that religion. On the contrary, studying the Bible was fundamental for my progress. I was alcoholic and I started going to a group to rehabilitate. However, they smoke, drink tea or coffee. So, it would be like leaving one thing to start another. That’s when I asked God for another opportunity. I had a friend who was a priest in Chicago, and I asked him for a Bible, which I still have. He dedicated it to me: “To my best friend Hector, the best chef of Chicago Heights.”
+
+I read the Bible at night, but there were things I didn’t understand. One day, I visited a friend in Chicago and told him that I was reading the Bible. He said that he was being visited by people who helped him to study the Bible. I didn’t know what religion they professed, but my friend said that he would refer them to my home. They started visiting me. We started a very good friendship. They were from another religion, but I didn’t care. I was being benefited by them. Here, people criticizes a lot, maybe because of ignorance. If you read the Bible, they talk bad things about you. If you go to rehabilitation, it’s worse.
+
+My father used to say: “If you’re in good stand with God, no matter that the saints cry.”
+
+Thanks to that religion, I stopped drinking for seven years while living there. I got hospitalized twice. They met me as a drunk. When I came back, I was no longer a drunk.
+
+When I returned here, I drank for year and a half. It’s been four months that I haven’t drunk. Even though I drank, I never missed work. Even though I was very drunk, I always showed up because I’m responsible.
+
+I agree with NAFTA, because there are a lot of customs that will come from the U.S. I don’t belong to any political party. I like the current president because he has faced a lot of problems that others didn’t want to face. He has even uncovered a lot of politicians who were drug dealers.
+
+I could have gotten my residency, but I never wanted. I love my country a lot, and I was not going to be happy feeling American. My daughters were born there; one day they will decide. I never liked it there. Perhaps they will like it.
+
+My father worked as a farmer, in cotton, lettuce, beats. He was even hired to work there. However, he was also a drunk. He was even in jailed while in the U.S. He was a very happy person and he liked to live. He lasted 20 years working there; 7 years we didn’t know anything about him, because he didn’t return. My father got married when he was 33. He never got the residency. He said that there was no point of going to another country if he was quite happy here in Mexico. That’s like in the fake North.
+
+(1) During the interview, many expressions were told in Greek.
diff --git "a/src/content/history/one-lives-better-in-m\303\251xico-with-money.md" "b/src/content/history/one-lives-better-in-m\303\251xico-with-money.md"
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+---
+title: One lives better in México with Money
+category: Everyday Life and Return
+interviewee: Victor Espinosa
+year: "08.1991"
+description: Victor Villa's story, who wanted to become a teacher and ended up
+  working in San Jose, California.
+lede: >
+  For most of the Mexican youth who was able to finish their studies, the
+  alternative to obtain a degree has always been a priority. The free cost
+  college education in Mexico allows people to study, but only a few finishes,
+  and only less than a few can work as professionals in their fields. This is
+  Victor Villa’s case, who first wanted to become a teacher, then an engineer,
+  and finally, ended up working in a restaurant in San Jose, California.
+
+
+  He had to quit studying his college degree, but his migratory career seems to conclude fine. His objective is to return to his town and start a business. Victor and his wife have worked for eight years saving everything, and they think to work for another eight years to be able to return with some good capital.
+
+
+  However, life in the United States is also attractive and comfortable, specifically for women and children who have more opportunities than they would have in Mexico.
+
+
+  As years go by, the decision to return becomes more complex. The fact that with money one lives better in Mexico keeps their idea of return alive.
+story: >
+  When I finished middle school in Loja, I wanted to go to college to Atacmes,
+  but I didn’t get in. So, I went to Taxo because I didn’t want to lose time.
+  However, the time to enroll had passed, and that’s why I couldn’t study. I
+  return home and my brother in law was vacationing. He was an engineer working
+  at SAHOP, and since I didn’t have anything else to do, I went with him to work
+  to Ensenada.
+
+
+  In 1979, I started working in SAHOP and I also studied my high school. Upon my high school completing, I decided to study engineering. I decided to do so because of my experience at work with engineers. I learned that their pay was good, and that’s why I left for Mexicali. I left with a friend who had money, and I lived at his house without paying rent. However, he changed career to Pedagogy and our friendship declined. I moved with another friend, with whom I didn’t pay rent either; however, the money I received from my family wasn’t enough to eat.
+
+
+  Every time I had vacations, I returned to Loja. Then, I left school for several reasons, the most important being that upon my return to my town, I encountered friends with their engineering career and they were working as taxi drivers instead, or at jobs that were not related to engineering at all. This made me weight my current situation, and I decided to stop studying; in addition, at that exact time, my brother Francisco was visiting. He had five years working in the North and he invited me to go with him. In 1982, I left with him to try .
+
+
+  It was easy to cross because I had obtained a visa at the border.
+
+
+  My brother was a smuggler, so when I left, I waited for him at his friend’s home in Los Angeles. That specific time, he had trouble crossing people; he spent five days at the border. The group of people trying to cross with my brother was from Loja; my brother likes to help our “paisanos.” Upon his arrival to Los Angeles, we left for Madera. He had worked there before, so it was easier to get a job there. It was January, so we arrived during grape picking; however I was not used to the agricultural job and I didn’t like it, besides the weather was very cold I didn’t like that job because we had to wake up around 4am or 5am, and finish working until 4pm. After work, we used to stop by the store for a six-pack and then went to rest. On the weekends, the only entertainment was to get drunk. There was no place to have fun. Another problem was that the border patrol used to stop a lot by the agricultural fields, so we had to be careful. I only worked there for two months; I asked my brother to return to Los Angeles. Thus, we left for Santa Ana. I worked there for four months crossing people.
+
+
+  One day, my brother’s girlfriend called him up to let him know that she was in San Jose. She invited him to a concert of Los Bukis. Since we didn’t have anything to do, we went there. We expected to find people from Loja, but we never imagined finding a lot of acquaintances. The next day, we drove a friend to his work at a restaurant. He invited us to eat. While eating, the manager arrived and told us that he needed a worker; he asked me if I wanted to stay. That’s how I got that job, through my friend who I had met at school back in Loja.
+
+
+  I worked for five years as busboy. In fact, in that restaurant, recent arrivals from Loja work there. Then, I worked at a gym as a janitor. Then, I worked at another restaurant as a cook, but I didn’t last long because I had problems with the manager. It was not a great deal, but one day I arrived to work without shaving, and he asked me to shave. Since I had forgotten my wallet, I explained to him that I didn’t have money to shave me. He didn’t care; if I didn’t shave, I had to go home. I got upset and asked him if I would work the next day, and he replied that he would consider that. The next day, I waited for his phone call, but he never called, so I lost my job.
+
+
+  I rested for a week, until I found a job at a casino. I only worked there for five weeks, since I didn’t like my schedule. I worked from midnight until eight in the morning. I didn’t have a choice, I talked to my previous manager at the restaurant, and I started working there again.
+
+
+  I like living here at the U.S. We currently live at an apartment; even though the apartment is small, our rent is only $425 dollars. My wife used to work as a waitress; however, since my child was born, she doesn’t work anymore.
+
+
+  I like my current job because is secure and constant; it’s not like agriculture. At this job, it doesn’t matter if it’s sunny or raining, there job all year long. Also, it has vacations and other benefits non-existent in agriculture. It’s true that in agriculture one can raise the same amount of money in six months, while here I do it in eight. However, the difference is that the agricultural job is physically tiring, dirty, and the main problem is to be careful of the border patrol. At the restaurant, the job is less tiring; there’s the opportunity of learning a bit of English, while in agriculture, since English is not needed, no one learns it.
+
+
+  Since our last trip to Loja, we are planning to return to Mexico and start a business. We are saving between 500 and 700 dollars per month. We are thinking to stay here another 8 years before retuning. My wife likes it here better; she thinks there are more opportunities for women. Also, the children can learn English and it’s easier to work here than in Mexico. In addition, in Mexico, Men feel “machos”. So, for women, life is much better here. My wife says that she doesn’t know any married woman who wants to return; the only women that plan to do so are single women who have family back in Mexico.
+
+
+  Yes, I live all right here. Everything has its pros and cons. Children have more benefits: English, medications, and good doctors. However, raising them is more difficult. There is less control because they are protected by the government. We cannot spank them. That’s why our youth is lost in drugs. Another issue here is that one lives as a slave of the clock. In Mexico you can take a day off and there’s not much problem.
+
+
+  The most important thing in Mexico to live happy and peaceful is the economic. Comprehension is not enough; living good means being economically well off. My wife says that in U.S. the pay is good, while in Mexico one doesn’t earn enough even though one may be a professional. The only way to make it is having a business. I think that way because almost all of my extended family have some sort of business back in Loja. Thus, the only way to keeps me here is that in Mexico one lives better if one has money.
+---
+When I finished middle school in Loja, I wanted to go to college to Atacmes, but I didn’t get in. So, I went to Taxo because I didn’t want to lose time. However, the time to enroll had passed, and that’s why I couldn’t study. I return home and my brother in law was vacationing. He was an engineer working at SAHOP, and since I didn’t have anything else to do, I went with him to work to Ensenada.
+
+In 1979, I started working in SAHOP and I also studied my high school. Upon my high school completing, I decided to study engineering. I decided to do so because of my experience at work with engineers. I learned that their pay was good, and that’s why I left for Mexicali. I left with a friend who had money, and I lived at his house without paying rent. However, he changed career to Pedagogy and our friendship declined. I moved with another friend, with whom I didn’t pay rent either; however, the money I received from my family wasn’t enough to eat.
+
+Every time I had vacations, I returned to Loja. Then, I left school for several reasons, the most important being that upon my return to my town, I encountered friends with their engineering career and they were working as taxi drivers instead, or at jobs that were not related to engineering at all. This made me weight my current situation, and I decided to stop studying; in addition, at that exact time, my brother Francisco was visiting. He had five years working in the North and he invited me to go with him. In 1982, I left with him to try .
+
+It was easy to cross because I had obtained a visa at the border.
+
+My brother was a smuggler, so when I left, I waited for him at his friend’s home in Los Angeles. That specific time, he had trouble crossing people; he spent five days at the border. The group of people trying to cross with my brother was from Loja; my brother likes to help our “paisanos.” Upon his arrival to Los Angeles, we left for Madera. He had worked there before, so it was easier to get a job there. It was January, so we arrived during grape picking; however I was not used to the agricultural job and I didn’t like it, besides the weather was very cold I didn’t like that job because we had to wake up around 4am or 5am, and finish working until 4pm. After work, we used to stop by the store for a six-pack and then went to rest. On the weekends, the only entertainment was to get drunk. There was no place to have fun. Another problem was that the border patrol used to stop a lot by the agricultural fields, so we had to be careful. I only worked there for two months; I asked my brother to return to Los Angeles. Thus, we left for Santa Ana. I worked there for four months crossing people.
+
+One day, my brother’s girlfriend called him up to let him know that she was in San Jose. She invited him to a concert of Los Bukis. Since we didn’t have anything to do, we went there. We expected to find people from Loja, but we never imagined finding a lot of acquaintances. The next day, we drove a friend to his work at a restaurant. He invited us to eat. While eating, the manager arrived and told us that he needed a worker; he asked me if I wanted to stay. That’s how I got that job, through my friend who I had met at school back in Loja.
+
+I worked for five years as busboy. In fact, in that restaurant, recent arrivals from Loja work there. Then, I worked at a gym as a janitor. Then, I worked at another restaurant as a cook, but I didn’t last long because I had problems with the manager. It was not a great deal, but one day I arrived to work without shaving, and he asked me to shave. Since I had forgotten my wallet, I explained to him that I didn’t have money to shave me. He didn’t care; if I didn’t shave, I had to go home. I got upset and asked him if I would work the next day, and he replied that he would consider that. The next day, I waited for his phone call, but he never called, so I lost my job.
+
+I rested for a week, until I found a job at a casino. I only worked there for five weeks, since I didn’t like my schedule. I worked from midnight until eight in the morning. I didn’t have a choice, I talked to my previous manager at the restaurant, and I started working there again.
+
+I like living here at the U.S. We currently live at an apartment; even though the apartment is small, our rent is only $425 dollars. My wife used to work as a waitress; however, since my child was born, she doesn’t work anymore.
+
+I like my current job because is secure and constant; it’s not like agriculture. At this job, it doesn’t matter if it’s sunny or raining, there job all year long. Also, it has vacations and other benefits non-existent in agriculture. It’s true that in agriculture one can raise the same amount of money in six months, while here I do it in eight. However, the difference is that the agricultural job is physically tiring, dirty, and the main problem is to be careful of the border patrol. At the restaurant, the job is less tiring; there’s the opportunity of learning a bit of English, while in agriculture, since English is not needed, no one learns it.
+
+Since our last trip to Loja, we are planning to return to Mexico and start a business. We are saving between 500 and 700 dollars per month. We are thinking to stay here another 8 years before retuning. My wife likes it here better; she thinks there are more opportunities for women. Also, the children can learn English and it’s easier to work here than in Mexico. In addition, in Mexico, Men feel “machos”. So, for women, life is much better here. My wife says that she doesn’t know any married woman who wants to return; the only women that plan to do so are single women who have family back in Mexico.
+
+Yes, I live all right here. Everything has its pros and cons. Children have more benefits: English, medications, and good doctors. However, raising them is more difficult. There is less control because they are protected by the government. We cannot spank them. That’s why our youth is lost in drugs. Another issue here is that one lives as a slave of the clock. In Mexico you can take a day off and there’s not much problem.
+
+The most important thing in Mexico to live happy and peaceful is the economic. Comprehension is not enough; living good means being economically well off. My wife says that in U.S. the pay is good, while in Mexico one doesn’t earn enough even though one may be a professional. The only way to make it is having a business. I think that way because almost all of my extended family have some sort of business back in Loja. Thus, the only way to keeps me here is that in Mexico one lives better if one has money.
diff --git a/src/content/history/the-north-is-like-a-battle.md b/src/content/history/the-north-is-like-a-battle.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6488583
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+++ b/src/content/history/the-north-is-like-a-battle.md
@@ -0,0 +1,565 @@
+---
+title: The North is like a Battle
+category: Border Crossing and Working
+interviewee: Victor Espinosa
+year: "08.1991"
+description: Francisco Villa's story - a smuggler from Nayarit.
+lede: >
+  Francisco Villa, homonymous of a Mexican revolutionary, was born in Loja,
+  located in Nayarit’s coast. His migratory career started by chance in 1975,
+  when he was only 20 years.
+
+
+  It all started from a comment he heard; it got in his head as a fixed idea, like an urgency of going to the North to seek fortune. He didn’t have any contacts and didn’t have enough money. It seemed that his only and most valuable resource were his determination and lack of fear of despair.
+
+
+  Once in Tijuana, he decided to try on his own. He used to get near different groups that would cross the border, and without any route, he used to cross in the open field. Obviously, he got detained and deported. This occurred many times. However, each try was a new experience.
+
+
+  While being neglected, he got his first job: smuggler’s aid. He got his training period to finally work by himself and become a smuggler.
+
+
+  Francisco Villa’s story makes honor to his name, because it offers us a life full of adventures were there is a mix of family life with the smuggler life – crossing undocumented, arm trafficking, and documents’ forging.
+
+
+
+
+  _I take off my shirt for a good friend,
+
+  today I am a millionaire, tomorrow a beggar
+
+  I don’t tell anyone about my happiness or pain
+
+  that’s why no one knows how much I’m enjoying
+
+  or when I’m hurting._
+
+
+  _- Mexican popular song._
+story: >
+  In my town, I lived with my grandparents, my siblings, and my parents. I did
+  study my high school in Tepic. Then I went to college for a year and I didn’t
+  like it. I went to the University in Guadalajara and studied for a year. Then
+  my grandfather passed away, and nothing was the same.
+
+
+  I started having problems with my father because I liked to go out everywhere and have fun; I remember one day, my father got drunk, went to my mother’s home – they were separated, and asked me what I was planning to do, to work, or if I was thinking that my mother would continue supporting me. That’s when I said to my mom that I wanted to go to the North.
+
+
+  -“If you really want to go, just tell me how much you need”, my father said.
+
+
+  During those years, I just listened, but I didn’t know what the North was. I didn’t know how what needed to be done to go. That was 18 years ago, in 1975. The next day, I looked for my father and told him that I wanted to go to the North. I said that I needed about five-thousand pesos, and explained to him that I needed money to pay the smuggler, plus some extra money to pay in train to Mexicali. However, since he wasn’t drunk anymore, he swore that I had asked for too much money and told me that I was a bandit.
+
+
+  The idea had gotten in my head, and I knew I had to leave. I had only 200 pesos, and that money would only serve me to arrive to Tijuana. I asked my mom to fix my clothing because I was leaving. I also told her that my dad had given me money, so she wouldn’t worry. However, my uncle Pedro heard that I was leaving - once everyone in the family knows, they go to see in what they can help and say farewell - so he went home and asked me how much money I had. I told him the truth: 200 pesos, but that would only serve me to arrive to the border, and once there I would do anything to cross to the other side. My uncle Pedro said:
+
+
+  - “Don’t leave today. Leave tomorrow and I’ll give you the money.”
+
+
+  Thus, the next day, he gave me one-thousand pesos. Another aunt gave me 200 more; I had a total of 1400 pesos.
+
+
+  I was so happy then, that I got drunk and spent 200 pesos. I was left with 1200, which was enough to cross.
+
+
+  When a friend knew that I was leaving to the North, he said that he wanted to go as well, but didn’t have any money. He also said that he had an aunt in Tijuana and that we could stay with her. So, I told him that I had enough money for both of us. For me it was better to go with him, since I was doing this just for adventure. We got to Tijuana with his aunt; she knew some smugglers, who only crossed my friend, I stayed back with nothing. I lived at my friend’s aunt’s home for one more month, and during that time, I knew all Tijuana. I spent all day long in the streets, and tried daily to cross by my own, but I was deported daily. The first couple of days, I tried to cross, just to see how far I could get. I got all the way to San Diego, but I didn’t have any money for transportation. Since I was always deported, I learned all the ways in the mountain, besides, I met a lot of people, mostly a lot who did dirty business.
+
+
+  One day, one of them said to me that he could take me all the way to Los Angeles, only if I could help him to cross six people to San Diego. I took them to where he had a parked car. Once he got the people in, he came back and I stayed in Los Angeles without knowing anyone. I was in the North, but didn’t know what to do. Once at night, I thought:
+
+
+  - “Oh my God, now what am I going to do?”
+
+
+  While walking, I found some bars, and I entered just to see what happen. At closing time, people left, and a waitress told me:
+
+
+  - “Hey, we’re closing now”
+
+
+  I asked her if there was a job for me, doing anything. I said:
+
+
+  - “I sweep, I just need to sleep here”
+
+
+  - “So, where do you live?”
+
+
+  - “I just arrived, and have nothing and nowhere to go.”
+
+
+  - “You can’t stay here because we would have to tell the boss. If you want, we can go to my home, and then, you can stay in the hallway. That way, you don’t sleep on the streets.”
+
+
+  I left with her. I helped her daily to clean the bar. About a week later, she told me that she had some friends who lived alone. She would talk with them so I could live with them, in exchange for cleaning their home. Those guys used to go to the bar on the weekends; by then, I also worked in the bar, and I got paid 6 dollars to help them clean.
+
+
+  The guys allowed me to stay with them. After two months living with them and working at the bar, I met a lot of friends. I met a lot of people from Compostela, I met Chavalo and went to live with him. I also met some cousins of mine, and got a better job at a factory. However, I only worked there for a month because I didn’t like it. Two months later, I bought a car and left for Oregon with a friend from Los Angeles. He knew about the agricultural opportunities there.
+
+
+  - “ So, do you want to go?” I said. I knew about cars and said, “if you want, we can go all the way to Washington.”
+
+
+  Washington was about 50 hours away in a normal car. On my car, it was about 70 hours away because my car didn’t have windshields. I remember well because that was my first adventure there. We bought a small portable windshield and it rained and rained there. My friend got his head out and cleaned the window for me. We drove for fifteen days. We didn’t have any problems with migration services; we had problems with the rain, besides the car didn’t have any heat. We traveled with blankets all over us. A policeman stopped us, because we were traveling like that. It was cold and it was October, but it rains and even snows there. So, the police man stopped us because I wasn’t driving straight.
+
+
+  - “It’s because I’m cold”
+
+
+  There was no problem. He just said to drive carefully because the roads were in bad shape.
+
+
+  I worked there for a year. My friend knew the supervisors. We got to some stalls known as big galleries. There, they only give you a bed to sleep. We were there for 15 days, until we started working. Then, we left to the mountains for another six months; there we slept at motels. Then, we came down to pick up cherry, to Weston, then to pick up pear. Then, we drove to Oregon, and picked up pear. Then, I returned to Mexico because I wanted to return to school. However, that was impossible. I couldn’t be home anymore. I was not well received, and my dad lived with another lady. I had to work on the field, and I didn’t like that job. They only paid eight thousand pesos, and that didn’t convince me.
+
+
+  I returned to Tijuana. Since I knew how to cross, I started crossing people; mostly all of them were from Loja. The people I crossed was people that I met in the border. Since I knew how to cross, everything was a lot easier. I stayed for four years crossing people. I did get people myself in the bars, on the streets, on terminals. I crossed them myself. I had my car parked on one spot on the other side. I could never get my car to Mexico because it didn’t have documents. So, it always stayed on the other side; I had two set of keys.
+
+
+  Until today, I’ve crossed about 200 people from Loja. Sometimes I don’t charge. I remember that I didn’t have money when trying to cross. Then, my siblings wanted to come. Every time I returned to my town, I always returned with money, so most likely my siblings were in awe. The first time I returned to Loja, it was four years later; then, it was every year. Daniel crossed the first time I returned home, and Victor left school and crossed with me on the last year. He didn’t have money to continue studying. He was suffering too much, so he came with me to Anaheim. There, we lived with some friends for three months, until the field started in Madera. We worked for two to three months, and I didn’t like it. By then, my wife was already here. When she came with me, she was my girlfriend. I asked her to go to San Jose, and then, once there, I asked her to stay with me.
+
+
+  - “ Let’s look for work; it’s the same here or over there”
+
+
+  Besides, we were closer. We got a job in a restaurant as busboy and dishwasher. I was the dishwasher and my brother the busboy. I worked as a dishwasher for a couple of days.
+
+
+  - “You know what, I don’t like this job. I thought it was a lot better.” I worked for another day and I didn’t like it.
+
+
+  - “Ok, what do you want to do? What do you do?” the supervisor said.
+
+
+  - “Everything”
+
+
+  - “Do you speak English?”
+
+
+  - “Some”
+
+
+  - “Ok, so you can start as a prep”.
+
+
+  You don’t get that job right away. It usually takes 3 to 5 years to get there, until you know the whole thing. I got that job on my third day. I didn’t want to stay. The general manager was surprised to see me on the line. He asked who got me there and how much I was getting paid.
+
+
+  - 3.50.
+
+
+  Then, he said that he would paid me 5. I got an uniform and my pay was 6. However, the supervisor didn’t like that and problems started. One thought that I was complaining with the manager, so I got raised. So I said:
+
+
+  - “I don’t have to listen to these ***.”
+
+
+  I got paid double the minimum wage, but I decided to return to Tijuana. I could get one-thousand per night.
+
+
+  - “There’s your uniform and your job. Pay me what you owe me; since you’re firing me, you have to pay me now.”
+
+
+  He got the money, and paid me. I got in my car and left for Tijuana.
+
+
+  I started crossing people again for another year. Then, Daniel got deported. I went for him to San Luis since he couldn’t cross. A friend of mine would cross him; everyone crossed except Daniel and a cousin. Once on the train, both of them got detained. So, Daniel started working in a bar with another friend of mind. However, three months later, I didn’t like what I saw, Daniel had gotten into drugs.
+
+
+  - “Let’s go to hell, you’re so high”
+
+
+  He was the one who started it all. I told him to fix everything because I would come back for him in a month. He was an addict, and it was not convenient for him to stay. He even had a wife and a kid. I crossed him and started working; however, he was always high with every single drug. That was the story until he started working at the casino. Then, he left for Oregon. I brought him back, stayed with me for a month, made a friend, and left with him. Then, I heard he had gotten in jail. It seems that it was on a fight. I left for Oregon for a month, I never found him, but I heard that it had happened in Madera. I arrived there, and got him out. Everyone got upset, but I brought him to Los Angeles and I also stayed here. Only when there were people from Loja at the border, I traveled for them to cross them. Then, I worked forging documents.
+
+
+  In all my jobs, I met all sorts of people. One can get in trouble or be someone. I met people who forged documents, letters, and about everything. One day, I got tired of crossing people and I said “I’m leaving to San Jose.”
+
+
+  My wife and daughters were back in Mexico, and my daughters were growing up. I didn’t know what I was going to do in San Jose. “Let’s see what I can do,” I thought.
+
+
+  Upon my arrival, I started working at a casino, but I didn’t like it because I had the night shift from midnight until 8a.m., and the wage was not good. I don’t like to work just for money. I didn’t like people yelling at me just for having a better job, or for working more days than one could. Just because one is a rookie and doesn’t have experience, people yell at you. It happened at a restaurant. Since I didn’t use the knife properly, they yelled at me. Besides, I had problems with a cook. He used to yell everyone and then fired them. One day, he did that to 5 or 6. He was an American who yelled to everyone. Then he did the same to me and I said, “no, no, no, you don’t yell at me.”
+
+
+  - “You are used to yelling to everyone, but with me you’ll have to put a fight,” I said.
+
+
+  He picked up the knife, while I yelled at him “*&#@, I guaranty you I used the knife better than you do.”
+
+
+  While I picked up the broom, he called security and told them, “please, this crazy guy wants to fight me.”
+
+
+  - “How come I want to fight you? You are the one with the knife,” I said.
+
+
+  - “Just behave and don’t come into the kitchen,” he replied.
+
+
+  - “I’m a janitor, I have to come in and you can’t say anything. Besides, you’re not my boss. You can yell to the undocumented, but not me; I’m not one anymore,” I said.
+
+
+  Security arrived and reported me. Then, they told me that they could fire me at the third report.
+
+
+  - “You don’t need three reports about me. Here is your broom and I’m leaving now,” I said.
+
+
+  That’s when I moved to Los Angeles. I contacted a friend with the forging business and told him: “You know, give me the machines that I’m going to start crossing people.” Thus, I started crossing people. I go to Tijuana for them. They are people I know, and who usually do not have money to pay. I just tell them to pay for gas and I’ll cross them.
+
+
+  You have to be conscious of what you’re getting into and the problems all that brings. It’s not easy to raise $50 or $60 dollars without doing anything. You have to work to get them. This job is both easy and difficult. It’s difficult because today you’ll have people, but tomorrow you may not. As you see me right now here crossing people, you may not see me tomorrow.
+
+
+  But, what can I do? Instead of robbing, I have to do something. Here, salaries are bad. You only get paid to live daily. If you don’t have family here, you can live easily by living in a house with 5 or 6 people. That way, you only pay $100 dollars in rent per month. Paying an apartment alone, it’s about $550 and that includes rent and phone. That way, $100 per month plus the children’s food, my mother in law, my wife, mi child, plus gas. My salary would have to be around $1,500 per month. That means that I would have to get paid $12 dollars per hour. Who is going to pay that? The other option is to work two jobs. I can’t because my daughter is ill. She’s had five surgeries, and I owe the government about 5 or 6 millions of dollars. Doctors said that my daughter would not walk. Now, she’s three years old and she’s starting to walk. It seems that she will walk. So, with my own salary, it’s not enough. I have to do anything.
+
+
+  I’m not paying any of the money I owe to the government. It’s not convenient for me. If the insurance finds out that I’m working, they will suspend all welfare and I’ll have to pay them. So, what will be left? If I work, it will be worse for me because I wouldn’t have any more benefits. That’s why I have to do something somewhere else. My daughter is 3 years old now; she’s been in the hospital for one year and 8 months. She is the youngest and she’s the reason why I stopped my life in Tijuana. It’s because of her that I’m here. It’s been a year and a half of being here, and it’s not worth to live in Tijuana. I do some mechanic work or little jobs on the side, or some trips to Tijuana.
+
+
+  I don’t get caught too often. One time, I got caught with 15 forged green cards and 15 social security cards in Arizona. They confiscated my car and I was in jail. The border patrol detained me. When I got detained, I was drunk and I yelled the border patrol.
+
+
+  - “You’ve got guts for that! Remove your pistol and come inside the jail,” I yelled.
+
+
+  Indeed he removed his pistol and went inside the jail. We fought both of us inside. When I was wining the fight, the other officers helped him out and kicked me. When I went to court, that’s why I won the case. I spent a month and a half in jail.
+
+
+  - “You spent $300 dollars for your bail. That way, you start a demand that you got hit and you can get your papers that way,” they told me.
+
+
+  I didn’t have money for the bail and I had to be going to court for that. The lawyer was appointed to me by the government. I wanted to be out, because in Tijuana I could get the money. I came and I crossed people to Madera. I got drunk and I was involved on another fight. When the police arrived, they tried to split us, but I also hit the officer. I got in jail once more because I hit an officer. I got out again, and a week later, I got drunk and ended up in jail for another 6 months. Madera is not good for me. Everyone knows me, even the police. So, I came down here. I was caught once drunk and I was appointed to go to court, but I didn’t go. A year ago, I was caught drunk again, and I didn’t go to court either. So, they put me in jail for three months and my driver’s license got suspended. However, there was a program that I could go home. I just had to pay $5 dollars daily, plus I had to work 8 hours for the police. I worked at the jail’s kitchen. After that, I’ve been here with my people. That last time I ended up in jail, I even stopped smoking. So, I came with my family and got my papers.
+
+
+  A friend of mine gave several of us letters. I didn’t want it because I wanted to return to Mexico, but he came and told me to accept the letter to get documents for my daughter whom I couldn’t take back. So I got the letter from him; we are friends now and we see each other almost daily.
+
+
+  Here, you have to work doing anything. One day, I took fire arms to Mexico in several trips. Nuñez went with me. I bought nine thousand large-bore bullets, 9mm and 22mm. Then, I took twelve thousand more. I also took 25 automatic rifles. I made space on the car, because I could fit in it lying down. I put all the firearms inside the car, covered everything, and painted the car. That time, I got out that deal like 15 million pesos – that’s when the dollar was worth 60 pesos. That was on 81 or 82. Here you don’t have trouble getting firearms. I get them daily. So, there’s an exposition the first and the 15th day of the month, where you can buy arms.
+
+
+  - “I’m taking some,” I said.
+
+
+  So, I bought a big car with a big trunk. My uncle Pedro was in San Luis that time and he knew I was going to Loja. He asked me to pick him up on my way, but he didn’t know what I had on the car. I brought him. Right after inspection, we stop for lunch in Santa Ana. My uncle very nervous told me: “You know what?, I brought two packages of bullets.”
+
+
+  - “What? Where do you have them?” I questioned.
+
+
+  - “In a bag. I have two boxes with 25 pieces,” he replied.
+
+
+  - “Why didn’t you tell me before?” I asked.
+
+
+  - “So you didn’t ask me to leave them behind,” he said.
+
+
+  - “If I would have known, I would have thrown them away. Once we get to Loja, I’ll show you what I have,” I said.
+
+
+  If inspection would have found those two boxes, they would have inspected us thoroughly. They would have confiscated all the firearms I was transporting. Once we got to Loja, I showed my uncle my stuff; he couldn’t believe it.
+
+
+  - “I would have ended up in the Maria Islands as a result of your boxes!” I exclaimed.
+
+
+  My uncle turned yellow upon seeing the firearms. I had tons of them. I sold everything. All people know me, and I did several trips. One time they caught me, that’s when I stopped.
+
+
+  That particular day I wasn’t thinking on traveling. However, some friends requested some rifles, and I didn’t have many of them. So, they confiscated the firearms and $300 dollars. I also traveled with stereos. That day, the stereo had bullets inside of it, and I didn’t know about it. They had finished inspection, but one of them saw a pistol inside the stereo. They revised all of it, and caught me. The person who had sent the stereo is no longer of trust. I don’t bring his stuff or anything that belongs to him.
+
+
+  You have to do something here. When you have come more often, you are no longer ignorant. People who come are very ignorant; they come from the fields to work and get exploited. I don’t like that. That’s why I help people who don’t have money. Sometime people come to me letting me know that their family members are at the border trying to cross. I just tell them to pay the gas and they can pay later.
+
+
+  Most of them thank me. Many of them arrive here very humble. However, once they get experience and start speaking a couple of words in English, they don’t know you anymore.
+
+
+  I have several friends at stores, restaurants, bars, whom I trust a lot. What I do are favors, because I bring people to work and I get them documents. I have friends with $200 or $300 thousand dollars in their businesses. So I recommend people to work for them.
+
+
+  They are friends whom I trust a lot. A lot of people talk about me, but a lot of them I’ve helped. Some receive checks from the government, and the check is on another’s name. For example, she’s getting welfare and Medicare for his child, because she doesn’t work. However, the amount she receives is not enough. She has to look somewhere else. She came with me and gave her papers. I didn’t charge her anything because she’s my sister in law. They work with those papers, but I tell them to do their income tax. I tell them to do it because it’s their money. I tell them to bring me their papers and I do their income tax for them. We do that because if not, the government keeps that money.
+
+
+  I do those types of work. They receive their check and then, they pay me with a beer. It’s better if they have money instead of begging for it. That’s better instead of borrowing money. That’s my thinking.
+
+
+  The ID allows you to work. If the border patrol sees you with it, the officers may confiscate it. With the new law, you can’t work if you don’t have papers. The boss is benefited by it. The day that people from Mexico no longer come, this whole thing ends. The government knows about it. They know about the millions of people here and about the millions of people working like this. The situation at the border is just politics from the government. The border is too long. The government knows our crossing points. If they wanted to stop us, no one would pass. If they want, they could patrol all the border and no one would pass. The border patrol takes turns. They leave you a 10 to 15 minute window to cross. From the two to three shifts, one time no one is there and is a free entrance. They know about it. They let pass a number of migrants and detain another number of migrants, that’s their regulation. For example, they allow about 2 million entrances, but they also apprehend 1.5 million monthly. The other half million returns home because there are no jobs. There is an average of three million entrances annually through Tijuana. They apprehend two and one returns voluntarily because they have finished their work here.
+
+
+  Toño Nuñez became very coincided and proud. I got upset at him about a year ago. I brought him and all his siblings for free and I gave them papers. His pride was too much and one time he told me he didn’t pay in cash no more; he only paid with his MasterCard. But, God knows and punishes you. A month later, they fired him at the job in which he had about 7 years already. Now, he is working in construction and gets paid 5 dollars. I also remember the people I’ve helped and owes me and no longer talks to me: the Huerta. I gave papers to the 5 of them. They went to Mexico and returned last year. One day, I was watching TV and we started betting.
+
+
+  - “How much?” we shouted.
+
+
+  - “You shout too much with your dirty money ….”, they told me.
+
+
+  - “By the way, you haven’t paid me your way yet, and it’s been more than two years,” I said.
+
+
+  When I first arrive, we were only 5 persons from Loja. Now, there are acquaintances. If you don’t find a job, at least you have a place to sleep. Even though if you arrive with no lodging and no food, at least there are people who can advise you and five you a ride to look for a job. Also, there are people who just come for adventure and sleep at parking lots or bus stations. When I worked in Tijuana, I passed two to three people from Loja each week.
+
+
+  I don’t know if I’m staying much longer here, it all depends on my younger girl and her health. When the children are at school, one cannot move, even though there is a desire to do so. Then, over there, there’s another kind of life. You have to adapt again to the kind of life and work… mainly work. You know that the job won’t pay you much; it’s like readapting to your own land. One does well when returning with 100 or 200 dollars, and to vacation for two to three days. You spend the money and come back. But, returning to work and get paid the minimum wage? With my job here you can get $200 or $300 per day. Even though one doesn’t pay rent over there, the problem is to pay for food, and it’s not affordable.
+
+
+  I came here due to family problems. I didn’t like the agriculture, and in my town, that was the only type of work. During those years, the North was the good option. One could come here and make money because there were only a few people. There were good salaries and good jobs. Seventeen years ago, I worked for $5 dollars an hour. Today, there wage continues to be $5 dollars an hour. It keeps going down because now we are many workers here.
+
+
+  The one that crosses the line is not the boss. The one that crosses you is someone who works with someone else. The smuggler crosses you; that guy knows the way and has people looking for you on the back. The boss is the one who picks you up, the one who gets all the money. The smuggler is just the guide who crosses about 10 people. The smuggler gets paid $75 to $100 each time. I used to work alone all the time. The danger is when there are people waiting for the group. Only one time I was attacked; they took away a ring, a watch and $100 dollars. The robbers were drug dealers from Tecate and they were robbing everyone on the line. I couldn’t do anything because I was crossing two kids, a lady, and a cousin – my Uncle Pedro’s son. One of the robbers put the knife on Pedrito, and I didn’t want to do anything because they could kill him.
+
+
+  - “I’ll give you everything I’ve got, but leave him alone,” I said.
+
+
+  About ten minutes later, a friend of mine picked me up and looked for the robbers. I obtained the lady’s watch back, but not mine because they had sold it already.
+
+
+  The Mexican police are the bad guys. They got me about 15 to 20 times. I gave them $50 or $100 dollars, and there was no problem anymore. They never classified me as a smuggler, since I always crossed acquaintances. They don’t do anything; they just take away the money. They cannot put you in jail because the smugglers with power are part of their group. The big smugglers know all the policemen; they have their own agreements, and they know all the movement on the border. I remember that I one time I was traveling with my brother, he was driving while I was napping, and then, a federal police stopped us in Hermosillo;
+
+
+  - “I stopped you because you’re driving too fast,” he said. He requested the driver’s license, but it was suspended. I explained to him that we were traveling from San Jose, and my brother was helping me to drive. He asked me for $200 dollars, and I offered him $50, but he didn’t want them.
+
+
+  - “So, take me whenever you want,” I said. So, he took us to Hermosillo and confiscated the car. “Give us the ticket so we may go,” I said. I told him I was vacationing to see my people, and he said that I didn’t want to cooperate. “No, you’re the one who doesn’t want to cooperate,” I said.
+
+
+  - “You’re only giving me $50. I’m a federal police, not just a policeman,” he said.
+
+
+  - “You know what? You’re upsetting me with your federal position. Take my car away and do whatever you want. I won’t give you a penny. Just give me the ticket because I’m going to submit a complaint,” I said.
+
+
+  I called the Tourism Governmental Agency, and we even went to the main delegate. They couldn’t find the policeman. We looked for the car, and we never found it. We paid the ticket and submitted a complaint. Everything is now better; now they are nicer. Another time, I was in Nogales, and they stopped me. “You have your lights off, just turn them on,” I was told.
+
+
+  Before, they asked you for $50 or $100. Now, the normal rate is $10 or $15 dollars, just to cooperate.
+
+
+  The North is like a battle. If you’re now with your own, it’s very difficult. Most of the people come with no money. Sometimes, your own family is the last ones to help out. I don’t understand how people get so conceited once they get to the North and have money. Whenever a river grows, it looks for a path. When you come to the North, you have to do whatever to survive. You don’t care about the laws, because you have to work somehow to feed your family.
+
+
+  In Tijuana, you have to be with your own to get money. It’s bad. I’m 36 now, and I’m done. I don’t have a need and I have my savings. I’m making money here, and while I’m here, I’m getting paid $100 to $150 daily. I don’t have to go anywhere. I just watch TV and people look for me. I can get paid up to $500 weekly very easily. I’m not at the border anymore. I’m too old.
+
+
+  People who come are from the ranch. For example, I brought about 70% of the people who now work in Oregon. Those people don’t have education, they come from the land. They are used to being yelled by the boss. They work in really bad conditions, with no bathroom and no sanity at all. Before, you arrive and you used to get gloves, scissors, boots; that was when there were no workers. Now, you, as a worker, have to take your own tools to work. Eighteen years ago, it was hard for me because I knew no one. I was one of the first ones to come, but it was quite easy to get a job.
+
+
+  I thing I really miss from my town is the friendships. Over there, there is always someone to talk to while drinking a beer. I’m never alone over there.
+---
+In my town, I lived with my grandparents, my siblings, and my parents. I did study my high school in Tepic. Then I went to college for a year and I didn’t like it. I went to the University in Guadalajara and studied for a year. Then my grandfather passed away, and nothing was the same.
+
+I started having problems with my father because I liked to go out everywhere and have fun; I remember one day, my father got drunk, went to my mother’s home – they were separated, and asked me what I was planning to do, to work, or if I was thinking that my mother would continue supporting me. That’s when I said to my mom that I wanted to go to the North.
+
+-“If you really want to go, just tell me how much you need”, my father said.
+
+During those years, I just listened, but I didn’t know what the North was. I didn’t know how what needed to be done to go. That was 18 years ago, in 1975. The next day, I looked for my father and told him that I wanted to go to the North. I said that I needed about five-thousand pesos, and explained to him that I needed money to pay the smuggler, plus some extra money to pay in train to Mexicali. However, since he wasn’t drunk anymore, he swore that I had asked for too much money and told me that I was a bandit.
+
+The idea had gotten in my head, and I knew I had to leave. I had only 200 pesos, and that money would only serve me to arrive to Tijuana. I asked my mom to fix my clothing because I was leaving. I also told her that my dad had given me money, so she wouldn’t worry. However, my uncle Pedro heard that I was leaving - once everyone in the family knows, they go to see in what they can help and say farewell - so he went home and asked me how much money I had. I told him the truth: 200 pesos, but that would only serve me to arrive to the border, and once there I would do anything to cross to the other side. My uncle Pedro said:
+
+- “Don’t leave today. Leave tomorrow and I’ll give you the money.”
+
+Thus, the next day, he gave me one-thousand pesos. Another aunt gave me 200 more; I had a total of 1400 pesos.
+
+I was so happy then, that I got drunk and spent 200 pesos. I was left with 1200, which was enough to cross.
+
+When a friend knew that I was leaving to the North, he said that he wanted to go as well, but didn’t have any money. He also said that he had an aunt in Tijuana and that we could stay with her. So, I told him that I had enough money for both of us. For me it was better to go with him, since I was doing this just for adventure. We got to Tijuana with his aunt; she knew some smugglers, who only crossed my friend, I stayed back with nothing. I lived at my friend’s aunt’s home for one more month, and during that time, I knew all Tijuana. I spent all day long in the streets, and tried daily to cross by my own, but I was deported daily. The first couple of days, I tried to cross, just to see how far I could get. I got all the way to San Diego, but I didn’t have any money for transportation. Since I was always deported, I learned all the ways in the mountain, besides, I met a lot of people, mostly a lot who did dirty business.
