Border 102
I’m sitting in a cab. I don’t know exactly where I’m going. I’m with Lois, Jody and, of course, Ryan, and we are on our way to Grupo Beta. Lois is with the Samaritans; Jody is with No More Deaths; Ryan does what Ryan does; and I have no clue what Grupo Beta actually is. All I know is that I am with these three people from Arizona and they all have a vision of creating a more human border. I am here to learn from them and with them.
I started my travel three months ago, and I was going to this faraway place of Central America. The bible of my trip was a Lonely Planet. I had nothing planned. I wanted to see the culture and know the reality of this subcontinent, but with the Lonely Planet in my backpack it became a tour of ruins, beaches and hostels.
After five weeks of backpacking in Mexico, I arrived in Guatemala and left my Lonely Planet behind. That was when I met Ryan. He introduced me to another world of migrants, Zapatistas and NAFTA, and his bicycling “Border 101” project that somehow connected them all together.
What is the border?, I thought to myself. What is migration? I am Danish. Migration is not an issue for Danish people like it is for those in this side of the world, especially in Arizona. People migrate to Europe from Africa, but Denmark is too far and too small for many to notice. Migrants often go to Spain and France.
But here I am sitting in this cab, heading off to my first lesson on the Mexico- Guatemala border.
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