Paula Lugones
07/08/2021 19:27
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 07/08/2021 19:59
Johnatan Godoy, 29, may have achieved a record he never expected. It was not a boxing title or anything he would have imagined when he left La Plata for Las Vegas for special sparring sessions at an iconic US site. Upon returning from that wonderful dream that he was able to fulfill in the mecca of that sport, a nightmare ensued: due to government restrictions, Johnatan
was stranded at the Miami airport and had to live in the terminal for a week
, a period that is possible that no Argentine has ever surpassed.
His bed was a towel on top of the carpet. The pillow, his sports bag.
As in Tom Hanks's film "La Terminal"
but with a Creole accent, without money and only some cookies to eat, Johnatan survived thanks to mate, the "endurance" of his family over the phone and the
solidarity of an Argentine who rescued him from that situation
and led him to California.
At 61 kilos, a professional boxer in the lightweight category, Johnatan
works selling coffee
at Bingo Platense. He did not go to the United States on vacation and has no money to spare. He tells
Clarín
that he had the happiness of being able to travel on June 20 to a sparring session in Las Vegas with all payment and, on the stopover back in Miami, when he barely had a dollar left, he was stranded by the restrictions imposed by the presidency of Alberto Fernández for the entry of foreign passengers.
Like in the movie, the airport was his home. “I was living there for seven days, from June 28 to July 4.
The money he had was very little
because he was coming back. Hardly to eat. I had some cookies and cereal bars that I had brought from the hotel in Las Vegas. At the airport I bought food very few times because it was very expensive and I had no money. What he did was eat in the afternoon so he could shoot until the next day. I handled myself with mate. Luckily I took a kilo of yerba from Argentina and drank a lot of mate to
kill my hunger
”.
On the day his flight was canceled, Johnatan slept on the
airport's
icy tile floor
.
"It killed me, it was very hard," he recalls.
Then he signed up for another flight (which he could not take either), but passed immigration and security and thus remained in a more comfortable area.
“There was a carpet there and I would
put a towel on top
and that way I would undo a little more.
Then I went to door D24 because it was better, there was a place where I could get hot water for the mate.
So I settled there ”.
Johnatan slept on the airport floor, on a towel.
Johnatan tried again and again to get on a plane. “
They lied to us all the time.
They told me that they would give me a flight for August 3, but at the same time they told me that on every flight to Buenos Aires they would put me on the waiting list. In each promise I was excited. He prepared all the things and when it came to the last, nothing. Nobody was going up. That's how each of the 7 days went. They told me
'stay calm, you're sure to go out tomorrow'
and nothing ”.
One day he got excited because it looked like he was going to be able to get on a plane. He did not leave, but he achieved something very precious in those 7 days:
bathing
. “As the flight supposedly left at 2 in the morning and was delayed, they took over and gave me a hotel voucher for a few hours. I took advantage of them to bathe and lay down on a bed for a little while, a happiness. The plane never left, but I was able to shower before going back to sleep on the floor. "
The uncertainty grew with the passing of the days.
“It was going around all the time with the bag, and the suitcase, without being able to leave it anywhere.
Some Argentines told me: 'but hey, you're in Miami' and I replied: 'I wish I could be on the beach sunbathing,
I don't even have to take an Uber
to get out of the airport.
Come see how I'm doing in Miami ”.
“There are many stranded who do not become a problem because they have money.
I saw that many did not take the flight and went to their hotel, but I had to stay at the airport, it was crazy, "he adds.
Johnatan was killing time with his cell phone talking by
video call with
his wife and boys
, Benjamin, 11, and Alba, 8. “I bought my son boxing gloves.
In a call I commented that I was running out of money and my son tells me crying:
'Daddy I sold the gloves so you can eat
.
'
I swear to you, that broke me and made me feel very bad ”.
"Daddy I sold the gloves so you can eat," his son told him.
A helping hand
But Johnatan did not throw in the towel and resisted until they managed to rescue him from there.
His coach in La Plata got in touch with another Argentine friend who lives in San Marcos and does spare parts in a hotel.
So they bought him a ticket and now he's working and sleeping there.
“I accepted that proposal without hesitation for a second because I was having a very bad time at the airport.
Now I am working to be able to pay him the passage that he paid me and to maintain my expenses, to survive and to be able to eat.
I don't pay for lodging, but I have to eat, ”he says.
The boxer was given the American Airlines ticket for August 3.
Since the La Plata bingo hall where he works as a coffee grower is still closed, Johnatan breathes for now, because he was
afraid of losing his job
.
“It was so nice at the beginning of the trip and everything was dimmed in Miami.
But now I was offered to fight in Atlanta, so maybe something good will come out of all this. "
USA. Correspondent.
MG
Look also
Justice ordered the Government to coordinate the return "in 24 hours" of two stranded in the United States.