+
+One day, one of them said to me that he could take me all the way to Los Angeles, only if I could help him to cross six people to San Diego. I took them to where he had a parked car. Once he got the people in, he came back and I stayed in Los Angeles without knowing anyone. I was in the North, but didn’t know what to do. Once at night, I thought:
+
+- “Oh my God, now what am I going to do?”
+
+While walking, I found some bars, and I entered just to see what happen. At closing time, people left, and a waitress told me:
+
+- “Hey, we’re closing now”
+
+I asked her if there was a job for me, doing anything. I said:
+
+- “I sweep, I just need to sleep here”
+
+- “So, where do you live?”
+
+- “I just arrived, and have nothing and nowhere to go.”
+
+- “You can’t stay here because we would have to tell the boss. If you want, we can go to my home, and then, you can stay in the hallway. That way, you don’t sleep on the streets.”
+
+I left with her. I helped her daily to clean the bar. About a week later, she told me that she had some friends who lived alone. She would talk with them so I could live with them, in exchange for cleaning their home. Those guys used to go to the bar on the weekends; by then, I also worked in the bar, and I got paid 6 dollars to help them clean.
+
+The guys allowed me to stay with them. After two months living with them and working at the bar, I met a lot of friends. I met a lot of people from Compostela, I met Chavalo and went to live with him. I also met some cousins of mine, and got a better job at a factory. However, I only worked there for a month because I didn’t like it. Two months later, I bought a car and left for Oregon with a friend from Los Angeles. He knew about the agricultural opportunities there.
+
+- “ So, do you want to go?” I said. I knew about cars and said, “if you want, we can go all the way to Washington.”
+
+Washington was about 50 hours away in a normal car. On my car, it was about 70 hours away because my car didn’t have windshields. I remember well because that was my first adventure there. We bought a small portable windshield and it rained and rained there. My friend got his head out and cleaned the window for me. We drove for fifteen days. We didn’t have any problems with migration services; we had problems with the rain, besides the car didn’t have any heat. We traveled with blankets all over us. A policeman stopped us, because we were traveling like that. It was cold and it was October, but it rains and even snows there. So, the police man stopped us because I wasn’t driving straight.
+
+- “It’s because I’m cold”
+
+There was no problem. He just said to drive carefully because the roads were in bad shape.
+
+I worked there for a year. My friend knew the supervisors. We got to some stalls known as big galleries. There, they only give you a bed to sleep. We were there for 15 days, until we started working. Then, we left to the mountains for another six months; there we slept at motels. Then, we came down to pick up cherry, to Weston, then to pick up pear. Then, we drove to Oregon, and picked up pear. Then, I returned to Mexico because I wanted to return to school. However, that was impossible. I couldn’t be home anymore. I was not well received, and my dad lived with another lady. I had to work on the field, and I didn’t like that job. They only paid eight thousand pesos, and that didn’t convince me.
+
+I returned to Tijuana. Since I knew how to cross, I started crossing people; mostly all of them were from Loja. The people I crossed was people that I met in the border. Since I knew how to cross, everything was a lot easier. I stayed for four years crossing people. I did get people myself in the bars, on the streets, on terminals. I crossed them myself. I had my car parked on one spot on the other side. I could never get my car to Mexico because it didn’t have documents. So, it always stayed on the other side; I had two set of keys.
+
+Until today, I’ve crossed about 200 people from Loja. Sometimes I don’t charge. I remember that I didn’t have money when trying to cross. Then, my siblings wanted to come. Every time I returned to my town, I always returned with money, so most likely my siblings were in awe. The first time I returned to Loja, it was four years later; then, it was every year. Daniel crossed the first time I returned home, and Victor left school and crossed with me on the last year. He didn’t have money to continue studying. He was suffering too much, so he came with me to Anaheim. There, we lived with some friends for three months, until the field started in Madera. We worked for two to three months, and I didn’t like it. By then, my wife was already here. When she came with me, she was my girlfriend. I asked her to go to San Jose, and then, once there, I asked her to stay with me.
+
+- “ Let’s look for work; it’s the same here or over there”
+
+Besides, we were closer. We got a job in a restaurant as busboy and dishwasher. I was the dishwasher and my brother the busboy. I worked as a dishwasher for a couple of days.
+
+- “You know what, I don’t like this job. I thought it was a lot better.” I worked for another day and I didn’t like it.
+
+- “Ok, what do you want to do? What do you do?” the supervisor said.
+
+- “Everything”
+
+- “Do you speak English?”
+
+- “Some”
+
+- “Ok, so you can start as a prep”.
+
+You don’t get that job right away. It usually takes 3 to 5 years to get there, until you know the whole thing. I got that job on my third day. I didn’t want to stay. The general manager was surprised to see me on the line. He asked who got me there and how much I was getting paid.
+
+- 3.50.
+
+Then, he said that he would paid me 5. I got an uniform and my pay was 6. However, the supervisor didn’t like that and problems started. One thought that I was complaining with the manager, so I got raised. So I said:
+
+- “I don’t have to listen to these ***.”
+
+I got paid double the minimum wage, but I decided to return to Tijuana. I could get one-thousand per night.
+
+- “There’s your uniform and your job. Pay me what you owe me; since you’re firing me, you have to pay me now.”
+
+He got the money, and paid me. I got in my car and left for Tijuana.
+
+I started crossing people again for another year. Then, Daniel got deported. I went for him to San Luis since he couldn’t cross. A friend of mine would cross him; everyone crossed except Daniel and a cousin. Once on the train, both of them got detained. So, Daniel started working in a bar with another friend of mind. However, three months later, I didn’t like what I saw, Daniel had gotten into drugs.
+
+- “Let’s go to hell, you’re so high”
+
+He was the one who started it all. I told him to fix everything because I would come back for him in a month. He was an addict, and it was not convenient for him to stay. He even had a wife and a kid. I crossed him and started working; however, he was always high with every single drug. That was the story until he started working at the casino. Then, he left for Oregon. I brought him back, stayed with me for a month, made a friend, and left with him. Then, I heard he had gotten in jail. It seems that it was on a fight. I left for Oregon for a month, I never found him, but I heard that it had happened in Madera. I arrived there, and got him out. Everyone got upset, but I brought him to Los Angeles and I also stayed here. Only when there were people from Loja at the border, I traveled for them to cross them. Then, I worked forging documents.
+
+In all my jobs, I met all sorts of people. One can get in trouble or be someone. I met people who forged documents, letters, and about everything. One day, I got tired of crossing people and I said “I’m leaving to San Jose.”
+
+My wife and daughters were back in Mexico, and my daughters were growing up. I didn’t know what I was going to do in San Jose. “Let’s see what I can do,” I thought.
+
+Upon my arrival, I started working at a casino, but I didn’t like it because I had the night shift from midnight until 8a.m., and the wage was not good. I don’t like to work just for money. I didn’t like people yelling at me just for having a better job, or for working more days than one could. Just because one is a rookie and doesn’t have experience, people yell at you. It happened at a restaurant. Since I didn’t use the knife properly, they yelled at me. Besides, I had problems with a cook. He used to yell everyone and then fired them. One day, he did that to 5 or 6. He was an American who yelled to everyone. Then he did the same to me and I said, “no, no, no, you don’t yell at me.”
+
+- “You are used to yelling to everyone, but with me you’ll have to put a fight,” I said.
+
+He picked up the knife, while I yelled at him “*&#@, I guaranty you I used the knife better than you do.”
+
+While I picked up the broom, he called security and told them, “please, this crazy guy wants to fight me.”
+
+- “How come I want to fight you? You are the one with the knife,” I said.
+
+- “Just behave and don’t come into the kitchen,” he replied.
+
+- “I’m a janitor, I have to come in and you can’t say anything. Besides, you’re not my boss. You can yell to the undocumented, but not me; I’m not one anymore,” I said.
+
+Security arrived and reported me. Then, they told me that they could fire me at the third report.
+
+- “You don’t need three reports about me. Here is your broom and I’m leaving now,” I said.
+
+That’s when I moved to Los Angeles. I contacted a friend with the forging business and told him: “You know, give me the machines that I’m going to start crossing people.” Thus, I started crossing people. I go to Tijuana for them. They are people I know, and who usually do not have money to pay. I just tell them to pay for gas and I’ll cross them.
+
+You have to be conscious of what you’re getting into and the problems all that brings. It’s not easy to raise $50 or $60 dollars without doing anything. You have to work to get them. This job is both easy and difficult. It’s difficult because today you’ll have people, but tomorrow you may not. As you see me right now here crossing people, you may not see me tomorrow.
+
+But, what can I do? Instead of robbing, I have to do something. Here, salaries are bad. You only get paid to live daily. If you don’t have family here, you can live easily by living in a house with 5 or 6 people. That way, you only pay $100 dollars in rent per month. Paying an apartment alone, it’s about $550 and that includes rent and phone. That way, $100 per month plus the children’s food, my mother in law, my wife, mi child, plus gas. My salary would have to be around $1,500 per month. That means that I would have to get paid $12 dollars per hour. Who is going to pay that? The other option is to work two jobs. I can’t because my daughter is ill. She’s had five surgeries, and I owe the government about 5 or 6 millions of dollars. Doctors said that my daughter would not walk. Now, she’s three years old and she’s starting to walk. It seems that she will walk. So, with my own salary, it’s not enough. I have to do anything.
+
+I’m not paying any of the money I owe to the government. It’s not convenient for me. If the insurance finds out that I’m working, they will suspend all welfare and I’ll have to pay them. So, what will be left? If I work, it will be worse for me because I wouldn’t have any more benefits. That’s why I have to do something somewhere else. My daughter is 3 years old now; she’s been in the hospital for one year and 8 months. She is the youngest and she’s the reason why I stopped my life in Tijuana. It’s because of her that I’m here. It’s been a year and a half of being here, and it’s not worth to live in Tijuana. I do some mechanic work or little jobs on the side, or some trips to Tijuana.
+
+I don’t get caught too often. One time, I got caught with 15 forged green cards and 15 social security cards in Arizona. They confiscated my car and I was in jail. The border patrol detained me. When I got detained, I was drunk and I yelled the border patrol.
+
+- “You’ve got guts for that! Remove your pistol and come inside the jail,” I yelled.
+
+Indeed he removed his pistol and went inside the jail. We fought both of us inside. When I was wining the fight, the other officers helped him out and kicked me. When I went to court, that’s why I won the case. I spent a month and a half in jail.
+
+- “You spent $300 dollars for your bail. That way, you start a demand that you got hit and you can get your papers that way,” they told me.
+
+I didn’t have money for the bail and I had to be going to court for that. The lawyer was appointed to me by the government. I wanted to be out, because in Tijuana I could get the money. I came and I crossed people to Madera. I got drunk and I was involved on another fight. When the police arrived, they tried to split us, but I also hit the officer. I got in jail once more because I hit an officer. I got out again, and a week later, I got drunk and ended up in jail for another 6 months. Madera is not good for me. Everyone knows me, even the police. So, I came down here. I was caught once drunk and I was appointed to go to court, but I didn’t go. A year ago, I was caught drunk again, and I didn’t go to court either. So, they put me in jail for three months and my driver’s license got suspended. However, there was a program that I could go home. I just had to pay $5 dollars daily, plus I had to work 8 hours for the police. I worked at the jail’s kitchen. After that, I’ve been here with my people. That last time I ended up in jail, I even stopped smoking. So, I came with my family and got my papers.
+
+A friend of mine gave several of us letters. I didn’t want it because I wanted to return to Mexico, but he came and told me to accept the letter to get documents for my daughter whom I couldn’t take back. So I got the letter from him; we are friends now and we see each other almost daily.
+
+Here, you have to work doing anything. One day, I took fire arms to Mexico in several trips. Nuñez went with me. I bought nine thousand large-bore bullets, 9mm and 22mm. Then, I took twelve thousand more. I also took 25 automatic rifles. I made space on the car, because I could fit in it lying down. I put all the firearms inside the car, covered everything, and painted the car. That time, I got out that deal like 15 million pesos – that’s when the dollar was worth 60 pesos. That was on 81 or 82. Here you don’t have trouble getting firearms. I get them daily. So, there’s an exposition the first and the 15th day of the month, where you can buy arms.
+
+- “I’m taking some,” I said.
+
+So, I bought a big car with a big trunk. My uncle Pedro was in San Luis that time and he knew I was going to Loja. He asked me to pick him up on my way, but he didn’t know what I had on the car. I brought him. Right after inspection, we stop for lunch in Santa Ana. My uncle very nervous told me: “You know what?, I brought two packages of bullets.”
+
+- “What? Where do you have them?” I questioned.
+
+- “In a bag. I have two boxes with 25 pieces,” he replied.
+
+- “Why didn’t you tell me before?” I asked.
+
+- “So you didn’t ask me to leave them behind,” he said.
+
+- “If I would have known, I would have thrown them away. Once we get to Loja, I’ll show you what I have,” I said.
+
+If inspection would have found those two boxes, they would have inspected us thoroughly. They would have confiscated all the firearms I was transporting. Once we got to Loja, I showed my uncle my stuff; he couldn’t believe it.
+
+- “I would have ended up in the Maria Islands as a result of your boxes!” I exclaimed.
+
+My uncle turned yellow upon seeing the firearms. I had tons of them. I sold everything. All people know me, and I did several trips. One time they caught me, that’s when I stopped.
+
+That particular day I wasn’t thinking on traveling. However, some friends requested some rifles, and I didn’t have many of them. So, they confiscated the firearms and $300 dollars. I also traveled with stereos. That day, the stereo had bullets inside of it, and I didn’t know about it. They had finished inspection, but one of them saw a pistol inside the stereo. They revised all of it, and caught me. The person who had sent the stereo is no longer of trust. I don’t bring his stuff or anything that belongs to him.
+
+You have to do something here. When you have come more often, you are no longer ignorant. People who come are very ignorant; they come from the fields to work and get exploited. I don’t like that. That’s why I help people who don’t have money. Sometime people come to me letting me know that their family members are at the border trying to cross. I just tell them to pay the gas and they can pay later.
+
+Most of them thank me. Many of them arrive here very humble. However, once they get experience and start speaking a couple of words in English, they don’t know you anymore.
+
+I have several friends at stores, restaurants, bars, whom I trust a lot. What I do are favors, because I bring people to work and I get them documents. I have friends with $200 or $300 thousand dollars in their businesses. So I recommend people to work for them.
+
+They are friends whom I trust a lot. A lot of people talk about me, but a lot of them I’ve helped. Some receive checks from the government, and the check is on another’s name. For example, she’s getting welfare and Medicare for his child, because she doesn’t work. However, the amount she receives is not enough. She has to look somewhere else. She came with me and gave her papers. I didn’t charge her anything because she’s my sister in law. They work with those papers, but I tell them to do their income tax. I tell them to do it because it’s their money. I tell them to bring me their papers and I do their income tax for them. We do that because if not, the government keeps that money.
+
+I do those types of work. They receive their check and then, they pay me with a beer. It’s better if they have money instead of begging for it. That’s better instead of borrowing money. That’s my thinking.
+
+The ID allows you to work. If the border patrol sees you with it, the officers may confiscate it. With the new law, you can’t work if you don’t have papers. The boss is benefited by it. The day that people from Mexico no longer come, this whole thing ends. The government knows about it. They know about the millions of people here and about the millions of people working like this. The situation at the border is just politics from the government. The border is too long. The government knows our crossing points. If they wanted to stop us, no one would pass. If they want, they could patrol all the border and no one would pass. The border patrol takes turns. They leave you a 10 to 15 minute window to cross. From the two to three shifts, one time no one is there and is a free entrance. They know about it. They let pass a number of migrants and detain another number of migrants, that’s their regulation. For example, they allow about 2 million entrances, but they also apprehend 1.5 million monthly. The other half million returns home because there are no jobs. There is an average of three million entrances annually through Tijuana. They apprehend two and one returns voluntarily because they have finished their work here.
+
+Toño Nuñez became very coincided and proud. I got upset at him about a year ago. I brought him and all his siblings for free and I gave them papers. His pride was too much and one time he told me he didn’t pay in cash no more; he only paid with his MasterCard. But, God knows and punishes you. A month later, they fired him at the job in which he had about 7 years already. Now, he is working in construction and gets paid 5 dollars. I also remember the people I’ve helped and owes me and no longer talks to me: the Huerta. I gave papers to the 5 of them. They went to Mexico and returned last year. One day, I was watching TV and we started betting.
+
+- “How much?” we shouted.
+
+- “You shout too much with your dirty money ….”, they told me.
+
+- “By the way, you haven’t paid me your way yet, and it’s been more than two years,” I said.
+
+When I first arrive, we were only 5 persons from Loja. Now, there are acquaintances. If you don’t find a job, at least you have a place to sleep. Even though if you arrive with no lodging and no food, at least there are people who can advise you and five you a ride to look for a job. Also, there are people who just come for adventure and sleep at parking lots or bus stations. When I worked in Tijuana, I passed two to three people from Loja each week.
+
+I don’t know if I’m staying much longer here, it all depends on my younger girl and her health. When the children are at school, one cannot move, even though there is a desire to do so. Then, over there, there’s another kind of life. You have to adapt again to the kind of life and work… mainly work. You know that the job won’t pay you much; it’s like readapting to your own land. One does well when returning with 100 or 200 dollars, and to vacation for two to three days. You spend the money and come back. But, returning to work and get paid the minimum wage? With my job here you can get $200 or $300 per day. Even though one doesn’t pay rent over there, the problem is to pay for food, and it’s not affordable.
+
+I came here due to family problems. I didn’t like the agriculture, and in my town, that was the only type of work. During those years, the North was the good option. One could come here and make money because there were only a few people. There were good salaries and good jobs. Seventeen years ago, I worked for $5 dollars an hour. Today, there wage continues to be $5 dollars an hour. It keeps going down because now we are many workers here.
+
+The one that crosses the line is not the boss. The one that crosses you is someone who works with someone else. The smuggler crosses you; that guy knows the way and has people looking for you on the back. The boss is the one who picks you up, the one who gets all the money. The smuggler is just the guide who crosses about 10 people. The smuggler gets paid $75 to $100 each time. I used to work alone all the time. The danger is when there are people waiting for the group. Only one time I was attacked; they took away a ring, a watch and $100 dollars. The robbers were drug dealers from Tecate and they were robbing everyone on the line. I couldn’t do anything because I was crossing two kids, a lady, and a cousin – my Uncle Pedro’s son. One of the robbers put the knife on Pedrito, and I didn’t want to do anything because they could kill him.
+
+- “I’ll give you everything I’ve got, but leave him alone,” I said.
+
+About ten minutes later, a friend of mine picked me up and looked for the robbers. I obtained the lady’s watch back, but not mine because they had sold it already.
+
+The Mexican police are the bad guys. They got me about 15 to 20 times. I gave them $50 or $100 dollars, and there was no problem anymore. They never classified me as a smuggler, since I always crossed acquaintances. They don’t do anything; they just take away the money. They cannot put you in jail because the smugglers with power are part of their group. The big smugglers know all the policemen; they have their own agreements, and they know all the movement on the border. I remember that I one time I was traveling with my brother, he was driving while I was napping, and then, a federal police stopped us in Hermosillo;
+
+- “I stopped you because you’re driving too fast,” he said. He requested the driver’s license, but it was suspended. I explained to him that we were traveling from San Jose, and my brother was helping me to drive. He asked me for $200 dollars, and I offered him $50, but he didn’t want them.
+
+- “So, take me whenever you want,” I said. So, he took us to Hermosillo and confiscated the car. “Give us the ticket so we may go,” I said. I told him I was vacationing to see my people, and he said that I didn’t want to cooperate. “No, you’re the one who doesn’t want to cooperate,” I said.
+
+- “You’re only giving me $50. I’m a federal police, not just a policeman,” he said.
+
+- “You know what? You’re upsetting me with your federal position. Take my car away and do whatever you want. I won’t give you a penny. Just give me the ticket because I’m going to submit a complaint,” I said.
+
+I called the Tourism Governmental Agency, and we even went to the main delegate. They couldn’t find the policeman. We looked for the car, and we never found it. We paid the ticket and submitted a complaint. Everything is now better; now they are nicer. Another time, I was in Nogales, and they stopped me. “You have your lights off, just turn them on,” I was told.
+
+Before, they asked you for $50 or $100. Now, the normal rate is $10 or $15 dollars, just to cooperate.
+
+The North is like a battle. If you’re now with your own, it’s very difficult. Most of the people come with no money. Sometimes, your own family is the last ones to help out. I don’t understand how people get so conceited once they get to the North and have money. Whenever a river grows, it looks for a path. When you come to the North, you have to do whatever to survive. You don’t care about the laws, because you have to work somehow to feed your family.
+
+In Tijuana, you have to be with your own to get money. It’s bad. I’m 36 now, and I’m done. I don’t have a need and I have my savings. I’m making money here, and while I’m here, I’m getting paid $100 to $150 daily. I don’t have to go anywhere. I just watch TV and people look for me. I can get paid up to $500 weekly very easily. I’m not at the border anymore. I’m too old.
+
+People who come are from the ranch. For example, I brought about 70% of the people who now work in Oregon. Those people don’t have education, they come from the land. They are used to being yelled by the boss. They work in really bad conditions, with no bathroom and no sanity at all. Before, you arrive and you used to get gloves, scissors, boots; that was when there were no workers. Now, you, as a worker, have to take your own tools to work. Eighteen years ago, it was hard for me because I knew no one. I was one of the first ones to come, but it was quite easy to get a job.
+
+I thing I really miss from my town is the friendships. Over there, there is always someone to talk to while drinking a beer. I’m never alone over there.
diff --git a/src/content/history/the-north-is-like-the-sea.md b/src/content/history/the-north-is-like-the-sea.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c47e370
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/history/the-north-is-like-the-sea.md
@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+---
+title: The North is like the Sea
+category: Border Crossing and Working
+interviewee: Enrique Martínez Curiel
+year: "04.1992"
+description: Aurelio's exceptional story and his failures to cross the border.
+lede: >
+  Aurelio’s story is without a doubt outstanding. Within the millions of
+  Mexicans who have tried crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, only a few never
+  reach their goal. Some say that if one keeps trying, it is doable; this seems
+  to be true for most, but not for Aurelio’s case, who tried crossing several
+  times and never reached the other side; and as he says, he was rejected the
+  same way as the sea returns trash to the beach.
+
+
+  This example, the negative, perfectly illustrates the known interpretation that for the westerners’ migration is like a passage ritual. Between going to the North and the virility of consecration there is a step. To fail is a shame, and there is no other way. Aurelio wanted to go to the North to work; he used all the methods, tried various ways of entrance, hired different smugglers and, the most he reached was to see, from far away, the lights of Los Angeles, that American city that spells and offers lots of opportunities, but also rejects.
+story: >
+  I with my bad luck never reached Los Angeles, no matter how much I tried; I
+  wanted to follow the tradition of going to the North to work for some time,
+  looking for dollars, as my father, my brother, or my friends from the sugar
+  company did; they went as braceros for some time.
+
+
+  Since I was young, I worked in whatever I could do, just to get some money, 1.50, 2 or 3 daily pesos. My first job was in an orchard selling tomatoes, carrots, and other veggies. Since I was very young, I was a bit hyper, I changed jobs quite fast. Then, I took care of goats for about a year. I started working at 7:00am, and my shift ended at 7:00pm or 8:00pm, every single day. Then, I moved to a ranch, with someone named Alfonso Zepeda, where I raised 15 pesos daily. I had to work since my childhood since my father was just a worker and had to sustain all my siblings – we were many.
+
+
+  When I finished elementary school, I had the opportunity to go to the Military College. That would have not cost any to my parents because my older brother was a solder, and in those times, he could help me get in, but I didn’t do it. I almost did; the day I went, when I reached the College’s door I returned; I was interested on getting some food for the family. That’s the reason why I started working and didn’t continue studying: to help my father to sustain the family.
+
+
+  In 1967, I started working in the factory; I entered because my father was a worker there, and only workers’ children could work in the factory. I started working one or two days per week because we were many workers, and that factory was the only one in town; the rest of the week I worked as a construction worker aid or whatever I could do so I could raise some money.
+
+
+  In 1968, I finished elementary school and work at the factory was limited. I wanted to work no matter in what. One day, while I was talking with my brother in law about the limited opportunities to work in town, he invited me to work in Mexico City; since he lived there, he said he could get some work for me, besides, I would not pay any rent since I could live with him. Unfortunately, I only worked a month in a corn factory; my health was affected by the weather; I suffered from sinus and headache, thus, I returned to Otavalo to continue working at the factory.
+
+
+  It was until 1969 that I started working formally as temporary working, but only during the months of December to May; from July to November, I worked in whatever there was, working as a construction worker or as a agricultural worker.
+
+
+  That’s how I lived my youth; there was only the need to work. Since there were not opportunities to move up, I got another job. Thus, in the morning I was a factory worker and in the evenings I was a construction or agricultural worker; the job at the factory was the only way to ensure something in life.
+
+
+  In 1975 I got married, and I started a new life since then. That year I didn’t have a stable job. It was until two years later when I got my stable job at the factory. It was during that time that I started to have the dream of going to the north; here in town I always had a job and I was willing to work, and I always found were to work. But married and with certain obligations, money was not enough; that’s when I decided to go to the North. Since I always had a place to work in town, I left hoping that in the other side could be the same in order to have a home; that was my dream – a home so I could stop renting. So I looked into going to the United States, since I couldn’t do it here no matter how much I worked.
+
+
+  Going to the North was difficult. I had to be far away from my family, my town for a long time… may be four to five months, and I had never done that since I got married; however, I knew that the most difficult part was to cross the border since I didn’t know how that was.
+
+
+  In 1979 I left to the North with three friends from the factory. I left with them since they had gone to the U.S. at least once.
+
+
+  We arrived to Mexicali. One person from my family lived there; he hired the smuggler for us and we stayed with him meanwhile. The first time we tried, we were like 15 persons; I only knew 4 of them. All the rest were from other states such as Michoacan, Zacatecas, and mainly Guanajuato. When we crossed it was about 10:00pm to avoid the border patrol. I remember that we cross a river very wide – about 20 meters wide; we used tires to float. We crossed and walked one by one. From Mexicali to Calexico we walked about six hours; it took us that long because we went around to avoid the border patrol; however, around 6:00am or 7:00am, we were in jail in Calexico. They took all our data: place of origin, our names. We waited about 2 or 3 hours until the bus was full and took us back to Mexico.
+
+
+  Once back in Mexicali, we went back with my family to shower, eat, do laundry… and wait again for the night to try again. If you get caught once, you have to keep trying. We crossed at night so it was more difficult for the border patrol to see us. The original plan was to reach Calexico in early morning, and from there drive to Los Angeles. I had in-laws waiting for me. I had their addresses and phone; even the smuggler had talked to them so they could pay for me.
+
+
+  The other time, we were reported by an American farmer. That day, the farmer was working on his land while we were hiding, waiting for the smuggler who would take us to Los Angeles. The farmer turned on his tractor, we heard the motor and believed it was the smuggler; we got out and the farmer saw us. He called the border patrol. When we saw him, we ran; they fired at the air and we stopped. They took us all back to Mexico.
+
+
+  I was stubborn, trying again and again. I wanted to get there to get back all the money I had spent trying. After trying eleven times, a friend got frustrated and went back to Otavalo.
+
+
+  Each time we were deported, we went back with my family in Mexicali. Without him, we would not have lasted long. We never paid for hotel, food, and many other things while living with him.
+
+
+  Other time, we were walking on the American side when we heard an airplane. We ran, but they saw us. Through the speaker, they told us not to hide because they had seen us already. They also told us not to run. When they reached us, I got up all numbed. The officer helped me to get up; I was laming, but they helped.
+
+
+  Another time, when I was in jail, I met a person who was from a ranch nearby Otavalo. When they asked for his information, he gave a fake name; he said he was Antonio Solano. When the officers called us to take us back to Mexico, they called Antonio Solano, but this guy had forgotten that he had given that name. The police hit him for lying. This guy got very upset, but he got beaten again. Every time I got in jail, I showed my ID of military service; they police always respected me, I imagine it was because of my honesty.
+
+
+  Another time I tried, there was a person walking very slow because he had been in surgery recently. So, we were going very slowly to wait for him and not lose him. After we crossed, this person fell down and yelled due to the pain, the worst was that exactly at that moment the border patrol was nearby. We knew they were nearby, but they were not in our way. So, when this person fell and yelled, they heard, arrested and deported us back once again.
+
+
+  After I tried 15 times, I only had money to return to Guadalajara, so I said “I’ll try again in a year or two.
+
+
+  That’s when I thought to go back home; while we eat and helped out, I thought about my family and the difficult of crossing. I was worried because everything was the same and there was not gain, besides of all the debt I had at home.
+
+
+  If I would have had more money, I would have stayed longer. I never gave up; I always wanted to be there. I was worried of getting back home because I had told my wife about North, that if everything went well, we could get our own home – the one we had always dreamed of.
+
+
+  I felt like a failure when going back without reaching the US, and never crossing the border. I felt ashamed. I got back home at about 5am, avoiding people, because I knew they would consider me a fool. The good thing was that my wife never said anything of the crossing.
+
+
+  Upon my arrival, they told me that the last person who had stayed had crossed the next day. They said that we that return were the bad luck. Once in my town, I worked again as a construction worker or farmer.
+
+
+  Since 1979, I hoped to go back and tried again. The only way not to feel like a failure was crossing successful and work in the U.S. Thus, in 1981, I went back to the border with two friends at the end of the season.
+
+
+  That time, we went to Tecate, and from there were would go to Los Angeles. We got with Angel Espinosa, Alberto Calderon’s friend, from the Toros’ ranch. He gave us shelter and got a smuggler for us, but asked us to pay for the stay, food, and all the expenses there were during our stay.
+
+
+  A Friday in June, we went to Chula Vista. We spent three days hiding in a lonely home, we barely ate that time. On the third day, Sunday night, about 8:30pm, we got out, but we waited for a long time because there was no one who would take us to Los Angeles. Besides, we had to wait for San Clemente’s revision to clear. We were four now in the car. To fit in the car, we had to go in front and two in the trunk. Since I was the tallest, I went on the back sit behind the smuggler. Alberto Calderon was also on the back behind the driver. This was to simulate that there were only two passengers in the car. Once the driver was confident, he said: “you can move now and relax; the lighting you see over there is Los Angeles, we are on the clear.”
+
+
+  Suddenly, the car ahead of us stopped. We stopped as well; we didn’t notice that the police was nearby and had seen us. We walked about 4 km, and the border patrol was behind us. Suddenly, they turned on the light to stop us. The police arrested the driver and requested to have the car towed. Before that, they took out the two guys who were traveling in the trunk. They took us all to Centro, and around 7am, they took us back to Mexicali. What could I do, but try it again. We returned to Tecate, got the same smuggler. It was our second try, but now it was going to be Tijuana, one of the most known places to cross. There is a side called “nobody’s land”; there are a lot of undocumented. Neither the Mexican police nor the American police get there. It’s the end of a mountain, and there are a lot of people there.
+
+
+  All of the smugglers have their tricks. Our smuggler let everyone else go first. When he saw the border patrol busy with everyone else, we started our way. We passed by a police booth that was closed, but to our bad luck, there were dogs barking. We ran as fast as we could. The dogs were tied, but kept barking and woke up the police. One police let free one of the dogs so it could lead him to us. Even a helicopter was above us. It was 5, then 6, then 7 in the morning and the police was looking for us. They were on horses and motorcycles. We laid down until 10 in the morning until one officer got there and said: “relax and get out”.
+
+
+  We got deported again, but now they took us to Tijuana. From there we went to Tecate to try it again. We were going to do it on a trailer full of alfalfa packs. They put us all the way inside the box. While the trailer was getting some fuel, the police got there to check, but did not reported us to the border patrol. The police sent us back; I imagine it was because the jails were full.
+
+
+  I had failed and was tired. I thought that I couldn’t cross, and imagined how the sea receives trash, I said, “US is not for me.” I went back home trying to arrive at night so people didn’t see me.
+
+
+  That year, 1981, to pay all my debts, I had an extra job in the factory. I helped a plumber, who taught me all about his job. I had my own clientele; it was then when I was better off, working 2 jobs.
+
+
+  As a plumber, I worked all year long. That allowed me to have extra money when there was no job at the factory. With that money I bought some land; we also put a place to eat for about 40 days, during the festivities of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
+
+
+  Even though I had a job, I wanted to go to the U.S. However, I thought that if I left, and knowing of all my failures, I thought that my clients were not going to be the same.
+
+
+  In 1987, I went to Sinaloa to work with my in-law who lived there. However I never inquired about the job I would do. I got there and I learned that the job was to fish shrimp. To my bad luck, I got there in closed season; I didn’t take it hard, besides, I didn’t spend any money on that trip.
+
+
+  Finally, in 1988 I got my permanent job at the factory. That same year, one of my in-laws who lived in Los Angeles, asked me for my information to get me fake papers. It was one of those letters to ask permission to go to work to the U.S. I replied to him that I didn’t have any money for food, the smuggler. If he wanted me to go, he could send some money. That was my way of saying that I didn’t want to go. He never replied, besides, I didn’t have experience and I didn’t want to try again.
+
+
+  I am not that worried for not having gone to the North. I got credit with INFONAVIT to buy a home; we moved to a new neighborhood, were most of the residents are from the factory. The problem was that I had to pay 20% of my salary for the credit. Thus, we were in the same situation as before; there was only enough money to eat. At the long term, the home was going to be ours. At least I got one of my dreams. Economically we are not in a good situation, but having my own home I feel more secure. Now I have another challenge, get education for my children. I want them to go to the university so they don’t live the same as I have. They don’t have to go to the North to work. I will never go to the North.
+
+
+  I think that people who go do not want to sacrifice. The level of suffering here is not comparable to the one over there; one suffers more over there. If people who work there and bring money here is because money lasts more here. I think it is the same. We get here vacations, extra salary at the end of the year; thus I think going to the North is no business.
+
+
+  I want to think that I never went to the U.S., and whenever I hear of that country, I remember the sea. I have gone to the sea, but I’ve never swum in the beaches, or eaten there. So, whenever one goes there undocumented, one is like trash. I imagine myself like the sea, all trash is thrown out. So, I’m better here than at the sea. Before I went to the North, I believed the sea was beautiful, even though I never swam. Now, I don’t even want to step on the sand. All my failures and frustrations made me love more my country; they all made me think that I’ve always had a job and, that I’m not the only one who doesn’t have enough money to eat or dress. So, what am I doing over there? Perhaps another time I would have succeeded and would have forgotten of the failures. Probably I would have reached the other side, I would have been a resident now, and I would be able to provide an education to my children. I worry about that.
+
+
+  It seems that the difficulty to cross the border runs in the family. I inherited it from my older brother. He tried for 18 months. He lived in Tijuana during all this time with no money to eat, to cross or to return. He made candy to get some money, but never had enough to cross. Now he works in Alaska; he is there for 6 months, and then goes to Fresno; by the way, he never agreed in me going there, that’s why he never helped me.
+
+
+  Now, my only worry is my children’s education. I sold my land to pay for school. I saw their interest to keep studying. The main thing is that they have everything to continue; meanwhile I’ll do whatever I can so it can be that way.
+---
+I with my bad luck never reached Los Angeles, no matter how much I tried; I wanted to follow the tradition of going to the North to work for some time, looking for dollars, as my father, my brother, or my friends from the sugar company did; they went as braceros for some time.
+
+Since I was young, I worked in whatever I could do, just to get some money, 1.50, 2 or 3 daily pesos. My first job was in an orchard selling tomatoes, carrots, and other veggies. Since I was very young, I was a bit hyper, I changed jobs quite fast. Then, I took care of goats for about a year. I started working at 7:00am, and my shift ended at 7:00pm or 8:00pm, every single day. Then, I moved to a ranch, with someone named Alfonso Zepeda, where I raised 15 pesos daily. I had to work since my childhood since my father was just a worker and had to sustain all my siblings – we were many.
+
+When I finished elementary school, I had the opportunity to go to the Military College. That would have not cost any to my parents because my older brother was a solder, and in those times, he could help me get in, but I didn’t do it. I almost did; the day I went, when I reached the College’s door I returned; I was interested on getting some food for the family. That’s the reason why I started working and didn’t continue studying: to help my father to sustain the family.
+
+In 1967, I started working in the factory; I entered because my father was a worker there, and only workers’ children could work in the factory. I started working one or two days per week because we were many workers, and that factory was the only one in town; the rest of the week I worked as a construction worker aid or whatever I could do so I could raise some money.
+
+In 1968, I finished elementary school and work at the factory was limited. I wanted to work no matter in what. One day, while I was talking with my brother in law about the limited opportunities to work in town, he invited me to work in Mexico City; since he lived there, he said he could get some work for me, besides, I would not pay any rent since I could live with him. Unfortunately, I only worked a month in a corn factory; my health was affected by the weather; I suffered from sinus and headache, thus, I returned to Otavalo to continue working at the factory.
+
+It was until 1969 that I started working formally as temporary working, but only during the months of December to May; from July to November, I worked in whatever there was, working as a construction worker or as a agricultural worker.
+
+That’s how I lived my youth; there was only the need to work. Since there were not opportunities to move up, I got another job. Thus, in the morning I was a factory worker and in the evenings I was a construction or agricultural worker; the job at the factory was the only way to ensure something in life.
+
+In 1975 I got married, and I started a new life since then. That year I didn’t have a stable job. It was until two years later when I got my stable job at the factory. It was during that time that I started to have the dream of going to the north; here in town I always had a job and I was willing to work, and I always found were to work. But married and with certain obligations, money was not enough; that’s when I decided to go to the North. Since I always had a place to work in town, I left hoping that in the other side could be the same in order to have a home; that was my dream – a home so I could stop renting. So I looked into going to the United States, since I couldn’t do it here no matter how much I worked.
+
+Going to the North was difficult. I had to be far away from my family, my town for a long time… may be four to five months, and I had never done that since I got married; however, I knew that the most difficult part was to cross the border since I didn’t know how that was.
+
+In 1979 I left to the North with three friends from the factory. I left with them since they had gone to the U.S. at least once.
+
+We arrived to Mexicali. One person from my family lived there; he hired the smuggler for us and we stayed with him meanwhile. The first time we tried, we were like 15 persons; I only knew 4 of them. All the rest were from other states such as Michoacan, Zacatecas, and mainly Guanajuato. When we crossed it was about 10:00pm to avoid the border patrol. I remember that we cross a river very wide – about 20 meters wide; we used tires to float. We crossed and walked one by one. From Mexicali to Calexico we walked about six hours; it took us that long because we went around to avoid the border patrol; however, around 6:00am or 7:00am, we were in jail in Calexico. They took all our data: place of origin, our names. We waited about 2 or 3 hours until the bus was full and took us back to Mexico.
+
+Once back in Mexicali, we went back with my family to shower, eat, do laundry… and wait again for the night to try again. If you get caught once, you have to keep trying. We crossed at night so it was more difficult for the border patrol to see us. The original plan was to reach Calexico in early morning, and from there drive to Los Angeles. I had in-laws waiting for me. I had their addresses and phone; even the smuggler had talked to them so they could pay for me.
+
+The other time, we were reported by an American farmer. That day, the farmer was working on his land while we were hiding, waiting for the smuggler who would take us to Los Angeles. The farmer turned on his tractor, we heard the motor and believed it was the smuggler; we got out and the farmer saw us. He called the border patrol. When we saw him, we ran; they fired at the air and we stopped. They took us all back to Mexico.
+
+I was stubborn, trying again and again. I wanted to get there to get back all the money I had spent trying. After trying eleven times, a friend got frustrated and went back to Otavalo.
+
+Each time we were deported, we went back with my family in Mexicali. Without him, we would not have lasted long. We never paid for hotel, food, and many other things while living with him.
+
+Other time, we were walking on the American side when we heard an airplane. We ran, but they saw us. Through the speaker, they told us not to hide because they had seen us already. They also told us not to run. When they reached us, I got up all numbed. The officer helped me to get up; I was laming, but they helped.
+
+Another time, when I was in jail, I met a person who was from a ranch nearby Otavalo. When they asked for his information, he gave a fake name; he said he was Antonio Solano. When the officers called us to take us back to Mexico, they called Antonio Solano, but this guy had forgotten that he had given that name. The police hit him for lying. This guy got very upset, but he got beaten again. Every time I got in jail, I showed my ID of military service; they police always respected me, I imagine it was because of my honesty.
+
+Another time I tried, there was a person walking very slow because he had been in surgery recently. So, we were going very slowly to wait for him and not lose him. After we crossed, this person fell down and yelled due to the pain, the worst was that exactly at that moment the border patrol was nearby. We knew they were nearby, but they were not in our way. So, when this person fell and yelled, they heard, arrested and deported us back once again.
+
+After I tried 15 times, I only had money to return to Guadalajara, so I said “I’ll try again in a year or two.
+
+That’s when I thought to go back home; while we eat and helped out, I thought about my family and the difficult of crossing. I was worried because everything was the same and there was not gain, besides of all the debt I had at home.
+
+If I would have had more money, I would have stayed longer. I never gave up; I always wanted to be there. I was worried of getting back home because I had told my wife about North, that if everything went well, we could get our own home – the one we had always dreamed of.
+
+I felt like a failure when going back without reaching the US, and never crossing the border. I felt ashamed. I got back home at about 5am, avoiding people, because I knew they would consider me a fool. The good thing was that my wife never said anything of the crossing.
+
+Upon my arrival, they told me that the last person who had stayed had crossed the next day. They said that we that return were the bad luck. Once in my town, I worked again as a construction worker or farmer.
+
+Since 1979, I hoped to go back and tried again. The only way not to feel like a failure was crossing successful and work in the U.S. Thus, in 1981, I went back to the border with two friends at the end of the season.
+
+That time, we went to Tecate, and from there were would go to Los Angeles. We got with Angel Espinosa, Alberto Calderon’s friend, from the Toros’ ranch. He gave us shelter and got a smuggler for us, but asked us to pay for the stay, food, and all the expenses there were during our stay.
+
+A Friday in June, we went to Chula Vista. We spent three days hiding in a lonely home, we barely ate that time. On the third day, Sunday night, about 8:30pm, we got out, but we waited for a long time because there was no one who would take us to Los Angeles. Besides, we had to wait for San Clemente’s revision to clear. We were four now in the car. To fit in the car, we had to go in front and two in the trunk. Since I was the tallest, I went on the back sit behind the smuggler. Alberto Calderon was also on the back behind the driver. This was to simulate that there were only two passengers in the car. Once the driver was confident, he said: “you can move now and relax; the lighting you see over there is Los Angeles, we are on the clear.”
