As they check in from all over the
world, some of our correspondents send us pictures!
Family, Places, Scenes, & Events. We're delighted to share them here with you.
Why not send some of your photos? Inquire to Editor
@Lockport-NY.com
...By Bob Rooney
Lockport Home Page Editor
Mexico has never been on my wish list for vacation travel...or anything else. I'm not talking about the American resort areas of Mexico on the Gulf or Caribbean (e.g. Veracruz, Cancun, etc.). I'm talking about the real Mexico where Mexicans live and the Mexican culture prevails. In my later years I've suspected it might be interesting, as an environmental chemist, to fly into Mexico City for a few hours just to see the massive pollution I've heard so much about and then leave quickly before even eating a meal. Juarez, Mexico is not Mexico City. But with a population of 1.4-million it is a big border town. I was there and aside from doing the work I was paid to do at the border, I was going to see if I had been wrong about Mexico all these years.
Juarez and El Paso are like Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, NY insofar as border placement are concerned. That's about all the similarity there is. Juarez is a typical Third World big city; fast-breeding pollution, filth, poverty, corruption, and crime. El Paso, TX is about half the size and is on the front lines for the United States, acting as a buffer to what could be a massive Mexican population flood into the USA. Many of the complaints I heard about living in El Paso are related to the Mexico problem. Those who don't complain are probably included in the 60%-plus Mexican/American population of El Paso. For those of us with ties to European ancestors and culture, today's Mexican culture is not so attractive.
Senor
Juarez Greets You On Entry
A Cultural Hero Honored In A Cluttered City Park
This is not going to be a long travelogue. It was a quick trip and my notes will reflect it.
Initially I was only going to contrast the border-crossing situation at El Paso/Juarez to NY/Ontario. When you enter Mexico from the United States the process is swift. You just drive in! That's right, over the bridge at the Rio Grande River (or what's left of it) into Juarez and the Republic of Mexico. No border stops, no questions, no inspections. I was told, why would Mexico want to stop anything or anybody from coming in? About the only thing I'm told they are fussy about are guns. Don't bring a gun into Mexico! You'll go to jail, pronto, if caught. And better not to drive your own car into Mexico. Special insurance is necessary and you could easily get into a traffic "accident." Traffic accidents with Americans are frequent fund-raising activities in Juarez.
Although you probably won't be stopped at the border, you could find the local police stopping you as you go around town. Going back into the United States from Mexico you can expect one to two hour delays normal. Sometimes even much longer. And why is this? 1) Thousands of Mexicans pushing to enter the US illegally every day. 2) Efforts to move drugs and other product illegally into the United States 3) Criminal traffic and product. The inspection time at the US border post is not long, but the number of vehicles attempting to get through is massive.
Why do Americans travel into Juarez, Mexico? To start with, thousands of Mexican-Americans have relatives there so they drive in several times a week to visit and bring in American dollars. Then there is the young adult crowd looking for "adventure." They find it. They can drink booze at most any age in Juarez and buy illegal drugs. Illegal drugs are in ample supply. Just ask and you'll either get the drugs or be given referral to one of the informal "street outlets." Seniors may come over to buy "prescription drugs" at greatly reduced prices in drug stores, and, often no prescription is needed in Mexico. Criminals come over to flee the USA - entry, as mentioned earlier, is a breeze! Additionally, many Mexicans go back and forth across the border daily with the idea of stealing cars in El Paso and quickly bringing them over the border for either re-sale "as is" or to be sent to a chop shop for the parts market. There are hundreds of cars stolen every week in El Paso and authorities told me they estimate over 90% of them are in Mexico within an hour!
"Upscale"
Gift Shop For Tourists
My Mexican-American guide recommended this stop. He admits to getting a kick-back on amounts his customers buy here. Notice the bars and barbed wire to keep Juarez residents out. Gates are unlocked as tourists approach. Inside the product was pretty much as indicated on the sign. You "bargain" for everything. Is the material stolen? I don't know. But this is Mexico and I have my suspicions. A common comment is "The Mexican Minute." For example, a clerk will say he'll have the gold or silver item engraved for you..."it will take just three Mexican minutes." The only thing that means for sure is that it will take over three "American" minutes. Things go slow in Mexico.
Throughout business areas there is constant harassment by street vendors and (probably) con men. For a poverty center I thought that most here were dressed quite well. Not like Montreal but well dressed. The ladies were especially attractive regardless of age thanks to colorful clothing. Oh, yes. SEX is big here. They dress it, they talk it, they do it! Very public.
The Juarez High Rent District...Here's "The Rest Of The Story"
Most
of Juarez real estate is several levels below that of Niagara Falls, NY.
My guide took me through the best of town, center city, and avoided the bad areas so as not to "distress" me. Also, after I told him I wasn't interested in buying drugs, we didn't go out to the western area of the city where the illegal drug trade is rampant.
The picture here is one of the fine old grand residences of Juarez's upper class.
The only thing is, "nobody is home."
My guide showed me several such homes that are maintained by the government to show off
but nobody lives inside. I'm told they would be robbed in less than one night if
they where lived in, despite massive security.
My guide was pulled over by the police for not wearing a seat belt. A potential big problem for him and his passengers. The conversation with the police went on in Spanish. They agreed to let him go pending a court action but demanded his driver's license which would be held pending his court appearance. He pleaded he needed that---it was essential for his business. He slipped the cop a $10US bill and everything was dismissed on the scene. He just had to be careful how he passed the money. It is the Great Mexican Lifestyle: A bribe buys most anything. But most bribes are more expensive.
