'Magic Valley' - part eight

The car below got me thinking about the Valley and Texas.

The bumper stickers say ‘PROUD TO BE A DEMOCRAT’ and ‘LIBERAL FOR LIFE’. Texas is highly conservative and Republican. However, Don reminded me that the Valley - where, in the 1970s, Cesar Chavez helped organize migrant workers - often votes Democrat. And, despite the area's ‘fast growing’ status, there's considerable under - and un - employment, and many who turn to social welfare programs.

Still, being Texas, it’s no surprise that, for some, Margaret Thatcher is a firm favourite.

Nor is it a surprise to see horses, bullet-riddled signs, what seem to be more pickups than cars, and motorcyclists without helmets.

Not shocked to come around a bend and see an ol’ dog sunning on the road. For the location, it just seemed kinda natural.

Sometimes here, there is, for a very amateur photographer, a satisfying starkness.

The people are lovely. At a Saturday market in Edinburg, this guy was plugging some local candidates.

This photo of a local musician speaks for itself.

Because I had to shoot quickly, this picture isn’t well-framed, but it was the first coonskin hat I’d seen since my Davy Crockett days.

Tim Hortons - Canada’s ubiquitous and hugely successful coffee shop chain - better watch out. I have found a more than satisfactory substitute.

Shipley’s can be found in many of the southern states. This one is in McAllen and unlike Tims, makes its own donuts on the spot. “Wanna to see how we make ‘em? Cmon in!” So American. Can’t imagine being warmly invited to see the frozen dough stuffed into whatever they use beyond sight of Tims’ counters.

I now own a Shipley mug and, next November, they’ll definitely get my business again.

I’ll miss Don and Jode, homemade orange juice and Texas claret, breakfast bike rides to a local Mexican restaurant and pancake suppers in the park. I’m still slightly taken aback that I like the place so much.

To be continued next winter ...

'Magic Valley' - part seven

Earlier this week, despite the Border Patrol officer’s advice (see previous post), we visited Mexico. This requires an explanation. I’ll try to make it short.

Millions of Canadians and Americans - largely without incident - holiday in Mexico; they do so further south from here and on the coast. It’s the border - from the Pacific to the Gulf - that is so appallingly violent. This is the main battleground of the cartels, American and Mexican authorities. The front is a quick bike ride from my winter home in which, I hasten to add, I feel perfectly safe.

Many wintering northerners cross quickly into Mexico for health care and pharmaceuticals, which are much more expensive in the States. A few days after I arrived, Jode went to see her dentist in Reynosa, one of the more murderous border cities. Here’s the Rio Grande as we cross into Mexico.

Doctors, dentists and drug stores are a short walk from the river. Numbers have plunged, but enough gringos still come to keep business ticking over. Jode’s dentist lives on the American side, but crosses into Mexico to practice.

While Jode was being treated, I took a cautious wander.

This map, a few steps from the frontier, suggests road trips for tourists in Tamaulipas, the Mexican state bordering southeast Texas. Tamaulipas is hardly ever out of the news for killings - individual or massacres - discoveries of mass graves, drug smuggling, drug seizures, kidnappings, collapse of civil authority and plenty of other bad things. Carjackings are frequent. It would take a very brave or confident person - certainly not me - to drive down one of those circuitos.

As it was midmorning, I walked up to the main square.

I didn’t see another Canadian or American and certainly got a lot of second glances.

One or two people said ‘hello’, but you don’t have to be an old reporter to know when it’s safest to turn back. Such a pity as just a glimpse of the square suggested that Reynosa would be a wonderful place in which to wander. I slipped quickly into the cathedral.

Here’s one of those marvellous Mexican murals.

A report today suggests that one-third of Reynosa’s homes are abandoned. People are fleeing in large part because of the drug war. Tourists used to throng this arcade. The bars boomed.

No more.

I wasn’t sorry to be back on the American side.

