I went down to El Paso this morning and decided to walk across the Santa Fe Bridge to Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. It was easy enough: park your car, get out, pay 35 cents, and follow the masses across the bridge. Within minutes you're in Mexico, where countless people are trying to drag you into pharmacies or offer their services as drivers. I was neither interested in driving around nor in buying drugs, so I declined all offers and just walked down Main Street for a bit. Before long though I walked back because there was a huge line at the border crossing from the Mexican side, and I knew it would take me a while to get back.
Having made it back to the American side I had a lovely conversation with the Homeland Security officer who checked my passport. I have to say this about this trip so far: I've only ever met nice guys (they were all men) whenever I had to show my passport, be it in New York or out here where I've been checked three times so far. Today's officer seemed to be in the mood for a chat despite the incredibly long line, and he pulled me into a conversation about the dangers of Juarez. I had told him that I just gone over to get a look around and he just asked "What'd you wanna do that for? Don't you know the statistics?" And then he proceeded to tell me that this year - so far - more than 1,500 people have been murdered in Juarez and that the record was 21 murders in one 24-hour period. I told him that I had felt pretty safe but I had only ventured as far as a few blocks down the main street. He shrugged and told me how to get back to my car the fastest way, which was nice because, frankly, I had only a nebulous idea of how to get there fast and easy.
I took a look at the historic center of El Paso before heading out north-west, towards Arizona. I had planned on going to either Tucson or Tombstone for the night but that was before I got stuck in a 2-hour traffic jam on the I-10. A truck carrying paper had turned over, and there were reams of paper all over the right lane and the shoulder. At least the scenery was mildly interesting as we were just crossing an area called Texas Canyon.
When I came across a sign for motels in the town of Benson, AZ, I decided to stop for the night. Tombstone is just 50 miles down the road, and I'll go there in the morning to follow in the footsteps of famous outlaws, and to take a look at the OK Corral.
Entering Texas
Walking over to Mexico
Ciudad Juarez
Leaving Mexico and going back to the U.S.
Downtown El Paso
Along the road
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