An Update On Oly

You may remember our waiter from a while back, Oly (as in Holy Moly). Back in February, he shared with my husband and me his plans for a return trip to Mexico. Well, the husband and I went to our favorite sit-outside-on-the-patio Mexican place tonight and Oly was there. It was the first time we had seen him since that visit a few months ago.

He did make it to Mexico and he did make it past through the first check point. He got his papers legalized (as he put it) and got the proper papers he thought was necessary for the truck he was taking to his family near Acapulco (remember, I never could figure out the exact name he was saying). His plan was to spend his birthday with his family before heading back to the states.

The first check point was no problem. It was the second one that got him. He said the authorities there said his papers were falsified and proceeded to put him in jail and impound the vehicles he was transporting. He spent a few days behind bars before he was able to come up with (through many phone calls back to the states) enough money to get himself out of jail; $3,500.00 to be exact. The amount to get his vehicles released? And these are two, very old trucks, by the way... $10,000.00 American dollars. As he put it to my husband and I, "For that kind of money, I could buy a very nice house for my mother. I would not waste it on those old trucks." Another interesting twist? Even if he could pay the fine, legally (by Mexican law) the trucks would not have to be released to him.

He doesn't know why they think his papers were false. He thinks the person that sold him the trucks here in the U.S. "was not very honest," as he simply stated. He never did get to see his family, and he was on a bus out of Laredo, Texas, on the day of his birthday. He has since contacted a lawyer who advised him not to cross the border for at least 2-4 years. All he could do was shrug his shoulders and say, "That is how things are." And all this he said with a smile.

I'm telling you, that boy is one of the nicest young men we know. As the husband said, "If we won the lottery, I would give Oly the money to get his trucks out of hock and to bring his family here." I would have to agree.

Besides, I would love to meet this guy's mother.