Gabe Wohl
West Virginia University College of Law, Rising 3L
May 18-19, 2008
Day One in Guanajuato

Flying to Mexico we passed over eons of arid and empty land. Vast useless expanses the size of Texas spanned the view—and that was just Texas! After the skinny plane (I had both a window and an aisle seat) crossed the border and entered the space above Mexico I watched for hours the landscape rewrite itself underneath: brown patches, sand-colored weeds, sharp rocky ridges and crusty looking shrubs. No people, roads, houses or Super WalMarts graced the scene of the Sonoran desert. I thought about the effect this must have had on Americans during our land-grabbing days and I pictured President Polk—or whoever it was—look out to the south of Texas upon this mess and say, “Eh, stop here. They can keep the rest.” Then I thought of the people who travel through this desert to get to the US and are met by vigilante border keepers and then have to go back home. The journey itself must be life-changing, and the decision not made lightly. To decide that crossing thousands of miles of desert and hot rocky terrain for weeks or months with all you can carry, accepting the likelihood of death by dehydration along the way and the even greater likelihood that if you got to the border you would have to turn back. To decide that these risks are worth the very slight chance that you might escape your life in Mexico. This is a desperation most of our ancestors experienced at some point, but that I will probably never know.

Guanajuato crept up on us with its stone tunnels and hills, senselessly confusing streets, lovely bright painted stucco walls and very few people over the age of 30. The excitement, sleepiness, and disorientation from traveling made walking the freshly rained on narrow cobblestone streets of Guanajuato amidst mariachi music and barking dogs feel like moving through a Garcia-Marquez story. I look forward to continue getting lost here.