Episode 9: La maleta azul Episode 9: Der blaue Koffer Episode 9: The Blue Suitcase

**Martina:** When Yazmin Chavira thinks back on how she ended up where she is today, there are two central characters to her story. One is her mom, Irene Garcia.

**Yazmin:** Mi mamá y yo vivimos muchos momentos difíciles juntas. Yazmin: My mom and I went through a lot of tough times together.

**Martina:** Yazmin can remember specific moments — of sadness, fear, and danger — where, if it weren't for her mom, she wouldn't have survived. The second character in her story facilitated their many escapes —

**Yazmin:** Una maleta azul. Yazmin: A blue suitcase.

**Martina:** A blue suitcase.

**Martina:** Welcome to the Duolingo Spanish Podcast — I'm your host, Martina Castro. Each episode we bring you fascinating first-person stories from Spanish speakers across the world. The storytellers will be using intermediate Spanish and I will be chiming in for context, in English. But these are not language lessons, they're real life lessons through language.

**Martina:** When she was six years old, Yazmin and her family lived in the city of Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico. Martina: When she was six years old, Yazmin and her family lived in the city of Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico.

**Yazmin:** Mi papá trabajaba en un pueblo lejos de casa. Yazmin: My dad worked in a town far from home. Solo volvía a casa cada dos semanas, con dinero para pagar la comida y la renta. He only came home every two weeks, with money to pay for food and rent. A veces era suficiente para nuestras necesidades básicas. Sometimes it was enough for our basic needs. Pero otras veces, mi papá gastaba todo su dinero en “su vicio”. But other times, my dad spent all his money on "his vice."

**Martina:** His vicio, or vice, was alcohol. He would drink into the night, listening to the same rancheras, that were variations on the same theme — to drink away your sorrows and bad luck in life. It was starting to destroy the family.

**Yazmin:** Mi papá me quería mucho, y yo también lo quería mucho a él. Yazmin: My dad loved me very much, and I loved him very much too. Pero me ponía triste y furiosa cuando lo veía beber alcohol. But I got sad and angry when I saw him drink alcohol.

**Martina:** Yazmin had learned the hard way that, whenever her dad got drunk, he would get into fights with her mom. It would fill her with fear.

**Yazmin:** Un día, cuando yo tenía seis años, mi mamá fue a visitar a mi tía. Yazmin: One day when I was six years old, my mom went to visit my aunt.

**Martina:** Yazmin and her mom would routinely visit her aunt when they didn't have enough to eat but only when Yazmin's dad wasn't around. He didn't like Irene coming and going from the house as she pleased. One evening, he got home early. When he didn't see Yazmin or Irene, he became furious.

**Yazmin:** Inmediatamente fue a buscarnos. Yazmin: He immediately went looking for us.

**Martina:** There, in front of everyone, Yazmin's dad starting yelling at Irene.

**Yazmin:** Luego, mi papá tomó mi mano y nos llevó a casa. Yazmin: Then my dad took my hand and led us home. Mis padres discutieron toda la noche. My parents argued all night. Yo los escuchaba desde debajo de la mesa, llorando. I listened to them from under the table, crying. Tenía mucho miedo ¿y qué si mi papá le hacía daño a mi mamá? I was very scared, so what if my dad hurt my mom? A la mañana siguiente, mi mamá me levantó temprano. The next morning, my mom woke me up early. Dijo que teníamos que salir de casa inmediatamente. He said we had to get out of the house immediately.

**Martina:** This was not the first time Yazmin and her mom had to escape her dad. She has fuzzy memories of earlier fights. Like when they fled the house after he threw a beer bottle at Irene. Or after he accused Irene of sleeping with his brother and slapped her across the face. And then, they fled after he threatened Irene with a knife.

**Yazmin:** Cada vez, mi papá nos buscaba y le pedía perdón a mi mamá. Yazmin: Every time, my dad would look for us and apologize to my mom.

**Martina:** He would even take them to church, get on his knees, and promise before God that he would never treat them that way again. Martina: He would even take them to church, get on his knees, and promise before God that he would never treat them that way again.

**Yazmin:** Los días después de las peleas, mi mamá me cantaba canciones para calmar mis nervios. Yazmin: The days after the fights, my mom would sing me songs to calm my nerves. Cada noche, antes de dormir, mi mamá me decía “te quiero, te adoro, y eres mi tesoro”. Every night, before going to sleep, my mom told me "I love you, I adore you, and you are my treasure."

**Martina:** Tesoro means treasure. Martina: Treasure means treasure. Whenever Yazmin's parents got into a fight, she would hide from the chaos, and at times she calmed herself down by praying and repeating this mantra.

