Today we had some stuff to do in Calexico, which is a small town that straddles the Mexican border. We stopped to take a look at what the locals simply call The Wall.
That’s the border, of course, and it runs along the length of the town. I don’t actually know how far outside of town it extends. Just to the south is Mexicali, a huge metropolis of at least a million people.
Since it’s a Friday, everyone knows to avoid Cesar Chavez Boulevard, which is the road that crosses The Wall. On Fridays, many of the locals– thousands of them, in fact– head south to Mexico along that road. We were heading north and saw the traffic lined up in the other direction for miles:
On Sunday night, they all come back across the border. Most have jobs in the United States (where wages are higher), but family and friends in Mexico, so it’s just part of life to go back and forth.
Despite all the media hubbub and political furor surrounding the border, we’ve found that everyone here is pretty chill. Of course there are a lot of Hispanics in the town, and just about everyone– Mexican and American alike– is bilingual. But everyone we’ve met has been respectful, friendly, and just living their lives. Surely there are some bad actors we don’t see (a few of our new friends work for the Border Patrol and have stories) but overall I’ve been really impressed with how everyone just gets along and works together.