This is the third in a five-part series detailing the arduous journey of Ramón Zepeda, an illegal migrant into the United States. In part one, young Ramón makes the decision to leave a bitter life on the streets in Nicaragua. Part two details the start of the journey north.

Ramón has to get out of Guatemala City. It has been a week. If he stays too long, he will be trapped just like the other street kids he sees in the Parque Colón. They tried to make to the U.S. too, but were caught in Mexico and sent back across to Guatemala. He will not let that happen to him. He will keep pushing north. He will not end up like Hermán.

Hermán sits on the stone wall in the park. His face is vacant, his eyes like broken windows in a blighted neighborhood. Sitting next to him in cruel mockery is a bright yellow piñata that a woman left behind. Hermán pays no attention. He is way past birthday parties where candies flow from wounded paper animals. He is into a different kind of candy, la roca, crack cocaine.

Ramón does not use drugs or sniff paint thinner, but he and Hermán have a lot in common. They are on their own. Last year, Hermán's family threw him out of their home in Honduras. He tried to make it to the U.S. but was caught in Mexico and dumped back in Guatemala. He has gone from inhaling glue to crack. And he is only 12 years old.

Guatemala City is a tar pit for Central American street kids on their way north. They get trapped in a fuzzy haze of hallucinogens. Some never escape. Ramón passes them on the streets; he does not know their pain. Nor they do know his.

Jorge Ricardo Caballero, 15, sits in an office of Casa Alianza's refuge center for street kids. Kicked out of his home in Honduras, he made his way as far north as Tapachula, Mexico before the Mexican immigration caught him. They beat him, jailed him, and robbed him. He made it back to Guatemala City, but got hooked on drugs. Now he is trying to clean up, with the center's help. He will not try to go north again. He knows how hard it is. He remembers the hunger, the thirst, the exhaustion, and the fear.

Ramón understands Jorge's feelings. He lives them with every step. The road to Tecún Umán — on the border with Mexico — is crowded. Men with stone colored hats and long machetes march barefoot by the road on their way to the sugar or coffee plantations. Women carry their babies close to their brilliant colored shirts. Ramón walks behind them as he heads to yet another border. The rain gives no warning. Ramón takes cover underneath the green rubber trees by the side of the road. He waits until the downpour stops and the hot humid air returns.

Following the Pan-American Highway, he reaches Tecún Umán. He pays a valsero — ferryman — two pesos to cross the Suchiate River on an inner tube raft. Hardly anyone uses the international bridge and the official border. Smuggling migrants is Tecún Umán's main industry. Smugglers charge $4,000 to get someone safely across the river and through Mexico. Many Chinese are now using Tecún Umán as the first leg of their journey to the U.S. They pay $20,000.

The most dangerous point is Tapachula, Mexico. It's where most migrants are caught by the Mexican migra. They take their money and dump them back in Guatemala. The number of failed migrants is increasing, and the U.S. government is pressuring Mexico to do even more to seal its southern borders. Casa del Migrante, a Catholic agency that helps migrants now sees 12,000 migrants a year where in the past they would only see a few thousand. They used to be only grown men; now they include women and children. P. Ademar Barilli, the agency's director, stands in front of colorful mural depicting the migrant trek to the U.S. He says no one talks with fear about the U.S. "They talk about Mexico, that is the nightmare."

It is a nightmare that Ramón must cross. He sticks to the roads and dodges the migra. He makes it past Tapachula and into Veracruz, zigzagging east before straightening his course. He relies only on the sun to tell the time of day and the stars for directions. He prays under his breath as he moves along. When he arrives in Mexico City, he is exhausted. His shoes are breaking again. Already he gone through six pairs.

Ramón begs his way to the far northwestern corner of Mexico, getting so good at it he can tell if a house will help him or not by just looking at the door. In Tijuana, he meets Jesus Antonio, a teen who helps him by giving him a copy of his Mexican birth certificate. Ramón changes his name to Jesus and gets a job at a store and washing cars. He finds a small apartment by the border. He is making money.

It is December; a year has passed since he left Chinandega. He goes to the store and pays to get his picture taken with Santa Claus. It is his first Christmas. His first real Christmas. In the photo, he wears new clothes and shoes and clutches a white teddy bear. He is happy. But only one side of his face is smiling. The other side droops, unsure whether it is safe to feel joy yet.

TOMORROW: DESPERATE MEASURES