In last year’s blog, I mentioned one Mexican border town that still gets a reasonable number of visitors. Click on the following link and scroll down about midway:

http://trainsandboatsandplanesandtheoddbus.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-become-briefly-winter-texan-part-two.html

Over the last two years, tourism numbers in Nuevo Progreso have dropped by the tens of thousands. When we crossed a couple of days ago, the streets were noticeably quieter. But the margaritas are excellent and it’s still fun to do a little shopping.

Nuevo Progreso is considered safe enough because it’s small, isolated and the Mexican military and police attempt to guard the roads leading in. And so, some of us continue to cross, but it would only take one serious incident involving a gringo and the little town would be out of business.

I don’t want to end this post on a completely gloomy note. Earlier today, Don, Jode and I drove down to the mouth of Rio Grande at the Gulf of Mexico.

By the river, there was a fisherman on the American side. Beyond him, in Mexico, you can see (click on the picture) some cowboys - vaqueros - tending cattle and evoking the past.

'Magic Valley' - part six

Two pleasures down here, while it’s winter in Canada, are running before sunrise and the bike club.

Some members are super-keen. Jerry and Shirley, using their tandem, take trips of hundreds of miles.

Don helped me get a snazzy new Schwinn (which I forgot to photograph) and I was ready for the twice-a-week breakfast ride. The club also does a longer weekly ride. Here we are at a Gulf Coast wildlife refuge.

This is Mike, a retired police officer from Chicago.

Jim sports a helmet AND sunhat ...

The refuge - Laguna Atascosa - is home to ocelots, an endangered wildcat. Didn’t see an ocelot, but did see a sign.

At lunch, the area lived up to its reputation as one of the continent’s great birdwatching locations. Well, at least it offered a hopeful cardinal attracted by my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Mmmmm …

This allows me to include a few other shots as people from all over the world come to the Valley for birds and butterflies. Here’s a chachalaca, a bird with a deserved reputation for noise. The name comes from its raucous cry. Click on picture for better view.

Can’t remember what these are, perhaps an oriole of some kind. Sorry.

On a backcountry road, a couple in a car starting waving at me and pointed upwards. Had no idea what it was about until I saw a bird on a line. Turned out it was the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. My new acquaintances were quite excited as it’s the state bird of Oklahoma. What's Ontario's provincial bird? Is there one? Have no idea.

Our outing today was to the local Border Patrol Station. This is one of the country’s largest, responsible for illegal migrants and drug smuggling along fifty-three miles of the Rio Grande. It’s “war” along the river, we were told, and officers completely dismissive of how Mexican authorities are handling things. Just before I came down, a U.S. immigration agent was murdered not that far from here in Mexico, so you can have some sympathy for the Americans’ attitude.

They were quite happy - no pictures - to take us into the cell area. All that separated us from a few score, unhappy-looking illegals was some thick glass.

Oh - and one officer said under no circumstances would he cross into Mexico. Far too dangerous. That’s a pity as Don, Jode and I were planning on a visit next week.

'Magic Valley' - part five

If I wasn't so lazy, architecture might have attracted me. Instead, I became a reporter, flitting from one quick story to another. The Valley offers some really attractive buildings. Until recently, Spanish/Mexican/Hollywood Spanish predominated. Now much is just the normal dross.

These houses and courtyard are in McAllen.

Quinta Mazatlan, also in McAllen, built in the 1930s is one of the largest adobe homes in Texas.

This is one of the bathrooms or, more accurately, bathtub.

What was once a McAllen school flaunts an extraordinary deco-ish entrance. Aztec themes were popular in the Thirties.

And this doorway in Harlingen is really superb.

Part of a small complex in Mission, this house has been neglected.

As has another Mission prewar building with a wonderful entry.

The Texas Theatre - oops! - Theater in Pharr retains some modest streamlining and, like so many cinemas, has had better days.

Beautifully preserved and now a pottery is an old McAllen service station.

Happily, many of the Valley's railway stations have been saved, becoming chambers of commerce, lawyers' offices and museums. This is Edinburg's 1927 Southern Pacific Railway Depot. Wow!