Summary

Magda left from Teatlán for Tijuana, taking with her the lucky coins she received from El Cochiloco and some money from both the tejuino cart and Gordo Chuy. When she arrived in Tijuana, she had the good fortune to meet a nice couple who rented her a room and helped her find a “relatively safe job” (116) as a dancer at the Club Leona. In hindsight, Magda feels it a true miracle that she survived such a dangerous city, full of strip clubs and worse. As she danced, she thought of the pain she caused her mother and family, and felt an acute sense of shame not for the borderline explicit nature of the work but for the nature of her departure from Teatlán.

While she danced in Tijuana, she attracted the attention...