+
+Suddenly, the car ahead of us stopped. We stopped as well; we didn’t notice that the police was nearby and had seen us. We walked about 4 km, and the border patrol was behind us. Suddenly, they turned on the light to stop us. The police arrested the driver and requested to have the car towed. Before that, they took out the two guys who were traveling in the trunk. They took us all to Centro, and around 7am, they took us back to Mexicali. What could I do, but try it again. We returned to Tecate, got the same smuggler. It was our second try, but now it was going to be Tijuana, one of the most known places to cross. There is a side called “nobody’s land”; there are a lot of undocumented. Neither the Mexican police nor the American police get there. It’s the end of a mountain, and there are a lot of people there.
+
+All of the smugglers have their tricks. Our smuggler let everyone else go first. When he saw the border patrol busy with everyone else, we started our way. We passed by a police booth that was closed, but to our bad luck, there were dogs barking. We ran as fast as we could. The dogs were tied, but kept barking and woke up the police. One police let free one of the dogs so it could lead him to us. Even a helicopter was above us. It was 5, then 6, then 7 in the morning and the police was looking for us. They were on horses and motorcycles. We laid down until 10 in the morning until one officer got there and said: “relax and get out”.
+
+We got deported again, but now they took us to Tijuana. From there we went to Tecate to try it again. We were going to do it on a trailer full of alfalfa packs. They put us all the way inside the box. While the trailer was getting some fuel, the police got there to check, but did not reported us to the border patrol. The police sent us back; I imagine it was because the jails were full.
+
+I had failed and was tired. I thought that I couldn’t cross, and imagined how the sea receives trash, I said, “US is not for me.” I went back home trying to arrive at night so people didn’t see me.
+
+That year, 1981, to pay all my debts, I had an extra job in the factory. I helped a plumber, who taught me all about his job. I had my own clientele; it was then when I was better off, working 2 jobs.
+
+As a plumber, I worked all year long. That allowed me to have extra money when there was no job at the factory. With that money I bought some land; we also put a place to eat for about 40 days, during the festivities of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
+
+Even though I had a job, I wanted to go to the U.S. However, I thought that if I left, and knowing of all my failures, I thought that my clients were not going to be the same.
+
+In 1987, I went to Sinaloa to work with my in-law who lived there. However I never inquired about the job I would do. I got there and I learned that the job was to fish shrimp. To my bad luck, I got there in closed season; I didn’t take it hard, besides, I didn’t spend any money on that trip.
+
+Finally, in 1988 I got my permanent job at the factory. That same year, one of my in-laws who lived in Los Angeles, asked me for my information to get me fake papers. It was one of those letters to ask permission to go to work to the U.S. I replied to him that I didn’t have any money for food, the smuggler. If he wanted me to go, he could send some money. That was my way of saying that I didn’t want to go. He never replied, besides, I didn’t have experience and I didn’t want to try again.
+
+I am not that worried for not having gone to the North. I got credit with INFONAVIT to buy a home; we moved to a new neighborhood, were most of the residents are from the factory. The problem was that I had to pay 20% of my salary for the credit. Thus, we were in the same situation as before; there was only enough money to eat. At the long term, the home was going to be ours. At least I got one of my dreams. Economically we are not in a good situation, but having my own home I feel more secure. Now I have another challenge, get education for my children. I want them to go to the university so they don’t live the same as I have. They don’t have to go to the North to work. I will never go to the North.
+
+I think that people who go do not want to sacrifice. The level of suffering here is not comparable to the one over there; one suffers more over there. If people who work there and bring money here is because money lasts more here. I think it is the same. We get here vacations, extra salary at the end of the year; thus I think going to the North is no business.
+
+I want to think that I never went to the U.S., and whenever I hear of that country, I remember the sea. I have gone to the sea, but I’ve never swum in the beaches, or eaten there. So, whenever one goes there undocumented, one is like trash. I imagine myself like the sea, all trash is thrown out. So, I’m better here than at the sea. Before I went to the North, I believed the sea was beautiful, even though I never swam. Now, I don’t even want to step on the sand. All my failures and frustrations made me love more my country; they all made me think that I’ve always had a job and, that I’m not the only one who doesn’t have enough money to eat or dress. So, what am I doing over there? Perhaps another time I would have succeeded and would have forgotten of the failures. Probably I would have reached the other side, I would have been a resident now, and I would be able to provide an education to my children. I worry about that.
+
+It seems that the difficulty to cross the border runs in the family. I inherited it from my older brother. He tried for 18 months. He lived in Tijuana during all this time with no money to eat, to cross or to return. He made candy to get some money, but never had enough to cross. Now he works in Alaska; he is there for 6 months, and then goes to Fresno; by the way, he never agreed in me going there, that’s why he never helped me.
+
+Now, my only worry is my children’s education. I sold my land to pay for school. I saw their interest to keep studying. The main thing is that they have everything to continue; meanwhile I’ll do whatever I can so it can be that way.
diff --git a/src/content/history/this-is-the-story-of-here-el-norte.md b/src/content/history/this-is-the-story-of-here-el-norte.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2b5107
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/history/this-is-the-story-of-here-el-norte.md
@@ -0,0 +1,557 @@
+---
+title: This is the Story of Here, el Norte
+category: Those Who Stay
+interviewee: Héctor Hernández
+year: "05.1992"
+description: Baudelio Rosas, from Michoacán, tells his life story as an
+  entrepreneur in El Norte.
+lede: >
+  Baudelio Rosas is originary from the town of Ayala, Michoacán, located deep in
+  the Tarascan plateau, an area predominantly inhabited by a population of
+  purépecha background. Against what one could think, the inhabitants of this
+  highland town are primarily devoted to the production of crafts, commerce, and
+  industry. Thus, it is not strange that Braudelio's story is closely linked to
+  that of industrial activities in the region. What results peculiar, though, is
+  that he was not able to carry out his original occupation on the other side of
+  the border.
+
+
+  His arrival to the United States was the result of a desperate economic situation, he tried various different avenues to get on but he only managed to become more indebted. The only alternative left was to travel to el Norte, and there is were he headed. He began working at a clothing factory, learned the trade to then become the manager, and finally the boss of his own business.
+
+
+  Baudelio usually employs his fellow countrymen and gives them the opportunity to teach themselves and to practice the trade, even though later on they might abandon him, be ungrateful, and forget his advice.
+
+
+  His fellow countrymen do not like him, partly because they envy him., but also because Baudelio is different. The distinction between patron and worker implies a class difference that results insurmountable despite friendship or shared cultural background. In fact, there is an intense process of transformation among those migrants who manage to become successful in the United States. This change implies a new attitude towards life and the future that, in the case of Baudelio, can be summarized as: dedication, savings, abstinence and "knowing how to work the country."
+story: >
+  I came to the United States in 1963, because of money problems. I was a travel
+  agent and, because of that, I have always liked to be independent. That's why
+  I got the nerve and came over, without any direction, just like that,
+  hitchhiking.
+
+
+  When I arrived to Tijuana I remembered that I used to have a friend there who was now in Los Angeles. I met her when I was trying to sell clothing in Tijuana. She had given me her address so that, whenever I went on vacation, I could go visit her. She is from Michoacán.
+
+
+  The last time that I saw her, she still didn't know about my financial problems, that's why, when I arrived to Tijuana and came accross her telephone number in my wallet, the first thing I did was call her in the United States. She agreed to receive me and I went to the address she had given me. When I arrived she told me:
+
+
+  -Imagine, I just got married, I am going to introduce you to my husband. Then she said:
+
+
+  - Where did you arrive to, which hotel?
+
+
+  - I didn't arrive to any hotel.
+
+
+  - How am I going to believe you didn't arrive to any hotel! If you have money.
+
+
+  - Well, yes but the money is gone.
+
+
+  She invited me to her house, but it was very small, it only fit one bed.
+
+
+  -You stay in the bed, we will stay in the car.
+
+
+  - No, impossible.
+
+
+  I stayed in the car; I remember that when I met her; back in '62, I never told her:
+
+
+  -You know what, Catalina? I'm doing bad, I'm doing bad in my business.
+
+
+  That's why, when I arrived and I called her up to tell her that I was coming, she thought I was coming on vacations only. But I told her:
+
+
+  -You know what? I came to work.
+
+
+  She couldn't believe it, she told me things were really tough, she took me to her place, it was troublesome for me to be such a nuisance. I had no job and she tried to accomodate me somewhere, I lasted a month without working, she was helping me to get food, I would also spend my time in the neighborhood of San Fernando, there were some restaurants, I would have a coffee, they would invite me a smoke, I would even ask people on the street for help, sometimes they would give me a dollar, that was on the 14th of January of 1973.
+
+
+  In Mexico I used to be a baker, my family used to sell embroidered blankets, that's why I started selling clothing. At home, my mother and sisters would do that. I started selling in the capital city, Acapulco, and Tijuana.
+
+
+  I used to go to Mexico because I had a brother there, to Tijuana because I knew a few acquaintances who had done well there, from there I went to Nuevo Laredo, Guadalajara, Acapulco, Cuernavaca, Chilpancingo, Tijuana, and Monterrey, those were the cities where I would sell.
+
+
+  Before doing this, I used to have a grocery store in town, but it wasn't generating profits; I went to sell fabrics but that didn't bring profits either, so that I couldn't pay a debt of 40 000 pesos, that's when I told my wife the idea of coming to _el Norte_, she didn't agree because I didn't know anybody, aside from that there was nobody from Ayala, because the first one to arrive here was me.
+
+
+  I started working on February the 18th, 1973; Catalina, that was my friend's name, introduced me to Mrs. Marilú, she is from Tuxpan, Jalisco; when she saw me she asked me if I knew how to cook, I said no, they made me a test. Since there were no unused machines I became in charge of cleaning and the finishing of blouses. The first week she paid me 40 dollars, that's how I started to work, six months later I was a manager.
+
+
+  The boss trusted me a lot, besides I became very close to her, wherever she would go, she would invite me, and she would take me with her. Sometimes people would think there was more going on, but between my boss and myself there was only a very pure friendship. She would help me a lot, but only that.
+
+
+  The first problem that I had with her was back in '81, on that ocasion she had gone to Mexico, and since I was the general manager, we had a mistake with a pair of short pants that a company ordered from us, the order was for 3200 pairs, when she came back I told her:
+
+
+  -Marilú, we ended up with 30 bad short pants.
+
+
+  She asked me who had made them.
+
+
+  -Lalo, my brother.
+
+
+  She started screaming at him.
+
+
+  You know what, Mrs.? You cannot yell at Lalo because I told him how to make them, and they came out wrong because I didn't explain it right, I am responsible, the only person you can say something to is myself.
+
+
+  -I also have something for you, come here.
+
+
+  We went to the office, she told me:
+
+
+  -Look Luis, you know how to be nice, you have experience, you are a very good worker; it is very easy for you to find a job in another place, here's one door, there is another, choose, you can go.
+
+
+  - Okay.
+
+
+  But because everybody was used to working with me, they started complaining; when I was about to go they were all asking me not to, only my brothers were saying yes, I only said:
+
+
+  -I'm going to think about it.
+
+
+  Even if she had fired me I knew she was nervous, I went to the house and I called her:
+
+
+  -Hey Marilú, for me it was very difficult, but nevertheless you are the owner, thank you very much for everything, for all that I have learned, for all that I know, thank you.
+
+
+  -She came another day and told me:
+
+
+  -Luis I need you to go to work, because you know the move.
+
+
+  - Okay.
+
+
+  We went back to work, but we were not comfortable anymore, neither my brothers nor me.
+
+
+  In '82 Lalo came out with the idea of starting a business, we both had 10 000 dollars saved, Nacho had no money, but the most important thing wasn't the money, but knowing the owners of businesses or the managers, those are who give out the work, also to look for who can sell you the machines. There were some people that trusted me, I had met them all through Marilú.
+
+
+  I went to Los Angeles to speak with my friend Juan García, to see whether he would sell me his machines. I told him:
+
+
+  I want to start a business, you are going to help me because you have all that is needed, if you trust me and believe in that I can work it, you are going to tell me.
+
+
+  -Okay.
+
+
+  He told me. Then he asked me:
+
+
+  -How much money do you have?
+
+
+  - 30 000 dollars.
+
+
+  -Well, with that you go and get the license, buy an insurance, pick a place, because setting up a business implies a lot of paperwork and everything has to be in order, everything straight. I did all that, I had 6 000 dollars left and with that I took 15 machines with me, and that's how we strarted, one year later we had 40. We called the factory "Londres Stowers."
+
+
+  In '84, after two years of work, we started having less profits, I didn't know why, if we were doing it right, sometimes we had enough to pay people, but very tightly, I thought we were not working equally anymore, and since I was interested in making more and more every day, because I felt I was becoming big, to have started with so little and in only one year become big, it feels good, I wanted to make more, to keep going.
+
+
+  My brother Nacho, the youngest, I wasn't going to leave him 'cause he helped me a lot, so we came up with another work strategy, by then we were four partners, Lalo's wife joined us with a loan she gave us. We decided to separate, I went with Nacho, Lalo stayed with María, his wife, we left to Sylmar, we lasted one year, we took with us forty machines in between both of us. We called our factory "Habiles Stowers."
+
+
+  What happened after is that Lalo bought more machines, and since they didn't fit anymore in the place he was renting, he moved to a larger space, but the rent was high and he couldn't afford it on his own, besides there was plenty of space to put our machines, he invited us to move with him and to run the entire factory together, it was to our advantage, because we were also crammed, we merged again, but it wasn't anymore a type of machinery association bacause at any point we could get more machines and get another place, when we merged it was a very large factory, it was called "High Tai," there were 80 machines working and about 50% of the workers were from Ayala, we managed to have more than 100 operators, all throughout '85 we worked under the name of "High Tai." But a year later, we again had problems, we weren't making enough, plus that year my wife came over. I told Lalo:
+
+
+  -From now on I need a reliable salary because my wife is here and, as we are, I feel I'm not going to make it.
+
+
+  Then, we had 80 machines; I left and my two brothers remained together. I went with a Salvadorean friend who had a factory in a spacious place. When the problems started he told me that, if I wanted, he could rent me half his factory, that's how I started my business all alone, that same year Nacho left Lalo.
+
+
+  I called my factory "Los Angeles Fashions," with time I bought machines and they became 35, my factory was located on 1314 San Diego, it lasted two years with that name and then I changed it to "Santa Clara de California." I changed it because my daughter was born, and since that was her name, I gave it that name so that my daughter would become something in the business, I wanted it to show in the factory.
+
+
+  In 1990 I left to Mexico, even though I left the manager in charge, I left in July and returned in September, when I arrived my business was going downhill. I never understood why. My brothers had a lot of work, I was the only one who didn't have any. They tried to help me by giving me some of their work, even then everything went downhill, the more I wanted to fix it the more it would sink. I even told my brothers it was worthless to keep fighting, we closed in December of  that year. All my machines, already 35, I took them home.
+
+
+  In those days, my brother Nacho got very ill and we had to bring him to Mexico. Since he could no longer take care of his business I stayed in his place for a while. Since my business was closed, I had no other option than to stay with his. Now I'm bringing my things to his factory, all the machines now are mine, but before they were his. When I closed I thought I would do the same thing, I only wanted to rest for a while. My idea was to start over, that's why I didn't sell my machines.
+
+
+  Nowadays, from Ayala I have very few people, maybe 17 all together. There was a moment when all the workers were from there. That was in '88, '89, about 40, 45. At that time, also with my brothers, they had people from the town. Nowadays it's low, I have 40 employees. Last year it was good, I had some 35 to 40, Nacho 60, 65 and Lalo 60 or 70, but not only from Ayala.
+
+
+  When we started the business, three months later there were already 20 or 30 people from the town, before that there were 6 people from the town: Juan, my nephew, my two brothers and Jesús, who was in Los Angeles and I brought him here. There were other two guys, they came through Antonio Pineda, also from Ayala. He had a business here, he used to fix housing roofs, they used to say that he didn't treat people very well even though they were from the town. He already returned to Ayala. Martín, my nephew, told his brothers and they came over: Custodio, Silviano, and later other two little kids.
+
+
+  There are also some others from the town, but they are in Huntington, we came here around the same time. I knew they were here but there was never any communication. They noticed and they found my phone number, I don't know how. They were the first people from the town to call me. I remember when he called me, he told me:
+
+
+  -Look, I'll see you in such place, in Los Angeles.
+
+
+  He gave me an appointment, I went because a long time had already passed since I had spoken with someone from there and I was very interested; from there we started visiting each other every 8, 15 days. Sometimes I would go, other times they would come, in that way we started to be in contact. They worked at a ship company.
+
+
+  I have always tried to help people, I don't care about the problems they might have with the government, but I'm always like that, helping and breaking the law, I risk it. Thank God nothing has happened to me, we have even received orders from immigration to not take undocumented people, but I still keep on doing it. I don't ask them whether they have documents or not. Once a person from immigration went and warned me, that was two years ago, they have never come back to bother me. Even knowing that I am running the risk of having to pay a very large fine for having illegals, I still do it. Why? Because I want to keep helping people, that's never left me, the way you see me I don't seem to be a boss. They have told me:
+
+
+  -You, in reality, are no good as a boss, because you should be going about in a different way, you should carry a good car.
+
+
+  I have a good car, but I don't drive it, I have it at home, I don't like being pretentious or feel like more. I've always been like this. They have told me:
+
+
+  -You have to change.
+
+
+  But I can't.
+
+
+  I have helped a lot of people, among relatives and friends, I'd say some 15, I send them a _coyote_, I lend them money, some pay me, others don't.
+
+
+  Before, I used to be in the habit of inviting people from the town, but ever since a _compadre,_ who had never told me he had abandoned his wife, came along with me -besides, the day I found about it, they put the blame on me for having convinced him, their family was angry with me- since then, I don't tell anybody to come along. I only tell them:
+
+
+  -Whenever you want to leave, leave. Here is my telephone number, you call me. If I can help you, I will help you, if not, you'll know, but that's what I can do.
+
+
+  I no longer invite anybody from the town to come with me. Heaven forbid, something may happen to them, if they cannot find their spot; because one thing I say, this country is very bad if you treat it wrong, but if you behave well this country is good. When they come from there it's because they're bad economically, one gets here with the illusions of doing a lot of things, they say this country is really good, that here one makes a lot of money. Yes, one earns a lot of money, but one has to work and behave well.
+
+
+  When a person comes from there he has the head full of illusions that: I am going to do this, I am going to do that. They get here and they start making friends, with the same people from the town. They invite them beer and they do that every 8 days, and they forget the illusions they had brought with them because they don't earn enough to support themselves.
+
+
+  Indeed, all the people that are here, are here because of me, because I was the very first one to arrive in San Fernando and the first one that could get them working, the first one that could support them while they met more people, that's how a lot started coming, they would arrive to my house, they even slept there, I fed them, I lend them money, I even bought them clothes, I taught them how to sew, once they had learned they would go off to other places to give them the profits.
+
+
+  But that's not all, I also helped find a house to all of those who are here with their families, they must be around 15 or 20, besides I helped them find documents; that was in '89, when the amnesty thing, I helped about 50 people, it was only about the boss sending out a signed letter, they would grant him the thing about amnesty, many became legal. I would also get them letters for the fields, through friends; There are people in Santa Ana that I helped and who never worked for me, I would only let the government know that they had worked with me since '82.
+
+
+  Although I am going to say one thing, all of the people, even my nephews, I don't make distinctions, all of the people, in the end, have been very bad with me. They arrive in bad shape, I help them, they get better, and they go somewhere else to work, to network with others. But since I'm not the kind of person that holds grudges I give them jobs again, they stay for a week or two and they leave, then they come back, and so on. Nobody has been able to take that away from me, neither my wife, nor my children.
+
+
+  I was never worried about fixing my documents. What for? If in any case I'm in the country without them, my wife was the one that demanded the most that I became legal. A friend of the family helped me. She was Colombian. She was the same one who fixed the documents of a lot of people from the town. I sent them all with her. Her name is Ema Chacón. In '89 she made me sign them without knowing what kind of documents they were, that's how I fixed them. Before fixing them, the _migra_ kicked me out only twice. The first time from my factory in '74; the second time from the corner of my house.
+
+
+  Since I have my business I almost don't spend time with anybody, only with my wife, my children, from time to time with my brother Lalo, sometimes with the very same employees. Before my wife arrived, with pure employees, workers,. But now as a boss it is totally different. You cannot spend time with them for the simple reason that it is totally different, you feel a different thing. I don't show it, I don't want to, how can I say this? to feel more than them, but necessity makes you do it. I don't like spending time with them for several reasons, the most important one is that the majority likes to drink, if I'm with them I have to do it and I can't, because to be absent on a Monday is very difficult, that's why I don't like spending time with them. Of course, before I used to do the same thing, but now it's different; it is difficult for me to make social life for the simple reason that since I became a boss, responsibility won't leave me, it is very difficult to look bad because I'm not interested in parties, I'm interested in work. If one has to go to a party, I don't go if I have to make a sample, if I have to speed up a job, that somebody cannot do it, I have to come and work; another thing is that it feels very nice to have a family that respects you, that's my case. I have older children, in this country it is very difficult to have children like mine, mine are not in school but they don't get home all drunk, they spend time with me at home, all of that because I have always commanded respect.
+
+
+  When I became a boss I stopped drinking. I do drink, but once every two or three months I'll have one, but not as I used to, no, it's because of my children who are older and I have to command respect. I have changed completely from how I was before, I was not forced but it came out of me. Sometimes it happens that friends with whom I was doing the same things, drinking and all that, they tell me:
+
+
+  -How can it be that you are all calmed now!
+
+
+  I tell them:
+
+
+  -It's that you have to do it, because then how are your children going to respect you, if from now on, tomorrow or the day after, you have a problem with your children how are you going to reproach anything, because you're worse or the same as them.
+
+
+  I have given out a lot of advice, I tell people who have recently arrived how one has to work, how one has to support oneself, how to try and save the money; this country is good but you have to know how to work the country, there are many that come and want to continue the same way: in poverty. Here, if for example, one person arrives, I tell him:
+
+
+  -You don't know how to sew, you don't know how to do anything, I am going to pay you 100 dollars for the first week, here there are no hours, there's no such a thing as you've already worked too much, but then you'll be teaching yourself. It all depends on you, if you teach yourself quickly. Ok, if in two weeks you already know, I'll pay you the same as the rest. You'll have to grab your punch card, punch it and depending on the hours that you make that's how much you will be paid. If you continue the same, then you will never make it out of the 100 dollars.
+
+
+  I remember now Don Fran, Francisco Ana Lucas, he has had problems because he has another woman. We call him Don Fran, all the time he has worked with us. Now, he's not here anymore. As a matter of fact, they have said a lot about ourselves, but almost nothing concrete, they do it to take revenge, but as he used to say, that his family is over there, that he has to send money because they have to eat, and if he has here another one, then he cannot do it because he cannot make it with both. Now that I was in Mexico I ran into him and Nacho, then  I arrived to the town and they told me:
+
+
+  -You have gone such a long time without paying!
+
+
+  My mother gets very worried. She, thank God, has money, we do too, if I have some money left I send it. My mother says:
+
+
+  -Imagine that here they are saying that you don't pay, that you have gone three months without paying the people, that that's why Don Fran came back.
+
+
+  - That's very wrong - I told her -, because if it has already been three months that they don't get paid and here are the bosses, he should come and collect it here, why is he going around telling people that we don't pay them?
+
+
+  There are a lot of people that talk like that: I don't send money because I haven't worked. Lies! Here, one cannot work if it's not paid, it's very difficult.
+
+
+  We sometimes pay with a personal check, sometimes in cash. We do it this way: if, for example, you earn the minimum, that is 170 dollars per week, from that you have to make a report to the government, so we are making a report by law, having a punched card and having the employee, that's the thing about law by comission, they have agents, if they see 30 people and I have 10 cards, they charge me 100 dollars per missing card, it's a fine, they come about two or three times a year. I don't ask for the immigration card to those that come to work with me, because I don't feel like asking for a card when they don't have it, when they have just arrived, especially when they are from the town, then why am I going to ask for it when I know they don't have it. To the government I make it look like we work 40 hours and I am paying the minimum wage. If they make more that the minimum I give them a personal check or I pay them cash, we do it this way so that they don't take any more taxes from us. That's how I have worked with people from the town and people from other places, we do it this way because it helps both of us.
+
+
+  Of course, this sometimes creates problems, since here everybody can threaten you telling you that they are going to report you, but in order to do it one needs a lot of things. In the first place they need to make an investigation to see whether it's true what you are reporting, they have threatened me but I have connections with lawyers, and the accountant tells me a lot, lets me know a lot of things, that's how you start realizing how the country works, what is that you have to do, what's more important, and what you can count on. I remember that when I came for the first time, the person I owed 40 000 pesos told me:
+
+
+  - I need you to pay me back, if you don't do it I am going to report you.
+
+
+  He never did it, it's not possible.
+
+
+  What I did have was a law suit by a person from the town. In '87, '88 we were a little low in work, and for two weeks people were not paid, this person left after two weeks. He said:
+
+
+  -I cannot take it any longer.
+
+
+  I told him:
+
+
+  - Wait one more week because I cannot pay you, they are going to send me the check.
+
+
+  The problem was that he wanted to collect more, almost twice what I owed him. Fortunately I kept control books, I keep those notebooks for 2 or 3 years, to clear any problems that may come up.
+
+
+  -Here I have what I need to prove you that I have paid you, I have the notebook where we make the accounts, I have the check receipts, there is no reason to cheat, here I show you what I owe you, 430 dollars.
+
+
+  - It's 1 300 dollars what you owe me.
+
+
+  - Do whatever you want, I am not going to pay you what you tell me.
+
+
+  He went ahead and sued me. They called me, I had to go to court. I won. That has been the only problem I've had. That made me feel really bad, because he shouldn't have done that when he was one of the people I helped in the beginning when he arrived. Later on they told me he did the same in Uruapan. For sure he thought he could do the same here.
+
+
+  The people from Ayala don't look for me in San Fernando anymore, they are already related to other companies. I have more people from Ayala that just arrived, they come here because on the other side they don't teach them, this is the only place where they do that. Now, its' been for some time that no one new arrives. Nowadays I have almost only young people and a lot of women.
+
+
+  From my brothers only the youngest one I didn't help, but Pedro and the other I helped them a lot. They did know how to take advantage, they bought a hotel, I think it's Pedro's and all of what they have done, they've done it here, because before they were poor, they used to work with me. They've done well because now they even have a store. I think everybody should be the same, but there are some that are doing worse than over there, and that is because they earn 200 and spend 300.
+
+
+  When I started my business, in one week we made all the negotiations, in two weeks I had all the personnel, and in three weeks I was already working on my own. My boss couldn't believe it, she even wanted to become my partner but I rejected the offer. I feel I've been the opposite of her, because somebody comes and I tell them like this:
+
+
+  -Look, do this, try to do it, don't get drunk, because for example, you earn 200, you spend 150, or spend 100 and save 100, send 100 to Mexico because there is where one can profit from what you're doing here. If you earn 200 and you want to spend 300 then you don't get out of the same and the same.
+
+
+  I have always advised people that way, because I know one can benefit, that's why I have changed. Even when we used to go to the bars I used to drink only soda. My friends would tell me how is it possible that me, who liked that scene so much, would only drink soda. In '81 it was one of my resolutions, aside from saving, because my objective was to return to Mexico and build a house.
+
+
+  But it was not always like this, because in the beginning I used to send little money to my wife, and this was because my boss Marilú would force me to save. She wouldn't pay me but she would get my salary in batches and send it to my wife Berta, I never became angry for this. I sent her two or three, but then I decided to save on my own and I told Marilú to give me my salary to put it in the bank, to stop distrusting me, because I was no longer going to drink in excess. That's how I started, from there I realized that it is very nice to save, besides anybody can do it. We all work, they all arrive the same way I did, so why doesn't everybody do the same as I did, it's easy, and that's why I say: anybody can make it.
+---
+I came to the United States in 1963, because of money problems. I was a travel agent and, because of that, I have always liked to be independent. That's why I got the nerve and came over, without any direction, just like that, hitchhiking.
+
+When I arrived to Tijuana I remembered that I used to have a friend there who was now in Los Angeles. I met her when I was trying to sell clothing in Tijuana. She had given me her address so that, whenever I went on vacation, I could go visit her. She is from Michoacán.
+
+The last time that I saw her, she still didn't know about my financial problems, that's why, when I arrived to Tijuana and came accross her telephone number in my wallet, the first thing I did was call her in the United States. She agreed to receive me and I went to the address she had given me. When I arrived she told me:
+
+-Imagine, I just got married, I am going to introduce you to my husband. Then she said:
+
+- Where did you arrive to, which hotel?
+
+- I didn't arrive to any hotel.
+
+- How am I going to believe you didn't arrive to any hotel! If you have money.
+
+- Well, yes but the money is gone.
+
+She invited me to her house, but it was very small, it only fit one bed.
+
+-You stay in the bed, we will stay in the car.
+
+- No, impossible.
+
+I stayed in the car; I remember that when I met her; back in '62, I never told her:
+
+-You know what, Catalina? I'm doing bad, I'm doing bad in my business.
+
+That's why, when I arrived and I called her up to tell her that I was coming, she thought I was coming on vacations only. But I told her:
+
+-You know what? I came to work.
+
+She couldn't believe it, she told me things were really tough, she took me to her place, it was troublesome for me to be such a nuisance. I had no job and she tried to accomodate me somewhere, I lasted a month without working, she was helping me to get food, I would also spend my time in the neighborhood of San Fernando, there were some restaurants, I would have a coffee, they would invite me a smoke, I would even ask people on the street for help, sometimes they would give me a dollar, that was on the 14th of January of 1973.
+
+In Mexico I used to be a baker, my family used to sell embroidered blankets, that's why I started selling clothing. At home, my mother and sisters would do that. I started selling in the capital city, Acapulco, and Tijuana.
+
+I used to go to Mexico because I had a brother there, to Tijuana because I knew a few acquaintances who had done well there, from there I went to Nuevo Laredo, Guadalajara, Acapulco, Cuernavaca, Chilpancingo, Tijuana, and Monterrey, those were the cities where I would sell.
+
+Before doing this, I used to have a grocery store in town, but it wasn't generating profits; I went to sell fabrics but that didn't bring profits either, so that I couldn't pay a debt of 40 000 pesos, that's when I told my wife the idea of coming to _el Norte_, she didn't agree because I didn't know anybody, aside from that there was nobody from Ayala, because the first one to arrive here was me.
+
+I started working on February the 18th, 1973; Catalina, that was my friend's name, introduced me to Mrs. Marilú, she is from Tuxpan, Jalisco; when she saw me she asked me if I knew how to cook, I said no, they made me a test. Since there were no unused machines I became in charge of cleaning and the finishing of blouses. The first week she paid me 40 dollars, that's how I started to work, six months later I was a manager.
+
+The boss trusted me a lot, besides I became very close to her, wherever she would go, she would invite me, and she would take me with her. Sometimes people would think there was more going on, but between my boss and myself there was only a very pure friendship. She would help me a lot, but only that.
+
+The first problem that I had with her was back in '81, on that ocasion she had gone to Mexico, and since I was the general manager, we had a mistake with a pair of short pants that a company ordered from us, the order was for 3200 pairs, when she came back I told her:
+
+-Marilú, we ended up with 30 bad short pants.
+
+She asked me who had made them.
+
+-Lalo, my brother.
+
+She started screaming at him.
+
+You know what, Mrs.? You cannot yell at Lalo because I told him how to make them, and they came out wrong because I didn't explain it right, I am responsible, the only person you can say something to is myself.
+
+-I also have something for you, come here.
+
+We went to the office, she told me:
+
+-Look Luis, you know how to be nice, you have experience, you are a very good worker; it is very easy for you to find a job in another place, here's one door, there is another, choose, you can go.
+
+- Okay.
+
+But because everybody was used to working with me, they started complaining; when I was about to go they were all asking me not to, only my brothers were saying yes, I only said:
+
+-I'm going to think about it.
+
+Even if she had fired me I knew she was nervous, I went to the house and I called her:
+
+-Hey Marilú, for me it was very difficult, but nevertheless you are the owner, thank you very much for everything, for all that I have learned, for all that I know, thank you.
+
+-She came another day and told me:
+
+-Luis I need you to go to work, because you know the move.
+
+- Okay.
+
+We went back to work, but we were not comfortable anymore, neither my brothers nor me.
+
+In '82 Lalo came out with the idea of starting a business, we both had 10 000 dollars saved, Nacho had no money, but the most important thing wasn't the money, but knowing the owners of businesses or the managers, those are who give out the work, also to look for who can sell you the machines. There were some people that trusted me, I had met them all through Marilú.
+
+I went to Los Angeles to speak with my friend Juan García, to see whether he would sell me his machines. I told him:
+
+I want to start a business, you are going to help me because you have all that is needed, if you trust me and believe in that I can work it, you are going to tell me.
+
+-Okay.
+
+He told me. Then he asked me:
+
+-How much money do you have?
+
+- 30 000 dollars.
+
+-Well, with that you go and get the license, buy an insurance, pick a place, because setting up a business implies a lot of paperwork and everything has to be in order, everything straight. I did all that, I had 6 000 dollars left and with that I took 15 machines with me, and that's how we strarted, one year later we had 40. We called the factory "Londres Stowers."
+
+In '84, after two years of work, we started having less profits, I didn't know why, if we were doing it right, sometimes we had enough to pay people, but very tightly, I thought we were not working equally anymore, and since I was interested in making more and more every day, because I felt I was becoming big, to have started with so little and in only one year become big, it feels good, I wanted to make more, to keep going.
+
+My brother Nacho, the youngest, I wasn't going to leave him 'cause he helped me a lot, so we came up with another work strategy, by then we were four partners, Lalo's wife joined us with a loan she gave us. We decided to separate, I went with Nacho, Lalo stayed with María, his wife, we left to Sylmar, we lasted one year, we took with us forty machines in between both of us. We called our factory "Habiles Stowers."
+
+What happened after is that Lalo bought more machines, and since they didn't fit anymore in the place he was renting, he moved to a larger space, but the rent was high and he couldn't afford it on his own, besides there was plenty of space to put our machines, he invited us to move with him and to run the entire factory together, it was to our advantage, because we were also crammed, we merged again, but it wasn't anymore a type of machinery association bacause at any point we could get more machines and get another place, when we merged it was a very large factory, it was called "High Tai," there were 80 machines working and about 50% of the workers were from Ayala, we managed to have more than 100 operators, all throughout '85 we worked under the name of "High Tai." But a year later, we again had problems, we weren't making enough, plus that year my wife came over. I told Lalo:
+
+-From now on I need a reliable salary because my wife is here and, as we are, I feel I'm not going to make it.
+
+Then, we had 80 machines; I left and my two brothers remained together. I went with a Salvadorean friend who had a factory in a spacious place. When the problems started he told me that, if I wanted, he could rent me half his factory, that's how I started my business all alone, that same year Nacho left Lalo.
+
+I called my factory "Los Angeles Fashions," with time I bought machines and they became 35, my factory was located on 1314 San Diego, it lasted two years with that name and then I changed it to "Santa Clara de California." I changed it because my daughter was born, and since that was her name, I gave it that name so that my daughter would become something in the business, I wanted it to show in the factory.
+
+In 1990 I left to Mexico, even though I left the manager in charge, I left in July and returned in September, when I arrived my business was going downhill. I never understood why. My brothers had a lot of work, I was the only one who didn't have any. They tried to help me by giving me some of their work, even then everything went downhill, the more I wanted to fix it the more it would sink. I even told my brothers it was worthless to keep fighting, we closed in December of  that year. All my machines, already 35, I took them home.
+
+In those days, my brother Nacho got very ill and we had to bring him to Mexico. Since he could no longer take care of his business I stayed in his place for a while. Since my business was closed, I had no other option than to stay with his. Now I'm bringing my things to his factory, all the machines now are mine, but before they were his. When I closed I thought I would do the same thing, I only wanted to rest for a while. My idea was to start over, that's why I didn't sell my machines.
+
+Nowadays, from Ayala I have very few people, maybe 17 all together. There was a moment when all the workers were from there. That was in '88, '89, about 40, 45. At that time, also with my brothers, they had people from the town. Nowadays it's low, I have 40 employees. Last year it was good, I had some 35 to 40, Nacho 60, 65 and Lalo 60 or 70, but not only from Ayala.
+
+When we started the business, three months later there were already 20 or 30 people from the town, before that there were 6 people from the town: Juan, my nephew, my two brothers and Jesús, who was in Los Angeles and I brought him here. There were other two guys, they came through Antonio Pineda, also from Ayala. He had a business here, he used to fix housing roofs, they used to say that he didn't treat people very well even though they were from the town. He already returned to Ayala. Martín, my nephew, told his brothers and they came over: Custodio, Silviano, and later other two little kids.
+
+There are also some others from the town, but they are in Huntington, we came here around the same time. I knew they were here but there was never any communication. They noticed and they found my phone number, I don't know how. They were the first people from the town to call me. I remember when he called me, he told me:
+
+-Look, I'll see you in such place, in Los Angeles.
+
+He gave me an appointment, I went because a long time had already passed since I had spoken with someone from there and I was very interested; from there we started visiting each other every 8, 15 days. Sometimes I would go, other times they would come, in that way we started to be in contact. They worked at a ship company.
+
+I have always tried to help people, I don't care about the problems they might have with the government, but I'm always like that, helping and breaking the law, I risk it. Thank God nothing has happened to me, we have even received orders from immigration to not take undocumented people, but I still keep on doing it. I don't ask them whether they have documents or not. Once a person from immigration went and warned me, that was two years ago, they have never come back to bother me. Even knowing that I am running the risk of having to pay a very large fine for having illegals, I still do it. Why? Because I want to keep helping people, that's never left me, the way you see me I don't seem to be a boss. They have told me:
+
+-You, in reality, are no good as a boss, because you should be going about in a different way, you should carry a good car.
+
+I have a good car, but I don't drive it, I have it at home, I don't like being pretentious or feel like more. I've always been like this. They have told me:
+
+-You have to change.
+
+But I can't.
+
+I have helped a lot of people, among relatives and friends, I'd say some 15, I send them a _coyote_, I lend them money, some pay me, others don't.
+
+Before, I used to be in the habit of inviting people from the town, but ever since a _compadre,_ who had never told me he had abandoned his wife, came along with me -besides, the day I found about it, they put the blame on me for having convinced him, their family was angry with me- since then, I don't tell anybody to come along. I only tell them:
+
+-Whenever you want to leave, leave. Here is my telephone number, you call me. If I can help you, I will help you, if not, you'll know, but that's what I can do.
+
+I no longer invite anybody from the town to come with me. Heaven forbid, something may happen to them, if they cannot find their spot; because one thing I say, this country is very bad if you treat it wrong, but if you behave well this country is good. When they come from there it's because they're bad economically, one gets here with the illusions of doing a lot of things, they say this country is really good, that here one makes a lot of money. Yes, one earns a lot of money, but one has to work and behave well.
+
+When a person comes from there he has the head full of illusions that: I am going to do this, I am going to do that. They get here and they start making friends, with the same people from the town. They invite them beer and they do that every 8 days, and they forget the illusions they had brought with them because they don't earn enough to support themselves.
+
+Indeed, all the people that are here, are here because of me, because I was the very first one to arrive in San Fernando and the first one that could get them working, the first one that could support them while they met more people, that's how a lot started coming, they would arrive to my house, they even slept there, I fed them, I lend them money, I even bought them clothes, I taught them how to sew, once they had learned they would go off to other places to give them the profits.
+
+But that's not all, I also helped find a house to all of those who are here with their families, they must be around 15 or 20, besides I helped them find documents; that was in '89, when the amnesty thing, I helped about 50 people, it was only about the boss sending out a signed letter, they would grant him the thing about amnesty, many became legal. I would also get them letters for the fields, through friends; There are people in Santa Ana that I helped and who never worked for me, I would only let the government know that they had worked with me since '82.
+
+Although I am going to say one thing, all of the people, even my nephews, I don't make distinctions, all of the people, in the end, have been very bad with me. They arrive in bad shape, I help them, they get better, and they go somewhere else to work, to network with others. But since I'm not the kind of person that holds grudges I give them jobs again, they stay for a week or two and they leave, then they come back, and so on. Nobody has been able to take that away from me, neither my wife, nor my children.
+
+I was never worried about fixing my documents. What for? If in any case I'm in the country without them, my wife was the one that demanded the most that I became legal. A friend of the family helped me. She was Colombian. She was the same one who fixed the documents of a lot of people from the town. I sent them all with her. Her name is Ema Chacón. In '89 she made me sign them without knowing what kind of documents they were, that's how I fixed them. Before fixing them, the _migra_ kicked me out only twice. The first time from my factory in '74; the second time from the corner of my house.
+
+Since I have my business I almost don't spend time with anybody, only with my wife, my children, from time to time with my brother Lalo, sometimes with the very same employees. Before my wife arrived, with pure employees, workers,. But now as a boss it is totally different. You cannot spend time with them for the simple reason that it is totally different, you feel a different thing. I don't show it, I don't want to, how can I say this? to feel more than them, but necessity makes you do it. I don't like spending time with them for several reasons, the most important one is that the majority likes to drink, if I'm with them I have to do it and I can't, because to be absent on a Monday is very difficult, that's why I don't like spending time with them. Of course, before I used to do the same thing, but now it's different; it is difficult for me to make social life for the simple reason that since I became a boss, responsibility won't leave me, it is very difficult to look bad because I'm not interested in parties, I'm interested in work. If one has to go to a party, I don't go if I have to make a sample, if I have to speed up a job, that somebody cannot do it, I have to come and work; another thing is that it feels very nice to have a family that respects you, that's my case. I have older children, in this country it is very difficult to have children like mine, mine are not in school but they don't get home all drunk, they spend time with me at home, all of that because I have always commanded respect.
+
+When I became a boss I stopped drinking. I do drink, but once every two or three months I'll have one, but not as I used to, no, it's because of my children who are older and I have to command respect. I have changed completely from how I was before, I was not forced but it came out of me. Sometimes it happens that friends with whom I was doing the same things, drinking and all that, they tell me:
+
+-How can it be that you are all calmed now!
+
+I tell them:
+
+-It's that you have to do it, because then how are your children going to respect you, if from now on, tomorrow or the day after, you have a problem with your children how are you going to reproach anything, because you're worse or the same as them.
+
+I have given out a lot of advice, I tell people who have recently arrived how one has to work, how one has to support oneself, how to try and save the money; this country is good but you have to know how to work the country, there are many that come and want to continue the same way: in poverty. Here, if for example, one person arrives, I tell him:
+
+-You don't know how to sew, you don't know how to do anything, I am going to pay you 100 dollars for the first week, here there are no hours, there's no such a thing as you've already worked too much, but then you'll be teaching yourself. It all depends on you, if you teach yourself quickly. Ok, if in two weeks you already know, I'll pay you the same as the rest. You'll have to grab your punch card, punch it and depending on the hours that you make that's how much you will be paid. If you continue the same, then you will never make it out of the 100 dollars.
