Meh-hi-co

(Which Buenos Aires are they referring to, I wonder?)

Yesterday, on a whim, I decided to go to Meh-hi-co. Tucson is only 60 miles/100 km from Nogales, the closest border crossing. I had some pesos left from Christmas, so Julia (my roomie from Germany) and I got in the car and drove south.

I honestly thought it was going to be tacky and touristy in Nogales, with the Mexican side looking slightly-US due to the tourist traffic. I was completely wrong. We only had to pass through turnstiles to go to Mexico, and when we came around the corner, it was like we had literally timewarped into another world. I was amazed.

We walked around the streets, and did a bit of shopping. I bought a really cool plate, and Julia bought souvenirs for friends--some comics and a Day of the Dead figurine.

We could have bought hand-woven rugs. The man originally wanted USD $180, but the longer Julia said 'no thanks', we finally had him down to asking for a price of $55!!! She said if she could get a rug for $40 0r so, she'd buy one, and I told her that if we went in and tried to get a group bargain, we could see.

We got out of the touristy shop part, and went for a walk in the neighborhood. We found a hill to climb, and got a good view of the wall separating the developed world from the still-developing. It is a wall constructed of rusty corrugated steel--the same steel siding used on a good-quality shed back home. The top is covered with coiled razor wire, to prevent any Mexican Spidermen from climbing the wall.

The wall, though, doesn't block the view into the US. When we looked over onto the US side, we could see wide, smoothly paved streets mostly devoid of garbage. Houses were painted neatly, and yards were comparable to golf course-smooth quality. On the Mexican side, houses in various stages of dilapitation dotted the hills in haphazard fashion, as though people set up camp anywhere they could find a spot.

There are more photos in my Flickr! account, if you are interested.