Into the Beautiful North

Gathering at Irma's, everyone is discussing Nayeli’s plan to save Mexico. Irma gets on her soapbox and preaches of how she bowled for Mexico; for Mexican women, she faced many perils. Using herself as an example, she criticizes the women around her: "First you ladies let yourselves be pushed around by your useless men for a hundred years. Then you let those men escape. Now you deny the future! You are not the new woman! You are shameful!" (61)

While she has a captive audience, Irma then begins to speak of legends and characterizing Americans as not as "sophisticated like [they] are” (62). She even goes so far to say that God himself came from Tres Camarones. She renamed the group (Nayeli, Tacho, Vampi and Yolo) “warriors”. The community gathers money to help their quest and they leave almost immediately.

On a bus headed to Tijuana, the warriors are awakened in the middle of the night by soldiers who stop the bus. They are questioned about drugs, but the soldiers’ attention soon turns to a couple at the back of the bus. They are found to be Colombian, and therefore an "illegal". They are forcefully taken off the bus. Just before dawn the warriors are awakened by a pickup truck shooting at the bus. It turns out to be a politically rally and they are fine. 

The bus is taking a rest stop, and the warriors visit a little cafe with putrid bathrooms and disgusting food. The closer they travel north, the worse the conditions become. Chuy, the bus driver, warns the warriors of the Mexican customs officials. To make their journey even more dangerous he says, "It'll be a miracle if we survive traveling through our own country" (78).

At the border stop, the guards single out Tacho, calling him a “faggot” and harass him. He is sexually assaulted by a “Jefe” and then let go. During the night, the bus's hydraulic system breaks down and Chuy leaves the bus for help.