Juarez Center City
This
is the heart of the big city, I am told. It doesn't get any more urban than this.
Juarez doesn't have many multi-story buildings. Most businesses seem to have
evolved from cottages or shacks.
I saw several buildings, perhaps 5 or 7 stories high. Each had been burned
out many years ago and never rebuilt.
Would you like to stay in a hotel in Juarez? I don't think so. Stay in
El Paso. But be careful, even there.
I was staying in a very nice El Paso national chain hotel and had a
"maintenance" man pound on my door at 6:30AM trying to get in. I didn't
answer the door and shouted for him to go away. Later at the front desk they told me
the "maintenance man" was probably a robber.
Adios, Juarez!
I'd like to conclude this briefing on a positive note. What can I say? No, I'm not eager to return. The weather was nice here, however. While the Niagara Frontier was getting temperatures in the 30's with snow it was almost 80-degrees-F in Juarez and El Paso. And yes, this is where the "Sunshine spends the winter." I had no repercussion from Mexican water or food...because I didn't purchase or consume anything while south of the border. My favorite picture of Juarez is of this beautiful main city park with the historic mission church in the background. But my guide cautioned me of walking through here just to take a stroll. We stopped to take the picture and then moved along.
"Poor Mexico, so far from God and so near to the United States!"
- - -Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico 1884-1911
The Palenque
Palace hotel was only a short drive away from the wonderful Palenque archeological site
and our guide said it was the best hotel in the neighborhood. With a name like
Palace, how could we not like it?
On entering our room we found a stained and ragged cloth on the towel rod. We
thought that the housekeeper had left one of her cleaning rags behind, but it was what the
hotel considered to be a fine wash cloth. The towels were in somewhat better repair,
but just barely.
All the members of our group had rooms in a one-story building that surrounded three sides
of a large swimming pool. It was a charming arrangement, in a rustic sort of way.
When I opened the sliding door at the back of the room a big black dog poked his
nose in. The rest of him would have followed except for a ditch in his way and my
quick reaction to close the door. The horse just across the lane didn't seem to care
much one way or the other.
The pool was inviting although the water was cloudy and needed a chlorine shock treatment.
Anyone who had a pool at home would have known how to make the water sparking
clear, but the hotel maintenance people, if there were any, didn't seem to understand this
simple bit of chemistry. All the same, the water felt cooling and refreshing in the
hot late afternoon semi-twilight.
As we paddled around we spotted Delle, one of our companions, tote bag in hand, striding
up the walk at a determined pace and followed by a porter with the rest of her luggage.
Her air conditioner, a device she can't live without, was on the fritz. It
hummed and buzzed, but the room just got hotter. Finally, she demanded a different
room where the cooling apparatus worked.
These little adventures should have prepared us for dinner at the hotel, but we didn't
quite understand the warnings. The meat served was flavorful, but we could neither
identify it nor cut it very easily. The refried beans were awful. I wondered
how anyone could spoil something as simple as retried beans, but the Palenque Palace
kitchen did it.
We had a choice of two brands of Mexican beer. Superior, which is not "superior"
in any way, and Bohemia, which is. Convincing the waiter to bring either of them was a
great problem not easily solved.
After dinner we wandered into the nice little gift shop and picked out a tee shirt so I
could proclaim to everybody at home who saw it that I'd been in the troubled Mexican state
of Chiapis and survived. The Palenque ruins were what had brought us to this
otherwise dangerous place. The lady who ran the hotel gift shop spoke no English, but with
a little Spanish and a few gestures, I got the shirt I wanted and found that she would
accept a Visa card.
One problem, though. She had to take the card to the hotel's front desk because they
had the only machine that would print a credit card receipt. My wife, Jean, and I
trouped along behind her, leaving the shop open. I admired the office equipment
behind the hotel's front desk. There was a typewriter that made the 1946 Remingtons
we had at Lockport High School look positively modern. I wondered if the machine had
been stolen from some museum.
While my attention was thus diverted my Visa card disappeared. Everyone knew it had
to be somewhere, so the lady from the gift shop and the two men at the hotel desk began
digging through piles of papers, throwing them into the air and scattering them with
abandon on the floor.
After a few minutes of this amusement one of the men turned over one more piece of paper
and revealed the missing card. I quickly signed the Visa receipt and retreated to
our room with my tee shirt. It had been a busy day and the somewhat crinkly mattress
might be tolerable.
The room would have benefited by a good airing, but being on the first floor we didn't
feel quite safe with the sliding door open all night. The horse, dog or something
worse might come in. So we let the air conditioner clatter away (ours worked pretty
good) and went to sleep.
Breakfast was another adventure in fine dining. The meal was edible for the most
part, but the waiters absolutely refused to supply milk for the strong coffee.
Multiple requests in Spanish and English got nothing more than acknowledging nods,
but no milk. Oh, well, I'd drunk black coffee before. Most of the tea in
Mexico is nothing you'd especially choose to drink, and I didn't even want to consider it
at the Palenque Palace.
Fortunately, we left the hotel after breakfast and the next night we were in a superior
hotel. In fact all of our five hotels on that Mexican trip were excellent, but I
have forgotten the names of all of the rest of them. The Palenque Palace was
unforgettable.
The Biggest Niagara County Public
Information Site On The Web!
The
Lockport Home Page: www.Lockport-NY.com
THE PICTURE OF LOCKPORT