(no subject)

[lizzybennet]

We went to Nogales, Mexico today. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the experience. I'm glad we went. I've wanted to visit Mexico since we moved to Arizona almost 4 years ago. I enjoyed walking around Nogales, and the interaction that I had with the citizen of the town was pleasant. They were very friendly and used jokes to try and get your business. However, I do feel a certain sadness brought on by seeing such poverty and neglect. To think that just on the other side of the fence is the United States with all its wealth and luxuries. As Bill said, you go from first world to third world in minutes.

I took lots of pictures,


The border protection check point.


We parked our car on the US side and walked over. Seemed strange to see signs everywhere "To Mexico".


The man standing on the left side of the pic is blind. He has a radio around his neck, and he's singing along with it, holding a cup for donations. Left quite an impression on the kids. I wondered at first if this would all be too much for them to deal with. I decided it was ok. After all, this is real life.


I love these skeletons. The boys did too.


I thought of beepboop in this shop:) There were several Saint icons on the walls.


A 12 legged tarantula? Or wires twisted around rock?


This brass pig actually saved us from getting lost in amongst the inner bowels of Nogales. We were trying to find our way out and came across it again. Since I had taken a pic of it the first time we passed, I finally was able to figure out where we were and which way the US was.


I liked this sign. I'm one of those Dumb tourists :)


A steep cobblestone street, walled off half way up the hill.





For $5, we could have had our picture taken with the donkey. Uh, no. Too inhumane for me. You can just barely see that he has a pee bucket strapped to his underside.


Zack is sooo into lizards right now. He just loved all the lizards he saw everywhere and really wanted me to snap pictures of all of them.


It was very difficult for the kids not to touch everything they saw. The irony: I knocked over a turtle almost as soon as we walked into the marketplace. Yup, just knocked that thing right to the ground. Luckily, it did not break or even chip. The guy was really nice. I felt guilty and ended up buying a turtle from him, in a different color. I bartered him down $3, from 8 to 5. I still feel like I paid way too much, but whatever. Hopefully it is going for a good cause.


Once again, a kiddy hand grabbing at stuff in the middle of my photo :)


Petey was very bored there. He kept saying "I'm not having any fun at all." I finally put him in the stroller and gave him the camera. It occupied him for a while.


Poor Bill. He seemed to be wearing a target on his back. Everyone stopped him and tried to get him to shop at their store. Children especially wouldn't leave him alone. He bought two little wooden turtles from two different girls. Seriously, everywhere we went the Mexicans ganged up on him. He said that's the last time he wears a Bermuda shirt to Mexico, lol!


A parting shot of Nogales as we walk back to our car. Notice the huge wall, seperating "us" from "them".

Comments

[-bella-luna.livejournal.com]

I've been to Nogales twice. My mom, dad and I went in 1995 when I visited them at Christmas. I really liked it then. It was like being a kid again with my parents roaming all over Europe like we did. At anytime my parents would detour through some rough area of whatever town we were visiting, I've walked through countless protest marches because some musuem was on the other side, I've dropped coins into the cups of homeless mothers and their babies on the street. So it didn't bother me on that trip. I really enjoyed just walking around and looking at all the stuff.

The one thing that did bother me on both trips (I'll get to the second trip soon enough) was seeing how on "our" side of the wall things were relatively clean and not falling apart. But you glance over that wall and you can see the slipshod homes sprawling up the mountain, rickety and falling apart. One good strong wind would knock them over.

So the second time we went I remember being very nervous. This time it was just my mom, Mike and I in 1998. I just remember being nervous the entire time we were there. Like the grim seemed more pronounced. (We bought a couple of those eggs for a friend of mine that collected eggs, that was the highlight of the day.) I think I started to realize that what these people were selling - some of its real junk, others things are really neat (my mom took us in this really neat furniture store) - the junk though is the stuff that is barely putting food on these families' plates. And that bothered me to no end. I just felt so sad and so over-priviledged, I felt so dirty when we finally left.

I would like to go back again though. I would like to go back and just put my fears to ease and remember that if it weren't for tourists like me these people wouldn't have food and that its okay to be a tourist. But its still pretty sad.

[-bella-luna.livejournal.com]

Oh! One thing I did learn. Alot of times the kids or grandkids of some of the shop owners live in America, go to university in Tucson and on the weekends and breaks they come home to help their families in the shops. To me that shows hope for the future.