The journey of Rossanna and Widman, their full names not given, began in the Guatemalan village of San Juan La Laguna, on the shores of turquoise Lake Atitlan, where they met when he bought the tortillas she was selling for lunch.

It ended in the murky waters of the Rio Grande.

The couple drowned as they tried to wade across the notorious part of the river that links Piedras Negras, Mexico, with Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb 24, just two among the hundreds of people who lose their lives trying to cross into the United States every year.

In June, relatives collected Widman's casket from Guatemala City and carried it back along the winding highland roads to his hometown of Yepocapa in a white van toward his final resting place. Dozens of community members filed through the streets to mourn the popular 26-year-old, often called by his middle name Alex.