Today I found Jesus

in Nogales, Mexico. By the way, that is pronounced "hey-sus" for those of you who don't speak Spanish. Jesus was the man who so graciously offered to show us around Mexico and lead us from place to place for the price of a small tip(sarcasm). I'll get to that a bit later. Suffice it to say, today proved to be one of the more interesting of my trip, both for the people encountered and for the adventures that were had as we left Bisbee intent on spending a day in Nogales Mexico.

Bed and Breakfast Balcony in Bisbee

I awoke this morning to a fresh cup of OJ and a hall's throat drop thanks to the kindness of Gary and the woman who owns the awesome bed and breakfast where we're staying. Gary chose the place after reading about it online and before learning (and this is true) that it was the site of a mass murder in the 20s, another murder in the fifties, and a place where over 27 people have died! That said, it is actually remarkably quaint and really captures the spirit of Bisbee's copper mining past. I'm still alive (one night down) as are my compadres, so wish us luck! The town itself is set amongst beautiful red hills and was designed before development and zoning laws required a more organized approach. As such it is flush with narrow streets, tiny alleys, and homes perched precariously on the hills around the town. The feel of the place is that of the many Mediterranean towns I visited in the Marines, though there are quite a few more retired grateful dead fans hanging around here!

Some of the landscape of southern Arizona

Breakfast consisted of some locally roasted organic brew, assorted fruits/muffins, and a great conversation about financial responsibility/freedom and America's foreign policy problems. If only our nation's leaders would listen to the conversations that we have over coffee and beer, eh? After breakfast we made our way towards the town of Nogales. The scenery enroute was absolutely stunning and we were greeted with towering cliffs, rolling hills, and fantastic ranches reminiscent of Spain's countryside. Upon arriving in Nogales, AZ we parked the car at the local Bank of America (thanks to Gary, our local B o A associate for working this out w/ the branch manager) and walked over the border into Mexico.

The walk into Mexico is quite easy and we encountered no opposition from the heavily armed and heavily fed agents manning the gates. Perhaps this was due to the Mexican western shirts Gary had purchased each of us prior to the trip?? Now to find a bolo tie..

Bolo Nation

Upon walking into the town we were immediately BOMBARDED by folks offering us women, drugs, you name it. I was expecting some pestering from local vendors, as this is fairly common overseas but this was absolutely over the top. I don't want to get too much into it but I will say that the overarching feeling was that these people were desperate and were willing to pester us relentlessly if it meant the possibility of a few dollars. The markets we encountered were very run down and it seemed that most of the wares were the old remains of some past time when goods were flowing in and out with more regularity. Gary had been to the town twice in years past and made a comment that the feeling of the place was off..the stores were almost exclusively manned by men and we saw very few women/children around. There was no sense of happiness, no music, nothing that we expected. It was quite the eye-opener and it really drove home how blessed we are to live in the U.S. In fact, I'd say it was my most sobering "overseas" experience yet..bear in mind I've been to Africa,Iraq, etc. and this place just felt bad.
This was clearly the result of zero opportunity for jobs in-country. Don't even get me started on the futility of trying to monitor the rugged border region that we drove through..

The first and last "market" we visited

Church in town

Anyway, we eventually found Jesus and he led us to a restaurant called La Roca where we enjoyed a fabulous meal of sea-bass tacos and ceviche, wonderful guacamole, and a free margarita thanks to Jesus' friend in the market (he gave us a "coupon" for free drinks that consisted of some words scribbled on a tourist map of the city). In return we gave him a $3 "tip" and he decided to wait outside the restaurant for us, intent on showing us all of the best places in town and "making sure nobody messed with us". This routine grew tiresome particularly when we realized that shrugging off Jesus mean bombardment from a thousand other "tour guides", drug peddlers, etc. Our stay in Nogales ended up being rather brief owing to these factors and the depressed feeling that was all pervasive. We walked back into the U.S. with sighs of relief and thankful hearts for our status as Americans.

My date looked a little green...I know, that was bad

A site for sore eyes

Upon leaving I had to confront that fact that some sort of infection/fever is still keeping me down. Two  hours, stops at a walk-in clinic and a Wal-Greens, and 50 bucks later I popped the first round of my z-pack and we headed back to Bisbee. I am now sitting in our room eagerly anticipating tomorrow's adventures as we head to the Cochise Stonghold to climb the fabled domes that grace that grougeous landscape. More on that soon.

Ciao,
Mike