El Paso / Texas meets Ciudad Juarez / Mexico

Before we start the report on the detour to El Paso, I have to report from last night in Lordsburg. I almost forgot, but that still has to be included in the story.

In our 'hotel', which wouldn't even deserve one star, there was some commotion in the evening. We could hear a loud and heated argument in the hallway outside our room. The most frequently heard word was F***. Two men and a woman were having some kind of dispute that initially made us a 'bit uncomfortable'. After all, we were not staying in an accommodation where one would expect only sensible people. Anyway, it went on like this for quite some time and we would have liked to peek through the door peephole to see what was going on. But we weren't sure if that would have been a good idea. How quickly can a bullet from a small caliber penetrate the thin door panels and then we would have been dead ...

But now, without any fights ... :):

On our tour through New Mexico from Lordsburg to Alamogordo today, we made a detour to the American/Mexican border town of El Paso, Texas. We came here because of a viewpoint or scenic drive. From this point high above the city of El Paso, you have a fantastic view over the cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

El Paso is the fourth largest city in Texas, which at first glance appears quite neat and well-kept. When passing through to the viewpoint, we also got the impression that they place more value on building styles that do not only resemble run-down dwellings. We liked that - although there are also poor people in El Paso who do not live in nice houses. We saw that later on Interstate 10 ... but by no means as many "slums" as in other smaller cities.

In the pictures, you can clearly see the border between the US and MX. The wide, brown stripe forms the border together with the small river. A special feature on the Mexican side is the huge "X" that stands as a monument to the horrific acts of the drug mafia in Juarez.