**Yazmin:** Después, cuando mi papá finalmente se iba a dormir, mi mamá venía a mi habitación en silencio y me decía que todo iba a estar bien. Yazmin: Later, when my dad finally went to sleep, my mom would quietly come into my room and tell me everything was going to be okay. Si a la mañana me despertaba con la maleta azul al lado de la cama, sabía por qué. If I woke up in the morning with the blue suitcase next to my bed, I knew why.

**Martina:** The blue suitcase. It was time to flee again.

**Yazmin:** Como siempre, fuimos a la casa de mis abuelos en Tamaulipas. Yazmin: As always, we went to my grandparents' house in Tamaulipas. Viajamos por tres horas en autobús. We traveled for three hours by bus. Mi abuela abrió la puerta en silencio y entramos a la casa rápidamente. My grandmother opened the door quietly and we entered the house quickly. Teníamos miedo. We were afraid. No sabíamos si mi papá iba a venir. We didn't know if my dad was going to come.

**Martina:** Yazmin's grandparents sat them down at the dining room table. Everyone was scared. They were worried that, next time, he could do something worse. You can't stay here, they said. Instead, they told Irene they should go to Houston, Texas where they had a few cousins and where he couldn't find them.

**Yazmin:** Esa noche, salimos otra vez con la maleta azul. Yazmin: That night, we went out again with the blue suitcase. No teníamos suficiente dinero para llegar a los Estados Unidos. We didn't have enough money to get to the United States. Pero, poco a poco, viajamos hacia el norte, donde mi mamá sabía que había más oportunidades. But, little by little, we traveled north, where my mom knew there were more opportunities.

**Martina:** Irene would stop where she had friends or distant family members and leave Yazmin there with them. Then, she would go on to the next city and find a job. She would save up money until she had enough to go get Yazmin and keep moving north. This situation helped them avoid being tracked down by Yazmin's dad and also allowed Irene to work housekeeping jobs, where she couldn't have Yazmin with her. But Yazmin and Irene would often go months without seeing each other.

**Yazmin:** Con mi mamá, yo me sentía invencible. Yazmin: With my mom, I felt invincible. Con ella todo era posible. With her everything was possible. Pero cuando trabajaba en otra ciudad, yo estaba sola y vulnerable. But when I worked in another city, I was alone and vulnerable. No podía salir de casa o ir a la escuela, porque teníamos miedo de mi papá. I couldn't leave the house or go to school, because we were afraid of my dad. Yo estaba triste, porque quería estudiar como mis primos. I was sad, because I wanted to study like my cousins.

**Martina:** This went on for a year… Until they finally reached Matamoros, a city on the U.S. border. There they reached the most challenging part of their journey: crossing the Rio Grande to get to Brownsville, Texas.

**Yazmin:** Para ir a los Estados Unidos sin documentos, le pagamos 500 dólares al coyote. Yazmin: To go to the United States without documents, we pay the coyote $500.

**Martina:** Un coyote is a person who smuggles migrants across the US border for a fee.

**Yazmin:** Las instrucciones del coyote eran simples: correr rápido, en silencio, y no perderse. Yazmin: The coyote's instructions were simple: run fast, run quietly, and don't get lost.

**Martina:** The coyote seemed like a good man to Yazmin; someone who wanted to help them. He even offered to carry Yazmin on his shoulders as they walked across the river.

**Yazmin:** Yo no quería caminar por el río. Yazmin: I didn't want to walk by the river. Tenía miedo a las serpientes. I was afraid of snakes.

**Martina:** Around the afternoon, in broad daylight, they entered the water and started walking. The water went up to the coyote's waist, but it didn't reach Yazmin.

**Yazmin:** Cuando llegamos al otro lado, teníamos que caminar por un campo abierto, sin árboles. Yazmin: When we got to the other side, we had to walk through an open field with no trees. Todo estaba en silencio. Everything was in silence. Pensábamos que todo estaba bien, pero de repente... We thought everything was fine, but suddenly...

**Martina:** Suddenly, the coyote saw a border agent approaching in the distance. There was nowhere to hide. Irene started to cry.

**Yazmin:** Mi madre y yo no sabíamos qué hacer ni adónde ir. Yazmin: My mother and I didn't know what to do or where to go.

**Martina:** The agent put them all in a van to take them back across the border.

**Yazmin:** Estábamos muy nerviosas. Yazmin: We were very nervous. Mi mamá le preguntó al coyote si íbamos a ir a prisión. My mom asked the coyote if we were going to prison.

**Martina:** But the coyote comforted Irene. He told them, “The first time, they let you go. My son will cross you again in an hour.” After getting dropped back off in Matamoros, they regrouped. Yazmin imagined the coyote's son would be tall and strong like his dad….

