My Second Visit to Mexico

El Paso, Texas, sits at the intersection of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. It is a large, metropolitan city, and we finally found the Mexican border crossing after driving aimlessly around several city blocks at the southern edge of town. After a short walk across the covered pedestrian part of the bridge, we were in Juarez, a town famous for... well, not much you've ever heard of except bull fighting, murders, and illegal drug trafficing. Here the Rio Grande is encased in concrete and ringed with barbed wire, armed border guards patrol both sides of the bridge, and everyone does not speak English. While I would not want to be there after dark, my friend Cookie and I walked across for an afternoon of shopping and Margaritas, and felt safe as long as we didn't stray from the major streets.

There were a lot of people walking from the U.S to Mexico, and many of them appeared to be Mexican citizens. We did a bit of a double-take when we realized they had been shopping in the U.S. Aren't the bargins supposed to be on the Mexican side? Crossing on foot from either side takes only minutes, but by auto it can be much longer -- we saw long lines of cars and busses waiting to pass through U.S. customs.

Here are some photos from the trip. The last photo was taken as we took a refreshment break in a restaurant. Our waiter, who was kind enough to direct us to the safer sections of town, also supplied a couple props and took this photo. No, we didn't keep the hats!