+
+I remember now Don Fran, Francisco Ana Lucas, he has had problems because he has another woman. We call him Don Fran, all the time he has worked with us. Now, he's not here anymore. As a matter of fact, they have said a lot about ourselves, but almost nothing concrete, they do it to take revenge, but as he used to say, that his family is over there, that he has to send money because they have to eat, and if he has here another one, then he cannot do it because he cannot make it with both. Now that I was in Mexico I ran into him and Nacho, then  I arrived to the town and they told me:
+
+-You have gone such a long time without paying!
+
+My mother gets very worried. She, thank God, has money, we do too, if I have some money left I send it. My mother says:
+
+-Imagine that here they are saying that you don't pay, that you have gone three months without paying the people, that that's why Don Fran came back.
+
+- That's very wrong - I told her -, because if it has already been three months that they don't get paid and here are the bosses, he should come and collect it here, why is he going around telling people that we don't pay them?
+
+There are a lot of people that talk like that: I don't send money because I haven't worked. Lies! Here, one cannot work if it's not paid, it's very difficult.
+
+We sometimes pay with a personal check, sometimes in cash. We do it this way: if, for example, you earn the minimum, that is 170 dollars per week, from that you have to make a report to the government, so we are making a report by law, having a punched card and having the employee, that's the thing about law by comission, they have agents, if they see 30 people and I have 10 cards, they charge me 100 dollars per missing card, it's a fine, they come about two or three times a year. I don't ask for the immigration card to those that come to work with me, because I don't feel like asking for a card when they don't have it, when they have just arrived, especially when they are from the town, then why am I going to ask for it when I know they don't have it. To the government I make it look like we work 40 hours and I am paying the minimum wage. If they make more that the minimum I give them a personal check or I pay them cash, we do it this way so that they don't take any more taxes from us. That's how I have worked with people from the town and people from other places, we do it this way because it helps both of us.
+
+Of course, this sometimes creates problems, since here everybody can threaten you telling you that they are going to report you, but in order to do it one needs a lot of things. In the first place they need to make an investigation to see whether it's true what you are reporting, they have threatened me but I have connections with lawyers, and the accountant tells me a lot, lets me know a lot of things, that's how you start realizing how the country works, what is that you have to do, what's more important, and what you can count on. I remember that when I came for the first time, the person I owed 40 000 pesos told me:
+
+- I need you to pay me back, if you don't do it I am going to report you.
+
+He never did it, it's not possible.
+
+What I did have was a law suit by a person from the town. In '87, '88 we were a little low in work, and for two weeks people were not paid, this person left after two weeks. He said:
+
+-I cannot take it any longer.
+
+I told him:
+
+- Wait one more week because I cannot pay you, they are going to send me the check.
+
+The problem was that he wanted to collect more, almost twice what I owed him. Fortunately I kept control books, I keep those notebooks for 2 or 3 years, to clear any problems that may come up.
+
+-Here I have what I need to prove you that I have paid you, I have the notebook where we make the accounts, I have the check receipts, there is no reason to cheat, here I show you what I owe you, 430 dollars.
+
+- It's 1 300 dollars what you owe me.
+
+- Do whatever you want, I am not going to pay you what you tell me.
+
+He went ahead and sued me. They called me, I had to go to court. I won. That has been the only problem I've had. That made me feel really bad, because he shouldn't have done that when he was one of the people I helped in the beginning when he arrived. Later on they told me he did the same in Uruapan. For sure he thought he could do the same here.
+
+The people from Ayala don't look for me in San Fernando anymore, they are already related to other companies. I have more people from Ayala that just arrived, they come here because on the other side they don't teach them, this is the only place where they do that. Now, its' been for some time that no one new arrives. Nowadays I have almost only young people and a lot of women.
+
+From my brothers only the youngest one I didn't help, but Pedro and the other I helped them a lot. They did know how to take advantage, they bought a hotel, I think it's Pedro's and all of what they have done, they've done it here, because before they were poor, they used to work with me. They've done well because now they even have a store. I think everybody should be the same, but there are some that are doing worse than over there, and that is because they earn 200 and spend 300.
+
+When I started my business, in one week we made all the negotiations, in two weeks I had all the personnel, and in three weeks I was already working on my own. My boss couldn't believe it, she even wanted to become my partner but I rejected the offer. I feel I've been the opposite of her, because somebody comes and I tell them like this:
+
+-Look, do this, try to do it, don't get drunk, because for example, you earn 200, you spend 150, or spend 100 and save 100, send 100 to Mexico because there is where one can profit from what you're doing here. If you earn 200 and you want to spend 300 then you don't get out of the same and the same.
+
+I have always advised people that way, because I know one can benefit, that's why I have changed. Even when we used to go to the bars I used to drink only soda. My friends would tell me how is it possible that me, who liked that scene so much, would only drink soda. In '81 it was one of my resolutions, aside from saving, because my objective was to return to Mexico and build a house.
+
+But it was not always like this, because in the beginning I used to send little money to my wife, and this was because my boss Marilú would force me to save. She wouldn't pay me but she would get my salary in batches and send it to my wife Berta, I never became angry for this. I sent her two or three, but then I decided to save on my own and I told Marilú to give me my salary to put it in the bank, to stop distrusting me, because I was no longer going to drink in excess. That's how I started, from there I realized that it is very nice to save, besides anybody can do it. We all work, they all arrive the same way I did, so why doesn't everybody do the same as I did, it's easy, and that's why I say: anybody can make it.
diff --git a/src/content/history/we-are-the-ones-who-came-here-to-leave-our-sweat.md b/src/content/history/we-are-the-ones-who-came-here-to-leave-our-sweat.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44d7b44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/content/history/we-are-the-ones-who-came-here-to-leave-our-sweat.md
@@ -0,0 +1,660 @@
+---
+title: We are the ones who came here to leave our sweat
+category: Those Who Stay
+description: Story of the third Ruvalcaba brother and his journeys through the
+  U.S. prior to joining his two other brothers in Lake Tahoe.
+story: >
+  I was 17 when I left with my brother-in-law to San Luis, Río Colorado, to the
+  cotton fields. It was a mediocre job because it was really lame, we came
+  because it was said that there was a lot of work and that a lot of people came
+  here. We left with the illusion and the hopes of making more money than back
+  there in town. On the way back I brought 60 pesos with me, my brother-in-law
+  got sick and had little money, we didn't have enough to go back, and so, we
+  hitchhiked on the way back. We only paid the ticket from San Luis, Río
+  Colorado to Ciudad Obregón; from there to Ameca, we travelled for free. We
+  pretended to be among the sleeping ones and, in Tepic, the money collector
+  asked us:
+
+
+  -Your tickets please.
+
+
+  Then, I played dumb and started looking for the tickets in my sweater and I had to lie:
+
+
+  - My tickets were here, I don't know what happened, somebody must have taken them.
+
+
+  It was a lie but it helped us get to our destination.
+
+
+  In November of '72 I came to Tijuana to cross to the other side and go with my brothers who were in Watsonville, California, but, once being there they told me that there was no more work at the _canería._ I had to wait at the border for four months to cross. From November to February I worked in road construction; I used to live with some relatives that, unfortunately, behaved very badly, even when I was paying them 12 dollars per week for room and board. Afterwards, I moved with some old ladies from Otavalo and there I was very comfortable. I used to pay them the same amount but there were no spiels about:
+
+
+  -What you pay us is very little. Imagine, had you arrived in a hotel and a restaurant, what you would have paid and, then laundry!
+
+
+  In that house there were no problems of that kind.
+
+
+  By February of '73 I tried to cross to the other side. As luck would have it, I was kicked out three times; the first one happened at the end of February. A family from the ranch "El Pasito," close to Majorca, came by,  I left together with them in a car, it was in the evening.  I remember the _coyote_ was driving so nervous that the car rolled over, ending up with the wheels upside down, and a woman that had fillings in her teeth, lost them all. Nothing happened to the rest of us. Thank heavens, fortunately I am still alive! From there we headed to the hills, we were four the ones in that car, the woman and her brother-in-law left one way, a fellow and myself pulled the other way. At that time I had a little money saved from what I had earned in Tijuana, plus a bit other that my brothers had sent me from Watsonville. We got a lift with an American all the way to San Diego; there we took a bus to Oceanside but, when we were falling asleep, they came and knocked on the door. It so happened to be the _migra_ and....out we were! They sent us to Chula Vista, and from there they kicked us out to Tijuana at about six in the morning.
+
+
+  The second time that they grabed us was at night. We climbed a hillock and, on the way down, the _migra_ was already waiting for us. That one time we didn't walk much, only ten minutes and, right away they shouted at us:
+
+
+  -Where you go men? hands up or we can shoot you.
+
+
+  They were saying that only to frighten us....out we were again!
+
+
+  The third time we crossed by the train tracks, in the evening; it wasn't dark yet, and right away, we didn't walk much, we were about to walk into a hotel when they stopped us and....all the way out again!
+
+
+  The fourth time was when I finally made it. I crossed by the train tracks, but during the morning. I think they hadn't slept well, the _migra_ guys; it was the very same _coyote_ who had helped me cross the third time (obviously that was the only way he knew), he told me:
+
+
+  -You're gonna go with Mr. So-and-So, they already know where to take you.
+
+
+  We left straight to the hotel, five minutes later a car arrived. We got in, six people and, let's go! From there we came to San Diego. They had us three days without crossing because they wanted to smuggle 200 people in a very big trailer, so I got nervous and escaped. They had us in a pen, like cattle; the bathroom had its window facing a street, with a fence, but you could open it, that little fence could go to hell. I did some figuring and, since I've always managed on my own, I said:
+
+
+  -Well, it's my turn for the good one, I've got some experience now, they've kicked me out three times, this won't be the fourth.
+
+
+  I got into the bathroom, I locked the door, I got out little by little through the window, and I began to walk on the street, being careful that the _polleros_ wouldn't see me; I remember I found two girls that were walking by and I told them, all shaky:
+
+
+  -Excuse me, do you know where's a hotel around here?
+
+
+  Then, one said:
+
+
+  -Oh daddy, look, there's one.
+
+
+  They were flirts, what I wanted was to get to a damned hotel. I couldn't pay attention to compliments or anything. I was a kid, I was 21 at the time. An American received me, I told him:
+
+
+  -Do you have rooms, sir?
+
+
+  -With how many beds? How many rooms you want?
+
+
+  He spoke a little Spanish.
+
+
+  -I want one with one bedroom, for me.
+
+
+  It seemed that he was straight, he was not discriminating, I stayed in the hotel. I had some telephone numbers written on the belt so I called the _coyote_ that smuggled us the first time. He was such a crook and a scoundrel, even though he was also from Otavalo, but from another ranch, he told me:
+
+
+  -Where are you calling me from? Where are you?
+
+
+  -I'm in San Diego, imagine that I escaped from those who were going to smuggle me, the reason being that they are smuggling many people, they have 200 people, waiting because they want to get more to smuggle them all in a trailer, like cattle, that's a mess.
+
+
+  -You know what? I'll go get you, but I'm gonna charge you the same. I don't care that you're in, to me the difficult thing is to cross San Clemente, not the borderline and, blah, blah, blah...
+
+
+  He charged me 225 dollars. He smuggled me inside the spare tyre compartment; we went all the way to Pacoma, California. I stayed with some friends for one year working in a factory where they assembled trailers.
+
+
+  By '73 my brother José Ruvalcaba had left to Lake Tahoe, Nevada. When he saw that it was a virgin place to work, he came to pick me up to Pacoma; when I arrived everything impressed me, because here is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I was impressed, from the lake, the casinos, and primarily, the cocktail waitresses, they're almost naked, since I hadn't seen them before, that's the attraction that makes one come back again to these places.
+
+
+  My brother found me a job at the hotel Tahoe Motel, there I worked making the beds; I lasted eight months. At that time my brother helped me get another job at the Casino Harris, a small casino, where I did a bit of everything: dish-washer, busboy, sweeper. I had two jobs, at the Tahoe Motel in the morning and at the Harris at night. I slept very little and I almost lasted four months that way.
+
+
+  In 1974 I married a _gabachita_ and, seven months later, I emigrated. Once I fixed my papers, I told her "good bye." The idea about marring a _gringa_ was to see how she came out as a woman, but early on I began to see that it was not worthwhile, that she only wanted to be hanging out in restaurants and casinos, she didn't want to work, she didn't do anything to have money, only to please herself, that bothered me; so I started to get the intention of leaving her, because besides she would go to the parties with her sisters, because she said that was life in the United States, but that was all a lie, that's exactly why it happened to her what happened to her.
+
+
+  One day I went with my brother to have a drink at the casino Harveys and we met an Argentinian who got close and told us:
+
+
+  -Where are you from? Are you Mexicans?
+
+
+  -Yes.
+
+
+  He says:
+
+
+  -Wouldn't you want to work as busboys?
+
+
+  My brother said:
+
+
+  -I have a good job as a busboy at the casino Sahara's theater, but my brother has a modest job, I think that if you gave him a chance, he could be a busboy.
+
+
+  He had a captain's job, he would sit and hire people, besides he had very good connections in that casino, he told him:
+
+
+  -Tomorrow come talk to the big one, I'll give you a hand to get in.
+
+
+  I left both jobs and I became a busboy earning the same amount as in my two previous jobs, together; I lasted, more or less, six months. I left because I wanted to work as a helper to a barman but they told me that my English wasn't good enough for that job. I felt offended and so I left, but thank God, I've always had good luck. I started working at the Sahara casino as a dish-washer; I took a lesser job to then jump to a better one, three months after I moved to the buffet, as a helper to the waiter, making 6 or 7 dollars per day, aside from my salary, that's what the waiters would give me, damned thieves! In that same department when I reached two months I moved to the theater, as a helper to the waiter, making 60 or 70 dollars per day, it was a very good job, here I managed to last two and a half years, five as a waiter. I left because they closed down the theater and they wanted to move us to another department where we were going to make less money. As a waiter they gave me tips with everything and the salary was 150 dollars, I managed to make up to 300 dollars, but, where's all that? Everything stayed at the casinos, in the gambling, that's why I give out my advise: that everybody who comes to places where there are casinos and who likes to gamble, it's better to not even try to come, or, if he comes, be it only to take a look, but no to stay 'cause his life is going to be unhappy.
+
+
+  I married once again in 1980, with a girl from the ranch of Lagunillas, in the same municipality, six years younger than me, with her I have two children, a 13 year-old girl and a 10 year-old boy, they were both born here.
+
+
+  From 1986 on, the _otavaleños_ started arriving very rapidly, it wasn't a slow thing because my brother helped out the brothers-in-law and they are very gossipy, when they would go to Otavalo they would say that there was a lot of work in Lake Tahoe and the story kept spreading, in fact my brother and I even ended up bringing people from Los Angeles, that we were going to take them to Reno, once here we would find then work. My brother was the one who did a lot for those from Otavalo, in fact the people from Nayarit is here because of my brother. That is, the chain exists because of him. We helped a buddy that was very ungrateful called Félix Medina; that dude after we helped him, he would get drunk and would say that he was the first one to have gotten to Lake Tahoe, he wouldn't say it here, but he would go to Los Angeles and say:
+
+
+  -No, there, the one to discover that gorgeous place was me.
+
+
+  He would talk nonsense, I don't care who got here first, who cares if he had been here alone for five years, and then, after those five years, I would have arrived and started bringing people to this place.
+
+
+  When the theater closed down I looked for another job at the same casino, but in the restaurant, as a waiter. I lasted nine months there, to move then as an assistant to the barman, two years after I was promoted to barman where I made more money than at the theater. In that department I lasted three more years. I was going to reach 13 years at the casino when I lost my job. They fired me because I was being dishonest, because I used to give away wine to people and sometimes I wouldn't charge them. They were already keeping an eye on me. I would give away drinks to my friends so that they would leave me more tips, but they didn't really fire me because of that, but because the Union came in and I was a very active member in it, in turn that was not convenient to the casino, but I made a mistake for being an active member of the Union, because they are very tricky. The Union is really good when they all unite, but unfortunately people are afraid and, since there's a lot of undocumented people, then they are afraid that the same companies are going to fire them, that they might check their documents, or that they might call the immigration department. As long as we Latinos don't unite, the Americans are going to have us grabbed by the neck.
+
+
+  I've always hated the _gringos'_ discriminating ways, I hate that they step on Latinos, in this country, us Latinos, we are being 100 percent discriminated against; there was a little bit of this at work, not so because the supervisors appreciate very much the Latino, but because we work very hard, and the Americans want the things well done. Americans think they are very smart but they are not what they think, because in reality they are not as well prepared as Japanese, who are so disciplined, or the Germans. There are a lot of Americans, a great majority who are drug addicts, hippies, slackers who don't want to work, who only want to get easy jobs and sometimes they don't know how to carry them out. In fact, I was the only Mexican Latino to be a waiter at the Sahara theater where Elvis Presley and other famous artists would perform. There were other people who were Latinos, _pochos_ born here, but legitimate Mexican, only myself. There were a lot of Americans that wanted to get it but they couldn't deal with the job, I didn't feel good against them, I felt good by myself, because as the hermit would say: if I can do my job not being American and they cannot do it in their own land, then I'm no more a fool than they are; I always thought of myself as one of the best in this job. After they fired me I went to the Caesar's casino, I worked for three months as a helper to the barman, and one year and nine months as a barman. At the same time I opened up a clothing store with a money we had saved my wife and I. The story of how we started the store was that we bought forty tablecloths in the supermarket of San Juan de Dios in Guadalajara, we payed fifteen dollars for those tablecloths, we sold them here at 40 dollars each. For us, this was a wonderful profit, so I told my wife:
+
+
+  -We can make money here, we can go to Mexico, bring clothing, and sell it to make money.
+
+
+  When I became an employee at Caesar's we already had the store, it was just starting and I was doing well, I said:
+
+
+  -Well, this is it for me and work, why should I continue when we're making a living with the store.
+
+
+  On one ocasion we went shopping to Mexico, we were also on vacations, a very sad adventure happened to us, because when we opened up the store we bought clothing from Mexico. We thought that clothing from over there was going to be a success, and it was a disaster. That one time we bought about 10,000 dollars in merchandise, they stopped it in San Francisco and sent it back to Guadalajara. The merchandise was confiscated for three months in San Pancho, in the customs office. We had to smuggle it illegaly because we didn't have a permit, they told us:
+
+
+  -You don't have a visa to import, because here it says how many pieces you must bring, how many kilos, what factory made them, and blah, blah, blah...
+
+
+  We didn't bring anything of that.That bribe, we had done it twice before and nothing had happened, we were already hooked on it.
+
+
+  In 1992 I opened up another business, a store with Mexican groceries, that was the business of my brother Filemón, and since he didn't know how to manage it, he failed and gave it to me. He wanted to sell it to other people, but they were not willing to give him what he was asking for. We kept it because it was right next to the one we had already.
+
+
+  We all know that the United States is better than our homeland to make money, but let's be honest, we don't have to become passionate, we all love very much our homeland, unfortunately there it's not possible 'cause there's a lot of corruption in the government; and the customs officers are such barbarians, they're always trying to find a way to make money out of you. The most corrupted Mexican city that I've known is Mexicali; one time that we went back that way, in 1989, I was going to take my father and my mother to Otavalo, we crossed the line, with the Mexican immigration, one dude tells me:
+
+
+  -Let's see, I want to see what you've got there.
+
+
+  -Boss, they're only three suitcases with clothing, one is my mom's, the other is my dad's, and the other is mine.
+
+
+  You know, that's a lot of clothing that you're carrying, that's going to cost you 40 dollars if you want to get through.
+
+
+  -I'm not going to give you a penny, why would I have to give you, if I'm not carrying guns, I'm carrying my own clothing.
+
+
+  -Well, do what you want, but if you don't give me 40 dollars you don't get through, do whatever you want.
+
+
+  -How nice you look with that suit, I wished you could take it off so that I could smash your face in!
+
+
+  The Mexican government is very dangerous, it's as barbarian as you can get.
+
+
+  He says:
+
+
+  -In any case, I haven't asked you for your ID, let me see who you are, I want to see your ID.
+
+
+  I showed him the tin and he snatched it from me.
+
+
+  -Now you're gonna go with those assholes, and we'll see what you have to say.
+
+
+  -He sent me with the American immigration, thank God I speak a little English, he thought I was green. I went with them and the immigration guy said to me:
+
+
+  -What's up? What's the problem, man.
+
+
+  -The problem is that these men want 40 dollars, or else, they won't let me take this clothing with me, that's all, it's the clothing my father, my mother, and I use, because it's not even new.
+
+
+  -And what they did was shake their heads, and he said:
+
+
+  -We can't do anything, unfortunately that's the way they carry out their lives.
+
+
+  Why does that have to be the only way to carry out their lives? Why can't they work more honestly, or charge taxes? Say: here we charge taxes, that's it and get going. Why does one has to be bargaining?
+
+
+  -Look, the only advice that we can give you is to go where they cross on foot, leave your truck close to a parking lot. I turned back, when I was crossing with the suitcases, other custom officers were waiting for me, they said:
+
+
+  - Hey you, come over here, you cannot come first through that line and then cross through the one for those on foot, because you had a fight up there and you have to go fix it, go cross up that way, we don't want problems with them.
+
+
+  It was the same corruption up there and down there, wanting to scare me and charge me on both sides. So I told him:
+
+
+  -I want to talk to the boss from down here.
+
+
+  -You want to talk with him? Go ahead, he's inside.
+
+
+  -Boss, here's a fellow who wants to talk with you.
+
+
+  The damned old man was drunk.
+
+
+  -What's your problem, man?, Why aren't you behaving?
+
+
+  He was playing fool.
+
+
+  -Look, the problem is that up there they're asking me for 40 dollars, I have them, but I'm going to a very remote place and, don't blow it, boss! Give me a hand, how is it possible that he has to cling to the idea that one has to give them certain money one cannot give.
+
+
+  -Well, how much can you give?
+
+
+  - I'll give you 20 dollars, boss.
+
+
+  - All right, but don't tell the rest 'cause later on, everybody's gonna want to give the same.
+
+
+  I gave that to him and we passed the suitcases walking, I turned around on the truck and I put them back up. When we got to the airport it was another corruption, worse even. We got to the airport and they told me:
+
+
+  -Let's  see, bring your suitcases to weight them, they're a little heavier but just loosen a bit and give us something for the coffee and there's no problem with us.
+
+
+  So I said, that's not bad, I gave him $20,000 pesos.
+
+
+  - All right, now there, where that conveyor belt goes, put them up there, with those guys there.
+
+
+  Another _aduanal_ tells me:
+
+
+  -Don't you know you have to carry no more than 25 pounds maximum?
+
+
+  -That's what they allow to carry in the plane, the rest one has to pay excess baggage, right?
+
+
+  -Don't try to be a smart-ass, here you have to slip 70 bucks, otherwise nothing goes through.
+
+
+  -Well, you know what? I'm not going to give you anything, they fucked me over on the borderline, they screw me over here where they weigh the luggage and, now you too! Here where you're poking around, and, then what? This is the most corrupt place there is in Mexico.
+
+
+  - Then a guy that was coming with us, the one that was going to bring the truck to leave it in Mexicali saw a tall man who, it seems, was a member of the _cardenista_ party, and told him:
+
+
+  -Hey Mr. Arenas, can't you give us a little hand with these men?
+
+
+  - Yes boy.
+
+
+  He was a respectful man.
+
+
+  -Let's see, what's going on in here guys?
+
+
+  -Well, that one.
+
+
+  -Ok, come.
+
+
+  The _aduanal_ was a creep, brush-faced, ugly character.
+
+
+  -No, well this boy doesn't want to loosen up and give us something for the coffee.
+
+
+  - How much are you asking for the coffee?
+
+
+  - They're asking 70 bucks from me, sir.
+
+
+  - Don't be ungrateful, hack it out, I don't want to come back again, I don't want problems.
+
+
+  It seems the guy had power, so they started kind of working out a deal with me, like negotiating something good.
+
+
+  -How much do you want to give?
+
+
+  - I don't want to give out anything. Why am I going to give you when I'm not carrying anything illegal?
+
+
+  - Well yeah, but you have to give or, you won't get them through.
+
+
+  - I don't care if I cannot get them through, you're not going to scare me with that, they always want to scare people, to intimidate them and get their money that way, I'm not going to give you a penny.
+
+
+  - No, well if you're gonna go through, you're gonna have to give.
+
+
+  There we stayed for fifteen minutes, once the plane was going to depart, they told me:
+
+
+  -Well at least slip some 40 bucks, no?
+
+
+  -No, not even 40 bucks I'm going to give you, there's no reason to give you any money, or what, because of your pretty _zanates_ or, why am I going to give you 40 dollars? You're not doing me any favor, no benefit of any sort, or in exchange for what? Only to give it away to your corrupted ways.
+
+
+  We had to call Mr. Arenas once more.
+
+
+  -Mr. Arenas, these men don't want to understand.
+
+
+  Said the boy that was going to return with the truck. Mr. Arenas told the _aduanales_:
+
+
+  Boys, behave with the citizens.
+
+
+  -Mr. Arenas, we're asking for 15 dollars and he doesn't want to give them away.
+
+
+  - Is that true boys?
+
+
+  -They were asking for 40, now they've gone down 25.
+
+
+  -Give it to them, it's enough, so that they can have a coffee.
+
+
+  I gave them 15 dollars from the 70 they were asking for, but I left very pissed off, in Guadalajara there was not that much trouble.
+
+
+  The Amerians are such pimps, why does López Portillo have a house here, in Lake Tahoe? They want rich people here, capitalists. Why don't they kick them out? Ah oh, but the people that come here to leave our sweat, to find a job, everything to enlarge their filthy nation, those they trash. Me, even though I am a citizen, I don't consider myself as being from here. I always love my Mexico, unfortunately, the Mexican system is doing really bad, but not because of that we are going to become disillusioned with our own motherland; I became nationalized because everytime that I would go to Mexico, customs would steal a lot from me, also because this way I can help my parents, emigrating them so that they can receive their pensions because of old age, and like this they can live in peace.
+
+
+  If I went back and lived in Mexico, what I would do would be to start a business; here I never thought of starting one, what I had thought of was to become a big boss in a good position, at the casino; but now I feel better than a boss, because I am the owner of my own business, I have the position of a boss, but I don't give out orders to anybody, I command myself.
+year: "06.2024"
+lede: "\n\n\n"
+---
+I was 17 when I left with my brother-in-law to San Luis, Río Colorado, to the cotton fields. It was a mediocre job because it was really lame, we came because it was said that there was a lot of work and that a lot of people came here. We left with the illusion and the hopes of making more money than back there in town. On the way back I brought 60 pesos with me, my brother-in-law got sick and had little money, we didn't have enough to go back, and so, we hitchhiked on the way back. We only paid the ticket from San Luis, Río Colorado to Ciudad Obregón; from there to Ameca, we travelled for free. We pretended to be among the sleeping ones and, in Tepic, the money collector asked us:
+
+-Your tickets please.
+
+Then, I played dumb and started looking for the tickets in my sweater and I had to lie:
+
+- My tickets were here, I don't know what happened, somebody must have taken them.
+
+It was a lie but it helped us get to our destination.
+
+In November of '72 I came to Tijuana to cross to the other side and go with my brothers who were in Watsonville, California, but, once being there they told me that there was no more work at the _canería._ I had to wait at the border for four months to cross. From November to February I worked in road construction; I used to live with some relatives that, unfortunately, behaved very badly, even when I was paying them 12 dollars per week for room and board. Afterwards, I moved with some old ladies from Otavalo and there I was very comfortable. I used to pay them the same amount but there were no spiels about:
+
+-What you pay us is very little. Imagine, had you arrived in a hotel and a restaurant, what you would have paid and, then laundry!
+
+In that house there were no problems of that kind.
+
+By February of '73 I tried to cross to the other side. As luck would have it, I was kicked out three times; the first one happened at the end of February. A family from the ranch "El Pasito," close to Majorca, came by,  I left together with them in a car, it was in the evening.  I remember the _coyote_ was driving so nervous that the car rolled over, ending up with the wheels upside down, and a woman that had fillings in her teeth, lost them all. Nothing happened to the rest of us. Thank heavens, fortunately I am still alive! From there we headed to the hills, we were four the ones in that car, the woman and her brother-in-law left one way, a fellow and myself pulled the other way. At that time I had a little money saved from what I had earned in Tijuana, plus a bit other that my brothers had sent me from Watsonville. We got a lift with an American all the way to San Diego; there we took a bus to Oceanside but, when we were falling asleep, they came and knocked on the door. It so happened to be the _migra_ and....out we were! They sent us to Chula Vista, and from there they kicked us out to Tijuana at about six in the morning.
+
+The second time that they grabed us was at night. We climbed a hillock and, on the way down, the _migra_ was already waiting for us. That one time we didn't walk much, only ten minutes and, right away they shouted at us:
+
+-Where you go men? hands up or we can shoot you.
+
+They were saying that only to frighten us....out we were again!
+
+The third time we crossed by the train tracks, in the evening; it wasn't dark yet, and right away, we didn't walk much, we were about to walk into a hotel when they stopped us and....all the way out again!
+
+The fourth time was when I finally made it. I crossed by the train tracks, but during the morning. I think they hadn't slept well, the _migra_ guys; it was the very same _coyote_ who had helped me cross the third time (obviously that was the only way he knew), he told me:
+
+-You're gonna go with Mr. So-and-So, they already know where to take you.
+
+We left straight to the hotel, five minutes later a car arrived. We got in, six people and, let's go! From there we came to San Diego. They had us three days without crossing because they wanted to smuggle 200 people in a very big trailer, so I got nervous and escaped. They had us in a pen, like cattle; the bathroom had its window facing a street, with a fence, but you could open it, that little fence could go to hell. I did some figuring and, since I've always managed on my own, I said:
+
+-Well, it's my turn for the good one, I've got some experience now, they've kicked me out three times, this won't be the fourth.
+
+I got into the bathroom, I locked the door, I got out little by little through the window, and I began to walk on the street, being careful that the _polleros_ wouldn't see me; I remember I found two girls that were walking by and I told them, all shaky:
+
+-Excuse me, do you know where's a hotel around here?
+
+Then, one said:
+
+-Oh daddy, look, there's one.
+
+They were flirts, what I wanted was to get to a damned hotel. I couldn't pay attention to compliments or anything. I was a kid, I was 21 at the time. An American received me, I told him:
+
+-Do you have rooms, sir?
+
+-With how many beds? How many rooms you want?
+
+He spoke a little Spanish.
+
+-I want one with one bedroom, for me.
+
+It seemed that he was straight, he was not discriminating, I stayed in the hotel. I had some telephone numbers written on the belt so I called the _coyote_ that smuggled us the first time. He was such a crook and a scoundrel, even though he was also from Otavalo, but from another ranch, he told me:
+
+-Where are you calling me from? Where are you?
+
+-I'm in San Diego, imagine that I escaped from those who were going to smuggle me, the reason being that they are smuggling many people, they have 200 people, waiting because they want to get more to smuggle them all in a trailer, like cattle, that's a mess.
+
+-You know what? I'll go get you, but I'm gonna charge you the same. I don't care that you're in, to me the difficult thing is to cross San Clemente, not the borderline and, blah, blah, blah...
+
+He charged me 225 dollars. He smuggled me inside the spare tyre compartment; we went all the way to Pacoma, California. I stayed with some friends for one year working in a factory where they assembled trailers.
+
+By '73 my brother José Ruvalcaba had left to Lake Tahoe, Nevada. When he saw that it was a virgin place to work, he came to pick me up to Pacoma; when I arrived everything impressed me, because here is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I was impressed, from the lake, the casinos, and primarily, the cocktail waitresses, they're almost naked, since I hadn't seen them before, that's the attraction that makes one come back again to these places.
+
+My brother found me a job at the hotel Tahoe Motel, there I worked making the beds; I lasted eight months. At that time my brother helped me get another job at the Casino Harris, a small casino, where I did a bit of everything: dish-washer, busboy, sweeper. I had two jobs, at the Tahoe Motel in the morning and at the Harris at night. I slept very little and I almost lasted four months that way.
+
+In 1974 I married a _gabachita_ and, seven months later, I emigrated. Once I fixed my papers, I told her "good bye." The idea about marring a _gringa_ was to see how she came out as a woman, but early on I began to see that it was not worthwhile, that she only wanted to be hanging out in restaurants and casinos, she didn't want to work, she didn't do anything to have money, only to please herself, that bothered me; so I started to get the intention of leaving her, because besides she would go to the parties with her sisters, because she said that was life in the United States, but that was all a lie, that's exactly why it happened to her what happened to her.
+
+One day I went with my brother to have a drink at the casino Harveys and we met an Argentinian who got close and told us:
+
+-Where are you from? Are you Mexicans?
+
+-Yes.
+
+He says:
+
+-Wouldn't you want to work as busboys?
+
+My brother said:
+
+-I have a good job as a busboy at the casino Sahara's theater, but my brother has a modest job, I think that if you gave him a chance, he could be a busboy.
+
+He had a captain's job, he would sit and hire people, besides he had very good connections in that casino, he told him:
+
+-Tomorrow come talk to the big one, I'll give you a hand to get in.
+
+I left both jobs and I became a busboy earning the same amount as in my two previous jobs, together; I lasted, more or less, six months. I left because I wanted to work as a helper to a barman but they told me that my English wasn't good enough for that job. I felt offended and so I left, but thank God, I've always had good luck. I started working at the Sahara casino as a dish-washer; I took a lesser job to then jump to a better one, three months after I moved to the buffet, as a helper to the waiter, making 6 or 7 dollars per day, aside from my salary, that's what the waiters would give me, damned thieves! In that same department when I reached two months I moved to the theater, as a helper to the waiter, making 60 or 70 dollars per day, it was a very good job, here I managed to last two and a half years, five as a waiter. I left because they closed down the theater and they wanted to move us to another department where we were going to make less money. As a waiter they gave me tips with everything and the salary was 150 dollars, I managed to make up to 300 dollars, but, where's all that? Everything stayed at the casinos, in the gambling, that's why I give out my advise: that everybody who comes to places where there are casinos and who likes to gamble, it's better to not even try to come, or, if he comes, be it only to take a look, but no to stay 'cause his life is going to be unhappy.
+
+I married once again in 1980, with a girl from the ranch of Lagunillas, in the same municipality, six years younger than me, with her I have two children, a 13 year-old girl and a 10 year-old boy, they were both born here.
+
+From 1986 on, the _otavaleños_ started arriving very rapidly, it wasn't a slow thing because my brother helped out the brothers-in-law and they are very gossipy, when they would go to Otavalo they would say that there was a lot of work in Lake Tahoe and the story kept spreading, in fact my brother and I even ended up bringing people from Los Angeles, that we were going to take them to Reno, once here we would find then work. My brother was the one who did a lot for those from Otavalo, in fact the people from Nayarit is here because of my brother. That is, the chain exists because of him. We helped a buddy that was very ungrateful called Félix Medina; that dude after we helped him, he would get drunk and would say that he was the first one to have gotten to Lake Tahoe, he wouldn't say it here, but he would go to Los Angeles and say:
+
+-No, there, the one to discover that gorgeous place was me.
+
+He would talk nonsense, I don't care who got here first, who cares if he had been here alone for five years, and then, after those five years, I would have arrived and started bringing people to this place.
+
+When the theater closed down I looked for another job at the same casino, but in the restaurant, as a waiter. I lasted nine months there, to move then as an assistant to the barman, two years after I was promoted to barman where I made more money than at the theater. In that department I lasted three more years. I was going to reach 13 years at the casino when I lost my job. They fired me because I was being dishonest, because I used to give away wine to people and sometimes I wouldn't charge them. They were already keeping an eye on me. I would give away drinks to my friends so that they would leave me more tips, but they didn't really fire me because of that, but because the Union came in and I was a very active member in it, in turn that was not convenient to the casino, but I made a mistake for being an active member of the Union, because they are very tricky. The Union is really good when they all unite, but unfortunately people are afraid and, since there's a lot of undocumented people, then they are afraid that the same companies are going to fire them, that they might check their documents, or that they might call the immigration department. As long as we Latinos don't unite, the Americans are going to have us grabbed by the neck.
+
+I've always hated the _gringos'_ discriminating ways, I hate that they step on Latinos, in this country, us Latinos, we are being 100 percent discriminated against; there was a little bit of this at work, not so because the supervisors appreciate very much the Latino, but because we work very hard, and the Americans want the things well done. Americans think they are very smart but they are not what they think, because in reality they are not as well prepared as Japanese, who are so disciplined, or the Germans. There are a lot of Americans, a great majority who are drug addicts, hippies, slackers who don't want to work, who only want to get easy jobs and sometimes they don't know how to carry them out. In fact, I was the only Mexican Latino to be a waiter at the Sahara theater where Elvis Presley and other famous artists would perform. There were other people who were Latinos, _pochos_ born here, but legitimate Mexican, only myself. There were a lot of Americans that wanted to get it but they couldn't deal with the job, I didn't feel good against them, I felt good by myself, because as the hermit would say: if I can do my job not being American and they cannot do it in their own land, then I'm no more a fool than they are; I always thought of myself as one of the best in this job. After they fired me I went to the Caesar's casino, I worked for three months as a helper to the barman, and one year and nine months as a barman. At the same time I opened up a clothing store with a money we had saved my wife and I. The story of how we started the store was that we bought forty tablecloths in the supermarket of San Juan de Dios in Guadalajara, we payed fifteen dollars for those tablecloths, we sold them here at 40 dollars each. For us, this was a wonderful profit, so I told my wife:
+
+-We can make money here, we can go to Mexico, bring clothing, and sell it to make money.
+
+When I became an employee at Caesar's we already had the store, it was just starting and I was doing well, I said:
+
+-Well, this is it for me and work, why should I continue when we're making a living with the store.
+
+On one ocasion we went shopping to Mexico, we were also on vacations, a very sad adventure happened to us, because when we opened up the store we bought clothing from Mexico. We thought that clothing from over there was going to be a success, and it was a disaster. That one time we bought about 10,000 dollars in merchandise, they stopped it in San Francisco and sent it back to Guadalajara. The merchandise was confiscated for three months in San Pancho, in the customs office. We had to smuggle it illegaly because we didn't have a permit, they told us:
+
+-You don't have a visa to import, because here it says how many pieces you must bring, how many kilos, what factory made them, and blah, blah, blah...
+
+We didn't bring anything of that.That bribe, we had done it twice before and nothing had happened, we were already hooked on it.
+
+In 1992 I opened up another business, a store with Mexican groceries, that was the business of my brother Filemón, and since he didn't know how to manage it, he failed and gave it to me. He wanted to sell it to other people, but they were not willing to give him what he was asking for. We kept it because it was right next to the one we had already.
+
+We all know that the United States is better than our homeland to make money, but let's be honest, we don't have to become passionate, we all love very much our homeland, unfortunately there it's not possible 'cause there's a lot of corruption in the government; and the customs officers are such barbarians, they're always trying to find a way to make money out of you. The most corrupted Mexican city that I've known is Mexicali; one time that we went back that way, in 1989, I was going to take my father and my mother to Otavalo, we crossed the line, with the Mexican immigration, one dude tells me:
+
+-Let's see, I want to see what you've got there.
+
+-Boss, they're only three suitcases with clothing, one is my mom's, the other is my dad's, and the other is mine.
+
+You know, that's a lot of clothing that you're carrying, that's going to cost you 40 dollars if you want to get through.
+
+-I'm not going to give you a penny, why would I have to give you, if I'm not carrying guns, I'm carrying my own clothing.
+
+-Well, do what you want, but if you don't give me 40 dollars you don't get through, do whatever you want.
+
+-How nice you look with that suit, I wished you could take it off so that I could smash your face in!
+
+The Mexican government is very dangerous, it's as barbarian as you can get.
+
+He says:
+
+-In any case, I haven't asked you for your ID, let me see who you are, I want to see your ID.
+
+I showed him the tin and he snatched it from me.
+
+-Now you're gonna go with those assholes, and we'll see what you have to say.
+
+-He sent me with the American immigration, thank God I speak a little English, he thought I was green. I went with them and the immigration guy said to me:
+
+-What's up? What's the problem, man.
+
+-The problem is that these men want 40 dollars, or else, they won't let me take this clothing with me, that's all, it's the clothing my father, my mother, and I use, because it's not even new.
+
+-And what they did was shake their heads, and he said:
+
+-We can't do anything, unfortunately that's the way they carry out their lives.
+
+Why does that have to be the only way to carry out their lives? Why can't they work more honestly, or charge taxes? Say: here we charge taxes, that's it and get going. Why does one has to be bargaining?
+
+-Look, the only advice that we can give you is to go where they cross on foot, leave your truck close to a parking lot. I turned back, when I was crossing with the suitcases, other custom officers were waiting for me, they said:
+
+- Hey you, come over here, you cannot come first through that line and then cross through the one for those on foot, because you had a fight up there and you have to go fix it, go cross up that way, we don't want problems with them.
+
+It was the same corruption up there and down there, wanting to scare me and charge me on both sides. So I told him:
+
+-I want to talk to the boss from down here.
+
+-You want to talk with him? Go ahead, he's inside.
+
+-Boss, here's a fellow who wants to talk with you.
+
+The damned old man was drunk.
+
+-What's your problem, man?, Why aren't you behaving?
+
+He was playing fool.
+
+-Look, the problem is that up there they're asking me for 40 dollars, I have them, but I'm going to a very remote place and, don't blow it, boss! Give me a hand, how is it possible that he has to cling to the idea that one has to give them certain money one cannot give.
+
+-Well, how much can you give?
+
+- I'll give you 20 dollars, boss.
+
+- All right, but don't tell the rest 'cause later on, everybody's gonna want to give the same.
+
+I gave that to him and we passed the suitcases walking, I turned around on the truck and I put them back up. When we got to the airport it was another corruption, worse even. We got to the airport and they told me:
+
+-Let's  see, bring your suitcases to weight them, they're a little heavier but just loosen a bit and give us something for the coffee and there's no problem with us.
+
+So I said, that's not bad, I gave him $20,000 pesos.
+
+- All right, now there, where that conveyor belt goes, put them up there, with those guys there.
+
+Another _aduanal_ tells me:
+
+-Don't you know you have to carry no more than 25 pounds maximum?
+
+-That's what they allow to carry in the plane, the rest one has to pay excess baggage, right?
+
+-Don't try to be a smart-ass, here you have to slip 70 bucks, otherwise nothing goes through.
+
+-Well, you know what? I'm not going to give you anything, they fucked me over on the borderline, they screw me over here where they weigh the luggage and, now you too! Here where you're poking around, and, then what? This is the most corrupt place there is in Mexico.
