Crossing the Border

One of the most interesting things about living in a border town, at least I assume this happens at the other borders between the U.S. and Mexico, are the “ambulantes”or street vendors and beggars who sell their wares as you wait in line to cross the border on the Mexican side.

There are beggars as well, and it’s sad to see them, many of which have a medical/health condition, or have lost an arm or leg for some reason or other. Several people have told me that the beggars here are often employed by someone else who makes a lot of money from them. Or the beggars themselves are actually doing pretty well living off of other people’s money. Therefore, I don’t generally give money. However, my friend Pam and I have on a few occasions brought and given candy or chocolate to the beggars or children on the street. This has been a lot of fun for us and them, so whenever I have something in my car like that I try to share it.

On the other hand, you can buy just about anything you could think of from the vendors working the border wait. You can find all kinds of food from; tacos, tamales, “elote” (corn on the cob, or in a cup), candies, nuts, and chips (both Mexican and American), water and sodas, or even a coffee from a little café on the side of the road. People also sell gifts and souvenirs such as wall hangings and decorations, ponchos and blankets.

You can even buy U.S. car insurance from inside your car while you wait in line to drive into the U.S. During Christmas time there were even more vendors, walking around selling gift items, than normal, and even more people waiting to cross. This, of course, made the wait, average 45 minutes to an hour, even longer, about two hours or more. One night I had been in line for two hours and still had about 30 minutes to go and I had to use the bathroom so bad that I abandoned my car and ran across the two lanes of other waiters to the coffee shop on the side of the road. When I got back to my car, there was a “señor”waiting to yell at me. I begged his forgiveness and explained my situation while he huffed back to this car and we both continued to wait.

In spite of the waiting and the inconvenience of not having a ‘port-a-potty’ in my car, this was one of my favorite times (Christmas time that is… not the having to go wee-wee) and most of these pictures were taken during the Christmas Season. Some vendors refused to let me take their pictures by walking away or just holding their merchandise up in front of their faces. Several of the people I did take pictures of were very concerned with what I was going to do with their photos, but they trusted enough to believe I wasn’t going to do anything bad. I also bought several of their items, so it turned out to be a nice deal all around.

Cumpleaños de Alvaro

A fellow teacher, Alvaro, with whom I share a wall, invited me to his birthday party back in the middle of October. I had plans that evening, so when I showed up late, the festivities had already started. However, I was the life of the party, at least for a short time right after I got there and even a little later as well. As you can see from the pictures, many of the guys wanted their picture taken with me. I don’t know if it was because I was a “gringa” or just a new face, but I had a great time that night! ;-)

There was even somewhat of a competition between Alvaro’s brother and another guy fighting over the opportunity to talk to me later after most of the activities had wound down. They were passing looks from one to the other as I talked to Alvaro’s brother. At first it was kind of comical, but then became slightly uncomfortable. I enjoyed it anyway; you have to get your compliments where you can, right? The differences of cultural norms and communications between the sexes has been rather confusing for me at times.



It was also my first experience with Mexican Karaoke. I was actually able to carry the tune of “Under the Boardwalk” in Spanish. However, with the rest of the songs although I could read the words, I couldn’t sing along because I’d never heard them before and I didn’t know the tune. We also had a delicious “barbacoa,” which is a pulled beef barbecue with salsa. YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!!!

Que Ironia!

Fire hydrant taking revenge on dog after years of one sided relationships. ;-)

I just had to throw this photo up here; it's one of my favorites... ENJOY!!!

El Grito

On the evening of the trip to La Rumorosa we didn't return to the church until about 6:30 or 7:00. I had planned on going to the Independence Day celebration, "El Grito," in the center of town that night at about 8:00 with a friend and her family. However, I was very tired, sun burnt, and dirty (not to mention smelly...) from spending the day in the dusty outdoors. I considered just going home and calling it a night, but as I left the church parking lot and made my way home I saw a vendor with his rack full of cotton candy heading toward the town center. This reminded me of one of the best nights I had in Mexico on December 27th, 2006. I was in the "Zocalo" (Town Center or Town Plaza) of Mexico City with friends, the holiday celebrations were still happening, and we had a magical evening (I know that sounds corny) involving cotton candy (one of those you had to be there moments...).



So, I decided I had to go to the celebration that night regardless of how tired I was so I could enjoy to the fullest extent all of my time living in Mexico. I headed home to, at least, take a shower so I wouldn't be so smelly and dirty, but I only had enough time to talk to everyone and invite my neighbor to come with us. We had a great time. There were lots of fireworks or "cohetes," food, and shouting or "gritos." The fireworks were great! Some of them were different than I'd ever seen before. There was one that would spin like a pinwheel and shoot off rockets. Those would continue for 5 or 10 minutes to the tune of everyone yelling and shouting.

La Rumorosa con Villas del Rey

Mexico’s Independence Day is September 15th and I went to a mountain hiking/picnic area called "La Rumorosa" with my church group. We hiked, played games, and had lunch. The drive there was on a windy mountain road and there were several places where you could see piles of cars crashed over the side of the road. I was told that people sometimes push their cars over intentionally to collect insurance money.

It's much drier here than in Virginia and this is about the greenest it gets. I do miss the trees and grass from the east, but I have learned to appreciate the beauty of the desert. I really love the gigantic boulders and the bright blue sky, but I still miss the rain and green grass and trees of Virginia.

One of the funniest things we did was an eating contest. Three teenage boys participated. They had to eat a banana, an apple, a package of donuts, a whole chili pepper, and a drink. They were very impressive and fun to watch, especially when it came time to eat the chili.

Fulbright Orientation

Before the official exchange took place, all the Fulbright teachers met for several days of orientation at the end of July in Alexandria, Virginia. We talked about some of the different customs in our respective countries, in general, and in regards to our students and classes. There were several lectures on how to deal with culture shock. In spite of that, I have still experienced the awkwardness that comes from not knowing or understanding the customs and norms of another culture. The pictures include one of my exchange partner and I with the program coordinators located in Mexico City, and one of everyone involved in an exchange between the U.S. and Mexico this year.

Fiesta Mexicana a la Icela

These are pictures of several other teachers I work with at UABC from a Mexican Fiesta one of them, Icela, threw in September about a month after I arrived in Mexicali. It was a very cold rainy night, not very typical for Mexicali, in September. I was disillusioned and very cold; since everyone had told me how hot Mexicali was, so Icela let me borrow the shawl I’m wearing. Most of them dressed in traditional Mexican attire and we ate tamales and sang Mexican ‘baladas.’ I didn’t know any of the ballads, but they had fun trying to get me to sing them. One of the songs, “El Cachanilla” is about this area in Baja California. I searched out the song and lyrics online to help me learn it and try to speak this crazy Spanish language a little better. A cachanilla is a desert flower that grows in this area and people from Mexicali are called “Cachanillas.” Most areas of Mexico have a nickname for the people who live there.