El Paso, TX

"That's just a piece of dirt.” That is what I hear a Texan say once about El Paso, and I believed him.  I could not help but think about those dusty, small cowboy towns you see in movies…  I have to tell you my friends, there is some truth to that, but this place has much more to offer.  Here are some things that caught my attention during my second visit to the city:

1.        The Río Grande is not so grande.  (big)

2.       Standing on what is today the University of Texas at El Paso, I can see the city of Juárez, Mx.  I feel I am almost there, literally.  I could see a message about the Bible, which is carved on the mountain side.  I could also follow a soccer match happening on a paved basketball court by the border.

3.       The US Government did build a fence….  

4.       The first Spanish Mission built in Texas is still here, and people still go to mass there!  (More about it on future post).

5.       During the 50’s someone thought it would be pretty cool to bring real crocodiles to the plaza in El Paso’s downtown, so they DID!  For obvious safety reasons, the crocs are gone.  There is a huge statue of them instead.

Have you been to El Paso?  What did you think of the city?

Running with the Bulls!

Well, sorta.  Here is Nati running with the bulls in downtown Dallas.  I found this photo doing cleanup of my hard drive.  I took this during the immigration march in downtown Dallas last year.  

Don't Ride the Train!

So a couple of friends from Mexico City came to visit for a few days.  So we did some of the typical tourist things to do in Dallas.  Dealey Plaza, The Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center among other things.

However, I am not posting about those places in this post.  I do however have to absolutely warn you about the famous Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) streetcar.  In my almost six years of living in Dallas, I had never ridden the trolley before.  We figured we would give it a try this time around.

First of all, DART employees have no idea where the boarding points are for the M-line that the trolley runs on.   We left the Sixth Floor Museum and began to search for any DART employee along the line, so that they could inform us where to board the train.  Of course, we were given multiple answers, mostly due to the fact that there is construction all over downtown Dallas.

The internet provided us with yet another set of directions, so we decided to get in the car and go find the address provided on DART's website.  No such luck.  We parked, walked for at least half an hour until we found it.  ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE INTERSTATE!

So we waited...and waited...and waited.  The streetcar finally showed up.  Off we go.  Here is my friend Arturo and his wife Valerie.  Happy and excited to board the streetcar.

The "operator" was probably tired of his job, as there was no explanation of what the sights were.  Not that there was much to see.  Looking at the map of the route now, I realize it is pretty much a means of transportation for drunk people downtown, as it passes by all of the restaurants and bars down McKinney Ave.  Being that it was a weekday, there was not much action to see.

Anyway, to make a long story short, avoid the streetcar at all costs as a tourist attraction.  It really has nothing to offer unless they eventually change the route to a more scenic one.

Happy to get off of the DART streetcar!!