+
+- Then a guy that was coming with us, the one that was going to bring the truck to leave it in Mexicali saw a tall man who, it seems, was a member of the _cardenista_ party, and told him:
+
+-Hey Mr. Arenas, can't you give us a little hand with these men?
+
+- Yes boy.
+
+He was a respectful man.
+
+-Let's see, what's going on in here guys?
+
+-Well, that one.
+
+-Ok, come.
+
+The _aduanal_ was a creep, brush-faced, ugly character.
+
+-No, well this boy doesn't want to loosen up and give us something for the coffee.
+
+- How much are you asking for the coffee?
+
+- They're asking 70 bucks from me, sir.
+
+- Don't be ungrateful, hack it out, I don't want to come back again, I don't want problems.
+
+It seems the guy had power, so they started kind of working out a deal with me, like negotiating something good.
+
+-How much do you want to give?
+
+- I don't want to give out anything. Why am I going to give you when I'm not carrying anything illegal?
+
+- Well yeah, but you have to give or, you won't get them through.
+
+- I don't care if I cannot get them through, you're not going to scare me with that, they always want to scare people, to intimidate them and get their money that way, I'm not going to give you a penny.
+
+- No, well if you're gonna go through, you're gonna have to give.
+
+There we stayed for fifteen minutes, once the plane was going to depart, they told me:
+
+-Well at least slip some 40 bucks, no?
+
+-No, not even 40 bucks I'm going to give you, there's no reason to give you any money, or what, because of your pretty _zanates_ or, why am I going to give you 40 dollars? You're not doing me any favor, no benefit of any sort, or in exchange for what? Only to give it away to your corrupted ways.
+
+We had to call Mr. Arenas once more.
+
+-Mr. Arenas, these men don't want to understand.
+
+Said the boy that was going to return with the truck. Mr. Arenas told the _aduanales_:
+
+Boys, behave with the citizens.
+
+-Mr. Arenas, we're asking for 15 dollars and he doesn't want to give them away.
+
+- Is that true boys?
+
+-They were asking for 40, now they've gone down 25.
+
+-Give it to them, it's enough, so that they can have a coffee.
+
+I gave them 15 dollars from the 70 they were asking for, but I left very pissed off, in Guadalajara there was not that much trouble.
+
+The Amerians are such pimps, why does López Portillo have a house here, in Lake Tahoe? They want rich people here, capitalists. Why don't they kick them out? Ah oh, but the people that come here to leave our sweat, to find a job, everything to enlarge their filthy nation, those they trash. Me, even though I am a citizen, I don't consider myself as being from here. I always love my Mexico, unfortunately, the Mexican system is doing really bad, but not because of that we are going to become disillusioned with our own motherland; I became nationalized because everytime that I would go to Mexico, customs would steal a lot from me, also because this way I can help my parents, emigrating them so that they can receive their pensions because of old age, and like this they can live in peace.
+
+If I went back and lived in Mexico, what I would do would be to start a business; here I never thought of starting one, what I had thought of was to become a big boss in a good position, at the casino; but now I feel better than a boss, because I am the owner of my own business, I have the position of a boss, but I don't give out orders to anybody, I command myself.
diff --git a/src/content/history/we-didnt-go-to-el-norte-to-gather-flowers.md b/src/content/history/we-didnt-go-to-el-norte-to-gather-flowers.md
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@@ -0,0 +1,330 @@
+---
+title: We didn't go to el Norte to gather flowers
+category: Those Who Stay
+interviewee: Víctor Espinosa
+year: "05.1992"
+description: The unusual story of Don Miguel Gutiérrez, an ever persevering
+  teacher in Mexico, who decided to migrate and work in agriculture to become
+  somebody and secure a good life for his children.
+lede: >
+  Don Miguel Gutiérrez is originally from the town of San Diego de Alejandría.
+  There, from his father's own words, the townsmen, and his friends, Don Miguel
+  learned everything that was necessary to take advantage of the migrant
+  experience. But his father, a bracero and migrant worker for many years, did
+  not want his son to follow that same road. If he had spent his life in el
+  Norte, it was precisely so that his children would not have to do the same. He
+  could do little in this respect, his three children travelled up North. The
+  only one thing that he managed to instill in them was an obsession, the need
+  to return.
+
+
+  Don Miguel 's story is peculiar without a doubt. His goal in life was to work professionally his own lands, yet he let pass what others considered to be magnificent opportunities to accomplish his goal. Initially, he was a teacher and a migrant worker until he managed to become a union leader and legalize his situation in the United States; then he became a university student and a teacher until he managed to complete his education as an agronomist. But the same day he received his diploma, he decided to go to el Norte and work, to save money and be able to buy land and a tractor. In the beginning he was the joke of the townsmen, but little by little they began to understand his aim. He had several jobs and then, when he finally managed to get a stable job and a good reputation, it was time to return.
+
+
+  Nowadays, Don Miguel is back living in his hometown in Mexico where he works his own land, subject to the whims of the weather and the vicissitudes suffered by those who grow corn.
+story: >
+  My father was born in 1922, he used to work as the official waterer of the
+  hacienda of San Fernando, owned by Don Isidro Gonzales. From childhood he used
+  to help my grandfather in the fields. At age 12 he was sent to school, when he
+  finished third grade, he left town, to attend the seminary in Lagos, and
+  continue with elementary school, but he only studied for a few months because
+  my grandfather lost his job when the hacienda of San Fernando was divided
+  among the agrarianists of San Juan, in 1937. He returned and, for two years,
+  helped them support the family.
+
+
+  During those years things got worse in town, so much that some migrated to Mexico City. My dad received news that there was a lot of work over there and decided to try out his luck in the capital city. He left in 1940, he was 18 years old, he stayed with some friends. He worked for a period of time as a store employee, later he worked at a furniture repair shop until he found a job as a factory worker in Mundet's soft drinks plant.
+
+
+  In August of '42 he heard on the radio that everybody who wanted to go to the United States to work legally should visit the hiring center installed at the football stadium; My dad tells me that, despite the intense advertising campaign by the government, it was rumoured that this was a trap to take Mexicans to the war; he remembers the rumour was spread because, in May of that same year, the Germans sank the freighter "Portero del Llano" and Mexico was obliged to officially enter the war, besides in August, the law for mandatory military service came into effect, also, fear grew among the people when power outtages and emergency drills began to take place in some neighborhoods.
+
+
+  One day, I think it was in October, my dad was on a bus on his way to work, he passed in front of the stadium and saw the lines of people who were waiting for their turn to go as _braceros_, he decided to get off the bus and stand in line to see what would happen; while he was waiting for his turn he remembered that my grandfather once had told him that if he ever went to _el Norte_ he shouldn't do it illegaly,  he had gone to the United States in 1910 and was close to drowning when crossing the Rio Bravo.
+
+
+  When it was his turn, the first thing they did was check his hands, since he had been a farmer, he still had them full of callouses, also they gave him a physical exam. On the third day he left to the United States, on train, with the trip, food, and house fully paid; he tells me that the train had fifteen wagons, full of arms for the _gringos_, besides, it carried a white little flag in the last wagon.
+
+
+  They arrived to Ciudad Juárez and there they were divided, he ended up in a group formed by only women who didn't know _el Norte_, when he was told he was going to be in the Imperial Valley, he imagined a truly beautiful place.
+
+
+  When they arrived, my father says, they were all surprised. There were some ranches surrounded by desert, removed from town, with ranchers that worked with percheron horses, and a tractor here and there; they became even more disillusioned when they were shown their houses..., tents, where they were going to sleep.
+
+
+  They started working immediately in the farming of cantaloupe, twelve-hour working days, every day, from six in the morning to six in the evening; six months later the harvest of cantaloupe was to start, but his contract expired and he returned to town, in May, I believe, of 1943. He tells me they arrived, all those who had gone, with good jackets, good jeans, and lots of dollars.
+
+
+  That same year he was hired again, this time they sent him to San José, California, to work in the _traque_, with a travelling team laying out and changing train tracks. He used to work ten hours a day, they used to pay him 57 cents, ten cents more than in Imperial Valley, but the job was really tough;  they had to move the rails, among twelve people, with a pair of pincers called _troncas._ He had been there for over a year when he received the news that the war had ended; they didn't want to renew their contract anymore. He returned to San Diego on the last day of December of 1945.
+
+
+  Upon arriving, he found my grandfather's health very deteriorated, he died in March of '46. My dad stayed to take care of what he had left him: a field farmed with chick-pea and a few animals; he couldn't leave anymore for _el Norte_.
+
+
+  That year, as soon as he harvested the crop, he left again for the United States. One time, he was hired in Irapuato and was sent to the state of Montana, to work in agriculture, because there was no more work for Mexicans in the industry, only in the fields. He worked in the beet fields, with a small hoe known as the "shorty", famous because they had to crouch all day.
+
+
+  That time they paid him by contract, according to the number of sacks he collected; five from San Diego and one from Arandas, to do the job in two months, because they were going to take them to Wisconsin, to harvest potato. During the very last days they worked until 10 at night to finish the job.
+
+
+  They took them by train all the way to Wisconsin, but they arrived before the potato season was due,  meanwhile they were sent to harvest cherry, in little buckets, narrow at the botton and wide on top, that were cashed at 25 cents each. My dad could barely make enough to eat, besides they didn't pay them until after they had finished the job for fear that they might desert. Since these were very remote states it was not that easy to find people to work in the ranches; they stayed there for several days but the potato season would not arrive, so my dad got in touch with a _compadre_ that was working close by and had a sister in Chicago. Taking advantage of being close by, he made up his mind, because he was carrying money, he was spending little and at that time he hadn't gotten married to my mom.
+
+
+  They left by train, he travelled for 15 hours, feeling a little afraid because it was a novelty to walk around as an illegal, he tells me that any _gringo_ he saw wearing a uniform, he confused with the guys from immigration.
+
+
+  In Chicago, he arrived to the house of his _compadre_'s sister. He found a job immediately at the packing factory, they paid him 95 cents and he worked from eight to ten hours; his task was simple: to put the sausages in a set of wheeled baskets so that the women could pack them. He had only been working there for three months when the month of December arrived. Him and his compadre began chatting about the town celebrations: the strolls around the plaza, the serenades; since they were single, they returned to San Diego, out of pure nostalgia; but when they arrived to the border, as soon as they were getting off the bus, the _migra_ caught them, in Laredo, and they were jailed in a basement for some days. Later they were taken all the way to the other side of the bridge and were freed on the Mexican side. They arrived to San Diego on January 6th, two days before the town celebrations were over. As soon as he arrived, my dad was offered a job at the presidency, as the town's treasurer, he didn't know anything about politics but since a lot of people were going to _el Norte_, and besides only few knew how to read and write, without noticing he spent ten years working at the presidency, without leaving San Diego, until in 1962, Samuel Correa stepped in as the new president. They didn't get along and he was discharged. He decided to return once more to the United States.
+
+
+  But, this time he didn't leave as a _bracero._ That year, a first cousin offered to help him fix his documents, since he was in good terms with the owner of the ranch where he worked, he got him a letter of "promise of work", where the rancher requested him to work; the paperwork took six months.
+
+
+  He left in August of 1962 to Santa María, California, with his cousin, to harvest strawberry, but they paid very little. Besides, he didn't like strawberries, not even to eat them; after two months the season was over and he preferred to return to his hometown.
+
+
+  The following year he left to Soledad, California, with one of his sisters. Her husband had taken her to live with him and one uncle, who had been the first from San Diego to arrive in that place, and who had already started accomodating other relatives from town. His first job was as a dishwasher at a camp where they fed _braceros._ He didn't like it because they only paid him 50 dollars per week. He lasted a week and asked his uncle for a job. He told him that, at the ranch where he worked, there was only one vacancy for a position as a waterer, but warned him the job was very tough:
+
+
+  -You get wet a lot and those who work there complain of suffering from rheumatism. The good part is that there's always work and they give you lots of hours a day.
+
+
+  My dad answered that he had not gone to _el Norte_ to gather flowers; they gave him the position as a waterer. He used to work fourteen hours a day. He would start at six in the morning, when it was still dark, and he would get out when it was already dark; he didn't need to pay rent because he used to live in the ranch. He liked the job, he learned it well, and stayed to work there for twenty years doing the same activity. He would come and go: for six to eight months he would work in several ranches and then he would return to San Diego, where he would spend the rest of the year working his lands, 60 hectares that he bought back in 1964, thanks to _el Norte_, he managed to have up to fifty pigs and ten cows. In 1970 he, once again, went to Chicago, because back in town his friends were telling him that one could make more money and work less, but, in the end, the truth of the matter turned out of be very different. In Chicago he worked at a factory that paid him 2.5 dollars per hour, but they would only give him eight hours per day, the required forty hours per week, he would earn, at most, ninety dollars per week, because the newly arrived were not allowed to work over-time, while in California he would make less money, but he could work from twelve to fourteen hours a day, which would let him make more than 100 dollars per week. In Chicago he ended up working for the city, in Public Parks and Gardens, he used to earn three dollars per hour, the problem was that he never liked the weather.
+
+
+  In 1974, when he returned to the United States, I told him that I wanted to go to _el Norte_, my dad was opposed to my idea, he told me that so much sacrifice and trouble were precisely so that his children could study and wouldn't have to go on struggling in another country, where in the end they would be exploited almost as if they were slaves.
+
+
+  He returned to the United States, like every year, he told me he was going to take me to visit, but not until he could fix my documents, so that I wouldn't have to be smuggled in; but I had already come to an agreement with my friends, and with or without their consent, I wanted to experience in my own flesh what was this famous _Norte_ like; I didn't have the need, because my father always tried to give us what we needed, besides, by that time, it had been two years since I had found a position working as a teacher in San Diego' s High School; that's why I waited until school vacations arrived. I left in August, along with other three friends from town, on the way to the border; but weout of luck, the _migra_ caught us several times and we had to return without having seen the United States. Even then, that was my initiation travel, and that's the one I remember the most.
+
+
+  I remember that we were, Chuy Echeverría, Miguel Ramírez, and one son of Cirilo Rocha. Supposedly, Chuy Echeverría had gone once and was the one who knew the famous trail from San Marcos and Carlos Bad. He told us that one had to get to Tijuana, to the neighborhood Libertad; that from there one could see a pair of antennas and that one had to follow the light through the woods, without the need for a coyote, because once knowing the road everything else was very easy.
+
+
+  Chuy told us that in order to avoid problems with the famous _cholos_, who used to gather in the neighborhood Libertad, we were going to leave in the evening, at dusk, so that we could see, more or less, our trail. We were walking and hiding, then we would peek out, but in one of those occasions, Chuy and I peeked out, and the border patrol discovered us and came after us, we looked for a place to hide, but the _migra_ found two of us. We were close by, hiding about 5 meters away, behind some shrubs, but since they had only seen two people, they were satisfied with them. They caught them and left, the bad thing is that they took away the one that knew the trail. "We spent sometime without knowing what to do, we ate and kept walking further in, what else could we do! We walked almost for the entire night, soon thereafter everywhere was like a party, we came across a lot of people, complete groups that were heading to the same place, we joined one of those groups and followed them for a good while. When we got annoyed, we kept going on our own and crossed through a tomato orchard; by then, it was dawn.
+
+
+  We waited until light came out, and when it was finally daybreak --but being a little naive--, in order to not get lost, we decided to walk by the highway, no sooner than later a border patrol spotted us, they asked us what were we doing around there.
+
+
+  -Nothing, we answered.
+
+
+  -Then, let's go back to Mexico.
+
+
+  Well, let's go.
+
+
+  What else could we tell them! They kicked us out right away and, in the morning, we were already eating _menudo_ in Tijuana.
+
+
+  We tried twice again to get in, we could not find those who had been caught. We were carrying some money because we were prepared, but those who had been caught were put on a plane and sent all the way to León, Guanajuato. So, for them the adventure was over very soon.
+
+
+  The other guy became discouraged. He was running out of money
+
+
+  -I am going back, he said.
+
+
+  -Well, let's go.
+
+
+  We went back.
+
+
+  When my father found out, he told me that if I really wanted to go, I should leave when the work season starts, in March, and not in August when work is close to being over.
+
+
+  I asked for a leave of absence at school and the following year, in 1975, I invited another friend and, we left, in March, along with my dad; he went all the way to Soledad and left us in Tijuana, with Jesús Aldana, a _coyote_ from San Diego, so that he would help us cross. This time we got in without any difficulty, they smuggled us in a van all the way to Los Angeles, we payed 300 dollars each; when we arrived my dad had already obtained a Social Security card for me, as for my friend, they told him that in order to get his Social Security he needed to prove he was a legal resident, otherwise the _migra_ was going to go after him, since we had already given out our local address we couldn't stay there anymore, we left for a month to work in the beet fields, in a little ranch that was located 30 miles away from Soledad. We used to work from six in the morning to twelve noon, at that time the _migra_ would stop by the ranch, in their daily itinerary they used to conduct all the way from Salinas. Those who carried no documents with them, stopped working and hid inside a ward; they would come out until after three in the afternoon and would work for three more hours.
+
+
+  When we noticed that the _migra_ was not showing up at the house, we returned. I worked for a while at the ranch, with my dad, until I found a better job, at a company that dehydrated garlic and onion. At that time my dad had already started the paperwork to fix my documents; after several applications they told us to go to the office immediately, before I turned 21 and the process became more difficult.
+
+
+  Once legalized, finding a job became much easier, but I hadn't abandoned the idea to continue studying. When I returned in 1975, coincidentally they had just opened a senior high-school in San Diego; I enrolled immediately. I kept working at the junior high-school and, during the holidays, I would go with my dad for three or four months to the United States.
+
+
+  I kept doing the same until I finished high-school, in 1977, and with the money I had saved from my job as a teacher in San Diego and as a day-laborer in the United States, I went to study agronomy at the University of Guadalajara. At the same time I tried to transfer my teacher's poition to Guadalajara, but it was not possible so, I asked for a leave of absence, but without going back to work.
+
+
+  But it so happened that my savings, which were 20 thousand pesos, vanished. I had no money to continue studying and besides, I already wanted to get married, so I stopped studying for a year. In 1978 I left, once again, to the United States, this time with a fixed goal in mind: save money to get married and continue studying. When I had saved some three or four thousand dollars I returned. Two months later I got married, I returned to work at the high-school in San Diego, without forgetting my plans to finish studying agronomy. Later I asked for my transfer to Ocotlán and, at the same time, I planed my return to the second year at the university. To do this I first had to change my teacher's post to an evening shift in Jamay from where I would journey every day all the way to Guadalajara, to attend the University, in a little car I bought with the money I brought back from the United States.
+
+
+  In little time, and thanks to the political connections I had as a teacher and to my friendship with the municipality's president of San Diego --they cornered the district deputy, who had some good strings in the Department of Public Education--, I was able to find a teacher's position closer to Guadalajara: in Cajititlán.
+
+
+  In 1983 I graduated, at last, as an agronomist, and to my parents and friends surprise, I decided to return, once again, to work in the United States. I remember that everybody was against the idea, but I had my reasons: I never stopped thinking about the United States, because I had already proved that, in fact, it was possible to save money over there. The biggest problem for those who leave is that the idea of saving is very remote. They don't have a strong enough will, or the capacity, to save their earnings, because in general they earn a lot of money. I knew that, and my intention was to buy a tractor, because I've always known about agriculture, and I wanted to work in that area, here in my town, in my land.
+
+
+  To my friends, it was madness that I was leaving to the United States, because, in fact, I was at my best as a teacher, I had gotten involved in Union politics; at that time I was the teachers' union general secretary for the entire zone, that was an excellent title, because in the central zone, we were only 22 people managing every political affair of the 47th section, that was a lot weight, because the political matters are decided in Guadalajara, not out here, in the towns, at that time, the General Secretary could voice his opinion, just as the inspector, about temporary posts or proposals for upcoming positions, which gave you certain power and many people used that to make money, but since I had always considered that I was going to leave for the United States, I didn't even doubled the post I had, that's why, in everybody's eyes, it was a foolish idea to leave, once again, for the United States.
+
+
+  I knew the job I was going to carry out over there was physical work that required a lot of effort, nevertheless, I also knew that if I didn't leave then, I was never going to leave, so with all the pain and heartache I left to the United States at the end of my studies, in September of 1983.
+
+
+  I arrived to Soledad, with Abel, my youngest brother,. At that time David was still over there, the other brother I had taken to _el Norte_ for the first time back in 1976.
+
+
+  In the beginning I worked in the harvest of lettuce, it even occured to me that the best way to make money was with the _corrida_, in the Valley of Salinas, which entailed to continue working in the harvest of the different crops cultivated, ranch by ranch. During my travels I lived in a car, a Volkswagen Beetle that only had the driver's seat, and where I installed a wooden platform, very well padded for sleeping, I even had a heating plate in the car.
+
+
+  In the beginning I had to withstand the teasing of my friends from San Diego, they laughed at me because I had spent my life studying to end up harvesting lettuce just like themselves; I remember their teasing didn't bother me as much because I had a very simple argument to quiet them: I was making good money, at a time when it was not possible to work in Mexico, because the economic recession was going through its most critical stage.
+
+
+  The only thing I didn't like about the _corridas_ was that I had to be going from one place to the other, that prevented me from being in school, that's why as soon as I was able to, the first thing I did was study English, because I knew that was the basis to find better jobs. What I learned at school in Mexico helped me, no doubt, but over there, people judged me because of my accent, because if you arrive there speaking broken English and with a Mexican accent, they look at you like somebody who doesn't know how to speak English and who cannot do anything, at least that's the insecurity they create in you.
+
+
+  I had one year working in the _corridas_ when my dad, already tired, due to 20 years as a waterer, retired in the United States. I tood advantage of the situation and stayed in his place for three years; with that job I was able to save more. Soon thereafter I bought a house in San Diego, aside from the one I already had in Guadalajara, in Residencial Poniente.
+
+
+  Besides, working in irrigation allowed me to become more stable. I studied whatever occurred to me: courses in mechanic, welding, laminating and painting, writing and editing, philosophy, even a teaching course for teachers, there was a moment when I felt that I could understand and write perfectly in English, but I still had some problems speaking; even then, and despite having a good job, moved by the wish to make progress, I began working as a mechanics, for eight months, but still I did not stop looking in the newspapers for an opportunity to find a better job.
+
+
+  On one occasion, there was an ad which said that the Department of Agriculture from the Monterey County, in California, was looking for agricultural technicians to help various researchers in different tasks; I decided to fill out an application for myself and one for my wife, a few days later, after having gone through an evaluation, I was hired. I remember the evaluation was very simple, they had me identify plants, calculate insecticide doses, very elementary tasks, compared to all I had studied in Mexico, besides they required that you had experience in agriculture, plants and farming, and the use of agricultural machinery; my transcript, which showed all the courses I had taken, and my experience as a waterer were very helpful.
+
+
+  I worked for some researchers from the University of California, I was being paid by the Department of Agriculture from the Monterey County. It was an interesting job. It was a team of seven people that included researchers with international recognition in entomology, herbicides, herbiculture, irrigation and fertilizers; in the beginning, in economical terms, it was not the best job I've ever had, I used to earn between ten and twelve dollars per hour, the problem was that I could not work more than eight hours a day and I was being deducted a lot in taxes. With time I gained their confidence and they started calling me, on the weekends, to do little odd jobs with the county ranchers, with that I was able to make better the pay. I had been working with them for a year when I reached the five year limit I had decided to stay, regardless of how much I had saved by then; but, I was so comfortable in the best job I had ever had, that I decided to stay for six more months.
+
+
+  In december of 1989 I let them know I was going to leave my job because I wanted to try out and succeed in Mexico; probably it is not going to work, I remember I thought, but I have to try it out; one of the researchers promised me a better job, another one told me that if I ever returned to the United States, even if it was for a week or two, that I would have a sure job with them.
+
+
+  Unfortunately, or fortunately, I decided to come back because I had reached the time limit I had imposed on myself, besides I wanted to live in Mexico for a while, and I don't know if I'll ever go back; in December of 1992, it will be two years since I returned; I came to work in agriculture, I had a bad first year, I invested a lot of money and, in spite of having a good harvest, I definitively spent more money than what I made, but I am going to farm again this year and I hope to have better luck.
+
+
+  The lands I currently have are the same my father purchased back in 1964, thanks to _el Norte_, but sold in 1970, because he was never able to profit or benefit from them.
+
+
+  In 1988, two of my brothers and I bought the same lands, because here you are worth more if you own, especially, real estate; having lands gives you prestige. One of my brothers wanted to buy land for housing but I convinced him to buy farming land. We used to do well back when the three of us lived in the United States; David is currently the manager at a potato packing factory; Abel, the youngest, I found him a job as a waterer at the ranch, now he is a welder.
+
+
+  I remember we used to talk about the lands everyday, always with the same illusion to make progress, my brothers are still in _el Norte_, they come back temporarily; their intention is to come back definitively, because they know very well that here you are somebody and over there you are nobody; it does not matter the job you may have, how ever good it may be; they, for example, have good jobs, regardless, they are nobody.
+
+
+  We were looking for some good lands on sale, we found out that my father's _compadre_ wanted to sell his. Since we knew the terrain, because it had been my dad's, we knew the place was beautiful, so we bought it; we paid ten thousand dollars in cash and five thousand dollars every six months, in total we paid forty thousand dollars.
+
+
+  Before coming back we brought a tractor, several vehicles, and agricultural equipment and implements; that's why since I arrived I devoted myself completely to agriculture. I farmed close to forty hectares, all with corn because there was a very large demand for pasture in the local market, but it was a difficult year. As a farmer I consider I treated well the terrain, I spent a lot of money on it, but it did not yield the expected results, in the first place because the rain came late in the season, it started raining in July, and once it started, it did not stop raining until September, even then I had a good harvest, but when I had everything ready to begin grinding, on the sixth of January, the rain came down and dampen the entire harvest; I was close to loosing everything, I owed 45 million pesos. The following year, I farmed again but I was more moderate in my expenses.
+
+
+  I was invited to participate in the political campaign with one of the PRI factions in the municipality, because they knew I like politics and have prestige, because I am a migrant who finished my house with what I earned in _el Norte_; besides I am one of the few that can come back from _el Norte_ and give out from 30 to 40 millons of pesos at any one moment. The elections were tight because one of the PRI factions rallied with the PAN, but the PRI won, in spite of having lost in the town's three polls, we won thanks to the votes coming from the surrounding ranches. Don Jesús Hernández, also a migrant, became the municipality's president and I, the secretary to the president of San Diego de Alejandría.
+---
+My father was born in 1922, he used to work as the official waterer of the hacienda of San Fernando, owned by Don Isidro Gonzales. From childhood he used to help my grandfather in the fields. At age 12 he was sent to school, when he finished third grade, he left town, to attend the seminary in Lagos, and continue with elementary school, but he only studied for a few months because my grandfather lost his job when the hacienda of San Fernando was divided among the agrarianists of San Juan, in 1937. He returned and, for two years, helped them support the family.
+
+During those years things got worse in town, so much that some migrated to Mexico City. My dad received news that there was a lot of work over there and decided to try out his luck in the capital city. He left in 1940, he was 18 years old, he stayed with some friends. He worked for a period of time as a store employee, later he worked at a furniture repair shop until he found a job as a factory worker in Mundet's soft drinks plant.
+
+In August of '42 he heard on the radio that everybody who wanted to go to the United States to work legally should visit the hiring center installed at the football stadium; My dad tells me that, despite the intense advertising campaign by the government, it was rumoured that this was a trap to take Mexicans to the war; he remembers the rumour was spread because, in May of that same year, the Germans sank the freighter "Portero del Llano" and Mexico was obliged to officially enter the war, besides in August, the law for mandatory military service came into effect, also, fear grew among the people when power outtages and emergency drills began to take place in some neighborhoods.
+
+One day, I think it was in October, my dad was on a bus on his way to work, he passed in front of the stadium and saw the lines of people who were waiting for their turn to go as _braceros_, he decided to get off the bus and stand in line to see what would happen; while he was waiting for his turn he remembered that my grandfather once had told him that if he ever went to _el Norte_ he shouldn't do it illegaly,  he had gone to the United States in 1910 and was close to drowning when crossing the Rio Bravo.
+
+When it was his turn, the first thing they did was check his hands, since he had been a farmer, he still had them full of callouses, also they gave him a physical exam. On the third day he left to the United States, on train, with the trip, food, and house fully paid; he tells me that the train had fifteen wagons, full of arms for the _gringos_, besides, it carried a white little flag in the last wagon.
+
+They arrived to Ciudad Juárez and there they were divided, he ended up in a group formed by only women who didn't know _el Norte_, when he was told he was going to be in the Imperial Valley, he imagined a truly beautiful place.
+
+When they arrived, my father says, they were all surprised. There were some ranches surrounded by desert, removed from town, with ranchers that worked with percheron horses, and a tractor here and there; they became even more disillusioned when they were shown their houses..., tents, where they were going to sleep.
+
+They started working immediately in the farming of cantaloupe, twelve-hour working days, every day, from six in the morning to six in the evening; six months later the harvest of cantaloupe was to start, but his contract expired and he returned to town, in May, I believe, of 1943. He tells me they arrived, all those who had gone, with good jackets, good jeans, and lots of dollars.
+
+That same year he was hired again, this time they sent him to San José, California, to work in the _traque_, with a travelling team laying out and changing train tracks. He used to work ten hours a day, they used to pay him 57 cents, ten cents more than in Imperial Valley, but the job was really tough;  they had to move the rails, among twelve people, with a pair of pincers called _troncas._ He had been there for over a year when he received the news that the war had ended; they didn't want to renew their contract anymore. He returned to San Diego on the last day of December of 1945.
+
+Upon arriving, he found my grandfather's health very deteriorated, he died in March of '46. My dad stayed to take care of what he had left him: a field farmed with chick-pea and a few animals; he couldn't leave anymore for _el Norte_.
+
+That year, as soon as he harvested the crop, he left again for the United States. One time, he was hired in Irapuato and was sent to the state of Montana, to work in agriculture, because there was no more work for Mexicans in the industry, only in the fields. He worked in the beet fields, with a small hoe known as the "shorty", famous because they had to crouch all day.
+
+That time they paid him by contract, according to the number of sacks he collected; five from San Diego and one from Arandas, to do the job in two months, because they were going to take them to Wisconsin, to harvest potato. During the very last days they worked until 10 at night to finish the job.
+
+They took them by train all the way to Wisconsin, but they arrived before the potato season was due,  meanwhile they were sent to harvest cherry, in little buckets, narrow at the botton and wide on top, that were cashed at 25 cents each. My dad could barely make enough to eat, besides they didn't pay them until after they had finished the job for fear that they might desert. Since these were very remote states it was not that easy to find people to work in the ranches; they stayed there for several days but the potato season would not arrive, so my dad got in touch with a _compadre_ that was working close by and had a sister in Chicago. Taking advantage of being close by, he made up his mind, because he was carrying money, he was spending little and at that time he hadn't gotten married to my mom.
+
+They left by train, he travelled for 15 hours, feeling a little afraid because it was a novelty to walk around as an illegal, he tells me that any _gringo_ he saw wearing a uniform, he confused with the guys from immigration.
+
+In Chicago, he arrived to the house of his _compadre_'s sister. He found a job immediately at the packing factory, they paid him 95 cents and he worked from eight to ten hours; his task was simple: to put the sausages in a set of wheeled baskets so that the women could pack them. He had only been working there for three months when the month of December arrived. Him and his compadre began chatting about the town celebrations: the strolls around the plaza, the serenades; since they were single, they returned to San Diego, out of pure nostalgia; but when they arrived to the border, as soon as they were getting off the bus, the _migra_ caught them, in Laredo, and they were jailed in a basement for some days. Later they were taken all the way to the other side of the bridge and were freed on the Mexican side. They arrived to San Diego on January 6th, two days before the town celebrations were over. As soon as he arrived, my dad was offered a job at the presidency, as the town's treasurer, he didn't know anything about politics but since a lot of people were going to _el Norte_, and besides only few knew how to read and write, without noticing he spent ten years working at the presidency, without leaving San Diego, until in 1962, Samuel Correa stepped in as the new president. They didn't get along and he was discharged. He decided to return once more to the United States.
+
+But, this time he didn't leave as a _bracero._ That year, a first cousin offered to help him fix his documents, since he was in good terms with the owner of the ranch where he worked, he got him a letter of "promise of work", where the rancher requested him to work; the paperwork took six months.
+
+He left in August of 1962 to Santa María, California, with his cousin, to harvest strawberry, but they paid very little. Besides, he didn't like strawberries, not even to eat them; after two months the season was over and he preferred to return to his hometown.
+
+The following year he left to Soledad, California, with one of his sisters. Her husband had taken her to live with him and one uncle, who had been the first from San Diego to arrive in that place, and who had already started accomodating other relatives from town. His first job was as a dishwasher at a camp where they fed _braceros._ He didn't like it because they only paid him 50 dollars per week. He lasted a week and asked his uncle for a job. He told him that, at the ranch where he worked, there was only one vacancy for a position as a waterer, but warned him the job was very tough:
+
+-You get wet a lot and those who work there complain of suffering from rheumatism. The good part is that there's always work and they give you lots of hours a day.
+
+My dad answered that he had not gone to _el Norte_ to gather flowers; they gave him the position as a waterer. He used to work fourteen hours a day. He would start at six in the morning, when it was still dark, and he would get out when it was already dark; he didn't need to pay rent because he used to live in the ranch. He liked the job, he learned it well, and stayed to work there for twenty years doing the same activity. He would come and go: for six to eight months he would work in several ranches and then he would return to San Diego, where he would spend the rest of the year working his lands, 60 hectares that he bought back in 1964, thanks to _el Norte_, he managed to have up to fifty pigs and ten cows. In 1970 he, once again, went to Chicago, because back in town his friends were telling him that one could make more money and work less, but, in the end, the truth of the matter turned out of be very different. In Chicago he worked at a factory that paid him 2.5 dollars per hour, but they would only give him eight hours per day, the required forty hours per week, he would earn, at most, ninety dollars per week, because the newly arrived were not allowed to work over-time, while in California he would make less money, but he could work from twelve to fourteen hours a day, which would let him make more than 100 dollars per week. In Chicago he ended up working for the city, in Public Parks and Gardens, he used to earn three dollars per hour, the problem was that he never liked the weather.
+
+In 1974, when he returned to the United States, I told him that I wanted to go to _el Norte_, my dad was opposed to my idea, he told me that so much sacrifice and trouble were precisely so that his children could study and wouldn't have to go on struggling in another country, where in the end they would be exploited almost as if they were slaves.
+
+He returned to the United States, like every year, he told me he was going to take me to visit, but not until he could fix my documents, so that I wouldn't have to be smuggled in; but I had already come to an agreement with my friends, and with or without their consent, I wanted to experience in my own flesh what was this famous _Norte_ like; I didn't have the need, because my father always tried to give us what we needed, besides, by that time, it had been two years since I had found a position working as a teacher in San Diego' s High School; that's why I waited until school vacations arrived. I left in August, along with other three friends from town, on the way to the border; but weout of luck, the _migra_ caught us several times and we had to return without having seen the United States. Even then, that was my initiation travel, and that's the one I remember the most.
+
+I remember that we were, Chuy Echeverría, Miguel Ramírez, and one son of Cirilo Rocha. Supposedly, Chuy Echeverría had gone once and was the one who knew the famous trail from San Marcos and Carlos Bad. He told us that one had to get to Tijuana, to the neighborhood Libertad; that from there one could see a pair of antennas and that one had to follow the light through the woods, without the need for a coyote, because once knowing the road everything else was very easy.
+
+Chuy told us that in order to avoid problems with the famous _cholos_, who used to gather in the neighborhood Libertad, we were going to leave in the evening, at dusk, so that we could see, more or less, our trail. We were walking and hiding, then we would peek out, but in one of those occasions, Chuy and I peeked out, and the border patrol discovered us and came after us, we looked for a place to hide, but the _migra_ found two of us. We were close by, hiding about 5 meters away, behind some shrubs, but since they had only seen two people, they were satisfied with them. They caught them and left, the bad thing is that they took away the one that knew the trail. "We spent sometime without knowing what to do, we ate and kept walking further in, what else could we do! We walked almost for the entire night, soon thereafter everywhere was like a party, we came across a lot of people, complete groups that were heading to the same place, we joined one of those groups and followed them for a good while. When we got annoyed, we kept going on our own and crossed through a tomato orchard; by then, it was dawn.
+
+We waited until light came out, and when it was finally daybreak --but being a little naive--, in order to not get lost, we decided to walk by the highway, no sooner than later a border patrol spotted us, they asked us what were we doing around there.
+
+-Nothing, we answered.
+
+-Then, let's go back to Mexico.
+
+Well, let's go.
+
+What else could we tell them! They kicked us out right away and, in the morning, we were already eating _menudo_ in Tijuana.
+
+We tried twice again to get in, we could not find those who had been caught. We were carrying some money because we were prepared, but those who had been caught were put on a plane and sent all the way to León, Guanajuato. So, for them the adventure was over very soon.
+
+The other guy became discouraged. He was running out of money
+
+-I am going back, he said.
+
+-Well, let's go.
+
+We went back.
+
+When my father found out, he told me that if I really wanted to go, I should leave when the work season starts, in March, and not in August when work is close to being over.
+
+I asked for a leave of absence at school and the following year, in 1975, I invited another friend and, we left, in March, along with my dad; he went all the way to Soledad and left us in Tijuana, with Jesús Aldana, a _coyote_ from San Diego, so that he would help us cross. This time we got in without any difficulty, they smuggled us in a van all the way to Los Angeles, we payed 300 dollars each; when we arrived my dad had already obtained a Social Security card for me, as for my friend, they told him that in order to get his Social Security he needed to prove he was a legal resident, otherwise the _migra_ was going to go after him, since we had already given out our local address we couldn't stay there anymore, we left for a month to work in the beet fields, in a little ranch that was located 30 miles away from Soledad. We used to work from six in the morning to twelve noon, at that time the _migra_ would stop by the ranch, in their daily itinerary they used to conduct all the way from Salinas. Those who carried no documents with them, stopped working and hid inside a ward; they would come out until after three in the afternoon and would work for three more hours.
+
+When we noticed that the _migra_ was not showing up at the house, we returned. I worked for a while at the ranch, with my dad, until I found a better job, at a company that dehydrated garlic and onion. At that time my dad had already started the paperwork to fix my documents; after several applications they told us to go to the office immediately, before I turned 21 and the process became more difficult.
+
+Once legalized, finding a job became much easier, but I hadn't abandoned the idea to continue studying. When I returned in 1975, coincidentally they had just opened a senior high-school in San Diego; I enrolled immediately. I kept working at the junior high-school and, during the holidays, I would go with my dad for three or four months to the United States.
+
+I kept doing the same until I finished high-school, in 1977, and with the money I had saved from my job as a teacher in San Diego and as a day-laborer in the United States, I went to study agronomy at the University of Guadalajara. At the same time I tried to transfer my teacher's poition to Guadalajara, but it was not possible so, I asked for a leave of absence, but without going back to work.
+
+But it so happened that my savings, which were 20 thousand pesos, vanished. I had no money to continue studying and besides, I already wanted to get married, so I stopped studying for a year. In 1978 I left, once again, to the United States, this time with a fixed goal in mind: save money to get married and continue studying. When I had saved some three or four thousand dollars I returned. Two months later I got married, I returned to work at the high-school in San Diego, without forgetting my plans to finish studying agronomy. Later I asked for my transfer to Ocotlán and, at the same time, I planed my return to the second year at the university. To do this I first had to change my teacher's post to an evening shift in Jamay from where I would journey every day all the way to Guadalajara, to attend the University, in a little car I bought with the money I brought back from the United States.
+
+In little time, and thanks to the political connections I had as a teacher and to my friendship with the municipality's president of San Diego --they cornered the district deputy, who had some good strings in the Department of Public Education--, I was able to find a teacher's position closer to Guadalajara: in Cajititlán.
+
+In 1983 I graduated, at last, as an agronomist, and to my parents and friends surprise, I decided to return, once again, to work in the United States. I remember that everybody was against the idea, but I had my reasons: I never stopped thinking about the United States, because I had already proved that, in fact, it was possible to save money over there. The biggest problem for those who leave is that the idea of saving is very remote. They don't have a strong enough will, or the capacity, to save their earnings, because in general they earn a lot of money. I knew that, and my intention was to buy a tractor, because I've always known about agriculture, and I wanted to work in that area, here in my town, in my land.
+
+To my friends, it was madness that I was leaving to the United States, because, in fact, I was at my best as a teacher, I had gotten involved in Union politics; at that time I was the teachers' union general secretary for the entire zone, that was an excellent title, because in the central zone, we were only 22 people managing every political affair of the 47th section, that was a lot weight, because the political matters are decided in Guadalajara, not out here, in the towns, at that time, the General Secretary could voice his opinion, just as the inspector, about temporary posts or proposals for upcoming positions, which gave you certain power and many people used that to make money, but since I had always considered that I was going to leave for the United States, I didn't even doubled the post I had, that's why, in everybody's eyes, it was a foolish idea to leave, once again, for the United States.
+
+I knew the job I was going to carry out over there was physical work that required a lot of effort, nevertheless, I also knew that if I didn't leave then, I was never going to leave, so with all the pain and heartache I left to the United States at the end of my studies, in September of 1983.
+
+I arrived to Soledad, with Abel, my youngest brother,. At that time David was still over there, the other brother I had taken to _el Norte_ for the first time back in 1976.
+
+In the beginning I worked in the harvest of lettuce, it even occured to me that the best way to make money was with the _corrida_, in the Valley of Salinas, which entailed to continue working in the harvest of the different crops cultivated, ranch by ranch. During my travels I lived in a car, a Volkswagen Beetle that only had the driver's seat, and where I installed a wooden platform, very well padded for sleeping, I even had a heating plate in the car.
+
+In the beginning I had to withstand the teasing of my friends from San Diego, they laughed at me because I had spent my life studying to end up harvesting lettuce just like themselves; I remember their teasing didn't bother me as much because I had a very simple argument to quiet them: I was making good money, at a time when it was not possible to work in Mexico, because the economic recession was going through its most critical stage.
+
+The only thing I didn't like about the _corridas_ was that I had to be going from one place to the other, that prevented me from being in school, that's why as soon as I was able to, the first thing I did was study English, because I knew that was the basis to find better jobs. What I learned at school in Mexico helped me, no doubt, but over there, people judged me because of my accent, because if you arrive there speaking broken English and with a Mexican accent, they look at you like somebody who doesn't know how to speak English and who cannot do anything, at least that's the insecurity they create in you.
+
+I had one year working in the _corridas_ when my dad, already tired, due to 20 years as a waterer, retired in the United States. I tood advantage of the situation and stayed in his place for three years; with that job I was able to save more. Soon thereafter I bought a house in San Diego, aside from the one I already had in Guadalajara, in Residencial Poniente.
