El Coyote

 I had never heard of "un coyote" before........  I was your typical white girl, not knowing much about the undercover operations when it came to "crossing the border" ilegal!

The Mexican had un cunado (brother in law) who needed to make a lot of money fast.  El cunado and The Mexican's sister had a child that needed an operation ASAP.  Long story short......and unknown to me (i think i was in gringa la-la land shopping or getting my nails done somewhere) El Mexicano and his cunado made arrangements for him to come to "el otro lado".

I remember The Mexican telling me," guess what? my brother in law is coming to the US."  I was like, "oh that is great!  Where will he be staying?"  The Mexican proceeded to explain to me how he needed more help with his compania and that el cunado could really use the extra cash because the daughter needed the operation bla bla bla.....  and so  I prepared to meet our new house guest.

It was a Thursday night and the phone rang.  The number was blocked. I answered. The person on the other end starts speaking in spanish asking for The Mexican.  I told him he was not here and he told me that he would be calling back in 2 hours and he needed to speak to him about el cunado then because he would not be calling back after that.  I immediately called The Mexican.  He flew home.  The call came, they talked in Spanish, I remember one part of the conversation.  I remember The Mexican kept insisting that he needed to talk to the cunado 1st or else we were not coming, other than that i paid no attention and the next thing I knew... El Mexicano me dijo, "Can you take tomorrow off?  We need to drive to Florida..."

"Huh?  Florida? For what?", I asked.  "To pick up mi cunado."  replied The Mexican.  "QUE?"  Ok, I figured, I'll call in sick, we'll drive to Florida, pick up el cunado and maybe we will have a little time left over to go to the beach.  I had it all pictured in my head and wondering how I was going to explain to my office manager that I was sick on Friday but somehow managed to get an amazing tan over the weekend........

We are on the road.  I start asking tons of questions.  So what part of Florida are we going to?  Who is el cunado staying with in Florida?  It was at this point where The Mexican proceeded to tell me about coyotes  and what "they do..."  I was in shock.  I pictured el cunado walking for days and days in the desert with no water etc.

We were on a mission!

We made it to Florida and we stopped at a WalMart.  The Mexican has to call a number from a pay phone.  I hear him telling them he is at a Wal Mart.  The Mexican gets back in the car and I asked, who were you talking to?"  El Coyote." me dijo
Turns out that El Coyote sent some people up to Wally world to check us out and make sure we were legit.  We had to follow the car sent to check "us" out back to a house.  We were sitting in the car and The Mexican told me, "lock all the doors and DO NOT GET OUT! I'll be back in a few minutes"  Now, i'm starting to realize this is serious business.  The front of the house was beat up and run down looking, there were tons of guys going in and out.  El Mexicano asked me to hand him the $1,500.  he brought.  I gave it to him.  I felt like we were doing something very ilegal!  I guess we were.......  El Mexicano goes inside the house and I have all sorts of horrible thoughts going through my head.  What if they try and jump him, take his money, then come get me....  What if they take the money and demand more before releasing el cunado.

I waited what seemed like an eternity.  Next thing I know, I see The Mexican getting in a car with some of these guys.  I was thinking WTH??  It's not like I can call him up on his cell and ask..........  I was incognito with sunglasses on hoping that my blonde hair did not give away that I wasn't
"one of them"..........

Come to find out, El cunado had to pay 1/2 down and The Mexican paid the other 1/2.  They had el cunado in a seperate location and released him to The Mexican after he paid his part.  They finally arrived back, maybe 15 mins later.....  I was sweating to death, it was summer time in Florida and here I am locked in the car, windows up.....  Thank goodness!  I saw The Mexican was safe and there was a stranger walking with him to the car.......  EL CUNADO!  GRACIAS A DIOS!

El cunado gets in the backseat and introduces his self.  I introduce my self.  Little did I know this was the beginning of a lot of drama to follow...........

We had no time for a little excursion to the beach.  By that point I was ready to get home.  All the secrety, undercoverness, was too much for me.

We made it back to Georgia.

Tune in on Spanish Friday when the real drama unfolds (let's hope i can blog it all in spanish.... wish me luck)

Besos!
Tara