After spending the night in Balmorhea State Park, we took a detour through Marfa on the way to El Paso. My friend Carlos and his mom, who lives in El Paso, have been fantastic hosts, and have shown me many things. The Mexican food is pretty different from Austin’s, with a much larger variety of dishes and sauces. It seems that a lot of the Mexican food here is Chihuahuan, from just across the border. I’ve been fascinated by the location of El Paso, literally across the river from Ciudad Juarez, a city around double the size of El Paso. The terrain is desert mountains, and there are many high points that offer great views of both El Paso and Juarez.
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- El Paso skyscrapers in front of Juarez Mexico
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- “Corazon de un Bebe Vampiro, $7500″
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- from the El Paso Museum of Art
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- in the Hotel Paso del Norte
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- Sally and Carlos
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- Folk dancing in La Mesilla NM
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- Restaurant in La Mesilla
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- “Levanta pompis” — “Raises cheeks”
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- disco ball among pecan groves
Today we started the day at Barriga’s for some excellent breakfast. Then we went downtown along the border highway. We parked and walked El Paso Street where there was tons of shopping. The shopping highlights included “butt raising” jeans displays and Dave’s pawn shop where there was a mummy for sale for a mere $14,995, and the heart of a baby vampire for $7500!
We saw the original Hotel Paso del Norte, and the El Paso Museum of Art. After that we drove out to La Mesilla through miles of pecan groves in New Mexico where there happened to be a festival going on in the historic square, with mariachi and folklorico dancing. It was a super packed day, and fun! El Paso is awesome.