**Yazmin:** Pero el hijo del coyote era bajo y flaco como yo. Yazmin: But the coyote's son was short and skinny like me. Él tenía solo 9 años. He was only 9 years old.

**Martina:** Yazmin's heart sank. She'd have to walk through the water on her own. This time, they went to a different point on the river. She was terrified as they got ready to cross.

**Yazmin:** Pero el niño era muy rápido. Yazmin: But the boy was very fast. El río no era muy profundo. The river was not very deep. Cruzamos en dos minutos, corriendo. We cross in two minutes, running. Yo sentía que podía volar. I felt that I could fly. Era un nuevo camino en mi vida. It was a new path in my life.

**Martina:** Yazmin felt as if the river's water cleansed her from all the bad things she'd ever experienced. All of that stayed behind her now, in Mexico. As Yazmin ran through the water, her mom, Irene, was right beside her, with their blue suitcase in her hand. When they reached the other side, they found a place to hide on the road. The coyote's son told them to be quiet, because the Border Patrol agents were going to return.

**Yazmin:** Vimos a los agentes pasar. Yazmin: We saw the agents go by. Contamos 3, 2, 1 y corrimos con el niño. We counted 3, 2, 1 and ran with the child. Llegamos a una casa en el campo, donde una mujer nos dio agua. We arrived at a house in the country, where a woman gave us water. Le pagamos al hijo del coyote. We pay the son of the coyote.

**Martina:** They were safe. Both of them, in the United States, with their blue suitcase. It had been a year since they had escaped from Yazmin's dad.

**Yazmin:** Después, mi mamá y yo fuimos a la casa de una prima que vivía cerca. Yazmin: Afterwards, my mom and I went to the house of a cousin who lived nearby. Ella encontró el primer trabajo de mi mamá en nuestro nuevo país. She found my mom's first job in our new country.

**Martina:** That's how Yazmin and Irene ended up working for Rebecca, a woman who hired them to take care of her baby and clean her house. Mother and daughter would work together and earn 35 dollars a week.

**Yazmin:** Esto era una aventura increíble para mí. Yazmin: This was an amazing adventure for me. Quería ir a la escuela, como una niña normal. I wanted to go to school, like a normal child. Pero estaba feliz de estar con mi mamá. But I was happy to be with my mom. Aprendí a hablar inglés de a poco con la televisión y practicaba con mis primos. I learned to speak English little by little with the television and I practiced with my cousins.

**Martina:** Five or six months passed. Little by little, they saved up money to keep traveling toward their final destination: Houston, Texas. There, Irene's cousins were waiting for them.

**Yazmin:** Finalmente llegamos a Houston. Yazmin: We finally made it to Houston. Allí, mi mamá encontró un trabajo limpiando casas. There, my mom found a job cleaning houses. También encontró amor: Marvin, mi nuevo papá. He also found love: Marvin, my new dad. Él era estricto, pero me motivaba a explorar el mundo y hacer nuevas amigas. He was strict, but he encouraged me to explore the world and make new friends.

**Martina:** Marvin bought Yazmin her first bike. She remembers how he would encourage her to go out for a ride if she hadn't used it in awhile. He also got along really well with Irene and didn't try to control her.

**Yazmin:** Pocos años después, mi mamá y Marvin tuvieron a Evelyn, mi hermana pequeña. Yazmin: A few years later, my mom and Marvin had Evelyn, my little sister. Ella es rebelde e independiente como mi mamá. She is rebellious and independent like my mom.

**Martina:** Since the moment Yazmin fled her father's violence, she remembers feeling uncertain about her future. What would life be like in the U.S.? What if immigration authorities found her and deported her? Would she miss her dad? Over the years, she had heard stories about him back in Mexico. Mostly sad ones.

**Yazmin:** Una prima me dijo que a veces ve a mi papá en el banco donde ella trabaja. Yazmin: A cousin told me that sometimes she sees my dad at the bank where she works. Me dijo que él nunca le pregunta por mí. He told me that he never asks about me. A veces, considero viajar a México para ir a visitarlo, pero no sé si es una buena idea. Sometimes I consider traveling to Mexico to visit him, but I don't know if it's a good idea.

**Martina:** Yazmin was 19 years old when she finally got residency in the United States. She was preparing to go to college, to strike out on her very own. She wanted to study so she could help other immigrants get the quality education that she had been lucky to receive when she got to Houston. But first, she was going to need a suitcase.

**Yazmin:** Mi mamá y yo recordamos la maleta azul. Yazmin: My mom and I remember the blue suitcase. No la usamos por casi diez años. We haven't used it for almost ten years. Parecía un objeto de otra dimensión. It looked like an object from another dimension. Decidimos mirar hacia adelante. We decided to look forward. Ese día, compramos una maleta nueva. That day, we bought a new suitcase.