The Tinaja Trail

For centuries, survival in the unforgiving deserts of the American Southwest has hinged on one’s ability to locate natural cavities or wind-carved cisterns in rocks called tinajas (tee-NAH-hahs). In these desolate borderlands, hundreds of undocumented immigrants die every year while attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico. In response to this humanitarian crisis, many volunteers and human rights activists are caching water supplies along the migratory trails, while others are imagining cell phones running geo-poetic trail-finding software promising to lead migrants to water. From the perspectives of both the undocumented migrants and the aid-givers, The Tinaja Trail provides a compelling tale of life and death, and humanitarian service, in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.