“Where I come from is Guatemala City. I’m a Mayan. And I come over here to the United States in 1973. I decided to come over here so I can help my mom. Because my father passed away before I was born. So only my mom was working.
The Mayans and the Mayan people – nobody killed them. They disappear because they have a lot of sacrifices. They sacrifice children. The family. When the wife and the women find out the men are just trying to kill, kill people, they run away up in the mountains. And they leave the men aside, doing what they doing. So they started planting beans, corn. They found out they can do something else instead of killing each other. So that’s where we came from. Actually, the Mayan people didn’t start in Guatemala City. They started in Honduras.
When I come over here to the United States, I was drinking a lot. I was 15 years old, and I was an alcoholic. But I think before I born, I was an alcoholic already. When my father passed away, my mom was drinking. They killed my father. She was working for the government and the army. And you know the amapola flower? This flower is very special. Before, a long time ago, everyone has flowers in our town. But when they found out amapola is come from morphine and heroin. So they discontinued it. They took it out. My father was killing those plants. And some people, they are trying to steal the flower, so they killed my father. So, two months before I was born, I was inside of my mom, but my mom was drinking too much because of the death of my father. So I was drinking too – a lot!
Well, I stopped about three years ago. But when I came over here to the United States, that was one of the problems. I have two uncles here and one aunt. And they didn’t want me in the house because of my drink.
So I continue my road. You don’t believe me, but I walk from here to Los Angeles to San Francisco. But in those days, 1973, it was beautiful. I remember the gallon of gas, at that time, was 24 cents. One coke is five cents. Took me about a month to get there. I took 101 all the way up. I know all the little towns. I have a sleeping bag, three shorts, three pants together. The fields you find a lot of fruits. So I go in the fields and eat. When I find a river, I take off all my clothes, take a shower in the rivers. Continue my journey. We are the one destroying our planet, you know. Because we don’t take care of it. It’s not like it used to be.
I went to San Francisco, and I don’t find no job in San Francisco, I still walk back. 50 miles. Carmel. I stay there. I find a job in a car wash. And worked there for 5 years. I’ve been working as an auto mechanic for 30 years. Well, in my country, I was a carpenter, but I always wanted to fix cars. As soon as I come over here, and I had a chance when I work at the car wash, the car was having on the side – they do oil changes, change tire, brakes. And the owner of the place told me if I wanted to learn. And that was my chance. I always wanted to be fixing cars. I love my job. It’s like a doctor. Whenever you need me, I’ll be there. You call me, I’ll be there. 24 hours. That’s why I like it. I like it very much.
Actually about 50 years ago [in Guatemala], the money was not important because when people go to the market: let’s say you have a pound of beans, and you want some corn. So you trade the corn for beans. And that’s what they used to do. Those times are gone. I really miss it, but every time I have a chance to go to my country, I go there. I’m a [US] citizen now.
It’s changed a lot. The rivers, the persons, the economy: it’s bad. In Guatemala, if you want to go, you cannot go by yourself. If you have nice tennis shoes, and you go on the bus, and somebody like it, say, ‘Give me your tennis shoes.’ You don’t give it, they kill you. Now, before, when you have a store up there, a little small store, you have to pay money to the people there – extortion. And let’s say 50% per week. If you don’t pay 50%, they kill you.
Five years later since I start over here, I decided to go back to my country to put a store with my mom. That was about 40 years ago when my mom was living there. But I bring [her] over here. Then, my sister take over the store. But at that time, they didn’t ask for that kind of stuff. It started about ten years ago. Very recent. It’s sad, but it’s true. It’s everywhere. Here in Los Angeles, you cannot see that because it’s a big city. But they do it here too. It’s like, Al Capone, from New York? He was stealing money from big stores. Still the same thing.
Most of the time I go [back to Guatemala] is in November. Because November is the fiesta of our little town. Every town has a different fiesta. Like the patron saint. Saint Christo, Saint Santo Domingo. So my little town has a saint. Every 25th of November, they celebrate for one week. A lot of marimba, a lot of drinking. And the customs from the Indians is one day they dance men with men. And the women have to make the tortillas, make the food. All night long. It started from 9 o’clock to 7 o’clock in the morning. Man, you get so drunk. They have the meat in the rope. It’s a lot of food. The next day is women’s time. The women dance with women, and the men have to make the tortillas. It’s very interesting. I like it. It’s fun. It’s beautiful there. You still have a lot of big rivers. I go fishing. I go camping. I enjoy natural things.”
Excerpt may be edited for clarity.