The Country Just Over the Fence

[Kali]

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/travel/nogales-mexico-a-few-steps-and-a-whole-world-away.html?pagewanted=1&ref=travelx

After leaving my car at a secure parking lot ($4 a day), I showed my passport to the United States border guard, who asked about my plans. Business?

“Just curiosity,” I said. When he made a disapproving squint, I added, “Don’t you go over now and then?”

“Never been there,” he said.

“It’s 10 feet away!”

“I’m staying here,” he said, his squint now suggesting that I should be doing the same.

So what can you do with a couple of days in Nogales? Take advantage of its nearness, first of all. Buy cowboy boots, or pots, or folk art. I came away with a hand-carved set of dominoes, some silver coins and cleaner, whiter teeth.

It is obvious from the empty streets of downtown Nogales that very few visitors stay the night, but I found that overnighting simplified my experience of the place. The Hotel Fray Marcos has mixed reviews but I found it excellent (my suite went for around $80). It was also conveniently near the office of Dr. Jose Saturno, who on successive days worked on my teeth — the full limpieza ($54) y blanquiamento ($250).

Nogales is where they are dumped. Peg Bowden, a retired nurse, brought me to El Comedor, a shelter run by American Jesuits near the Mariposa gate just about a mile west of downtown Nogales. Ms. Bowden told me she was so shocked by the savage attack on Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in January 2011 that she decided to do something humane: “I needed to connect with something positive.” She joined a group of Samaritans — “a bunch of renegade senior citizens whose mission is to prevent deaths in the desert,” and she volunteered at El Comedor, working a few days a week, crossing the border from Arizona.

good read

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Facinating. I've been wanting to go there since we arrived in Tucson

but my wife is scared to death by all the fearmongering. Guess I'll have to wait till she takes another trip to California and go by myself.

[lunatica]

3. Point out to her that the killing is among drug cartels

Most of the population is relatively safe. I have family in Mexico who feel perfectly safe because this violence is far away from their world.

[Kali]

7. you do need a passport or card (to get back)

the husband hasn't been across in years because of the stupid passport rule and tight budget, but we used to go to Agua Prieta fairly often for lunch and shopping (pan dulce and music, booze from the Ueta duty free store)

haven't been to Nogales in a couple of years but used to go all the time as a kid - we always drove across, never had any problems. Most all of Sonora is a visa-free travel area so you only need insurance for your vehicle, don't have to pay any fees. Wish Chihuahua would institute the same program.

the fear mongering drives me up the wall - how many shootings have happened in Tucson in the past year? meh, people are so easily misled by the tee vee machine.

[snappyturtle]

2. K&R Wonderful read. Thanks for posting it. nt

[UTUSN]

4. R#4 & K. We didn't use to need passports for that border.

Besides the raised fees of it all under Shrub's Colin and Condi, ever increasing "national security" pricetags of document reading machines that go UNUSED, the fence, river boats, dune buggies, drones, ever increasing numbers of Border Patrolers, border patrol palaces (headquarters), horses, video surveillance, scaring down commerce and tourism, and on and on, mostly for zenophobic hysteria and wingnut baiting.

[roody]

5. Another interesting project

from SOA Watch

Uniting Our Struggles: Exposing US Militarization Of Latin America Exposes The Roots Of Migration
Written by Nico Udu-gama

It was the mud that I first noticed as we were escorted into the holding cell at the Santa Teresita Customs and Border Patrol station. Dried mud, on the cement floor, in chunks, broken up, trails of dust; even on the hard benches, next to a small pile of woolen blankets and a muddy pair of sweatpants. Next to used apple juice containers, stacked one inside the other, which had given some small relief.

The mud in that detention center was our reminder that someone before us had endured the harsh desert conditions, seeking a better life, only to be stopped, detained and probably sent back across the border. We were released 3 hours after being detained; the charges of “entry without inspection” had been dropped. The challenges facing the previous detainees were higher. Would they try to cross again, risking imprisonment or even death in the desert? Or would they go back home, condemned to a life of poverty and violence?

Read more at:

http://soaw.org/about-us/equipo-sur/212-delegations/3864-mexico-report-back

[EmeraldCityGrl]

6. My last trip to Nogales was five years ago.

My girlfriend and I took a day trip down along the coast. Everywhere we went
we were treated great. In the afternoon after the churches had let out a couple
hundred people gathered at a coastal type park. Fishermen had their catch of the
day displayed and a row of shacks served all kinds of wonderful meals and cozy
spots to sit, eat, drink and talk. We were the only Americans out of a couple hundred
people and as earlier we were treated graciously. One vendor offered us a parking spot next
to his place and refused a tip when we left.

As we entered Nogales and headed toward the border we were pulled over by the local
police. I was driving a rental and was told I was being pulled over for failure to have Mexican
auto insurance. I then presented the cop with the policy I had purchased for the day. The
two cops went to the rear of the car, talked and returned with three new and false trumped
up charges. Knowing what I was dealing with I then asked what the fine was since I needed
to return to the States as soon as possible. He then insisted we follow them to an undisclosed
location, that the "fine" could not be handled then and there. My girlfriend became extremely
emotional at this point and I told the cop there was no way I was leaving that highway and
following him anywhere. Told him I wanted to speak with someone from the American Consulate
and he was going to have two hysterical women on his hands in a minute. We scrounged together
what cash we had and handed it to them. They took it but followed us all the way to the border.

The Mexican people are wonderful. I'm part Mexican. The police and other authorities can be
as dangerous as an criminal element anywhere.

Lastly,my son and a friend went down for several days a few months ago and had a great drama free
weekend.