As a kid I always used to think that the desert was like a massive sandpit and mostly found in the Sahara. Although I wish I could say that geography and my grown up brain had influenced this image to a more realistic stage, I think my idea of desert was still quite similar to the sandy landscapes. Before marking myself as too blond, Mexico does also have the sandy desert bits, but most of the desert is a dry landscape with loads, and I mean really a loads, of awesome cacti!!!

I did see the desert around Juarez from the air but I didn’t see it up close yet because we went straight into the city, still awaiting the first real desert experience. However, this story actually isn’t about the Mexican desert either (gonna make that story today tho). This desert is the one in Las Cruse, New Mexico because…. we crossed the border to the USA. 

No we didn’t climb over the fence although people actually do this and I am not sure I can even actually realise what this entails for someone’s life. The Americans are strict in their border crossings and the barred wires on the side of the roads and fences combined with the flashy lights and barking dogs made it very clear that they had the authority. Thinking we had everything sorted, we said a friendly hello to the officer checking our passports. He looked at me and my passport and looked again… “you don’t have a stamp” … oops. I was escorted out of the car to sit in line with all the people that needed permission to cross. They all had a million printed documents ready to show and I, I had a yellow paper with a not from the officer saying I needed a stamp hahaha. It was a weird and uncomfortable situation at the least. For 1,5 hours absolutely nothing happened. Not one officer was helping any of the waiting people nor did they say something like “we’ll be right with you”. A woman told me she wanted to get back home to El Paso after visiting her terminal I’ll brother in Mexico, but in the end she left because it took to long. The feeling of being powerless or like surrendered to the willingness to help of the officers was new for me and I felt very privileged and stupid to even feel this way because I can’t even understand the situation of the others waiting there. In the end I got the stamp and we crossed the border. 

First impressions of America are best described as big, spread out and probably unnecessary pollution haha. You might expect the sky in the desert to evoke someone to say “I have never seen so many stars” but I felt like saying “I have never seen so many starry lights” looking over the cities in the distance. Impressive and different. Although the roads and the billboards are like the many movies. 

The next day we went for a hike in the mountains in the desert of Las Cruces, but not before we got some breakfast from … Walmart! Another thing I only knew from TV and it is bloody gigantic!!! People love buying in bulk and sweet stuff is a must haha. We continued our way towards the mountains and the big city made space for the long awaited dry landscape with yellowish bushes, spiky green sort of palm trees, cacti and warning signs. Pam told me lovely stories about the danger of rattlesnakes, mountain cats, pumas, coyotes and all these awesome creatures. I honestly hadn’t thought a second about possible dangers of the desert haha so I felt intrigued by the stories and the view of the now close by peaks. Unfortunately most of these beautiful animals live at night and we had our protector Ruso with us to chase away all the snakes and stuff. The scenery was beautiful and so different from any place I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting before! The vegetation fascinated me and of course I had to touch a cactus haha. We were in luck because the weather was perfect! Blue skies and sunshine accompanied our lovely walk, the perfect T-shirt weather. The warmth was lovely and the shadows provided the perfect place to cool down a bit… A bit that was but we found a secret. In the further end of the small canyon we found a little waterfall in the shades of the dry mountains and… It was covered with ice!!! Ice in the desert!

I loved our walk and being outside. We didn’t cross paths with a lot of wildlife but the cacti were plenty of excitement haha. The rest of the day were filled with a visit to the historic area of Las Cruces where the notorious cowboy Billy the Kid used to scare the folks and a lovely lunch.

We made our way back to Juárez in the evening and enjoyed the traditional rosca. The rosca is a pastry eaten before the celebration of the three wiseman who bring gifts to baby Jezus. Within the pastry there is a hidden mini baby Jezus and whoever finds it in their slice need to organise the celebration and provide the house and food for everyone. Lucky me, I found Jezus haha unfortunately by then I’ll be back in NL so Pam’s family understood it’s a bit harder for me to organise.

I wish to share one more secret of the shadows, this secret is of Mexico. When driving around the town, I noticed how all the houses were surrounded by a fence and all the windows are barred. The life here feels safe but there are obviously precautions taken to provide safety under circumstances. It wasn’t surprise really when I noticed but it does make me realise how simple life is in Europe since I have never had a second thought about safety and would almost leave my door unlocked. Here it is different, being safe means something else or at least entails different actions. I hope that it may become easier to feel safe living in Mexico without bars and fences.

Adiós!