+
+Besides, working in irrigation allowed me to become more stable. I studied whatever occurred to me: courses in mechanic, welding, laminating and painting, writing and editing, philosophy, even a teaching course for teachers, there was a moment when I felt that I could understand and write perfectly in English, but I still had some problems speaking; even then, and despite having a good job, moved by the wish to make progress, I began working as a mechanics, for eight months, but still I did not stop looking in the newspapers for an opportunity to find a better job.
+
+On one occasion, there was an ad which said that the Department of Agriculture from the Monterey County, in California, was looking for agricultural technicians to help various researchers in different tasks; I decided to fill out an application for myself and one for my wife, a few days later, after having gone through an evaluation, I was hired. I remember the evaluation was very simple, they had me identify plants, calculate insecticide doses, very elementary tasks, compared to all I had studied in Mexico, besides they required that you had experience in agriculture, plants and farming, and the use of agricultural machinery; my transcript, which showed all the courses I had taken, and my experience as a waterer were very helpful.
+
+I worked for some researchers from the University of California, I was being paid by the Department of Agriculture from the Monterey County. It was an interesting job. It was a team of seven people that included researchers with international recognition in entomology, herbicides, herbiculture, irrigation and fertilizers; in the beginning, in economical terms, it was not the best job I've ever had, I used to earn between ten and twelve dollars per hour, the problem was that I could not work more than eight hours a day and I was being deducted a lot in taxes. With time I gained their confidence and they started calling me, on the weekends, to do little odd jobs with the county ranchers, with that I was able to make better the pay. I had been working with them for a year when I reached the five year limit I had decided to stay, regardless of how much I had saved by then; but, I was so comfortable in the best job I had ever had, that I decided to stay for six more months.
+
+In december of 1989 I let them know I was going to leave my job because I wanted to try out and succeed in Mexico; probably it is not going to work, I remember I thought, but I have to try it out; one of the researchers promised me a better job, another one told me that if I ever returned to the United States, even if it was for a week or two, that I would have a sure job with them.
+
+Unfortunately, or fortunately, I decided to come back because I had reached the time limit I had imposed on myself, besides I wanted to live in Mexico for a while, and I don't know if I'll ever go back; in December of 1992, it will be two years since I returned; I came to work in agriculture, I had a bad first year, I invested a lot of money and, in spite of having a good harvest, I definitively spent more money than what I made, but I am going to farm again this year and I hope to have better luck.
+
+The lands I currently have are the same my father purchased back in 1964, thanks to _el Norte_, but sold in 1970, because he was never able to profit or benefit from them.
+
+In 1988, two of my brothers and I bought the same lands, because here you are worth more if you own, especially, real estate; having lands gives you prestige. One of my brothers wanted to buy land for housing but I convinced him to buy farming land. We used to do well back when the three of us lived in the United States; David is currently the manager at a potato packing factory; Abel, the youngest, I found him a job as a waterer at the ranch, now he is a welder.
+
+I remember we used to talk about the lands everyday, always with the same illusion to make progress, my brothers are still in _el Norte_, they come back temporarily; their intention is to come back definitively, because they know very well that here you are somebody and over there you are nobody; it does not matter the job you may have, how ever good it may be; they, for example, have good jobs, regardless, they are nobody.
+
+We were looking for some good lands on sale, we found out that my father's _compadre_ wanted to sell his. Since we knew the terrain, because it had been my dad's, we knew the place was beautiful, so we bought it; we paid ten thousand dollars in cash and five thousand dollars every six months, in total we paid forty thousand dollars.
+
+Before coming back we brought a tractor, several vehicles, and agricultural equipment and implements; that's why since I arrived I devoted myself completely to agriculture. I farmed close to forty hectares, all with corn because there was a very large demand for pasture in the local market, but it was a difficult year. As a farmer I consider I treated well the terrain, I spent a lot of money on it, but it did not yield the expected results, in the first place because the rain came late in the season, it started raining in July, and once it started, it did not stop raining until September, even then I had a good harvest, but when I had everything ready to begin grinding, on the sixth of January, the rain came down and dampen the entire harvest; I was close to loosing everything, I owed 45 million pesos. The following year, I farmed again but I was more moderate in my expenses.
+
+I was invited to participate in the political campaign with one of the PRI factions in the municipality, because they knew I like politics and have prestige, because I am a migrant who finished my house with what I earned in _el Norte_; besides I am one of the few that can come back from _el Norte_ and give out from 30 to 40 millons of pesos at any one moment. The elections were tight because one of the PRI factions rallied with the PAN, but the PRI won, in spite of having lost in the town's three polls, we won thanks to the votes coming from the surrounding ranches. Don Jesús Hernández, also a migrant, became the municipality's president and I, the secretary to the president of San Diego de Alejandría.
diff --git a/src/content/history/who-said-mexicans-cant-make-it.md b/src/content/history/who-said-mexicans-cant-make-it.md
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+---
+title: Who said Mexicans can't make it?
+category: Those Who Stay
+interviewee: Hector Hernandez
+year: "09.1992"
+description: Ricardo's story, a bracero's son, and his life at the United States.
+lede: >
+  Like many others, Ricardo’s story starts with his father’s previous migratory
+  experience as a bracero. From there, he decided to emigrate at age of 21 to
+  prove his luck and adventure.
+
+
+  His first years were filled with sleepless nights, doing drugs, dancing, and with women. Everything was new and different. However, he still wanted to come back and do something. For 15 years he worked so hard in order to return successfully. His work allowed him to buy his first property, another one and so on. However, one day suddenly he sold everything he had acquired; he had achieved his goal.
+
+
+  Here in México, he accomplished his dream after so many years: to study. His savings allowed him to live comfortably while studying. His natural gift to manage business, allowed him to get more money through investing.
+story: >
+  In my hometown, I didn’t have any acquaintances with emigrants. I was 18 years
+  old and people who migrated at that time were aged 40 plus, married, and they
+  were seeking to support their families. It was rare to find young migrants.
+  It’s when the North becomes popular, when fathers start emigrating with their
+  children, or the smugglers’ children, or simply worker’s children who
+  emigrated by themselves. That is when youth starts migrating. It was about the
+  1970s when the young start emigrating.
+
+
+  I left to the North, because at 21 years, I wanted to do so. I sold the convenience store that I had at El Valle; I sold all the merchandise and the store. First the store was leased and after some time, we sold it.
+
+
+  Upon my arrival to Santa Monica, there was a place where people from my hometown used to work. It was a company that offered gardening services. A lot of people from El Valle worked there, including my father. They woke up at 5 in the morning, they were picked them up, and were taken to Los Angeles and Hollywood to work. Since most of the workers were uneducated, their work was harsh. They were taken to work at 8am and returned until 8pm. Those people couldn’t get a better job due to their age and lack of education. Their boss was also from El Valle, and I don’t remember how long he had been living in Santa Monica.
+
+
+  My father first emigrated as a bracero about three of four times around 1948. I was 3 or 4 years old at the time, and he was about 50 years old. I don’t think he did well at the farm because the job was from June to October, during harvest season. Everyone left in October and returned to plant; they returned with some savings, and once he had spent it all, he left again. We lived at El Tortuguero farm, which belonged to my deceased grandfather. Originally, the farm was large, but after my grandfather passed away, the farm was distributed between the 5 siblings, so my father ended up with a piece of it. We were 8 in the family and the farm was no enough for us. Thus, he emigrated in 1950 or 1955, through a boss who gave him a letter of recommendation.
+
+
+  My father arrived to Santa Monica in the 1950s. He had worked harvesting cotton before that. He had worked by seasons, and even brought cotton to show us, because he felt proud working on that. When he arrived to Santa Monica, he worked as a gardener. All the time, he was planting trees and grass, cutting grass, and shaping trees. It was a very though work. He lasted there a long time because he was not old, but he couldn’t look for another job. He got his pension from there at age 62. After that, he worked with me at a furniture factory, cleaning up furniture and sweeping around, but he only lasted there a year and a half. I wanted to help him out due to his age; he got nervous if he was not working around.
+
+
+  I don’t know anything about my grandparents. I remember that my mother showed me a picture once and told me, “Look, this letter has the California stamp when my mother was there.” My grandmother looks very young in the picture, and very elegant. I think she had money because she was wearing a very elegant hat; and the clothing was impressive. I don’t know if she went alone or her parents took her. She would be 108 years old now; she died 4 years ago.
+
+
+  My mother’s occupation was always a housewife; however, after each meal, she and the other women in town sat on the street to sew. There was somebody buying her work. Rarely she used to go to Mexico City to sell her work or visit my father’s family. She couldn’t work because we were 11 children. Her job was to take care of us and get my father’s monthly check. She emigrated in 1964 with 4 sisters and 1 brother, who were minors. I was the only one who stayed back home.
+
+
+  My paternal grandparents never went to the North because they were poor people. In fact, they didn’t live long.
+
+
+  When my father started his job as a bracero, we left El Valle and I was about 6 years old. I remember because that’s when I started elementary school. The ranch where we used to live here was left alone. That entire little town was left alone; there were empty lots, falling houses, grass quite long, and since there was no one to harvest, the land started to die.
+
+
+  Before I left, the Olga factory was quite famous. We knew that there were a lot of people working there, and we knew that a lot of employees were from Los Altos and El Valle. Many people started working there through their acquaintances, but I never worked there because I never got in touch with them.
+
+
+  I had several uncles and distant family from my mother’s and father’s side. I think there were about 50 people who were cousins and uncles. I started to be acquainted with them through church. I didn’t go to church because I believed, in fact, I stopped believing when I became independent. I never had problems with my parents because they never knew I had stopped believing. They always told me to take care of myself. Now, they are asking me, “Hey Emilio, where are your children going to do their first communion?” Whenever that happens, we take our children to church to avoid problems. All of our children are baptized, but it’s just because our family. That’s the reason why I went to church, to have acquaintances. All Mexicans go there, and that’s how I met a lot of them.
+
+
+  I went to the church in Santa Monica – I don’t recall its name, but it’s located at 20 th and Colorado. They imparted Spanish masses for all Latinos, and there were people from Tepa, El Valle, Jalos, Zacatecas, but mainly from Los Altos.
+
+
+  I first worked at jewelry for about 3 months; I left because I thought I was not going to improve. My wage was always the same of 1.15, and I always did the same job: cut, melt, and polish metal. It was only my brother and I from El Valle at that job. My brother was the supervisor; he had documents then. The most I could obtain was $2 per hour, that’s why I looked for another job.
+
+
+  I got a job in Gardina, making airplane parts. I started as a helper, preparing some mixtures. There was a lot to learn. I also transported people. At that time, I had prior experience from the convenience store and a hardware store I used to work back home. I also had my elementary school education and was good in doing all the mixtures. Thus, two months later they told me: “You’ll be in charge of all the mixtures and that truck. You’ll pick up and drop off all those workers.” All of the workers came from Santa Monica. The boss was Italian and was very nice. He had bought the truck so we were all on time at work.
+
+
+  During those years, I had a convertible Ford 1955 with a Woody Woodpecker’s picture. Everyone else had cars as well. Before our boss bought the truck, we all take turns giving rides. However, there were times when one of them failed to show up, that’s when our boss decided to buy the truck and said, “Ricardo, take the truck with you. You’ll pick up and drop off everyone to work.” We were about 30 employees living in Canton, Gardina, Long Beach, and Carson. Most of the workers were originally from Tepa, El Valle, Acatic, and Guadalajara. I got that job because I was recommended by people from El Valle.
+
+
+  Everything was going smoothly, until one time, people who had more time working there became jealous of me driving. They started saying that I was driving under the influence and with beers inside.
+
+
+  My boss didn’t trust me no more. Now, I’m aware that people who emigrate are the most ignorant people, and that’s why there is no progress. They don’t have education; sometimes they are even illiterate. So, the only way to progress is doing that sort of stuff against their own. The boss started checking me even more and calling me about stuff. Some parts started to get ruined and people were not productive as before. The boss believed everything they said. When I requested a wage increase, he didn’t give it to me. He even told me that I could leave; so I just asked him to pay me. That weekend he sent me a check and fired me. I got so upset and the following Monday I denounced that he was not paying extra time to his workers. The government investigated the situation, and everyone got paid.
+
+
+  I was unemployed for three days only. Since I had many more acquaintances, I started working at a furniture factory called Haipers. I started as a loader and it was hard. We loaded trailers all day long for a 12 hour shift. When I started there, I had studied English in the evenings at Benny High for a year and a half.
+
+
+  I spoke some English, but for that job it was important because we had to deal with truck drivers, who were Americans or African Americans. That’s how I practiced my English. I managed the orders by myself, and that’s how I got the complete daily shifts. Most of the loaders were from El Salto; many of them had experience, but didn’t know English. I knew enough to maintain a conversation with a truck driver. However, I had to work for about two years before I started as a supervisor’s aid. I was told, “Take five loaders and load the trucks going to Washington or Hollywood.”
+
+
+  I always wanted to learn in order to progress. So, when I obtained the position of helper, I obtained my driver’s license in order to be able to drive. I worked as a helper during the day, and at night, I drove trucks to San Diego, Los Angeles, Arizona and San Francisco. I did that for about four years, and I obtained extra money. My wage as a helper was $7 dollars per hour in the 1970s, not counting my trips. The factory grew and move to Torrance. That’s when they started day and night shifts. My supervisor stayed working during the day with me as his helper. Then, after two years, I started as a supervisor at the night shift. My wage as a supervisor was $10 dollars per hour plus benefits. It was a good job because I spent all day in an office with my coffee just supervising everything.
+
+
+  In the production section, there are not many Americans, instead there are more Mexicans – from El Salto and El Valle. There were about 300 documented and undocumented workers. During those years, there were many workers without documents. They used to require the green card, but one could buy one for $25 dollars. The boss knew it was not good, but took it as a proof.
+
+
+  While at the factory, I didn’t drive long because I couldn’t leave the factory alone. I only drove locally about 3 or 4 days per week. That was good extra money, and that meant savings for me to buy properties.
+
+
+  My first property was just a coincidence. There was an old lady selling 12 apartments in Englewood. I didn’t trust at the beginning because I wanted to buy a home, not 12 apartments. However, the lady convinced me and we agreed on the down payment, the price, and interest. She was asking $76K, and I offered $70K with $4K or $5K as a down payment, and with a 7% interest. We agreed all that between us two, and not the bank. I didn’t want to get the 9% from the bank, and she accepted. I was trembling, but at the end, I knew I was not losing anything. That’s how I started in 1971 or 1972.
+
+
+  When I bought the apartments, they were all occupied by Americans. I was expecting to keep receiving the monthly rents. However, at the end of the month, I found out that 5 of the apartments were emptying. They didn’t want to live there with me as the owner. Without the rents, I couldn’t pay the monthly payments. I painted and cleaned up the apartments, and I rented them right away to Mexicans. I preferred Mexicans because we have the language in common and there was more trust and talk. There was a way to understand each other.
+
+
+  Since the moment I bought the apartments, I learned about plumbing, tile, bathrooms, and windows. Sometimes it was hard, but in the U.S., they sell you everything ready to be installed. I had to learn because if I paid someone else to do so, I wouldn’t see the extra money. In a year, all my tenants were Mexicans.
+
+
+  One year later, I finally started seeing profit, with $300 per month free. As supervisor I saved $1,200 monthly. Two years later, I bought 6 more apartments. They were on a better area. I felt more comfortable doing this, because I already had experience. So, I had 12 apartments, plus 6 new apartments, and my job as a supervisor… I worked day and night.
+
+
+  By then (1975), I was the general supervisor, but I wasn’t accepted by everyone. There were a lot of politics because everyone wanted my position; people, who weren’t able to ascend as I’d done, envied me. I had problems with workers from El Salto, Acatic, and El Valle. I gave orders and people didn’t obey me or did it whenever they wanted. One time, they started saying that I was allowing my workers do drink beer while working, or simply they were not working as hard as they were supposed to, or that the clock was not correctly set and they were being affected by it. So, one day the main boss fired me. There were a lot of problems. Sometimes I had thought about retiring, but my wage was a lot better than a lot of people who had worked there for 20 years. So, when they fired me, I told my wife, “I got fired. I finally escaped.” I was so happy that I celebrated with wine. I went with the owner to get the money they owed me: $40K. They took about 5 months to pay me, and I didn’t work for two months.
+
+
+  I started working at a furniture store, with an American. He wanted someone to deliver the furniture, and I got paid $10 dollars per trip. The store was in Englewood, near my home. During that time, I learned all about furniture and all the factories. Then, in front of my home, I leased a place and I started my own business selling mattresses, sofas, dining sets, and bedrooms. It was a good business because I knew where to buy and sell. I usually sold my products to the African Americans. It was such as good business that I profited up to $300 dollars daily. I was in my business from 10am until 6pm. While I was there, one of my children used to pick up the trash from the apartments, and my wife was getting the money from the rents. At the beginning, I just started the store just because. If Americans could do it, why couldn’t I? I had the same rights, and I knew all about furniture. All of the businesses at the time were either American or Japanese; I felt proud of having a Mexican business.
+
+
+  - “Well, can’t Mexicans start their own business?” I thought.
+
+
+  Sometimes it’s the fear of the unknown that people don’t start a business. Right now it’s different because the conditions have changed over there; but before, you could start a business and be successful. The U.S. is a country where everything is bought and sold. Everything is a business.
+
+
+  Also, during those years, it was quite dangerous to have a business due to the crime. I always carried my gun on my belt. If I saw mysterious people in my store or with other intentions, I just showed them my gun. There was a lot of tension and danger. One day, some black guys arrived and one of them got their gun out and told me, “Give us the money or we’ll kill you.”
+
+
+  They turned me over, tied my hands and feet and asked, “Where is the money?”
+
+
+  They took $365 dollars. I got free on my own and went home. I told my wife what had happened and we sold the business. Besides, we didn’t really need it. We thought about returning to Mexico to live. I talked to her and told her, “You know, there’s a good interest in Mexico. We have a lot of money – I had already received Harper’s $40K – and I had my savings.” I saved around $5K per month as a result of the store, the apartments. “We have money, we have our 4 children, and we are young,” we said.
+
+
+  Just before that decision, I sold my furniture store on installments. I didn’t get paid all because of my return here. I filled my van with our clothing, household goods, and I drove with a friend. We dropped everything off, and we returned for my wife and children. I leased a house while I could buy one. I put my money on the bank, and there was a good interest. I left someone else in charge of my apartments and house, but it didn’t work. I decided to sell my apartments, and I did all the transaction from here with my realtor there. I sold 12 apartments in 1984.
+
+
+  Upon my return to México, I stayed in Guadalajara because I wanted to study. I had planned to start studying right away, that’s one of the reasons I returned. I studied at INEA, night middle school in a year. Then, I finished high school in 3 years, and entered the University.
+
+
+  I started studying because I had seen people who were now with a career. It took me 9 years but I got interested in Philosophy. On those years, the economic crisis was the hit. So, in order to survive it, I had to understand it. So, I studied humanities in order to understand history, politics, economics, and social studies.
+
+
+  I noticed that in Sociology I had history, economics, and a social area, and that’s what I needed. I had arrived to a country in crisis and I wanted to understand it.
+
+
+  Three or four months later when I went to the North, I noticed that things were not the same. There were more problems. My house was not well taken care of. There was no business in leasing it. I got a realtor to sell the other apartments, and it took me about a year and a half to sell them. I still wanted to keep my house; it was pretty, big and centric. But every time I returned, nothing was taken care of and I was not getting paid the rent on time. Finally, the tenants left the house without paying me. Since my sister didn’t know anyone to rent the house to, the house stayed empty for some time. Then, I received a phone call that some robbers had broken in – probably some blacks – and burned it. Since I had insurance, we built it again. It took me about 2 to 3 years to sell it all.
+
+
+  When I sold everything over there, I invested here. That’s the reason why I have never worked. I live from my investment. I study here, and of course, I keep myself informed of a finance, that’s my job now.
+
+
+  From the money I brought in 1981, I lost some in 1982 because of the devaluation. In 1981, 1 dollar was equal to 25 pesos; but in 1982, the dollar jumped to 50 pesos. Then, it jumped to 100, and then to 200. My money was going in halves. I had to negotiate a lot with bankers, and I was lucky during that economic crisis. I didn’t go bankrupt because of my experience in business. When I was young, I had a fruit store that I had lost and then recuperated it. Then, with all my businesses in California, I knew how things worked. I came back to a different country per se, because I had spent 15 years out, but I had my economic knowledge. So, I did business and good deals, which were positive to me at the end.
+
+
+  As soon as I returned, I went to the banks and informed me of how they worked. I also sought more options. Some time, I bought some dollars, but not from the principal, but from the reserves. In addition, I had dollars around. Once I learned everything in Mexico, I switched it to pesos.
+
+
+  From real state, I bought some land, some houses, but not to do business. I bought them for my children. I also bought an apartment; it was a good opportunity and I liked it.
+
+
+  I also bought a farm, because I wanted something else than study. So, whenever I had time, I went to the ranch. I’ve had it for 6 years now; it’s one hectare, but it’s quite complete.
+
+
+  Even though I faced the economic crisis, I tripled what I had. I did business with financial groups, and I had actions with them. I bought companies and sold them. So, today I have a company, and I sell it tomorrow. I’m doing that all the time. I just see what’s hot on the market. So, I’ve had actions with Vitro, Comecial Mexicana, Gigante, and Coca Cola. I’ve had about everything. So, I buy them when they are low, and sell them when they are high. I currently have with Alpha Group, Vitro, Cements, and Serfin. I always have backups, because if I do it individually, I can lose.
+
+
+  I only do this type of business, because I don’t want problems with workers. Besides, I don’t want to work. Someone told me to buy a business, but I didn’t want that. I wanted to rest and study. I don’t want problems anymore. Whenever I go to a bank and they don’t know me, they try to convince me in doing business, and I tell them that I’m not interested.
+
+
+  I get upset because whenever the cashier sees someone in a suit, they respect him. If I get there in jeans and boots, they see me as less. But, now that they know me, they are really nice with me. Whenever I go to the bank, I get someone with me in less than 15 minutes. That’s nice, but I don’t get conceited. One time, I went to the grand opening of a financial bank. They sent me the invitation. I arrived wearing jeans, and everyone stared at me. I didn’t care. I was talking with the manager signing some papers of the grand opening. I don’t like to be conceited, but I like to be treated well.
+
+
+  I’ve always had advisors in my finances. In the last two years, I’ve had really good investments of thousands of millions. When I first returned to Mexico, I had a half of a million dollars, and that was a great quantity.
+
+
+  Since I’ve lived here, I go to my hometown every weekend. In El Valle, everyone knows me and respects me. Before I returned to El Valle, I had already fame due to my money and properties. Everywhere I went, I was treated well and admired. Now they see me with a good car, with my children, and with my properties.
+
+
+  I think that before I was being blinded by the situation. For example, in 1968, I didn’t understand the movement, and I supported the government. The American system drains you and I didn’t have the mind to stand for the students. But, that’s not all; one turns against his own people. Mexicans defend Americans; they no longer want to speak Spanish and they speak English to the Mexicans. They become coincided whenever they have a new car, new phone, and speak English. That happens because here one is an ignorant who had nothing before leaving. So, when one starts obtaining a car or a TV, one thinks of oneself in paradise.
+
+
+  I have better acquaintances in El Valle. People know that I go every weekend; they also know that I was a political candidate once in Jalisco; and they also know that I’m a sociologist. They look for me to ask about politics or candidates or just to have my opinion. They consider my opinions. Before, they saw me as a migrant who had just returned. Even though I’m in politics, I can’t get into the PRI or PAN, because I’m from the left and communist. In addition, they know that I’m an atheist. So people know me as atheist, communist, from the left, from the university, but they also respect me.
+
+
+  I did about everything. I painted walls, I worked as a technician installing stereos in cars, I put posters up on the streets, and more.
+
+
+  All the time, I was with Horacio’s group, first with the PRS, then the PMT, then the PTE. I volunteered all the time. We’ve gone to Mexico City, Colima, Nayarit, Michoacan. I ran as a political candidate from the left in ’83 or ’84, when the PSUM was divided. I ran as a candidate for Jalos, Teocaltiche, Lagos de Moreno, La Chona, and Villa Hidalgo, also known as the 6 th district.
+
+
+  I’ve never run as a candidate here at El Valle, the reason being is that there’s a lot of religious tradition here, and it’s very difficult. I would have liked to do so because I was well known and I had friends, but people from small towns are not easy on politics. People at El Valle are afraid of communism. One time, they asked me to do something with the water and sewage, and I told them to go, but no one wanted to go with me. So I ended it there.
+
+
+  From my life at the North, I remember that when I was young, I gathered with about 5 to 6 friends to parties. If people got drunk at the party, we left and avoided the problem. And, if one of us wanted to be in the problem, we cool him down. One time, I got in trouble because we stole goods from cars. I saw the police and ran to my car and started driving. I drove into a dead end street, so we got arrested. The police told us that he would take our green card away. I was about 23 years old, but I behaved like a person aged 18. The police scared us and we paid a $25 dlls fine after returning everything we had stolen. I remember that whenever we planned something like that, we met at a restaurant around 7pm, and after a couple of beers, we went dancing until 2am. From there, we went to steal fruit from fields, such as mangos, avocados, and oranges. We didn’t sleep all night long. But we were always on time to work the next Monday.
+
+
+  I met a lot of people who ended up in jail, others divorced, others died due to drugs or alcohol, and some others ended up crazy. I did consume cocaine, crack, the whites and reds… I tasted everything. It was easy before because we could obtain everything at a dance party. There were people from El Valle, Tepa, Jalos, Zacatecas, and Queretaro. So we met there at Latino dance parties.
+
+
+  My group of friends was known because we worked hard, we saved Money, but we also consumed drugs. We didn’t do drugs that extensively, but we liked to live in danger. I always worked extra time; however, on Saturdays, we partied from 5pm – after work, until early Sunday morning. Each week was the same. On Saturdays, I worked half day and then I washed my car and went out with my friends to party. We were always about 8.
+
+
+  In Santa Monica and Los Angeles, the parties were nice with no trouble. The problem was the drugs because all the immigrants were consuming drugs. I think it was because when one arrives from Jalisco, with no education, once you get a car, you start participating in parties. There, you have to become part of that environment, using crack and drive fast, per se. I did that for about 5 years. I met friends and relatives who did those sorts of things. Many of them ended up in jail, others divorced, and others out of their mind. I lived that, but I was able to get out.
+
+
+  Upon my arrival there, I never thought I would be able to get a car and go out dancing with a lot of girls. That transforms you. You are not prepared for that. I had long hair and beard, and I didn’t do that to copy anyone else.
+
+
+  People from East Los Angeles were very violent. Chicanos gathered there, and there were a lot of firearms and killings in their neighborhoods. Santa Monica was an immigrant area, and not many “pochos” lived there. However, East L.A. was a neighborhood full of “pochos” who were involved in the “pachuqueada” very seriously. I never felt “pocho”, but I met friends who were speaking English at the “pocho” style in a very conceited manner. There were also people from small towns who went to work and never got into trouble. So, there were people from both extremes.
+
+
+  I met single and married people. Some singles lived in a room with another 5 or 6 people and seemed to be always short on money. However, I just saw a man who is very rich. I remember that he saved and saved so much; he never wasted his money on beer or cigarettes, and now he is living quite well and with a nice car. He really knew how to use his savings.
+
+
+  I also know people who have always been in the same situation. They haven’t been able to obtain their own home. There is people who are successful and some others who are not. When you arrive there, you realize that with a week worth of wages you are able to buy a car. So, you start saving. I bought my first car – a Mercury ’49 for 40 dlls; then, my second car in 75 dlls, a Ford 55 convertible. I never had new cars. So, in less than two months, one is able to obtain a car. We like to decorate the cars with a rosary beads hanging on the front mirror; we hang the girlfriend’s handkerchief on the antenna – that says that one has a girlfriend. There are tons of décor that we like to put in the car so it looks nice.
+
+
+  I used to come to Mexico each January every three to four years. The first time, I returned after two years. Then, I came when I got married and whenever there was an accident or a family urgency. My trips were one to two days at the most. When I was thinking on returning, I came as a tourist.
+
+
+  When I was single, I came to El Valle to hang out with friends and relatives. Sometimes, my trip coincided with someone else who had just returned, so we had a party. That was not too often. I didn’t have savings to come and I didn’t really have the idea of coming. You become American and don’t really dream of coming back. At that time I was on the military reserve, you have to sign and register, the government tells you to do so. So, within friends we kept up to date to see if we had to serve. I knew that if I said that I spoke English, I would score higher and the possibility of serving would be higher; thus, I said that I didn’t know how to speak English. I was not interested on being on the Army reserve. They sent me to study for a year, and I did; however, upon my return I said that I hadn’t learned the language in order to stay as a reserve. I was feeling American and I was proud to go to the Army, but I was scared of doing so. One day they called me and asked me to bring my toothbrush and a change of clothes to go to the Army. On the outside, I was saying that I was going to the Army, but inside me I was crying of fear. I was thinking that I was going to leave my parents. I was single then and I supported them economically. I knew I was important to them. So, I went to the base and I said that I didn’t know English and I made like I didn’t know the answers to their questions. At the end, they gave me the letter of reserve.
+
+
+  Every time we returned here, we used to go to the central plaza to show off our car. In a small town, anyone who has a car is the center of attraction. So, I had my car very cleaned and I just waited there to talk with someone. Then, I was able to talk and drink pulque and wine. We were a nice group. There was another group who liked to consume drugs and burn tires, and they liked to scared people. However, we were nice to people because in a small town everyone knows who you are and they know everything about you.
+
+
+  When I got married, everything was different. I had to be strong and I just worked to make money. In my spare time, I was with my children and wife. I took care of my apartments, my job, and my children. I have four children: 2 boys and 2 girls. The oldest is 21 years old and studies his 3 rd year of Engineering. The second is 18 and is studying accounting. The third is 17 years old and studies high school. The last is the youngest and is on elementary school. All my children were born in the U.S.
+---
+In my hometown, I didn’t have any acquaintances with emigrants. I was 18 years old and people who migrated at that time were aged 40 plus, married, and they were seeking to support their families. It was rare to find young migrants. It’s when the North becomes popular, when fathers start emigrating with their children, or the smugglers’ children, or simply worker’s children who emigrated by themselves. That is when youth starts migrating. It was about the 1970s when the young start emigrating.
+
+I left to the North, because at 21 years, I wanted to do so. I sold the convenience store that I had at El Valle; I sold all the merchandise and the store. First the store was leased and after some time, we sold it.
+
+Upon my arrival to Santa Monica, there was a place where people from my hometown used to work. It was a company that offered gardening services. A lot of people from El Valle worked there, including my father. They woke up at 5 in the morning, they were picked them up, and were taken to Los Angeles and Hollywood to work. Since most of the workers were uneducated, their work was harsh. They were taken to work at 8am and returned until 8pm. Those people couldn’t get a better job due to their age and lack of education. Their boss was also from El Valle, and I don’t remember how long he had been living in Santa Monica.
+
+My father first emigrated as a bracero about three of four times around 1948. I was 3 or 4 years old at the time, and he was about 50 years old. I don’t think he did well at the farm because the job was from June to October, during harvest season. Everyone left in October and returned to plant; they returned with some savings, and once he had spent it all, he left again. We lived at El Tortuguero farm, which belonged to my deceased grandfather. Originally, the farm was large, but after my grandfather passed away, the farm was distributed between the 5 siblings, so my father ended up with a piece of it. We were 8 in the family and the farm was no enough for us. Thus, he emigrated in 1950 or 1955, through a boss who gave him a letter of recommendation.
+
+My father arrived to Santa Monica in the 1950s. He had worked harvesting cotton before that. He had worked by seasons, and even brought cotton to show us, because he felt proud working on that. When he arrived to Santa Monica, he worked as a gardener. All the time, he was planting trees and grass, cutting grass, and shaping trees. It was a very though work. He lasted there a long time because he was not old, but he couldn’t look for another job. He got his pension from there at age 62. After that, he worked with me at a furniture factory, cleaning up furniture and sweeping around, but he only lasted there a year and a half. I wanted to help him out due to his age; he got nervous if he was not working around.
+
+I don’t know anything about my grandparents. I remember that my mother showed me a picture once and told me, “Look, this letter has the California stamp when my mother was there.” My grandmother looks very young in the picture, and very elegant. I think she had money because she was wearing a very elegant hat; and the clothing was impressive. I don’t know if she went alone or her parents took her. She would be 108 years old now; she died 4 years ago.
+
+My mother’s occupation was always a housewife; however, after each meal, she and the other women in town sat on the street to sew. There was somebody buying her work. Rarely she used to go to Mexico City to sell her work or visit my father’s family. She couldn’t work because we were 11 children. Her job was to take care of us and get my father’s monthly check. She emigrated in 1964 with 4 sisters and 1 brother, who were minors. I was the only one who stayed back home.
+
+My paternal grandparents never went to the North because they were poor people. In fact, they didn’t live long.
+
+When my father started his job as a bracero, we left El Valle and I was about 6 years old. I remember because that’s when I started elementary school. The ranch where we used to live here was left alone. That entire little town was left alone; there were empty lots, falling houses, grass quite long, and since there was no one to harvest, the land started to die.
+
+Before I left, the Olga factory was quite famous. We knew that there were a lot of people working there, and we knew that a lot of employees were from Los Altos and El Valle. Many people started working there through their acquaintances, but I never worked there because I never got in touch with them.
+
+I had several uncles and distant family from my mother’s and father’s side. I think there were about 50 people who were cousins and uncles. I started to be acquainted with them through church. I didn’t go to church because I believed, in fact, I stopped believing when I became independent. I never had problems with my parents because they never knew I had stopped believing. They always told me to take care of myself. Now, they are asking me, “Hey Emilio, where are your children going to do their first communion?” Whenever that happens, we take our children to church to avoid problems. All of our children are baptized, but it’s just because our family. That’s the reason why I went to church, to have acquaintances. All Mexicans go there, and that’s how I met a lot of them.
+
+I went to the church in Santa Monica – I don’t recall its name, but it’s located at 20 th and Colorado. They imparted Spanish masses for all Latinos, and there were people from Tepa, El Valle, Jalos, Zacatecas, but mainly from Los Altos.
+
+I first worked at jewelry for about 3 months; I left because I thought I was not going to improve. My wage was always the same of 1.15, and I always did the same job: cut, melt, and polish metal. It was only my brother and I from El Valle at that job. My brother was the supervisor; he had documents then. The most I could obtain was $2 per hour, that’s why I looked for another job.
+
+I got a job in Gardina, making airplane parts. I started as a helper, preparing some mixtures. There was a lot to learn. I also transported people. At that time, I had prior experience from the convenience store and a hardware store I used to work back home. I also had my elementary school education and was good in doing all the mixtures. Thus, two months later they told me: “You’ll be in charge of all the mixtures and that truck. You’ll pick up and drop off all those workers.” All of the workers came from Santa Monica. The boss was Italian and was very nice. He had bought the truck so we were all on time at work.
+
+During those years, I had a convertible Ford 1955 with a Woody Woodpecker’s picture. Everyone else had cars as well. Before our boss bought the truck, we all take turns giving rides. However, there were times when one of them failed to show up, that’s when our boss decided to buy the truck and said, “Ricardo, take the truck with you. You’ll pick up and drop off everyone to work.” We were about 30 employees living in Canton, Gardina, Long Beach, and Carson. Most of the workers were originally from Tepa, El Valle, Acatic, and Guadalajara. I got that job because I was recommended by people from El Valle.
+
+Everything was going smoothly, until one time, people who had more time working there became jealous of me driving. They started saying that I was driving under the influence and with beers inside.
+
+My boss didn’t trust me no more. Now, I’m aware that people who emigrate are the most ignorant people, and that’s why there is no progress. They don’t have education; sometimes they are even illiterate. So, the only way to progress is doing that sort of stuff against their own. The boss started checking me even more and calling me about stuff. Some parts started to get ruined and people were not productive as before. The boss believed everything they said. When I requested a wage increase, he didn’t give it to me. He even told me that I could leave; so I just asked him to pay me. That weekend he sent me a check and fired me. I got so upset and the following Monday I denounced that he was not paying extra time to his workers. The government investigated the situation, and everyone got paid.
+
+I was unemployed for three days only. Since I had many more acquaintances, I started working at a furniture factory called Haipers. I started as a loader and it was hard. We loaded trailers all day long for a 12 hour shift. When I started there, I had studied English in the evenings at Benny High for a year and a half.
+
+I spoke some English, but for that job it was important because we had to deal with truck drivers, who were Americans or African Americans. That’s how I practiced my English. I managed the orders by myself, and that’s how I got the complete daily shifts. Most of the loaders were from El Salto; many of them had experience, but didn’t know English. I knew enough to maintain a conversation with a truck driver. However, I had to work for about two years before I started as a supervisor’s aid. I was told, “Take five loaders and load the trucks going to Washington or Hollywood.”
+
+I always wanted to learn in order to progress. So, when I obtained the position of helper, I obtained my driver’s license in order to be able to drive. I worked as a helper during the day, and at night, I drove trucks to San Diego, Los Angeles, Arizona and San Francisco. I did that for about four years, and I obtained extra money. My wage as a helper was $7 dollars per hour in the 1970s, not counting my trips. The factory grew and move to Torrance. That’s when they started day and night shifts. My supervisor stayed working during the day with me as his helper. Then, after two years, I started as a supervisor at the night shift. My wage as a supervisor was $10 dollars per hour plus benefits. It was a good job because I spent all day in an office with my coffee just supervising everything.
+
+In the production section, there are not many Americans, instead there are more Mexicans – from El Salto and El Valle. There were about 300 documented and undocumented workers. During those years, there were many workers without documents. They used to require the green card, but one could buy one for $25 dollars. The boss knew it was not good, but took it as a proof.
+
+While at the factory, I didn’t drive long because I couldn’t leave the factory alone. I only drove locally about 3 or 4 days per week. That was good extra money, and that meant savings for me to buy properties.
+
+My first property was just a coincidence. There was an old lady selling 12 apartments in Englewood. I didn’t trust at the beginning because I wanted to buy a home, not 12 apartments. However, the lady convinced me and we agreed on the down payment, the price, and interest. She was asking $76K, and I offered $70K with $4K or $5K as a down payment, and with a 7% interest. We agreed all that between us two, and not the bank. I didn’t want to get the 9% from the bank, and she accepted. I was trembling, but at the end, I knew I was not losing anything. That’s how I started in 1971 or 1972.
+
+When I bought the apartments, they were all occupied by Americans. I was expecting to keep receiving the monthly rents. However, at the end of the month, I found out that 5 of the apartments were emptying. They didn’t want to live there with me as the owner. Without the rents, I couldn’t pay the monthly payments. I painted and cleaned up the apartments, and I rented them right away to Mexicans. I preferred Mexicans because we have the language in common and there was more trust and talk. There was a way to understand each other.
+
+Since the moment I bought the apartments, I learned about plumbing, tile, bathrooms, and windows. Sometimes it was hard, but in the U.S., they sell you everything ready to be installed. I had to learn because if I paid someone else to do so, I wouldn’t see the extra money. In a year, all my tenants were Mexicans.
+
+One year later, I finally started seeing profit, with $300 per month free. As supervisor I saved $1,200 monthly. Two years later, I bought 6 more apartments. They were on a better area. I felt more comfortable doing this, because I already had experience. So, I had 12 apartments, plus 6 new apartments, and my job as a supervisor… I worked day and night.
+
+By then (1975), I was the general supervisor, but I wasn’t accepted by everyone. There were a lot of politics because everyone wanted my position; people, who weren’t able to ascend as I’d done, envied me. I had problems with workers from El Salto, Acatic, and El Valle. I gave orders and people didn’t obey me or did it whenever they wanted. One time, they started saying that I was allowing my workers do drink beer while working, or simply they were not working as hard as they were supposed to, or that the clock was not correctly set and they were being affected by it. So, one day the main boss fired me. There were a lot of problems. Sometimes I had thought about retiring, but my wage was a lot better than a lot of people who had worked there for 20 years. So, when they fired me, I told my wife, “I got fired. I finally escaped.” I was so happy that I celebrated with wine. I went with the owner to get the money they owed me: $40K. They took about 5 months to pay me, and I didn’t work for two months.
+
+I started working at a furniture store, with an American. He wanted someone to deliver the furniture, and I got paid $10 dollars per trip. The store was in Englewood, near my home. During that time, I learned all about furniture and all the factories. Then, in front of my home, I leased a place and I started my own business selling mattresses, sofas, dining sets, and bedrooms. It was a good business because I knew where to buy and sell. I usually sold my products to the African Americans. It was such as good business that I profited up to $300 dollars daily. I was in my business from 10am until 6pm. While I was there, one of my children used to pick up the trash from the apartments, and my wife was getting the money from the rents. At the beginning, I just started the store just because. If Americans could do it, why couldn’t I? I had the same rights, and I knew all about furniture. All of the businesses at the time were either American or Japanese; I felt proud of having a Mexican business.
+
+- “Well, can’t Mexicans start their own business?” I thought.
+
+Sometimes it’s the fear of the unknown that people don’t start a business. Right now it’s different because the conditions have changed over there; but before, you could start a business and be successful. The U.S. is a country where everything is bought and sold. Everything is a business.
+
+Also, during those years, it was quite dangerous to have a business due to the crime. I always carried my gun on my belt. If I saw mysterious people in my store or with other intentions, I just showed them my gun. There was a lot of tension and danger. One day, some black guys arrived and one of them got their gun out and told me, “Give us the money or we’ll kill you.”
+
+They turned me over, tied my hands and feet and asked, “Where is the money?”
+
+They took $365 dollars. I got free on my own and went home. I told my wife what had happened and we sold the business. Besides, we didn’t really need it. We thought about returning to Mexico to live. I talked to her and told her, “You know, there’s a good interest in Mexico. We have a lot of money – I had already received Harper’s $40K – and I had my savings.” I saved around $5K per month as a result of the store, the apartments. “We have money, we have our 4 children, and we are young,” we said.
+
+Just before that decision, I sold my furniture store on installments. I didn’t get paid all because of my return here. I filled my van with our clothing, household goods, and I drove with a friend. We dropped everything off, and we returned for my wife and children. I leased a house while I could buy one. I put my money on the bank, and there was a good interest. I left someone else in charge of my apartments and house, but it didn’t work. I decided to sell my apartments, and I did all the transaction from here with my realtor there. I sold 12 apartments in 1984.
+
+Upon my return to México, I stayed in Guadalajara because I wanted to study. I had planned to start studying right away, that’s one of the reasons I returned. I studied at INEA, night middle school in a year. Then, I finished high school in 3 years, and entered the University.
