The Devil's Highway

Chapter 5 begins with a more in-depth description of the wretched state of the 26 walkers. The survivors are in the hospital. Most cannot speak. All of them are in shock. They are experiencing various degrees of amnesia and the majority cannot remember where they are from, or even their own names. It is as if the desert has erased their histories.

The Sheriff and his men struggle to interrogate them, and it is here that Mendez is presented in more detail. He was working in Nogales trying to avoid the drug life when he realized that his labor in a brickyard was never going to pay enough for him to care for his mother. In the winter of 2000 he meets Rodrigo Maradona, a hustler and part-time Coyote. He paints Mendez a picture of the gangster lifestyle: money, cars, women, glory, and danger.

He tells Mendez that the real money is in San Luis, and Mendez goes with him. The music that Mendez, Rodrigo, and the other impoverished kids listen to is growing increasingly anti-authoritarian and bold, taking the governments of Mexico and the United States to task. They are able to see their work as Coyotes not as mere hustling, but as revolutionary acts on par with those of Che Guevara. By sending more people across the border, they can reclaim, through infiltration, the pieces of America that used to belong to Mexico.

On the other side of the border, Chapter 5 breaks down the logistics of the militarized section of the Devil’s Highway. There are constant patrols by airmen on maneuvers, jet testing, men in Humvees lying low in order to apprehend border jumpers, and more. It is such a formidable force that it makes it seem impossible that anyone ever crosses successfully, a contrast to the porous borders that many people see as indefensible described in Chapter 1.

A brief description of Mendez’s first journey is given, and it goes off perfectly. It is easy to see why he didn’t believe that a disaster like the Wellton 26 was possible. However, as he makes more and more crossings, he begins to realize the immensity of the forces allied against the Coyotes. Sooner or later, capture feels inevitable. Chespiro decides to open a new route into new desert: the center of the Devil’s Highway. Chapter 5 ends with Mendez and Maradona beginning their first journey into uncharted territory, trusting that Chespiro’s men will be able to show them the way. 

Mendez and Maradona arrive in Sonoita and begin their training for the new route. Sonoita is a busy border town catering to tourists, Coyotes, and border crossers. They practice during the day and party at night. It is during this time that Mendez meets Celia Mendez, who will become his wife. He moves out of his hotel and into a house with her.

One week before the fatal walk, they take a group across the Devil’s Highway. It is a difficult but uneventful crossing. However, when they finish, they are surprised by Border Patrol while waiting near a water tank for El Negro’s men to come and pick them up. Mendez is apprehended, but Maradona escapes.

The remainder of Chapter 6 describes the journey of the walkers, and Don Moi’s Coyotes, to the staging ground. Even getting to the point where their journey will begin is a big undertaking. The walkers head north on a chartered bus that makes them feel as if they are royalty. Their eagerness is poignant, especially since the reader knows that they will soon be lost in suffering. They pass through lands and cities that they have never seen or even heard of. They are desperate to leave a country that they do not really know.