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My Story: Student #11

Mi viaje de Ecuador hasta los Estados Unidos

Mi viaje comenzó el 14 de septiembre del presente año, el cual fue el día que yo salí de mi país en busca del sueño americano. El 15 de septiembre estuvimos en El Salvador y ese mismo día salimos a Nicaragua. Cuando estábamos en Nicaragua, pasamos como dos días en una casa dónde no nos dejaban salir por miedo a que nos pasara algo. El tercer día, nos dijeron que íbamos a salir a Guatemala, pero nunca pensamos que íbamos a cruzar un río. Veía muy bien, pero la hora de cruzar fue un desastre porque casi me llevó el río. Después de eso, estuvimos un rato allí en otra casa y a la 1 am, nos dijeron que íbamos a salir ya a Guatemala. Estuvimos como siete horas en un bus sin poder comer ya que las cosas necesitaban dinero de ese país y nosotros teníamos dólares. A veces las comidas eran muy buenas pero a veces solo nos tocaba comer lo que había o lo que nos daban. Cuando llegamos a Guatemala, estuvimos en una casa. Nos tuvieron nada más y nada menos que dos días, pero teníamos que salir y caminar mucho ya que ese día teníamos boletos para subir a Nuevo México. Las cosas iban muy bien hasta que el día que nos llevaron a Nuevo México, nos llevaron en un tráiler; el cual se demoró 14 horas. Nosotros íbamos con dolor de cuerpo con más de 150 pasajeros, todos íbamos. Al llegar a Nuevo México, nos llevaron a una casa donde el señor nos atendía muy bien, pero los dos días que pasamos en su casa con él fueron como si estuviéramos más tiempo .

Cuando íbamos a salir de esa casa, el señor nos quitó el dinero que teníamos porque él nos dijo que no podíamos tener dinero. Llegamos a otra casa donde estuvimos como cuatro días, pero allí nos daban de comer y las aguas, cocacolas o jugos. Teníamos que pagar y nosotros estábamos ya sin dinero ya que nos quitaron todo hasta la ropa que teníamos en las mochilas. Cuando estábamos en esa casa a cada rato, nos decían que ya íbamos a subir a Monterrey, pero después de cinco días ya nos sacaron. Dormíamos en el suelo. Lo único que nos cubría era cobijas, pero no. Éramos solo dos a tres personas. Tuvimos cuartos llenos con gente. No se podía ni bañar porque solo nos dieron un baño y éramos como 75 personas. Cuando salimos de Monterrey, nos llevaron a otra casa dónde el señor era del cartel o también conocidos como la mara. Nos llevaron como tres horas en camionetas en la noche. Después de esa noche, llegamos a otra casa. Nos sacó en menos de cinco horas para ir a la casa de tres chicos. Ellos eran encargados de cruzarnos el río y llevarnos a otro lado. Todo iba muy bien, pero de repente esa noche como a las 2 am nos dijeron que ya nos iban a cruzar el río. Cuando acabamos de cruzar el río, él nos dijo ya regresó y cuando pasaron minutos, solo escuchábamos risas. De repente una luz nos apuntó, pensamos que eran ellos y fue migración. Cuando estábamos en migración pasamos por casetas. La una nos tuvieron en la congeladora. Es un centro de detención que se llama la Hielera. La segunda nos hicieron revisión médica a ver si teníamos algo o si estábamos bien, y la tercera nos hicieron la prueba del covid. Después de eso, nos mandaron a una casa hogar dónde nos tomaron nuestros datos y nos dijeron que si nos podían comprar vuelos o si no, nos enviaban en un bus que duraba tres días máximo. Llamamos a nuestros familiares y ellos nos lograron comprar un vuelo para esa misma noche, pero a las 5 am fuimos en escala y logramos llegar a Estados Unidos.

My trip from Ecuador to the United States

My trip began on September 14 of this year, which was the day I left my country in search of the American dream. On September 15 we were in El Salvador and that same day we left for Nicaragua. When we were in Nicaragua, we spent about two days in a house where they wouldn't let us out for fear that something would happen to us. The third day, they told us that we were going to go to Guatemala, but we never thought that we were going to cross a river. I could see very well, but the time to cross was a disaster because the river almost took me. After that, we were there for a while in another house and at 1 am, they told us that we were going to leave for Guatemala. We were on a bus for about seven hours without being able to eat because we needed the currency from that country and all we had was dollars. Sometimes the meals were very good, but sometimes we just had to eat what was there or what they gave us. When we arrived in Guatemala, we were in a house. They kept us for no more and no less than two days, but we had to go out and walk a lot since that day we had tickets to go up to New Mexico. Things were going great until the day they took us to New Mexico. They took us in a trailer; which took 14 hours. We were going with everybody–more than 150 passengers. When we arrived in New Mexico, they took us to a house where the man took very good care of us. The two days we spent in his house with him were as if we were staying longer.

When we were going to leave that house, the man took the money we had because he told us we couldn't have money. We arrived at another house where we stayed for about four days, but there they gave us food and water, coca cola, or juices. We had to pay and we were already without money since they took everything from us, even the clothes we had in our backpacks. When we were in that house every so often, they told us that we were going to go up to Monterrey, but after five days they took us out. We slept on the floor. The only thing that covered us was blankets, but no. We were only two to three people. We had rooms full of people. You couldn't even bathe because they only gave us one bath and we were about 75 people. When we left Monterrey, they took us to another house where the man was from the cartel or also known as “the gang”. They took us about three hours in vans at night. After that night, we arrived at another house. He took us out in less than five hours to go to a house that three men owned. They were in charge of crossing the river and taking us to another side. Everything was going very well, but suddenly that night around 2 am they told us that they were going to help us cross the river. When we crossed the river, the guides told us that they were going to be right back and when minutes passed, we only heard laughter. Suddenly a light pointed at us. We thought it was them, but it was migration. When we were in migration, we went through booths. One of them kept us in what felt like a freezer. It is a detention center called La Hielera, Spanish for “freezer box”. We had a medical check to see if we had any diseases or if we were okay, and they tested us for covid. After that, they sent us to a home where they took our information and told us that they might be able to buy us flights, and if not, they would send us on a bus that would take three days maximum. We called our relatives and they managed to buy us a flight for that same night, but at 5 am we had a layover and managed to reach the United States.