Desert Walk

Rusted gate that separated the residents of a Green Valley residence from the perils of the desert faced by a migrant.
Rusted gate that separated the residents of a Green Valley residence from the perils of the desert faced by a migrant.

          A memorable part of the trip for me was our stop at Green Valley, a town not an hour from the Mexican/US border.  This detour effectively set the stage, as Davidson’s book did, and set the tone or provided the perspective that would be necessary to have for the remainder of the trip as it, in a way, placed us in the shoes of migrants.  Initially, I was confused by the stop and wondered why we had ventured into this adobe-style, monochromatic-beige, upper middleclass neighborhood.  It was then that I found out that it was from here that we would be embarking on our desert walk.  We had not walked two blocks in this residential area when we reached a rusty gate.  The fence was nothing more than some barbed wire attached to metal poles place every couple of meters apart.

We crossed into the Sonoran Desert and I found that it was different from the one I know in Phoenix, where there are trails and parking lots.  Here, the bush was denser than I expected and some of my classmates could not walk for more than a couple feet without having the needles of the jumping cholla cactus caught on their shoes and clothing.  The walk gravely put into perspective the hazardous journey on which these migrants embark.  To begin, the sun is a migrant’s constant daytime companion and if they do not have it at their backs they are avoiding it under the thorny, dense branches of a mesquite.  Underneath one tree we found what used to be a sweater and multiple backpacks.  We also came across emptied and deteriorating water bottles and even a deteriorating ski mask, which got many speculating at its owner.  Some did say it could be used as protection from the sun; others thought it may have been a smuggler’s mask or disguise. 

In any case, the walk exemplified for me the perils of the desert: thorns, the heat, the sun, the cold, the wild animals.  Unfortunately, the migrant must also be wary of more than just the environment, as they may also come upon those that seek to exploit or harm him/her, be they smugglers or a trigger happy minuteman.