+
+I started studying because I had seen people who were now with a career. It took me 9 years but I got interested in Philosophy. On those years, the economic crisis was the hit. So, in order to survive it, I had to understand it. So, I studied humanities in order to understand history, politics, economics, and social studies.
+
+I noticed that in Sociology I had history, economics, and a social area, and that’s what I needed. I had arrived to a country in crisis and I wanted to understand it.
+
+Three or four months later when I went to the North, I noticed that things were not the same. There were more problems. My house was not well taken care of. There was no business in leasing it. I got a realtor to sell the other apartments, and it took me about a year and a half to sell them. I still wanted to keep my house; it was pretty, big and centric. But every time I returned, nothing was taken care of and I was not getting paid the rent on time. Finally, the tenants left the house without paying me. Since my sister didn’t know anyone to rent the house to, the house stayed empty for some time. Then, I received a phone call that some robbers had broken in – probably some blacks – and burned it. Since I had insurance, we built it again. It took me about 2 to 3 years to sell it all.
+
+When I sold everything over there, I invested here. That’s the reason why I have never worked. I live from my investment. I study here, and of course, I keep myself informed of a finance, that’s my job now.
+
+From the money I brought in 1981, I lost some in 1982 because of the devaluation. In 1981, 1 dollar was equal to 25 pesos; but in 1982, the dollar jumped to 50 pesos. Then, it jumped to 100, and then to 200. My money was going in halves. I had to negotiate a lot with bankers, and I was lucky during that economic crisis. I didn’t go bankrupt because of my experience in business. When I was young, I had a fruit store that I had lost and then recuperated it. Then, with all my businesses in California, I knew how things worked. I came back to a different country per se, because I had spent 15 years out, but I had my economic knowledge. So, I did business and good deals, which were positive to me at the end.
+
+As soon as I returned, I went to the banks and informed me of how they worked. I also sought more options. Some time, I bought some dollars, but not from the principal, but from the reserves. In addition, I had dollars around. Once I learned everything in Mexico, I switched it to pesos.
+
+From real state, I bought some land, some houses, but not to do business. I bought them for my children. I also bought an apartment; it was a good opportunity and I liked it.
+
+I also bought a farm, because I wanted something else than study. So, whenever I had time, I went to the ranch. I’ve had it for 6 years now; it’s one hectare, but it’s quite complete.
+
+Even though I faced the economic crisis, I tripled what I had. I did business with financial groups, and I had actions with them. I bought companies and sold them. So, today I have a company, and I sell it tomorrow. I’m doing that all the time. I just see what’s hot on the market. So, I’ve had actions with Vitro, Comecial Mexicana, Gigante, and Coca Cola. I’ve had about everything. So, I buy them when they are low, and sell them when they are high. I currently have with Alpha Group, Vitro, Cements, and Serfin. I always have backups, because if I do it individually, I can lose.
+
+I only do this type of business, because I don’t want problems with workers. Besides, I don’t want to work. Someone told me to buy a business, but I didn’t want that. I wanted to rest and study. I don’t want problems anymore. Whenever I go to a bank and they don’t know me, they try to convince me in doing business, and I tell them that I’m not interested.
+
+I get upset because whenever the cashier sees someone in a suit, they respect him. If I get there in jeans and boots, they see me as less. But, now that they know me, they are really nice with me. Whenever I go to the bank, I get someone with me in less than 15 minutes. That’s nice, but I don’t get conceited. One time, I went to the grand opening of a financial bank. They sent me the invitation. I arrived wearing jeans, and everyone stared at me. I didn’t care. I was talking with the manager signing some papers of the grand opening. I don’t like to be conceited, but I like to be treated well.
+
+I’ve always had advisors in my finances. In the last two years, I’ve had really good investments of thousands of millions. When I first returned to Mexico, I had a half of a million dollars, and that was a great quantity.
+
+Since I’ve lived here, I go to my hometown every weekend. In El Valle, everyone knows me and respects me. Before I returned to El Valle, I had already fame due to my money and properties. Everywhere I went, I was treated well and admired. Now they see me with a good car, with my children, and with my properties.
+
+I think that before I was being blinded by the situation. For example, in 1968, I didn’t understand the movement, and I supported the government. The American system drains you and I didn’t have the mind to stand for the students. But, that’s not all; one turns against his own people. Mexicans defend Americans; they no longer want to speak Spanish and they speak English to the Mexicans. They become coincided whenever they have a new car, new phone, and speak English. That happens because here one is an ignorant who had nothing before leaving. So, when one starts obtaining a car or a TV, one thinks of oneself in paradise.
+
+I have better acquaintances in El Valle. People know that I go every weekend; they also know that I was a political candidate once in Jalisco; and they also know that I’m a sociologist. They look for me to ask about politics or candidates or just to have my opinion. They consider my opinions. Before, they saw me as a migrant who had just returned. Even though I’m in politics, I can’t get into the PRI or PAN, because I’m from the left and communist. In addition, they know that I’m an atheist. So people know me as atheist, communist, from the left, from the university, but they also respect me.
+
+I did about everything. I painted walls, I worked as a technician installing stereos in cars, I put posters up on the streets, and more.
+
+All the time, I was with Horacio’s group, first with the PRS, then the PMT, then the PTE. I volunteered all the time. We’ve gone to Mexico City, Colima, Nayarit, Michoacan. I ran as a political candidate from the left in ’83 or ’84, when the PSUM was divided. I ran as a candidate for Jalos, Teocaltiche, Lagos de Moreno, La Chona, and Villa Hidalgo, also known as the 6 th district.
+
+I’ve never run as a candidate here at El Valle, the reason being is that there’s a lot of religious tradition here, and it’s very difficult. I would have liked to do so because I was well known and I had friends, but people from small towns are not easy on politics. People at El Valle are afraid of communism. One time, they asked me to do something with the water and sewage, and I told them to go, but no one wanted to go with me. So I ended it there.
+
+From my life at the North, I remember that when I was young, I gathered with about 5 to 6 friends to parties. If people got drunk at the party, we left and avoided the problem. And, if one of us wanted to be in the problem, we cool him down. One time, I got in trouble because we stole goods from cars. I saw the police and ran to my car and started driving. I drove into a dead end street, so we got arrested. The police told us that he would take our green card away. I was about 23 years old, but I behaved like a person aged 18. The police scared us and we paid a $25 dlls fine after returning everything we had stolen. I remember that whenever we planned something like that, we met at a restaurant around 7pm, and after a couple of beers, we went dancing until 2am. From there, we went to steal fruit from fields, such as mangos, avocados, and oranges. We didn’t sleep all night long. But we were always on time to work the next Monday.
+
+I met a lot of people who ended up in jail, others divorced, others died due to drugs or alcohol, and some others ended up crazy. I did consume cocaine, crack, the whites and reds… I tasted everything. It was easy before because we could obtain everything at a dance party. There were people from El Valle, Tepa, Jalos, Zacatecas, and Queretaro. So we met there at Latino dance parties.
+
+My group of friends was known because we worked hard, we saved Money, but we also consumed drugs. We didn’t do drugs that extensively, but we liked to live in danger. I always worked extra time; however, on Saturdays, we partied from 5pm – after work, until early Sunday morning. Each week was the same. On Saturdays, I worked half day and then I washed my car and went out with my friends to party. We were always about 8.
+
+In Santa Monica and Los Angeles, the parties were nice with no trouble. The problem was the drugs because all the immigrants were consuming drugs. I think it was because when one arrives from Jalisco, with no education, once you get a car, you start participating in parties. There, you have to become part of that environment, using crack and drive fast, per se. I did that for about 5 years. I met friends and relatives who did those sorts of things. Many of them ended up in jail, others divorced, and others out of their mind. I lived that, but I was able to get out.
+
+Upon my arrival there, I never thought I would be able to get a car and go out dancing with a lot of girls. That transforms you. You are not prepared for that. I had long hair and beard, and I didn’t do that to copy anyone else.
+
+People from East Los Angeles were very violent. Chicanos gathered there, and there were a lot of firearms and killings in their neighborhoods. Santa Monica was an immigrant area, and not many “pochos” lived there. However, East L.A. was a neighborhood full of “pochos” who were involved in the “pachuqueada” very seriously. I never felt “pocho”, but I met friends who were speaking English at the “pocho” style in a very conceited manner. There were also people from small towns who went to work and never got into trouble. So, there were people from both extremes.
+
+I met single and married people. Some singles lived in a room with another 5 or 6 people and seemed to be always short on money. However, I just saw a man who is very rich. I remember that he saved and saved so much; he never wasted his money on beer or cigarettes, and now he is living quite well and with a nice car. He really knew how to use his savings.
+
+I also know people who have always been in the same situation. They haven’t been able to obtain their own home. There is people who are successful and some others who are not. When you arrive there, you realize that with a week worth of wages you are able to buy a car. So, you start saving. I bought my first car – a Mercury ’49 for 40 dlls; then, my second car in 75 dlls, a Ford 55 convertible. I never had new cars. So, in less than two months, one is able to obtain a car. We like to decorate the cars with a rosary beads hanging on the front mirror; we hang the girlfriend’s handkerchief on the antenna – that says that one has a girlfriend. There are tons of décor that we like to put in the car so it looks nice.
+
+I used to come to Mexico each January every three to four years. The first time, I returned after two years. Then, I came when I got married and whenever there was an accident or a family urgency. My trips were one to two days at the most. When I was thinking on returning, I came as a tourist.
+
+When I was single, I came to El Valle to hang out with friends and relatives. Sometimes, my trip coincided with someone else who had just returned, so we had a party. That was not too often. I didn’t have savings to come and I didn’t really have the idea of coming. You become American and don’t really dream of coming back. At that time I was on the military reserve, you have to sign and register, the government tells you to do so. So, within friends we kept up to date to see if we had to serve. I knew that if I said that I spoke English, I would score higher and the possibility of serving would be higher; thus, I said that I didn’t know how to speak English. I was not interested on being on the Army reserve. They sent me to study for a year, and I did; however, upon my return I said that I hadn’t learned the language in order to stay as a reserve. I was feeling American and I was proud to go to the Army, but I was scared of doing so. One day they called me and asked me to bring my toothbrush and a change of clothes to go to the Army. On the outside, I was saying that I was going to the Army, but inside me I was crying of fear. I was thinking that I was going to leave my parents. I was single then and I supported them economically. I knew I was important to them. So, I went to the base and I said that I didn’t know English and I made like I didn’t know the answers to their questions. At the end, they gave me the letter of reserve.
+
+Every time we returned here, we used to go to the central plaza to show off our car. In a small town, anyone who has a car is the center of attraction. So, I had my car very cleaned and I just waited there to talk with someone. Then, I was able to talk and drink pulque and wine. We were a nice group. There was another group who liked to consume drugs and burn tires, and they liked to scared people. However, we were nice to people because in a small town everyone knows who you are and they know everything about you.
+
+When I got married, everything was different. I had to be strong and I just worked to make money. In my spare time, I was with my children and wife. I took care of my apartments, my job, and my children. I have four children: 2 boys and 2 girls. The oldest is 21 years old and studies his 3 rd year of Engineering. The second is 18 and is studying accounting. The third is 17 years old and studies high school. The last is the youngest and is on elementary school. All my children were born in the U.S.
diff --git a/src/content/history/work-i-have-it-in-my-hands.md b/src/content/history/work-i-have-it-in-my-hands.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c5b382
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+++ b/src/content/history/work-i-have-it-in-my-hands.md
@@ -0,0 +1,261 @@
+---
+title: Work, I have it in my hands
+category: Those Who Stay
+interviewee: Víctor Espinosa
+year: "08.1992"
+description: Doña Audelia, a seamstress from a small town in Nayarit, narrates
+  her story of the migrant experience.
+lede: >
+  Doña Audelia was born in the town of Loja on the coast of Nayarit. From an
+  early age, her life has been linked to her work. As a seamstress, she soon
+  learned the hardships of starting a business and failing, Worse even, she
+  learned the troubles of falling into debt.
+
+
+  It was then that the opportunity of traveling to "el Norte" came up. It was the only valid way, the one safe way to earn money in exchange for her manual labour. So, in 1985 she arrived to Silicon Valley in San José, California where she was rapidly incorporated into the labour market offered to Mexican women by the American urban economy: the dressmaking industry, the manufacturing industry commonly known as "canerias," and the electronic industry.
+
+
+  For her, everyday life in el "Norte" became deranging, for any and every reason one would go to the extremes. Whereas in Mexico, life was more bearable despite the dirt, despite misery. For her, the true difference between Mexico and the United States lies in the alternatives of work, in the posibility of combining one or two jobs, in that one can make a profit on the economic model and on certain social benefits. The system requires arms, and she is there, with her hands ready, the routines learned, and the body surrendered to work. As long as there is strength...
+story: >
+  When I left my town, it was not out necessity, but in order to follow my
+  husband. He came to Ensenada for three months, in the year of 1959 we owned a
+  banana wholesale business, we lasted two years and then, we left to Mexicali
+  in 1961. There we did the same: sell fruit wholesale, but we only lasted one
+  year with that business, then we returned to Loja.
+
+
+  When I was in Loja, twenty years ago, in '76, I used to earn well, but then I had a problem, I bought a tailor's shop that had four employees plus the previous owner. It operated pretty well, but I didn't know it was indebted and, since the previous owner stayed to work with me, when he received a seizure claim, they took everything away, not only what I had bought, but also my sewing machine and I was left with nothing. I couldn't do anything because we still hadn't terminated the sale. That's when the economic problem started, I alone could not support my entire family and, on top of everything, they were all studying, because, little as it may have been, they all studied.
+
+
+  They took everything away from me, even though I went to protest against the claim, they only told me:
+
+
+  -You are not mentioned in any instance.
+
+
+  I explained that was because I still did not have the documents, besides I got hold of the invoices and all other documents, but not even then did the government returned a thing.
+
+
+  But, since I have my work in my hands and I had credit still, once again, I bought sewing machines and I re-opened the tailor's shop, but another problem arose, the government began with the story that we had to become regularized and that we had to pay a certain amount of money. A declaration arrived then where they were charging me the same as they did to those who owned a large store, that's when I couldn't take it any longer and so, I told the government representative:
+
+
+  -Well, why can't you be satisfied with the fact that I am a single woman? I am not being a nuisance to the government because I never ask you for anything, you are only considering what each employee earns, but you don't care about how much I spend and whether I can manage to pay, if I cannot manage then I have to find it, with all that I owe and all that I earn, besides I am by myself and my earnings come only from there, and then all the children I have are in school, it's not fair, in any case, I am going to close down this business and I am going to make just the same amount of money and I won't pay taxes.
+
+
+  That's where it started, a whole series of  little borrowings here and there, to keep going, it was a vicious circle, because I could never get out of them, that's why I came to _el Norte,_ because I was annoyed at having to do favours; I only owed two people then and, it wasn't much, but for me it was, to owe one million pesos six years ago was a lot, I was working only for the interests; that time I told clearly to those I owed:
+
+
+  -I am going to move to the United States so that I can meet my obligations, otherwise, I will never do it.
+
+
+  Believe it or not, they believed in me, out of all my family, I was the first one to go there, I left in '85 the first time, and returned that same year, in March.
+
+
+  When I first arrived, I was helped by a group of friends from my town that I had seen only once when they were visiting, there I had told them:
+
+
+  -You know what? I am going to the United States and I want to ask you if you could receive me in your house, I don't want to cause any problems to the family, I want to live there only while I settle.
+
+
+  Since I had their phone numbers I called them from the airport when I arrived and, they went to pick me up. When they saw me the first thing they asked was whether I had been there before, and not, that was my first time, then they asked if I was nervous.
+
+
+  -No, how am I going to be nervous!
+
+
+  They were the ones who found me the job and who took me there, it was in a fashion house, since I was a seamstress I found that job, it was in Oakland, that's where I started. They used to pay me five dollars per hour, sometimes I would go three weeks without being paid, without doing my accounts, and when I would do them, the owner would get angry, she would take hours off, that's when I started to realize that Mexicans are the worst employers, if they all suffer a lot there, I cannot explain myself why they are mean employers, unfortunately, I think, they have no leadership skills and, when they reach that position, they become conceited.
+
+
+  The fashion house was more or less big, it had several employees, I was the one in charge of all because the owner didn't know dressmaking, when she hired me she told me she was very clever, very good at sewing, for sure she said that to let it be known that she was in command there, even though she knew nothing; that's why I say that Mexicans as employers: be careful!
+
+
+  In the beginning I lived with the owner, that was when she wanted to pay me five dollars per hour and that I worked the time I wanted, since we lived in the same house she lend me a little room to sleep in, she didn't charge me anything, the problem was that the owner had her good and her bad times, I imagined that since she was weak in the head, sometimes, when I was late or wouldn't arrive early, right away she would go looking for me to see how I was, whether something had happened to me, even then, she showed some consideration. But, by the end of the month when we started doing my accounts, I was confident that I had 500 or 600 dollars, she said I only had 300, I asked her why, she said she was going to deduct 50 dollars from me because she was letting me sleep in there. What could I do? I said:
+
+
+  - Okay, that's fine.
+
+
+  We agreed that while I lived there I was only going to earn 150 dollars per week and, precisely, I had to earn 250, we carried on that way for a while, until finally, already tired of that situation, I rented an apartment, with that she would pay me more or less fine, with what I earned I could pay the rent, since they charged me 350 dollars per month.
+
+
+  I lasted almost one year, while I finished paying all of my commitments, to the last nickle, then I returned to Mexico and stayed there for only ten months, it was during those days that they passed the Simpson-Rodino Law, I found out because a few days before there was so much publicity, and I came back just when the time to negotiate the documents was about to expire, in '87. I returned in that year and managed to hand them in, by the way, that law was not to take away the jobs from the people, but only to frighten us, to pay us less, everything was out in the news, at that time there was a lot in the newspaper and the television, I remember that the president of the United Stades signed the bill when I was still here.
+
+
+  I returned because I wanted to see my mother and my children, I had been a year without seeing them and I wasn't used to it, I remember that I would almost start speaking alone, except for work, I had no other distraction and it was so close, it was around the corner from the hotel where I was staying. The only thing I used to do was to go from work to the house, sometimes I used to think that I would become mute and so I would start talking alone, what could I do when I had nobody? because I left from where my friends were fifteen days after I arrived, I didn't use to see them often, they lived in San José, I would only call them on the phone, one day I told my friend:
+
+
+  -You know what? I'm gonna go, would you give me the chance to stay in your house for a few days while I find myself a job?
+
+
+  And I stayed working at an electronics factory before going to Mexico, it was then when I lived once again with them for a few more days, this time I worked for ten months, when I returned, I stayed again with them, they are good people, they help people, but from time to time they also get tired, even then they have helped lots of people, they are also from Loja.
+
+
+  When I started at the electronics factory, in '87, I used to earn minimum wage, which was 4.25, in that same year, I also took a job in the _canerías_; this job I got it through a man that was renting me the house where I lived, he already had many years working in there, I asked him to let me know whenever a vacancy opened up and, not only did he tell me, but he also recommended me with all good intentions, but here recommendations are worth nothing, here what matters is that you arrive at the right time to request a job.
+
+
+  What one has to do, first, to remain, is to register yourself  with the Manufacturing Union, it charges 50 dollars when one is already working and 17 monthly, only Mexicans work there, almost 90 percent, there are 2,500 employees, that I know because there are 2,500 numbers, here we are not people, we are numbers, aside from the fellow countrymen, one can see one or two blacks, there are a lot of Portuguese and one or two Italians; here there is no discrimination, the numbers are what matters, only that you are there during your break times. In terms of work what matters is to do it right, I notice that all of the people are worried about that, because it's a good job, it is worth to try and keep it, it's rare the person who's not doing the job the way it has to be done, in this job there are a lot more women than men.
+
+
+  I've been here for three years, they pay me nine dollars per hour, we are working seven days a week, eight hours everyday, but you substract half an hour of lunch and there's work only from July through September, in the meantime, during the rest of the year, I continue to work at the electronics factory, I work there because I know a lot about that, they pay me 5.5, but they pay me more at the _canerías_, Ah, but in order to earn that I also had to suffer for two years! That is, one has to make a hundred labour days in order to earn this salary, it's my first year that I make this, I was lucky because other people cannot manage to do it, the job is not very hard, for example, I have to separate the bad fruit from the bands, I would like very much to do the entire round until it goes out, because right now I only have one part.
+
+
+  My thoughts are to come to Mexico only during the season, because one gains rights, if I last ten years working in the _canería_ I have the rights to a pension, arriving at 85, 82 years, I can get a pension through the social security, that's why I have to plan for when I cannot work any longer and, with what they will send me, with that I'll manage to support myself in Mexico without having to work, because it yields more in Mexican pesos and, since I won't be able to eat a lot because of  the age I'll have, besides I want to be able to have my resident documents, because if I do this about returning to Mexico and I am not working, they are going to put me as a resident...I don't know how it's called, but, having my papers, they won't take them away anymore, the good thing is that, right now, I am approved as a resident.
+
+
+  English is fundamental for the sewing business, because the best clients are the _gringas_, here I worked in a fashion house with a Chilean woman, a very good person, who went on vacation to her country, she lasted two months and left me in charge, I stayed with the condition of having an interpreter and, since she never came, even then I pulled off her work, if one doesn't know English then you learn it, when I worked at the electronics none of the chiefs spoke Spanish and, still, I could understand their orders, one teaches oneself to almost guess what they are saying and one starts getting used to that.
+
+
+  I was very much in demand at the workshop where I used to work, because all of the clients they always gave me good references, that I was very hardworking, who knows what it is that I used to answer, because I didn't understand anything, I didn't continue working there because I left to Mexico, that was last year, in '88; when I was coming back the owner told me that she would wait for me this much time and, since I took longer, she didn't want to hire me back because she already had another employee, but that when there was the need she would consider me, but I never went back because I was feeling annoyed, since I've done dressmaking all the time, I already have my own ideas and, that woman did know sewing but, since we didn't think alike, we didn't agree in anything, I sewed one way and she did in another way, I used to think she made things very complicated and, she used to think the same about me, I like being bossed around when I see that things are right, but when they are complicated, I say, why make them more complicated, only because the owner says she studied sewing, besides, I always thought this woman started sewing out of the blue, as in grabbing the dress and half-making it and half-finishing the body, so she used to sew and have a lot of fun, that is to say that what I had to do faster she would make it more complicated for me, only because of that I didn't feel comfortable, because of her ideas, when she left I used to sew my way and the clients would remain very happy with my work, that's why I thought there was no point in going back, that's why I didn't tell her that I was back and, since I already had a job at the _canerías_ and the electronics factory, I wasn't too worried.
+
+
+  I would love very much to put my own business here but, for that, I need somebody that speaks English, I do understand the utmost essential, I do speak a little, the other day I wanted to open a bank account and, the first thing I did, was to look for somebody who would speak Spanish, the girl that was translating for me started telling them what I wanted and I was understanding everything that she was saying! One is lazy, that's all it is, because we should know English and we always ask in Spanish, because one wants others to make life easier for us, instantly one wants pure simplicity and, because of that, one doesn't learn, besides one has the jobs in Spanish, but, if there was a time when nobody spoke Spanish, one would struggle and since English is so expressive, it is understandable, it is very easy because at the time when they are talking to you they are making gestures.
+
+
+  That hasn't been the biggest problem for me, pressure is what has been the hardest getting used to, here they have you traumatized: that the work, that the government; it's a very strong pressure, that's why there are so many crazy people, that's why so many things happen here. Over there in Mexico, however it may be, you can fix your problems, not here, they threaten you with court and law suits, Miguel, my son, has problems, I tell him to get used to life here, to do whatever they demand him to do, because otherwise one cannot live well, and he doesn't want to do it, to listen. The police has detained him because of stupid things, I tell him, if one is living in the United States, one has to follow the law from here, and it is as though the Mexicans refuse to do so, for example, you cannot have loud music, because you disturb the neighbor, and if you are quarreling, the other people that are listening call the police, even though it's none of their business, a few days ago we went to run some errands and I told the girl that was with me:
+
+
+  -Put those beans, let them boil well, then turn the fire down, very low, so that when we come back they'll be cooked and they won't burn.
+
+
+  She relied on me and I relied on her, when I arrived, they had broken my windows! They had already called the police and the firefighters! As soon as I arrived I said:
+
+
+  -What happened? The house couldn't have burned down?
+
+
+  That the house was in danger of burning down! How was it going to burn down! The pot got burned, the beans got burned, it smoked and, since they smelled bad... it was only the little flame from the beans, and the gas got used up and, whatever else, but the house wouldn't have caught on fire for that reason. Well, they already had a report for me that it was going to be a fire! They broke my windows to get in and, I had the entire house turned into a mess and... that we couldn't go inside the house for several hours. A little thing like that, they make it big.
+
+
+  Once we bought a car and they called me over the phone, they gave me the car description and I told them that it was indeed, they told me it was involved in a car accident, Oh, I almost died, my children had just left, but that had happened on the 5th of November, they waited until the tenth day. A simple little crash in a parking lot! They reported it and, since the guys didn't leave a little note (and nobody leaves that, because it's not true that they leave it), that since they didn't leave a note with their personal information, so that they would call, man! they already had a restraining order, and it wasn't an accident, in was an  i n c i d e n t, but not accident. Immediately one thinks they've killed themselves. If, for example, you give, to say it somehow, a little hit to a car and you do not report it, then you are already involved in a criminal problem, they exaggerate it that way. At the beginning I only heard the siren and I  thought:
+
+
+  -Oh! Something happened to my children.
+
+
+  Nowadays, I'm more or less getting used to that, but in any case there's a lot of danger in the way of living here. There's no tranquility, nobody has it because you already got your payment and it doesn't add up, then I received a whole bunch of magazines that I didn't requested and they are charging me for that, I say why are they sending me these magazines when I don't want them? Once I got a little note that said:
+
+
+  -That I should contact them, that I had just won a million dollars and...
+
+
+  -That's not true, they're all lies! Once I believed it, and I almost fainted, I said:
+
+
+  -Oh God! How is this possible?
+
+
+  But I already know that it's not true and, that from all that I receive, I haven't asked for anything, I can no longer find a way to get rid of that, there in my town everything is calmer, but one gets used to living in comfort, there's a lot of dust over there and less jobs for the people.
+
+
+  Of all my children, Sergio arrived in '86, he came at age fifteen and he better returned to study, he stayed here only for one year, he was the first one to come, when he arrived he called me to Los Angeles and told me:
+
+
+  -Mom, I'm here, send me three tickets because we're three friends. He's the little one, and since I used to rent an apartment during that time, here people come and check, there can be no-one else, besides it was only a one-bedroom, at that time I used to live in Santa Fe.
+
+
+  My other son is Rene, he works in Nogales, he's an engineering chief at General Instruments, he's been living there for about ten or twelve years; the oldest didn't like it here, besides he has four children, he didn't want to leave the family.
+
+
+  It's been a year and a half since Mario arrived, Hector arrived three years ago, he also worked at the electronics factory where Sergio works, the factory is in San Jose. Miguel arrived a little after Hector, but during the same year.
+
+
+  Alicia and Marta are here as well, they arrived last year and they don't work, Berta arrived this year with my mom Josefina, she is from 1917 and is a widow, she's from Tunguragua, Nayarit, she's the one who helped me with my children when I came to work to _el Norte_.
+
+
+  Alicia is married and has a baby, with me live only my mother and Berta, but one has to see all the suffering one has to go through to get to this! That's why I say that sewing is a very noble occupation, one can take care of the children and work at the same time. I think none of them came out a tramp because I didn't have to leave them alone, I think that had an influence (and it's not so as to praise myself) but, anybody can say it, for example, the people that know me have congratulated me because I brought them up well, they are not perfect but, from among so many boys none came out a troublemaker. They work, they study, they are good boys.
+---
+When I left my town, it was not out necessity, but in order to follow my husband. He came to Ensenada for three months, in the year of 1959 we owned a banana wholesale business, we lasted two years and then, we left to Mexicali in 1961. There we did the same: sell fruit wholesale, but we only lasted one year with that business, then we returned to Loja.
+
+When I was in Loja, twenty years ago, in '76, I used to earn well, but then I had a problem, I bought a tailor's shop that had four employees plus the previous owner. It operated pretty well, but I didn't know it was indebted and, since the previous owner stayed to work with me, when he received a seizure claim, they took everything away, not only what I had bought, but also my sewing machine and I was left with nothing. I couldn't do anything because we still hadn't terminated the sale. That's when the economic problem started, I alone could not support my entire family and, on top of everything, they were all studying, because, little as it may have been, they all studied.
+
+They took everything away from me, even though I went to protest against the claim, they only told me:
+
+-You are not mentioned in any instance.
+
+I explained that was because I still did not have the documents, besides I got hold of the invoices and all other documents, but not even then did the government returned a thing.
+
+But, since I have my work in my hands and I had credit still, once again, I bought sewing machines and I re-opened the tailor's shop, but another problem arose, the government began with the story that we had to become regularized and that we had to pay a certain amount of money. A declaration arrived then where they were charging me the same as they did to those who owned a large store, that's when I couldn't take it any longer and so, I told the government representative:
+
+-Well, why can't you be satisfied with the fact that I am a single woman? I am not being a nuisance to the government because I never ask you for anything, you are only considering what each employee earns, but you don't care about how much I spend and whether I can manage to pay, if I cannot manage then I have to find it, with all that I owe and all that I earn, besides I am by myself and my earnings come only from there, and then all the children I have are in school, it's not fair, in any case, I am going to close down this business and I am going to make just the same amount of money and I won't pay taxes.
+
+That's where it started, a whole series of  little borrowings here and there, to keep going, it was a vicious circle, because I could never get out of them, that's why I came to _el Norte,_ because I was annoyed at having to do favours; I only owed two people then and, it wasn't much, but for me it was, to owe one million pesos six years ago was a lot, I was working only for the interests; that time I told clearly to those I owed:
+
+-I am going to move to the United States so that I can meet my obligations, otherwise, I will never do it.
+
+Believe it or not, they believed in me, out of all my family, I was the first one to go there, I left in '85 the first time, and returned that same year, in March.
+
+When I first arrived, I was helped by a group of friends from my town that I had seen only once when they were visiting, there I had told them:
+
+-You know what? I am going to the United States and I want to ask you if you could receive me in your house, I don't want to cause any problems to the family, I want to live there only while I settle.
+
+Since I had their phone numbers I called them from the airport when I arrived and, they went to pick me up. When they saw me the first thing they asked was whether I had been there before, and not, that was my first time, then they asked if I was nervous.
+
+-No, how am I going to be nervous!
+
+They were the ones who found me the job and who took me there, it was in a fashion house, since I was a seamstress I found that job, it was in Oakland, that's where I started. They used to pay me five dollars per hour, sometimes I would go three weeks without being paid, without doing my accounts, and when I would do them, the owner would get angry, she would take hours off, that's when I started to realize that Mexicans are the worst employers, if they all suffer a lot there, I cannot explain myself why they are mean employers, unfortunately, I think, they have no leadership skills and, when they reach that position, they become conceited.
+
+The fashion house was more or less big, it had several employees, I was the one in charge of all because the owner didn't know dressmaking, when she hired me she told me she was very clever, very good at sewing, for sure she said that to let it be known that she was in command there, even though she knew nothing; that's why I say that Mexicans as employers: be careful!
+
+In the beginning I lived with the owner, that was when she wanted to pay me five dollars per hour and that I worked the time I wanted, since we lived in the same house she lend me a little room to sleep in, she didn't charge me anything, the problem was that the owner had her good and her bad times, I imagined that since she was weak in the head, sometimes, when I was late or wouldn't arrive early, right away she would go looking for me to see how I was, whether something had happened to me, even then, she showed some consideration. But, by the end of the month when we started doing my accounts, I was confident that I had 500 or 600 dollars, she said I only had 300, I asked her why, she said she was going to deduct 50 dollars from me because she was letting me sleep in there. What could I do? I said:
+
+- Okay, that's fine.
+
+We agreed that while I lived there I was only going to earn 150 dollars per week and, precisely, I had to earn 250, we carried on that way for a while, until finally, already tired of that situation, I rented an apartment, with that she would pay me more or less fine, with what I earned I could pay the rent, since they charged me 350 dollars per month.
+
+I lasted almost one year, while I finished paying all of my commitments, to the last nickle, then I returned to Mexico and stayed there for only ten months, it was during those days that they passed the Simpson-Rodino Law, I found out because a few days before there was so much publicity, and I came back just when the time to negotiate the documents was about to expire, in '87. I returned in that year and managed to hand them in, by the way, that law was not to take away the jobs from the people, but only to frighten us, to pay us less, everything was out in the news, at that time there was a lot in the newspaper and the television, I remember that the president of the United Stades signed the bill when I was still here.
+
+I returned because I wanted to see my mother and my children, I had been a year without seeing them and I wasn't used to it, I remember that I would almost start speaking alone, except for work, I had no other distraction and it was so close, it was around the corner from the hotel where I was staying. The only thing I used to do was to go from work to the house, sometimes I used to think that I would become mute and so I would start talking alone, what could I do when I had nobody? because I left from where my friends were fifteen days after I arrived, I didn't use to see them often, they lived in San José, I would only call them on the phone, one day I told my friend:
+
+-You know what? I'm gonna go, would you give me the chance to stay in your house for a few days while I find myself a job?
+
+And I stayed working at an electronics factory before going to Mexico, it was then when I lived once again with them for a few more days, this time I worked for ten months, when I returned, I stayed again with them, they are good people, they help people, but from time to time they also get tired, even then they have helped lots of people, they are also from Loja.
+
+When I started at the electronics factory, in '87, I used to earn minimum wage, which was 4.25, in that same year, I also took a job in the _canerías_; this job I got it through a man that was renting me the house where I lived, he already had many years working in there, I asked him to let me know whenever a vacancy opened up and, not only did he tell me, but he also recommended me with all good intentions, but here recommendations are worth nothing, here what matters is that you arrive at the right time to request a job.
+
+What one has to do, first, to remain, is to register yourself  with the Manufacturing Union, it charges 50 dollars when one is already working and 17 monthly, only Mexicans work there, almost 90 percent, there are 2,500 employees, that I know because there are 2,500 numbers, here we are not people, we are numbers, aside from the fellow countrymen, one can see one or two blacks, there are a lot of Portuguese and one or two Italians; here there is no discrimination, the numbers are what matters, only that you are there during your break times. In terms of work what matters is to do it right, I notice that all of the people are worried about that, because it's a good job, it is worth to try and keep it, it's rare the person who's not doing the job the way it has to be done, in this job there are a lot more women than men.
+
+I've been here for three years, they pay me nine dollars per hour, we are working seven days a week, eight hours everyday, but you substract half an hour of lunch and there's work only from July through September, in the meantime, during the rest of the year, I continue to work at the electronics factory, I work there because I know a lot about that, they pay me 5.5, but they pay me more at the _canerías_, Ah, but in order to earn that I also had to suffer for two years! That is, one has to make a hundred labour days in order to earn this salary, it's my first year that I make this, I was lucky because other people cannot manage to do it, the job is not very hard, for example, I have to separate the bad fruit from the bands, I would like very much to do the entire round until it goes out, because right now I only have one part.
+
+My thoughts are to come to Mexico only during the season, because one gains rights, if I last ten years working in the _canería_ I have the rights to a pension, arriving at 85, 82 years, I can get a pension through the social security, that's why I have to plan for when I cannot work any longer and, with what they will send me, with that I'll manage to support myself in Mexico without having to work, because it yields more in Mexican pesos and, since I won't be able to eat a lot because of  the age I'll have, besides I want to be able to have my resident documents, because if I do this about returning to Mexico and I am not working, they are going to put me as a resident...I don't know how it's called, but, having my papers, they won't take them away anymore, the good thing is that, right now, I am approved as a resident.
+
+English is fundamental for the sewing business, because the best clients are the _gringas_, here I worked in a fashion house with a Chilean woman, a very good person, who went on vacation to her country, she lasted two months and left me in charge, I stayed with the condition of having an interpreter and, since she never came, even then I pulled off her work, if one doesn't know English then you learn it, when I worked at the electronics none of the chiefs spoke Spanish and, still, I could understand their orders, one teaches oneself to almost guess what they are saying and one starts getting used to that.
+
+I was very much in demand at the workshop where I used to work, because all of the clients they always gave me good references, that I was very hardworking, who knows what it is that I used to answer, because I didn't understand anything, I didn't continue working there because I left to Mexico, that was last year, in '88; when I was coming back the owner told me that she would wait for me this much time and, since I took longer, she didn't want to hire me back because she already had another employee, but that when there was the need she would consider me, but I never went back because I was feeling annoyed, since I've done dressmaking all the time, I already have my own ideas and, that woman did know sewing but, since we didn't think alike, we didn't agree in anything, I sewed one way and she did in another way, I used to think she made things very complicated and, she used to think the same about me, I like being bossed around when I see that things are right, but when they are complicated, I say, why make them more complicated, only because the owner says she studied sewing, besides, I always thought this woman started sewing out of the blue, as in grabbing the dress and half-making it and half-finishing the body, so she used to sew and have a lot of fun, that is to say that what I had to do faster she would make it more complicated for me, only because of that I didn't feel comfortable, because of her ideas, when she left I used to sew my way and the clients would remain very happy with my work, that's why I thought there was no point in going back, that's why I didn't tell her that I was back and, since I already had a job at the _canerías_ and the electronics factory, I wasn't too worried.
+
+I would love very much to put my own business here but, for that, I need somebody that speaks English, I do understand the utmost essential, I do speak a little, the other day I wanted to open a bank account and, the first thing I did, was to look for somebody who would speak Spanish, the girl that was translating for me started telling them what I wanted and I was understanding everything that she was saying! One is lazy, that's all it is, because we should know English and we always ask in Spanish, because one wants others to make life easier for us, instantly one wants pure simplicity and, because of that, one doesn't learn, besides one has the jobs in Spanish, but, if there was a time when nobody spoke Spanish, one would struggle and since English is so expressive, it is understandable, it is very easy because at the time when they are talking to you they are making gestures.
+
+That hasn't been the biggest problem for me, pressure is what has been the hardest getting used to, here they have you traumatized: that the work, that the government; it's a very strong pressure, that's why there are so many crazy people, that's why so many things happen here. Over there in Mexico, however it may be, you can fix your problems, not here, they threaten you with court and law suits, Miguel, my son, has problems, I tell him to get used to life here, to do whatever they demand him to do, because otherwise one cannot live well, and he doesn't want to do it, to listen. The police has detained him because of stupid things, I tell him, if one is living in the United States, one has to follow the law from here, and it is as though the Mexicans refuse to do so, for example, you cannot have loud music, because you disturb the neighbor, and if you are quarreling, the other people that are listening call the police, even though it's none of their business, a few days ago we went to run some errands and I told the girl that was with me:
+
+-Put those beans, let them boil well, then turn the fire down, very low, so that when we come back they'll be cooked and they won't burn.
+
+She relied on me and I relied on her, when I arrived, they had broken my windows! They had already called the police and the firefighters! As soon as I arrived I said:
+
+-What happened? The house couldn't have burned down?
+
+That the house was in danger of burning down! How was it going to burn down! The pot got burned, the beans got burned, it smoked and, since they smelled bad... it was only the little flame from the beans, and the gas got used up and, whatever else, but the house wouldn't have caught on fire for that reason. Well, they already had a report for me that it was going to be a fire! They broke my windows to get in and, I had the entire house turned into a mess and... that we couldn't go inside the house for several hours. A little thing like that, they make it big.
+
+Once we bought a car and they called me over the phone, they gave me the car description and I told them that it was indeed, they told me it was involved in a car accident, Oh, I almost died, my children had just left, but that had happened on the 5th of November, they waited until the tenth day. A simple little crash in a parking lot! They reported it and, since the guys didn't leave a little note (and nobody leaves that, because it's not true that they leave it), that since they didn't leave a note with their personal information, so that they would call, man! they already had a restraining order, and it wasn't an accident, in was an  i n c i d e n t, but not accident. Immediately one thinks they've killed themselves. If, for example, you give, to say it somehow, a little hit to a car and you do not report it, then you are already involved in a criminal problem, they exaggerate it that way. At the beginning I only heard the siren and I  thought:
+
+-Oh! Something happened to my children.
+
+Nowadays, I'm more or less getting used to that, but in any case there's a lot of danger in the way of living here. There's no tranquility, nobody has it because you already got your payment and it doesn't add up, then I received a whole bunch of magazines that I didn't requested and they are charging me for that, I say why are they sending me these magazines when I don't want them? Once I got a little note that said:
+
+-That I should contact them, that I had just won a million dollars and...
+
+-That's not true, they're all lies! Once I believed it, and I almost fainted, I said:
+
+-Oh God! How is this possible?
+
+But I already know that it's not true and, that from all that I receive, I haven't asked for anything, I can no longer find a way to get rid of that, there in my town everything is calmer, but one gets used to living in comfort, there's a lot of dust over there and less jobs for the people.
+
+Of all my children, Sergio arrived in '86, he came at age fifteen and he better returned to study, he stayed here only for one year, he was the first one to come, when he arrived he called me to Los Angeles and told me:
+
+-Mom, I'm here, send me three tickets because we're three friends. He's the little one, and since I used to rent an apartment during that time, here people come and check, there can be no-one else, besides it was only a one-bedroom, at that time I used to live in Santa Fe.
+
+My other son is Rene, he works in Nogales, he's an engineering chief at General Instruments, he's been living there for about ten or twelve years; the oldest didn't like it here, besides he has four children, he didn't want to leave the family.
+
+It's been a year and a half since Mario arrived, Hector arrived three years ago, he also worked at the electronics factory where Sergio works, the factory is in San Jose. Miguel arrived a little after Hector, but during the same year.
+
+Alicia and Marta are here as well, they arrived last year and they don't work, Berta arrived this year with my mom Josefina, she is from 1917 and is a widow, she's from Tunguragua, Nayarit, she's the one who helped me with my children when I came to work to _el Norte_.
+
+Alicia is married and has a baby, with me live only my mother and Berta, but one has to see all the suffering one has to go through to get to this! That's why I say that sewing is a very noble occupation, one can take care of the children and work at the same time. I think none of them came out a tramp because I didn't have to leave them alone, I think that had an influence (and it's not so as to praise myself) but, anybody can say it, for example, the people that know me have congratulated me because I brought them up well, they are not perfect but, from among so many boys none came out a troublemaker. They work, they study, they are good boys.
diff --git a/src/content/history/working-and-wearing-oneself-down.md b/src/content/history/working-and-wearing-oneself-down.md
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/src/content/history/working-and-wearing-oneself-down.md
@@ -0,0 +1,282 @@
+---
+title: Working and Wearing Oneself Down
+category: Border Crossing and Working
+interviewee: Hector Hernandez
+year: "09.1992"
+description: Ulises H., a student from the University of Guadalajara describes
+  us his experiences while in the United States.
