In July 1999, due to the poverty they were going through, Yanira, Max, and Alirio, made the hard decision of leaving all they had and their families, to seek a better life, and a better future for their families. They first had to come up with the money, to pay the person to get through Guatemala and Mexico illegally (El Coyote). On Monday the 5th, they took off on their journey, leaving El Salvador, in just a couple of hours. They spent 3 days in a hotel in Guatemala city, waiting to cross over to Mexico. This is when the suffering begins, Yanira relates how they walk through the mountains, through the darkness of the night. They rested in the wilderness during the day. That night they continued their journey in a canoe to cross a lake which