The desert is, it’s like an immense desert, mountains in every direction. There is no trail. The desert has no path. Or rather, there’s a trail here and there. You can walk…you can just walk around a mountain. Yeah, you can walk in circles. You think you’re walking in the right direction but sometimes you walk in circles. To be able to walk in the desert you need your own way. You have to know how to walk in the desert. A sick person can’t walk in the desert because he won’t make it very far. Maybe he walks a day or a night, a little while. An overweight person, well, he might as well stay in the desert because of excess weight. His backpack and the water he takes and everything else, it’s not enough.

Well I walked, a lot of us came from my town, about twenty. We walked two days and two nights. We walked two days and two nights. And at the end, the third day, we were on the highway in Arizona. We were there all day, waiting to be picked up. It was really cold. I don’t want to remember that. It’s hard. Very, very nasty. It’s not easy. You risk your life. You play with death. Yeah, because when I crossed in the desert I saw two, two bodies, two dead people. There are thousands that have stayed there. How do I tell you? They don’t finish, they don’t make their dream of arriving to the United States.

You know, you come with an illusion to do something, to have something… a business in Mexico that allows you to survive. I’m not rich because the rich are all connected, the rich are all hooked up. When you finally have something to survive on there, like a business so that you don’t have to go back and cross the border… many people come and stay awhile but they do something, they save their money and they return and they get a business going so that they don’t have to come back again.

No, definitely you want fresh air, but necessity forces you. Desire is one thing, reality is another. And well, we’re in need and so we’re trapped. We want to get out anywhere, the movies, to the clubs, but you can’t.

CU: Why can’t you?

Because in this state the law enforcement has the authority to arrest you. If they arrest you, Immigration takes you.

The way that you live, the level of life, how do I tell you… is one thing, and the quality of life that you have is another because you are trapped and yeah you don’t lack anything, that’s for sure. You don’t lack anything. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Only, just something very important, freedom. This is what you lack.

Well, over in Mexico you know there are traditions. There are traditions like yesterday you celebrate the Virgin Mary. There are traditions where you sing Las Mananitas on September 12th. It’s a good time. There are big parties that happen there in Mexico. About now, December 24th you start Las Posadas for Jesus Christ’s birth and everything else. You know, it’s a nice time in Mexico, but here, we’re just here looking out the window. We watch TV, get bored, sleep a little, go to work again, come back and that’s it.