+lede: >
+  Ulises H. went to the United States in 1989, with his girlfriend C…, both from
+  medium class and students at the University of Guadalajara.
+
+
+  Nature limits the art. Ulises, decided to leave, similarity doesn’t end, he also left for the adventure.
+
+
+  He spent 15 months in the North; nine of them lived with no employment. He dedicated himself to the library and to party. His stay was not nice at all. He remembers Los Angeles as a sad and foul-smelling place.
+
+
+  This is a very particular story, full of surprise stories. After a job search, there is no other option than to consider the black market for job. His labor experiences have some feeling, and represent the contradiction that a Sociology student faces while doing a manual job, monotonous and with a very precarious pay.
+
+
+  From there, it’s not surprising that the only nice memory of his stay there was his learning about the ethylic geography of Los Angeles. Upon his return to Guadalajara, he is waiting for better times to try once more and participate in the “great party to which we haven’t been invited.”
+story: >
+  I left Guadalajara because I was tired of everything, of school, home, my
+  country, and my city. I was just tired and wanted to do something different. I
+  did that with a bit of romanticism because I thought that I could do it over
+  there; of course, I didn’t think it would be an idyll period or a paradise. I
+  always thought that one goes to the U.S. to a party to which we have never
+  been invited. Unfortunately, once there, we fight for the stripped land, and
+  not only Mexicans, but all Latinos. It’s sad that one fights for it.
+
+
+  When we left, we left with a Canadian visa of employment. It was until the mid-80s where you could go to the embassy and got a job there. However, there were problems in both the U.S. and Canada, and suddenly everyone was seeking job there; not only Latinos, but also Japanese. I went to Mexico to the embassy about 3 or 4 years, and there were no more visas. So, my idea of going to Canada was not possible, besides it was expensive and far away.
+
+
+  I don’t remember how I learned, it think it was through the newspaper. It was a known truth. Someone who worked in Canada in the fishing industry used to go to the Alaskan border and worked for 6 months. With that money, he could come and do not work. That’s why I tried to get a work permit; but once there, there was a sign saying, “To everyone soliciting for job, there are no jobs; it’s not possible, no more.”
+
+
+  Claudia went with me, because we wanted to continue our relationship; we wanted to be together. She worked as an auxiliary at the University and left the job. I used to work at a convenience store with an aunt for seven years. Before that, I had worked as a shoe-repairman with my father. Then, I worked at a factory as an aid. I worked cutting and rolling; I liked that job and stayed there until I started high school.
+
+
+  I got my visa in 1990. I put a suit on; I don’t remember if I had a shirt or a t-shirt. I didn’t have a tie. I had tennis or sandals, like always. Then, the American asked us: “aren’t you going to work?”
+
+
+  I got a bit upset, and said, “How can I go to work if I’m a student.”
+
+
+  - “Are you a student? What are you studying?” he asked.
+
+
+  - “Philosophy,” I replied.
+
+
+  He asked me about Philosophy, and my thoughts about Plato. Since, they think well about Plato, I talked good about him. So, he only requested my ID. I filled a lot of documented, and I showed that I was working with my aunt and that she would give me money for my trip. However, the visa for my girlfriend was a lot more difficult. They interviewed her and showed all her documents. At the end, we both got the visa.
+
+
+  My desire was to go to Canada. Somehow, we had information from readings and from people who have gone and tell you all about it. Since we couldn’t make it, I thought to go the U.S. instead, and once there, to go North. When we arrived, I learned the harsh reality. I arrived with my family, and it was very hard with them. I wanted to move somewhere else, but if I did that, I would have to pay rent, food, everything. In order to do that, I had to look for a job. So, I had to do that. Suddenly, I was working. What I wanted it to be a temporal job that would help me migrate to Canada, was not like that. I was there for 15 months, 9 of them with no employment. The first couple of months I searched for a job, but it was useless since there was a lot of unemployment. I lived reading, drinking, with drugs, partying. I couldn’t do anything else. I didn’t have Money to go out. Money is what makes you move over there. If you want to go to Hollywood, you need money for it; if you want to go to a concert, you need money as well. In addition, if you don’t have a job, it’s difficult to do things. That’s why I ended up at the library checking out books, since I didn’t have anything else to do.
+
+
+  My first idea was to get out of here; I didn’t go south because it’s more difficult. In U.S., even the minimum wage – around $150 dollars per week, at least you survive with that. Of course, it’s going to be with limited conditions. Besides, there are three or four families living in the same apartment, but at least with some food.
+
+
+  I’ve always liked to be an adventurer. However, that was the last time. Prior to that, I left for one or two months to Coahuila to work with some uncles in a ceramic factory. However, I didn’t pay for rent or food with my uncles. It’s curious, but now, after fifteen years, I’m working at a brick factory.
+
+
+  I’ve also gone to Michoacan, Oaxaca, to the Huichola Mountain Range, to Cuernavaca, but just to party. Whenever I went to the beach, I worked in a hotel just to have some food and lodging. I was also a dishwasher, a janitor, or a busboy. I always did that during vacations. The only time I did go for economic reasons was when I went to the U.S.
+
+
+  From my father’s family side, no one has gone to the North. There are only two families on my father’s side: my father’s and my uncle’s who live in Ahualulco. From my mother’s side, there are ten siblings, but everyone is in Mexico, living in Morelos, Chiapas, and Guadalajara. However, there are two of my cousins from my mother’s side who live in San Fernando and Lendenton in California. Both cities are close by, about 30 minutes apart. I did go with them; however, they live within limited means, as all the migrants who just arrived do. I have a cousin who has lived there for 15 years; he’s worked at a factory for the last five years. However, a few time ago he got fired because there are closing down a lot of factories. He was working in a chrome factory. Another cousin works at a gas station and he’s been working for years there. He also takes care of a small store within the gas station. Another cousin has done well because he’s worked in construction. Due to the fact that he’s part of the union, all have a minimum wage well above normal. My cousin was getting paid $18 per hour.
+
+
+  That last cousin is about my age, 29 years old. The other ones are older about 38 or 40. The last cousin had a good salary, but he had assimilated to the American life. For example, he doesn’t enjoy his money, because it’s usual that Americans deposit the money at the bank each week. It’s common that Mexican adapt to the American system. So, my cousin deposited all his money at the bank. Whenever I got paid $150 dollars, he asked me for money to buy beers. Sometimes, he invited me. However, he used to sell the material of his factory here in Mexico as cooper or lead.
+
+
+  By the way, in order to survive, both Mexicans and other Latinos make twisted business. My cousin did that kind of business.
+
+
+  The relationship with my family was good, but with this last cousin it was a lot better. I had a nice friendship with him. However, in U.S., he had family, spouse from the same town Ayutla, whom also assimilated to the American life.
+
+
+  When I went to the North, I didn’t plan anything. I don’t like to make plans, because they never work. I thought of going to the U.S., stay for a couple of months, and then immigrate to Canada. However, I stayed all the year and a half in the U.S. It was tiring to look for a job. My cousins could never get me a job. I didn’t have any more acquaintances. One of my cousins had worked as a gardener for many years, so he took me with his old boss, and we were told that there was no job available.
+
+
+  I also did go in a very difficult period. That’s when the recession started. Besides, the months between August and November are the hardest to get a job. I had arrived at the beginning of August. I recall my first day in Los Angeles; upon arriving to the bus station, a black man wanted to carry my luggage – just one bag. I said now, and he was there trying and trying because he wanted some money. I told him that I didn’t have money. When I arrived, it was about 7:30pm. I asked for the downtown area, and since it was very dark, I went to the phones right away. I was not thinking of arriving with my family, but once there, what else could I do. Some other blacks saw us and wanted to help with the luggage; then some other Americans. There are a lot of crazy people there. I called one of my cousins and he told me that he was working all night long, and that he couldn’t pick me up.
+
+
+  I called his brother, and he wasn’t there. I didn’t know how to use the public phones; and all the instructions were given to me in English, and my English is bad. I couldn’t understand the quantities; I could only understand the word “cents.”
+
+
+  I put a coin in, then another one, but I couldn’t make a phone call. After 45 minutes, I was getting nervous, because I wasn’t able to get through my cousins. I asked, but no one knew where they lived. So, we ended up going with my girlfriend’s family in Southgate. From there, we made a phone call. Fortunately, we reached my girlfriend’s family, who didn’t receive us quite well. She was very catholic and her cousin was arriving with a guy whom she wasn’t married to yet. The good thing is that the next day, my cousin picked us up and we moved to Glendale. We stayed with him for a couple of days, and then we moved with another cousin whom I hadn’t seen for ten years. He lived in San Fernando, and my time there was quite nice. I didn’t work and I was treated as a visitor. My cousin was nice, but I also wanted to live by my own with my girlfriend, and I couldn’t do it.
+
+
+  When I lived with my cousin, I didn’t search for job. Besides, my cousin and his wife were very nice. My girlfriend and I got fat, because we didn’t do anything, just eat and drink wine. From there, I went to San Fernando to look for job, but it wasn’t easy. I went from factory to factory, and there were a lot of people with their application in hand. We were a lot, and people were coming from all the industrial areas. One of my friends just called me and told me that he’s been unemployed for a year and four months.
+
+
+  I also lived with two persons from Mexico City. By the way, my idea about people from Mexico City changed. The truth is that my time with them was good. One of them had been a farmer all his life; then, he became a manufacturer in Mexico City, and then a delegate. Then, he got into trouble both at work and then with his fiancée, so he left.
+
+
+  The other one says that he won’t come back. One is quite young and went just for adventure when he was 14 years old; he’s now 19. So, we spent quite a time together. Sometimes, we had quite a harsh time that our only food was soups and beans, because we all were unemployed. We searched for jobs and nothing. I think for a woman is less difficult, because women don’t get into trouble at work. Women are more responsible, and less drunk. My girlfriend didn’t have as much trouble as I did when searching for jobs. I also was taking English classes, and all the women there were employed, while the men were unemployed. I didn’t like going to school because instead of teaching you English, they were teaching you to love their country. They were infusing cultural and historical ideas. They taught us who were Franklin Roosevelt and all their history heroes. Besides, they don’t critique any. For example, it may sound dumb, but they don’t even know who Christopher Columbus was. It may not matter, but they didn’t know, and supposedly they were people with studies, many of them in Business. I met a lot of Americans with that career, but with no culture at all.
+
+
+  One day, one American saw me with a bunch of books and asked if I knew how to read. I said that of course, so he asked me what I was reading. The book was written by an American author and this person hadn’t heard about him. I thought that this guy was not interested in literature, but after several talks with him, he didn’t know anything about literature. He wasn’t ignorant because he had a degree in Business, but he didn’t know anything about anything. He may have his big house, his car, his vacations in Germany, but he didn’t know absolutely anything.
+
+
+  On the other hand, my girlfriend’s boss had problems because he didn’t know where to take his vacations. He didn’t know if he wanted to go to Germany, Brazil, or Greece. He worried about that; he was empty on the inside.
+
+
+  Another time, I was looking for a job at the factories. A sign at one of the factories at Lanhaywood said: “All solicitants will be shot.”
+
+
+  When I looked for a job, I looked by areas. When I lived in San Fernando, I looked there. Since I didn’t find anything, I looked in Hollywood, Glendale, and Los Angeles. One time while in Hollywood, I found people from San Fernando o Los Angeles. I hadn’t seen them, but talking with them I knew they were looking for jobs. All of the people were from Guadalajara, Michoacan, Sonora, and Mexico City.
+
+
+  The worse is that all the receptionists – American or Chicanas, all treat you the same way. They get upset of us looking for a job. For them is obvious that there are no jobs, but we do have to ask and they get upset of us asking. Our situation is different than theirs. There are lots of people looking for jobs. I got to see entire families gathering and selling aluminum cans and bottles.
+
+
+  One time, I was talking with a guy from Michoacan. I found him on a bridge. I was taking a drink and I had just a bit left, so I invited him some. He told me that he sold his land in Mexico to pay the smuggler and come to work. He had five months and had found no job at all. So, he didn’t have anything to send his family. In addition, he didn’t have any land left. I heard stories like that. On the other hand, some Mexicans have created a subculture. For example, in Los Angeles, people from Guanatos and Mexico City, found several jobs on the black market. It’s a job source very important; there are a lot of people selling drugs. It’s bad.
+
+
+  There’s another source of employment by using public telephones. The public telephones are used with some cards and pins. You go by downtown and then you hear “where do you want to call?” Each call costs you about 10 dollars. Since they don’t pay, they don’t care how long you talk on the phone. Many Latinos take advantage of this, because there’s no money to pay a dollar per minute. That’s why I went to Los Angeles to talk to my family. I got to see people talking for 3 or 4 hours. One of my friends had his 24 beers there while talking on the phone: “hey, let me talk with someone else,” he said. He talked for four to five hours only for $10 dollars.
+
+
+  No one got charged for the call. So, whomever got the bill, he could prove that he hadn’t made the phone call with the company. That’s why I say that was a good job.
+
+
+  For example, all the bus tickets called transfers; they cost about $2 dollars. There are people who sell transfer for 25 cents, and most of the sellers are Mexicans.
+
+
+  Or, cigarettes. You pay $2 dollars over there. Mexicans go to Tijuana, bring cigarettes and then sell them at 25 cents. All of that is evident. You go to Los Angeles and you see all that. Anyone can see that; the government, the population, tourists, everyone can see that. Then, you see people smoking crack, like black people.
+
+
+  One time, I went to the library on a Friday. I saw a black person in front of a store getting drugs with a mirror. He was all high, like if he was watching TV. The next day, I found him at the same place and at the same position. This guy stayed there at least 36 hours. I saw a lot of crazy people like that. Los Angeles smells bad; the entire city smells like urine.
+
+
+  The U.S. is a crazy country, a sad one and an unmoral one. For example, you see prostitutes, mainly black ones; they tell you that they do the job for $2 dollars. That’s only to get some money. That happened to me once. Women were offering to do the job for only $2 dollars; Young girls of 14 or 15 years, that was really sad.
+
+
+  My job experience… well, I worked as a gardener, in various factories, as a carpenter, in a sewing factory, which by the way, it was one of the most terrible experiences. I had several months in San Francisco without a job. Then, in a sewing factory there were some job openings and I started to work there. I worked one and a half days for $16 dollars. The first day I worked about 8 hours and the second day only five hours. It was a total of 13 hours and I only got paid 16 hours. I put the belt on the short at the wait level, and they paid me a penny the piece. I started there because I hadn’t worked in a while. However, I never asked how much I was going to get paid. At the end of my first 8 hours, they asked me if I wanted to continue working and I said no. It’s overwhelming at the factory because you see piles and piles of clothing; you don’t even see your friend in front of you. Everything is filled with clothing and your material. The noise is very high and everyone is working so hard. The only thing I saw the whole day was a red wall. So, the next day, after I worked for four hours, I asked about the salary. When they told me how much I was getting paid, I left the job. $16 dollars for 12 or 13 hours of work, I didn’t want to continue that way. There are people with more experience who get paid $100 to $120 weekly. They are happy because they consider it a good salary. They don’t work 8 hours, but 12 instead. I met a girl of 14 years of age; she told me, “You can get paid so so; you just need practice.”
+
+
+  She had 16 months working there; she was from Guerrero and she got paid $110 to $120 weekly. She got hired with no papers. Now, since unemployment got really bad last year, most likely, that place got a lot of deportations. The border patrol arrived to factories and detained a lot of people. The sewing factories are the ones that pay the least, and they hire a lot of undocumented. They don’t treat them well, but as long as their job is productive, they leave them there. When they don’t want them, that when they get the border patrol to deport them.
+
+
+  That’s upsetting. There is no equity. They treat you bad, like if we were at the beginning of the century. They say that if you don’t work, they fire you; that if you don’t do your job well, there are plenty of people outside waiting for an opportunity. I didn’t have the need of the people working there, but I didn’t want to be treated like that.
+
+
+  I got a job at the “corner”. Some people waited there to be picked up, and they invited me to do that. After three months with no job, I was with them demolishing some walls. After having demolished two or three walls, I saw one wall dividing the living room from the dining room, so I hit it. The wall came crumbling down at me. My hand started bleeding, and I told my friend, “Hey, I need a Band-Aid.”
+
+
+  - “What Band-Aid?” he said.
+
+
+  They took me to the clinic, and saw my hand. They charged $270 for the service. Since I didn’t have any money, one of the guys got my passport out and gave it as an ID. The clinic wrote down my data on the passport because they didn’t let me out until not paying. I only paid $50 dollars, and no more.
+
+
+  I received five letters to pay the fee and letting me know that the Sheriff would arrest me. I didn’t care about it. The clinic made some other studies that day and I was there for 3 hours, and charged $500, of course I was not going to pay.
+
+
+  At the beginning I was afraid of not paying. After I talked with migrants and told them about the problem, and one of them told me, “don’t pay. My wife gave birth to two babies, and I paid nothing.” It’s usual that people do not pay the hospital or tickets.
+
+
+  I knew that I would last at that job at least four months. However on the first day, after three hours, I had the accident and I couldn’t continue. I don’t know what was worse, the feeling of unemployment or when I was working, because the job was very hard. I held another job working with balloons for gifts. You inflate the balloon, and get the gift inside. So, I took some straw-type-material, put it into a machine, then another, and another, and so on. I spent 12 hours doing the same thing. That was absurd. I felt horrible doing job like that. I only lasted 10 days there. They hired me for a 12 hours shift and paid the shift like 8 hour-shift. The owners were Jew-American.
+
+
+  The first job I held was installing carpets. That was a good job, but my boss didn’t pay me until 10 or 15 days later. He said that he couldn’t pay until he got paid. So, I installed carpets for $50 dollars. No matter if you worked 10 or 6 hours; it was $50 per day. Then, they didn’t hire anymore. After that job, I started as a carpenter with an English man. He paid me $160 per week, but after six weeks, there was no more employment. At the beginning, we were 7 people, and ended up the English men and me. He got me as his helper, since he knew I was the cheapest one. However, he didn’t treat me that well. He didn’t hire me every day, and when working, it was a 12-hour shift: from 6am until 6pm. The job was quite hard, so I left him. Then, I was a gardener. Then, I started another job doing mobile homes. That was quite a job because the first belli t was at 6:45am, which meant you needed to be there. The second bell was at 6:50am, which meant that you needed to be in your place. The third bell was at 6:55am, so you could have all your tools read. Then, the last bell was at 7am, so you could start the job, without wasting a second. There employees were all undocumented. There were no bells to take the break, it was impossible because there were machines that couldn’t be left alone. I worked there for four months and got paid $170 per week, which included tax-deduction and $10 for my ride. That was a total of $450,000 pesos – that was a misery. We started 600 people and ended 10 persons until they fired us all.
+
+
+  My cousin and I only lasted 4 months there. There were a lot of problems there. People materialize everything. My cousin got paid $18 per hour, and he charged me $150 for the rent, and I lived in the living room. His wife was not nice because she counted everything you ate. So, when I got a job, I left him. I paid him everything. Sometimes, the pride makes you dumb. I shouldn’t have paid him anything, but I did pay him all and was left with $20 dollars.
+
+
+  One friend took us to look for an apartment. We were paying $200 dollars for a room. We took it, but we didn’t have a job. One week later, my girlfriend got a job, and lasted a while. Then, she started at a pizzeria and worked there for 6 weeks. She returned to the factory and was back a forth from the pizzeria to the factory. She never lasted more than six weeks in one job. She helped me a lot, because most of the time I didn’t work. Literally, she supported me for 9 months.
+
+
+  From all the people I met, I met a smuggler from Guadalajara. I met him through some friends. His name is Jose de Jesus and has gone to the North several times. One time, he called me up and visited me. That day, we got drunk and I didn’t go to work. We stayed for three days in the room filled with beer cans. It was a nice time.
+
+
+  My relationship with my cousin was nice. Through him, I got to know all the bars in the Los Angeles are and San Fernando. We had a lot of fun together. We had some friends there, and sometimes, they killed their pigs, and made a big feast. I don’t like pig meat much, but over there was quite something. We ate a lot and spent a nice time together.
+
+
+  Sometimes, when I think about the U.S., I’d like to go again, but I’m not sure for how long. In many ways, it was a good experience. If I would have job secured, I would be interested for a couple of months. Then, I’d like to be without a job for another 3 or 6 months in order to do the things I like. If you work and work alone, that’s bad. Most of the people I met, mostly Mexican, they work and work, return very tired, then, they don’t like to think about the North. I prefer to wait for another opportunity and return.
+---
+I left Guadalajara because I was tired of everything, of school, home, my country, and my city. I was just tired and wanted to do something different. I did that with a bit of romanticism because I thought that I could do it over there; of course, I didn’t think it would be an idyll period or a paradise. I always thought that one goes to the U.S. to a party to which we have never been invited. Unfortunately, once there, we fight for the stripped land, and not only Mexicans, but all Latinos. It’s sad that one fights for it.
+
+When we left, we left with a Canadian visa of employment. It was until the mid-80s where you could go to the embassy and got a job there. However, there were problems in both the U.S. and Canada, and suddenly everyone was seeking job there; not only Latinos, but also Japanese. I went to Mexico to the embassy about 3 or 4 years, and there were no more visas. So, my idea of going to Canada was not possible, besides it was expensive and far away.
+
+I don’t remember how I learned, it think it was through the newspaper. It was a known truth. Someone who worked in Canada in the fishing industry used to go to the Alaskan border and worked for 6 months. With that money, he could come and do not work. That’s why I tried to get a work permit; but once there, there was a sign saying, “To everyone soliciting for job, there are no jobs; it’s not possible, no more.”
+
+Claudia went with me, because we wanted to continue our relationship; we wanted to be together. She worked as an auxiliary at the University and left the job. I used to work at a convenience store with an aunt for seven years. Before that, I had worked as a shoe-repairman with my father. Then, I worked at a factory as an aid. I worked cutting and rolling; I liked that job and stayed there until I started high school.
+
+I got my visa in 1990. I put a suit on; I don’t remember if I had a shirt or a t-shirt. I didn’t have a tie. I had tennis or sandals, like always. Then, the American asked us: “aren’t you going to work?”
+
+I got a bit upset, and said, “How can I go to work if I’m a student.”
+
+- “Are you a student? What are you studying?” he asked.
+
+- “Philosophy,” I replied.
+
+He asked me about Philosophy, and my thoughts about Plato. Since, they think well about Plato, I talked good about him. So, he only requested my ID. I filled a lot of documented, and I showed that I was working with my aunt and that she would give me money for my trip. However, the visa for my girlfriend was a lot more difficult. They interviewed her and showed all her documents. At the end, we both got the visa.
+
+My desire was to go to Canada. Somehow, we had information from readings and from people who have gone and tell you all about it. Since we couldn’t make it, I thought to go the U.S. instead, and once there, to go North. When we arrived, I learned the harsh reality. I arrived with my family, and it was very hard with them. I wanted to move somewhere else, but if I did that, I would have to pay rent, food, everything. In order to do that, I had to look for a job. So, I had to do that. Suddenly, I was working. What I wanted it to be a temporal job that would help me migrate to Canada, was not like that. I was there for 15 months, 9 of them with no employment. The first couple of months I searched for a job, but it was useless since there was a lot of unemployment. I lived reading, drinking, with drugs, partying. I couldn’t do anything else. I didn’t have Money to go out. Money is what makes you move over there. If you want to go to Hollywood, you need money for it; if you want to go to a concert, you need money as well. In addition, if you don’t have a job, it’s difficult to do things. That’s why I ended up at the library checking out books, since I didn’t have anything else to do.
+
+My first idea was to get out of here; I didn’t go south because it’s more difficult. In U.S., even the minimum wage – around $150 dollars per week, at least you survive with that. Of course, it’s going to be with limited conditions. Besides, there are three or four families living in the same apartment, but at least with some food.
+
+I’ve always liked to be an adventurer. However, that was the last time. Prior to that, I left for one or two months to Coahuila to work with some uncles in a ceramic factory. However, I didn’t pay for rent or food with my uncles. It’s curious, but now, after fifteen years, I’m working at a brick factory.
+
+I’ve also gone to Michoacan, Oaxaca, to the Huichola Mountain Range, to Cuernavaca, but just to party. Whenever I went to the beach, I worked in a hotel just to have some food and lodging. I was also a dishwasher, a janitor, or a busboy. I always did that during vacations. The only time I did go for economic reasons was when I went to the U.S.
+
+From my father’s family side, no one has gone to the North. There are only two families on my father’s side: my father’s and my uncle’s who live in Ahualulco. From my mother’s side, there are ten siblings, but everyone is in Mexico, living in Morelos, Chiapas, and Guadalajara. However, there are two of my cousins from my mother’s side who live in San Fernando and Lendenton in California. Both cities are close by, about 30 minutes apart. I did go with them; however, they live within limited means, as all the migrants who just arrived do. I have a cousin who has lived there for 15 years; he’s worked at a factory for the last five years. However, a few time ago he got fired because there are closing down a lot of factories. He was working in a chrome factory. Another cousin works at a gas station and he’s been working for years there. He also takes care of a small store within the gas station. Another cousin has done well because he’s worked in construction. Due to the fact that he’s part of the union, all have a minimum wage well above normal. My cousin was getting paid $18 per hour.
+
+That last cousin is about my age, 29 years old. The other ones are older about 38 or 40. The last cousin had a good salary, but he had assimilated to the American life. For example, he doesn’t enjoy his money, because it’s usual that Americans deposit the money at the bank each week. It’s common that Mexican adapt to the American system. So, my cousin deposited all his money at the bank. Whenever I got paid $150 dollars, he asked me for money to buy beers. Sometimes, he invited me. However, he used to sell the material of his factory here in Mexico as cooper or lead.
+
+By the way, in order to survive, both Mexicans and other Latinos make twisted business. My cousin did that kind of business.
+
+The relationship with my family was good, but with this last cousin it was a lot better. I had a nice friendship with him. However, in U.S., he had family, spouse from the same town Ayutla, whom also assimilated to the American life.
+
+When I went to the North, I didn’t plan anything. I don’t like to make plans, because they never work. I thought of going to the U.S., stay for a couple of months, and then immigrate to Canada. However, I stayed all the year and a half in the U.S. It was tiring to look for a job. My cousins could never get me a job. I didn’t have any more acquaintances. One of my cousins had worked as a gardener for many years, so he took me with his old boss, and we were told that there was no job available.
+
+I also did go in a very difficult period. That’s when the recession started. Besides, the months between August and November are the hardest to get a job. I had arrived at the beginning of August. I recall my first day in Los Angeles; upon arriving to the bus station, a black man wanted to carry my luggage – just one bag. I said now, and he was there trying and trying because he wanted some money. I told him that I didn’t have money. When I arrived, it was about 7:30pm. I asked for the downtown area, and since it was very dark, I went to the phones right away. I was not thinking of arriving with my family, but once there, what else could I do. Some other blacks saw us and wanted to help with the luggage; then some other Americans. There are a lot of crazy people there. I called one of my cousins and he told me that he was working all night long, and that he couldn’t pick me up.
+
+I called his brother, and he wasn’t there. I didn’t know how to use the public phones; and all the instructions were given to me in English, and my English is bad. I couldn’t understand the quantities; I could only understand the word “cents.”
+
+I put a coin in, then another one, but I couldn’t make a phone call. After 45 minutes, I was getting nervous, because I wasn’t able to get through my cousins. I asked, but no one knew where they lived. So, we ended up going with my girlfriend’s family in Southgate. From there, we made a phone call. Fortunately, we reached my girlfriend’s family, who didn’t receive us quite well. She was very catholic and her cousin was arriving with a guy whom she wasn’t married to yet. The good thing is that the next day, my cousin picked us up and we moved to Glendale. We stayed with him for a couple of days, and then we moved with another cousin whom I hadn’t seen for ten years. He lived in San Fernando, and my time there was quite nice. I didn’t work and I was treated as a visitor. My cousin was nice, but I also wanted to live by my own with my girlfriend, and I couldn’t do it.
+
+When I lived with my cousin, I didn’t search for job. Besides, my cousin and his wife were very nice. My girlfriend and I got fat, because we didn’t do anything, just eat and drink wine. From there, I went to San Fernando to look for job, but it wasn’t easy. I went from factory to factory, and there were a lot of people with their application in hand. We were a lot, and people were coming from all the industrial areas. One of my friends just called me and told me that he’s been unemployed for a year and four months.
+
+I also lived with two persons from Mexico City. By the way, my idea about people from Mexico City changed. The truth is that my time with them was good. One of them had been a farmer all his life; then, he became a manufacturer in Mexico City, and then a delegate. Then, he got into trouble both at work and then with his fiancée, so he left.
+
+The other one says that he won’t come back. One is quite young and went just for adventure when he was 14 years old; he’s now 19. So, we spent quite a time together. Sometimes, we had quite a harsh time that our only food was soups and beans, because we all were unemployed. We searched for jobs and nothing. I think for a woman is less difficult, because women don’t get into trouble at work. Women are more responsible, and less drunk. My girlfriend didn’t have as much trouble as I did when searching for jobs. I also was taking English classes, and all the women there were employed, while the men were unemployed. I didn’t like going to school because instead of teaching you English, they were teaching you to love their country. They were infusing cultural and historical ideas. They taught us who were Franklin Roosevelt and all their history heroes. Besides, they don’t critique any. For example, it may sound dumb, but they don’t even know who Christopher Columbus was. It may not matter, but they didn’t know, and supposedly they were people with studies, many of them in Business. I met a lot of Americans with that career, but with no culture at all.
+
+One day, one American saw me with a bunch of books and asked if I knew how to read. I said that of course, so he asked me what I was reading. The book was written by an American author and this person hadn’t heard about him. I thought that this guy was not interested in literature, but after several talks with him, he didn’t know anything about literature. He wasn’t ignorant because he had a degree in Business, but he didn’t know anything about anything. He may have his big house, his car, his vacations in Germany, but he didn’t know absolutely anything.
+
+On the other hand, my girlfriend’s boss had problems because he didn’t know where to take his vacations. He didn’t know if he wanted to go to Germany, Brazil, or Greece. He worried about that; he was empty on the inside.
+
+Another time, I was looking for a job at the factories. A sign at one of the factories at Lanhaywood said: “All solicitants will be shot.”
+
+When I looked for a job, I looked by areas. When I lived in San Fernando, I looked there. Since I didn’t find anything, I looked in Hollywood, Glendale, and Los Angeles. One time while in Hollywood, I found people from San Fernando o Los Angeles. I hadn’t seen them, but talking with them I knew they were looking for jobs. All of the people were from Guadalajara, Michoacan, Sonora, and Mexico City.
+
+The worse is that all the receptionists – American or Chicanas, all treat you the same way. They get upset of us looking for a job. For them is obvious that there are no jobs, but we do have to ask and they get upset of us asking. Our situation is different than theirs. There are lots of people looking for jobs. I got to see entire families gathering and selling aluminum cans and bottles.
+
+One time, I was talking with a guy from Michoacan. I found him on a bridge. I was taking a drink and I had just a bit left, so I invited him some. He told me that he sold his land in Mexico to pay the smuggler and come to work. He had five months and had found no job at all. So, he didn’t have anything to send his family. In addition, he didn’t have any land left. I heard stories like that. On the other hand, some Mexicans have created a subculture. For example, in Los Angeles, people from Guanatos and Mexico City, found several jobs on the black market. It’s a job source very important; there are a lot of people selling drugs. It’s bad.
+
+There’s another source of employment by using public telephones. The public telephones are used with some cards and pins. You go by downtown and then you hear “where do you want to call?” Each call costs you about 10 dollars. Since they don’t pay, they don’t care how long you talk on the phone. Many Latinos take advantage of this, because there’s no money to pay a dollar per minute. That’s why I went to Los Angeles to talk to my family. I got to see people talking for 3 or 4 hours. One of my friends had his 24 beers there while talking on the phone: “hey, let me talk with someone else,” he said. He talked for four to five hours only for $10 dollars.
+
+No one got charged for the call. So, whomever got the bill, he could prove that he hadn’t made the phone call with the company. That’s why I say that was a good job.
+
+For example, all the bus tickets called transfers; they cost about $2 dollars. There are people who sell transfer for 25 cents, and most of the sellers are Mexicans.
+
+Or, cigarettes. You pay $2 dollars over there. Mexicans go to Tijuana, bring cigarettes and then sell them at 25 cents. All of that is evident. You go to Los Angeles and you see all that. Anyone can see that; the government, the population, tourists, everyone can see that. Then, you see people smoking crack, like black people.
+
+One time, I went to the library on a Friday. I saw a black person in front of a store getting drugs with a mirror. He was all high, like if he was watching TV. The next day, I found him at the same place and at the same position. This guy stayed there at least 36 hours. I saw a lot of crazy people like that. Los Angeles smells bad; the entire city smells like urine.
+
+The U.S. is a crazy country, a sad one and an unmoral one. For example, you see prostitutes, mainly black ones; they tell you that they do the job for $2 dollars. That’s only to get some money. That happened to me once. Women were offering to do the job for only $2 dollars; Young girls of 14 or 15 years, that was really sad.
+
+My job experience… well, I worked as a gardener, in various factories, as a carpenter, in a sewing factory, which by the way, it was one of the most terrible experiences. I had several months in San Francisco without a job. Then, in a sewing factory there were some job openings and I started to work there. I worked one and a half days for $16 dollars. The first day I worked about 8 hours and the second day only five hours. It was a total of 13 hours and I only got paid 16 hours. I put the belt on the short at the wait level, and they paid me a penny the piece. I started there because I hadn’t worked in a while. However, I never asked how much I was going to get paid. At the end of my first 8 hours, they asked me if I wanted to continue working and I said no. It’s overwhelming at the factory because you see piles and piles of clothing; you don’t even see your friend in front of you. Everything is filled with clothing and your material. The noise is very high and everyone is working so hard. The only thing I saw the whole day was a red wall. So, the next day, after I worked for four hours, I asked about the salary. When they told me how much I was getting paid, I left the job. $16 dollars for 12 or 13 hours of work, I didn’t want to continue that way. There are people with more experience who get paid $100 to $120 weekly. They are happy because they consider it a good salary. They don’t work 8 hours, but 12 instead. I met a girl of 14 years of age; she told me, “You can get paid so so; you just need practice.”
+
+She had 16 months working there; she was from Guerrero and she got paid $110 to $120 weekly. She got hired with no papers. Now, since unemployment got really bad last year, most likely, that place got a lot of deportations. The border patrol arrived to factories and detained a lot of people. The sewing factories are the ones that pay the least, and they hire a lot of undocumented. They don’t treat them well, but as long as their job is productive, they leave them there. When they don’t want them, that when they get the border patrol to deport them.
+
+That’s upsetting. There is no equity. They treat you bad, like if we were at the beginning of the century. They say that if you don’t work, they fire you; that if you don’t do your job well, there are plenty of people outside waiting for an opportunity. I didn’t have the need of the people working there, but I didn’t want to be treated like that.
+
+I got a job at the “corner”. Some people waited there to be picked up, and they invited me to do that. After three months with no job, I was with them demolishing some walls. After having demolished two or three walls, I saw one wall dividing the living room from the dining room, so I hit it. The wall came crumbling down at me. My hand started bleeding, and I told my friend, “Hey, I need a Band-Aid.”
+
+- “What Band-Aid?” he said.
+
+They took me to the clinic, and saw my hand. They charged $270 for the service. Since I didn’t have any money, one of the guys got my passport out and gave it as an ID. The clinic wrote down my data on the passport because they didn’t let me out until not paying. I only paid $50 dollars, and no more.
+
+I received five letters to pay the fee and letting me know that the Sheriff would arrest me. I didn’t care about it. The clinic made some other studies that day and I was there for 3 hours, and charged $500, of course I was not going to pay.
+
+At the beginning I was afraid of not paying. After I talked with migrants and told them about the problem, and one of them told me, “don’t pay. My wife gave birth to two babies, and I paid nothing.” It’s usual that people do not pay the hospital or tickets.
+
+I knew that I would last at that job at least four months. However on the first day, after three hours, I had the accident and I couldn’t continue. I don’t know what was worse, the feeling of unemployment or when I was working, because the job was very hard. I held another job working with balloons for gifts. You inflate the balloon, and get the gift inside. So, I took some straw-type-material, put it into a machine, then another, and another, and so on. I spent 12 hours doing the same thing. That was absurd. I felt horrible doing job like that. I only lasted 10 days there. They hired me for a 12 hours shift and paid the shift like 8 hour-shift. The owners were Jew-American.
+
+The first job I held was installing carpets. That was a good job, but my boss didn’t pay me until 10 or 15 days later. He said that he couldn’t pay until he got paid. So, I installed carpets for $50 dollars. No matter if you worked 10 or 6 hours; it was $50 per day. Then, they didn’t hire anymore. After that job, I started as a carpenter with an English man. He paid me $160 per week, but after six weeks, there was no more employment. At the beginning, we were 7 people, and ended up the English men and me. He got me as his helper, since he knew I was the cheapest one. However, he didn’t treat me that well. He didn’t hire me every day, and when working, it was a 12-hour shift: from 6am until 6pm. The job was quite hard, so I left him. Then, I was a gardener. Then, I started another job doing mobile homes. That was quite a job because the first belli t was at 6:45am, which meant you needed to be there. The second bell was at 6:50am, which meant that you needed to be in your place. The third bell was at 6:55am, so you could have all your tools read. Then, the last bell was at 7am, so you could start the job, without wasting a second. There employees were all undocumented. There were no bells to take the break, it was impossible because there were machines that couldn’t be left alone. I worked there for four months and got paid $170 per week, which included tax-deduction and $10 for my ride. That was a total of $450,000 pesos – that was a misery. We started 600 people and ended 10 persons until they fired us all.
+
+My cousin and I only lasted 4 months there. There were a lot of problems there. People materialize everything. My cousin got paid $18 per hour, and he charged me $150 for the rent, and I lived in the living room. His wife was not nice because she counted everything you ate. So, when I got a job, I left him. I paid him everything. Sometimes, the pride makes you dumb. I shouldn’t have paid him anything, but I did pay him all and was left with $20 dollars.
+
+One friend took us to look for an apartment. We were paying $200 dollars for a room. We took it, but we didn’t have a job. One week later, my girlfriend got a job, and lasted a while. Then, she started at a pizzeria and worked there for 6 weeks. She returned to the factory and was back a forth from the pizzeria to the factory. She never lasted more than six weeks in one job. She helped me a lot, because most of the time I didn’t work. Literally, she supported me for 9 months.
+
+From all the people I met, I met a smuggler from Guadalajara. I met him through some friends. His name is Jose de Jesus and has gone to the North several times. One time, he called me up and visited me. That day, we got drunk and I didn’t go to work. We stayed for three days in the room filled with beer cans. It was a nice time.
+
+My relationship with my cousin was nice. Through him, I got to know all the bars in the Los Angeles are and San Fernando. We had a lot of fun together. We had some friends there, and sometimes, they killed their pigs, and made a big feast. I don’t like pig meat much, but over there was quite something. We ate a lot and spent a nice time together.
+
+Sometimes, when I think about the U.S., I’d like to go again, but I’m not sure for how long. In many ways, it was a good experience. If I would have job secured, I would be interested for a couple of months. Then, I’d like to be without a job for another 3 or 6 months in order to do the things I like. If you work and work alone, that’s bad. Most of the people I met, mostly Mexican, they work and work, return very tired, then, they don’t like to think about the North. I prefer to wait for another opportunity and return.
diff --git a/src/layouts/History.astro b/src/layouts/History.astro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b87b7c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/layouts/History.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+---
+import type { CollectionEntry } from "astro:content"
+import Layout from "./Layout.astro"
+type Props = CollectionEntry<"history">["data"]
+
+const { title, description } = Astro.props
+---
+
+<Layout title={title} description={description}>
+  <article>
+    <div class="flex flex-col gap-3.5">
+      <slot />
+    </div>
+  </article>
+</Layout>
diff --git a/src/pages/history/[...slug].astro b/src/pages/history/[...slug].astro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22d5984
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pages/history/[...slug].astro
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+---
+import { type CollectionEntry, getCollection } from "astro:content"
+import History from "../../layouts/History.astro"
+
+export async function getStaticPaths() {
+  const posts = await getCollection("history")
+  return posts.map((post) => ({
+    params: { slug: post.slug },
+    props: post,
+  }))
+}
+type Props = CollectionEntry<"history">
+
+const post = Astro.props
+const { Content } = await post.render()
+---
+
+<History {...post.data}>
+  <Content />
+</History>
diff --git a/src/pages/history/index.astro b/src/pages/history/index.astro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..628c430
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pages/history/index.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+---
+import { getCollection } from "astro:content"
+import Layout from "../../layouts/Layout.astro"
+const posts = await getCollection("history")
+const border = posts.filter((post) => post.data.category === "Border Crossing and Working")
+const life = posts.filter((post) => post.data.category === "Everyday Life and Return")
+const stay = posts.filter((post) => post.data.category === "Those Who Stay")
+---
+
+<Layout title="Oral History" description="Stories related to US migration">
+  <div class="flex flex-col gap-12">
+    <section>
+      <h2 class="pb-2">Border Crossing and Working</h2>
+      <ul class="flex flex-col items-start gap-6">
+        {
+          border.map((post) => (
+            <li class="flex items-start self-stretch gap-4">
+              <div class="flex flex-col w-[28rem] gap-1">
+                <a href={`/history/${post.slug}/`}>
+                  <h3 class="title font-medium underline">{post.data.title}</h3>
+                </a>
+                <p class="text-sm">{post.data.description}</p>
+              </div>
+            </li>
+          ))
+        }
+      </ul>
+    </section>
+    <section>
+      <h2 class="pb-2">Everyday Life and Return</h2>
+      <ul class="flex flex-col items-start gap-6">
+        {
+          life.map((post) => (
+            <li class="flex items-start self-stretch gap-4">
+              <div class="flex flex-col w-[28rem] gap-1">
+                <a href={`/history/${post.slug}/`}>
+                  <h3 class="title font-medium underline">{post.data.title}</h3>
+                </a>
+                <p class="text-sm">{post.data.description}</p>
+              </div>
+            </li>
+          ))
+        }
+      </ul>
+    </section>
+    <section>
+      <h2 class="pb-2">Those Who Stay</h2>
+      <ul class="flex flex-col items-start gap-6">
+        {
+          stay.map((post) => (
+            <li class="flex items-start self-stretch gap-4">
+              <div class="flex flex-col w-[28rem] gap-1">
+                <a href={`/history/${post.slug}/`}>
+                  <h3 class="title font-medium underline">{post.data.title}</h3>
+                </a>
+                <p class="text-sm">{post.data.description}</p>
+              </div>
+            </li>
+          ))
+        }
+      </ul>
+    </section>
+  </div>
+</Layout>