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This story is part of a bi-weekly series containing edited chapters of Sharon Hollins’ 2021 book “Crossings: Untold Stories of Undocumented Migrants.”
��or Sammy from Peru, the
trip North across the border
to the United States
began as a test of bravado. Approached
on the football fi eld by
a popular friend, he was asked
almost as casually as one would
inquire what’s for lunch — “Are
you up for it?”
“Sure,” Sammy replied,
with as much macho as he could
muster. “When are we going?”
The 3,000-mile trip from
Peru to America was long and
arduous — even for two young
men in their early thirties. But,
at times — much of them in the
beginning of the journey — the
feat felt more like a mini-vacation.
There was sight-seeing,
and some good parties which
Sammy remembered fondly.
It was 1990s Peru, after all.
It was much easier to cross the
border back then, Sammy recounted.
But neither Sammy
nor his friend, Arturo, enjoyed
a free ride to the states.
His decision came with a
price. Sammy said goodbye to
his family on May 12, Mother’s
Day. His mother — “a strong
lady, but still a mother” — shed
tears as she bid farewell to her
son. Sammy, one of seven children,
wasn’t sure if he would
ever make it home.
“I wondered when I would
actually see my family and
town again,” Sammy said. “In
fact, I never have, and those last
glances back are my fi nal memories.”
Sammy started in Lima, and
the fi rst stop on the journey was
Quito in Ecuador. On the way,
he saw some of the most spectacular
Caribbean L 36 ife, SEPTEMBER 3-9, 2021
views of the excursion.
“Great panoramas and ocean
views fl ew by the windows like
a National Geographic fi lm—
only this was real,” he recalled.
When he and Arturo were
in Ecuador, they had their
fi rst stroke of good luck. Lots
of friendly people helped them
along the way — and there was
one friendly face Sammy would
remember forever.
“We were traveling on a bus
from Costa Rica up to the border
of Nicaragua when I met
a girl. We were sitting nearby
each other on the bus, and we
got talking,” Sammy said.
That girl asked him to stay,
and he debated, but eventually
followed through with his
promise to himself and Arturo
to head to America and see
what life would hold for him.
Though, he always wondered
what could have been with the
woman from the bus.
But it wasn’t all good views
and nice conversation. Sammy
and Arturo had to work hard in
between destinations to make
money to continue on their
way to America — some legs
of which were far more treacherous
than the others. From
being confronted by men on
horseback carrying machetes
to getting taunted on a bus by
anti-immigrant locals and getting
swindled and robbed of all
their cash, there was rarely a
dull moment on the second half
of Sammy and Arturo’s trip.
Their greatest challenge
was late in their journey: traveling
up through Guatemala
to the border of Mexico, which
Sammy and Arturo knew
would be the hardest to cross
other than the US border.
After running (and jumping)
to catch a train to Mexico, the
two arrived safely – and somehow,
unscathed. “We ended up
staying in Mexico and working
to get ourselves back together
and save money to try again,”
Sammy recalled.
They got jobs carrying bags
for people across the river, and
worked day in and day out until
coming across a coyote. The
pair never wanted to work with
a coyote — but they were getting
desperate. America was so
close, yet so far.
They walked, and walked,
and walked — so much that
Sammy felt he couldn’t go on.
“I wasn’t feeling well. We
had walked for hours. We soon
ran out of water, and I started
to feel dehydrated. I felt like I
couldn’t get enough oxygen into
my lungs,” he said. “My heart
was pounding, and my head
hurt.”
Suddenly, he felt a “divine
intervention.”
“I saw a spirit cross my
path,” Sammy recalled. “I was
transfi xed by this ghostly apparition
and started to wander off
the path after it.”
He was staggering and felt
near death. He wondered what
it would be like to go with the
ghost, but realized he wasn’t
ready to die — so he prayed to
God.
“I was near death, and I felt
I was saved by divine intervention.
As I was praying I was
amazed to hear the whole desert
praying with me. It was so
beautiful. As I cried out to God
I heard all the animals nearby
join me in prayer,” Sammy said.
“I felt we were all crying out to
God to listen and save me. The
animals, the vegetation, and I
were one. I could hear all the
different voices of the animals
uttering the same prayer. ‘Help
him, Lord! Save him Lord,’ they
chanted. I could understand
their voices as they pulsed
through my brain, and I felt I
was a part of something.
Eventually, the pair made
it safely to the states, though,
looking back, Sammy was
never sure he made the right
decision. He often wondered
what it would have been like if
he worked in America and went
back home to Peru. He also always
wondered what might
have happened if he stayed on
that bus with the nice girl from
Nicaragua.
What he does know is that he
wouldn’t recommend the trip.
“I don’t and won’t encourage
my siblings to cross the border
and make the journey here, as I
felt the trip is not worth risking
your life,” he said. I like my life
here, but I work for minimum
pay and live simply. I do wonder
what might have been if I had
returned and made a life for
myself back home.”
Each chapter of the book tells a different story of an immigrants’ journey to the United States.
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