When I was a kid, my “dream” was to be a pilot. It was a dumb idea, I had no clue about flying or physics. Back then I considered myself as a poor kid with a low income family. I recall I bought Microsoft’s Flying Simulator (pirated version, obviously); hoping to get a closer look at the dexterity of it, but my IMB computer couldn’t run it properly. In one of the career fairs my school did, I met the dean of aeronautics of a university close to my home. He told me I could go any day and try their high tech flying simulator; I did, but I crashed the plane and felt terribly embarrassed.

Back at home my mom talked over the incredible high cost that my pilot education would be, suggesting I could go to Argentina and get a free education like her friend’s daughter. I thought about it for a second, but soon afterwards I remembered what a “friend” of mine (who enrolled in said institution) said to me: “You need to be white to be a pilot.” I thought he was right, back at the simulator all of the students were white; they even didn’t look peruvian, which made me felt nervous and intimidated. It was over for me.