Maui's immigrants striving to succeed
| • | Maui a magnet for Hispanics |
Advertiser Staff
Raul Jaimes
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Three men sit at a counter at Fiesta Time in Wailuku devouring tacos alpastor made from marinaded pork, while watching Spanish-language news and sports programs on a small color TV.
Raul Jaimes, owner of Fiesta Time in Wailuku, arrived in Hawai'i more than three decades ago with just $40 in his pocket. He tells newly arrived immigrants that "everybody can make it if they go the right way." Jaimes is now a U.S. citizen and plans to retire in another year.
Fiesta Time and other small Mexican restaurants that have sprouted up across Maui in the past couple of years attract newly arrived immigrants looking for a home-style meal and someone who speaks their language and can help them make connections with the local Hispanic community.
"I tell them this is the place to be. Everybody can make it if they go the right way," said Fiesta Time owner Raul Jaimes, 60, who came to Hawai'i from Mexico City 33 years ago on a tourist visa. He arrived with his wife and infant son and $40 in his pocket.
Jaimes eventually became a U.S. citizen, opened a taco shop in Honolulu, then a bigger place, Azteca, on Wai'alae Avenue in Kaimuki. Jaimes sold that restaurant and moved his family to San Diego for 10 years before deciding to settle on Maui.
After 25 years serving up Mexican food, Jaimes said he plans to work another year before turning over the business to his oldest son, Nestor.
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Rolando Perez
Rolando Perez, 24, said he came to Maui a little more than a month ago to escape the crime and drugs in California, and the prejudice of other Mexicans who don't like newcomers and made fun of his accent.
Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, Perez entered the country illegally at age 12. Now a five-year permanent U.S. resident who is eligible for citizenship, he lives with his uncle in Makawao and earns $380 a week doing gardening, small construction jobs and other chores on a Kula estate.
He is taking English classes from the Department of Education's Community School for Adults and wants to study business and accounting.
In his spare time, he plays soccer or goes running.
"I am so happy. I feel more like American (than a Mexican). America give me too many opportunities," he said.
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Azucena Ortega
With her 15th birthday approaching, Azucena Ortega had thought at first that she didn't want a traditional quincea–os celebration — a rite of passage for Mexican girls. She later changed her mind, to her mother's delight.
Carrying a bouquet, the beaming teenager walked toward the altar at Maria Lanakila Church last month dressed in a tiered, cotton-candy pink gown and escorted by a male friend in a tuxedo. Following a special Mass in her honor, 300 friends and family, including some who had traveled from California and Mexico for the occasion, crowded into a hall at the Lahaina Civic Center to enjoy traditional foods and swivel their hips to Latin music blasting over a rented sound system.
"Susie," as she is known to her friends, moved to Maui at age 6 from Guadalaraja. "It was really hard. The teacher couldn't understand Spanish, and there were few Mexicans. We had to learn fast," she said.
Her father, Jose Luis Ortega is a supervisor for the night cleaning crew at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua and her mother, Delia, works at Nachos Grande, a Mexican restaurant in Honokowai owned by Susie's uncle.
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Jaime
Jaime, 23, was a police officer working in a small town outside Guadalajara City when he heard about Hawai'i from others who had returned with tales of good jobs and beautiful women.
He said he paid $1,300 to a "coyote" — someone who guides Mexicans across the border for a price — then walked and ran for five hours in darkness to reach Texas.
Jaime (not his real name) made his way to Maui six months ago and does odd jobs for $9 an hour while living with a relative who has been here 10 years.
Jaime remembers one night when he was pulled over by a police officer. The officer, who knew a little Spanish, asked to see his immigration papers. "Are you one of those loose Mexicans on Maui?" the officer asked.
"I thought, 'My God, I'm going to be deported,' '' Jaime said, recalling his dread.
After a few tense moments, the officer looked at him and said, "You have five minutes to get out of my sight."
Jaime knows he was lucky, but "it's hard to live with fear in your life."
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Maria Salas, Lucy Garcia
Christie Wilson • The Honolulu Advertiser
It was the poor selection of tortillas in local stores that inspired sisters Lucy Garcia, 42, and Maria Salas, 40, to leave their jobs at a hotel and restaurant to open Mercado Latino 2 1/2 years ago in the Kahului industrial area. The little market sells everything from tortilla presses and pinto beans in bulk to rainbow-colored Mexican soda pop and Colgate toothpaste in Spanish-language cartons.
Sisters Maria Salas, left, and Lucy Garcia worked in a hotel and restaurant before opening their own store, Mercado Latino, in Kahului.
Mercado Latino also serves hot plate lunches and provides money transfers through Ria Envia, Mexico's version of Western Union.
"We decided together we can do it," Salas said. "We had just a little bit of money to start, and we got some financing."
The sisters work seven days a week and have one employee.
"For us, the most important thing is to live well when we retire. We don't want to worry," Salas said.
