In Search of Bernardina

About the Book

In Search of Bernardina: A Book to Make Think
Bernardina Hernandez
1926–2001

Daughter of Andres and Viviana Guevara freshly arrived from Spain to start a new life in El Salvador in the early 1890s, Bernardina was married to Francisco Hernandez on March 15, 1952. They had four children: Julio, Manuel, Amadeo, and Modesto.

In Search of Bernardina is a chronological narration of a series of events starting January 20, 2001. This book describes in specific detail the desperation and feelings of impotence felt by the author at having his mother go missing in a Las Vegas casino and the experience of not knowing who else to turn to after all avenues with local and state authorities in the state of Nevada and California were exhausted to no avail.

This sad tale takes place after the author’s parents arrive from El Salvador to the United States to spend the holiday season in the city of Los Angeles, and it reflects the initial joys of a family reunion after decades apart as well as the pride felt by the author at finally being able to bring his folks to experience the wonders of this great country.

After Amadeo Hernandez’s older sibling decides to take their parents for a weekend getaway in Las Vegas so they could enjoy what is known as fun capital of the world, things change at vertiginous speed to transform what was originally conceived as a pleasure trip into a macabre nightmare. Their mother disappears without a trace and never to be seen again at approximately four fifteen in the afternoon at the Nevada Landing Casino, located in the outskirts of the city of Las Vegas.

This book takes the reader through the many possible theories of why this gentle elderly woman went missing, such as the possible overcrowding inside the casino, which prompted her to go outside for some fresh air and ultimately ended in her tragic loss. But mainly, it narrates the extensive yet unproductive search through shelters, churches, hospitals, morgues, and even various states.

This book speaks of the heartless bureaucracy of having to wait twenty-four hours to get the police system into gear to look for someone, of being told of their mother’s disappearance three hours after the fact, and of the overwhelming sensation of knowing how the person who brought you into this world is somewhere out there—lost, alone, and confused—helpless.

As the search extends throughout the states of Nevada, California, and even Tijuana and El Salvador, it takes the reader through the dark paths, which even prompted the author to pursue answers in unexplored venues such as psychics only to try and find an answer—any answer. Things he had never in his life considered before.

More than a book, In Search of Bernardina is a diary of the anguish and desperation that filled the author’s every hour for several months, the tale of a struggle against a storm for a man to find his mother, a detailed narration of the days and the hours of pain, refusing to surrender in order to find his mother, who had gone missing in the desert.

About the Author

Amadeo Hernández Amadeo Hernandez was born on March 31, 1959, in the city of San Salvador, El Salvador. As a result of the twelve-year civil war undergone by his country, his childhood and adolescence were spent in many different towns and cities. Amadeo comes from a low-income family, however, rich in solid moral values. His first school years were spent in San Pablo Tacachico, La Libertad, El Salvador, where he began to develop the intellectual abilities, which would later on in life allow him to perform efficiently in his various professional duties as well as superior studies. His first job was as personnel supervisor in the shoe manufacturing corporation, CORSAL, located in the city of Santa Ana, El Salvador. He was born as the third son in the happy marriage of Francisco and Bernardina Hernandez. And overwhelmed by the extreme poverty and social crisis generated by El Salvador’s civil war, Amadeo immigrated in 1986 to the United States with the sole purpose of helping his family economically. With tenacity and large efforts, Amadeo established himself in Salt Lake, Utah, began an intensive English course, and graduated from high school. After residing there for three years, he decided to move to Los Angeles, California, where he began to work at the Beverly Hotel at the same time he pursued his career at the United College of Business, where he obtained a technical degree in computer repair and programming. Today he embodies the typical success story where the American Dream was achieved. Married, he’s the father of four children and currently resides in the city of Glendale. His first book is In Search of Bernardina (2005) and will proximately publish two more. Alongside his literary activities, he manages his family business and doubles as the president of Bernardina’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing care and attention to abandoned seniors over sixty years of age. In this narration, Amadeo invites the reader to reflect and look within oneself and to practice life principles to become better human beings. He shows how traditional values can be rescued so that we all coexist harmoniously both within our own families and within society.