Taxi Rojo: A Tijuana Tale

Tijuana: melting pot of Mexico, gateway to Baja California. Two million souls struggle for survival, each searching for a way to become...something, anything better.

Fate brings a few strangers together one night in a crowded taxi rojo. When the red taxi crashes down a canyon, it creates a connection between the passengers that, like the international border within sight of the crash, draws a line between triumph and defeat, hopelessness and perseverance, life and death.

Boyfriends Rigo and Cristian confront their demons when a supposedly innocuous tryst gets out of control. Pancha looks for love in a complex world of ambiguous gender and sexual identity. Toni's biggest problem is self-acceptance in a culture that has ingrained in him the idea that real men are macho and self-sufficient. Julia's faith is challenged, as she toils to make a living and support her disabled sister, while feeling paralyzed by her sense of responsibility and lingering guilt.

Even in Tijuana, light can be found in the darkness.

©2012, 2014 Erik Orrantia (P)2016 Lethe Press