Nogales, AZ

 A typical alley

I don't know about you but I really wanted to see a border town. We were in Tucson and it's only 30 miles from there to Nogales---a twin town, partly American, partly Mexican. So technically speaking, there are two towns called Nogales: one in Mexico and the other one in the USA, separated by the border.

On the front page of a local newspaper there was a big article about a new border: how the old one was flaky and not very secure (did you know they could climb over or dig a tunnel under it?) and how the new one was going to be better, with spaces on it to look through (the old one was solid so Mexican ruffians threw stuff at border patrol officers).

Well, as soon as you enter the town, it's a ordinary enough view that greets you: standard shopping centers. Disappointing. So in the evening we took a ride to the "old" town and had a glimpse at the Mexican border. At the "real" Nogales Well, I tell you...

Nogales is a location appropriate to make horror movies: no extra props are necessary. Old shabby houses line hilly streets, in fact in an eery sort of way it reminded me of San Francisco, all these hills. Lots of abandoned houses and the ones that are not abandoned look creepy. I took a shot of the house with three cats sitting in front of it. See if you can find uglier looking cats.

A house with three scruffy looking cats.

This one takes the ugly prize

This cat is exactly the same color as the mop that is beside him. In fact it took me awhile to notice him

This is my favourite. This cat had a flicker of awareness in his eyes and seemed to notice my presence

As it was getting dark to went for a drive, if you can call it that, on the streets of Nogales. We almost stuck on the way to the border but was lucky to get off at the last minute. Drivign was crazy there. The main street was lines with usual shops selling clothes and souvenirs though most were closed by then. Also we noticed lots of exchange currency places: an unmistakable sign that you are either in the capital or the border town. People spoke Spanish on the streets and we even overheard some suspicious conversation discussing some murky deal.

The border crossing place was pretty much what you can expect with lots of people crossing. It did not look too inviting. All the what-to-do magazines in motels kept advertizing one restaurant in Nogales. It would be fun to go but we did not have our passports and did not know the address.

So what about the border? Well, I took one picture to show you. We could not get really close to it, but you could see a drastic change. The houses in Mexico were shabby but all painted in different jolly colors. Mexicans love bright colors and loud music.

A view on the border with Mexico

This is Mexico

Actually people seemed to go easily between two countries. We saw plenty of cars with Sonora license place and there was a border check on the freeway between Tuscon and Nogales.

For a better scoop of Nogales one has to stay more than an afternoon but we decided to leave the next day.