South of the Border

Pancho Villa State Park
lies to the south of us, about 30 miles, at the town of Columbus, New Mexico
and about three miles north of the Mexican border. Chorro and I knew just a little about Pancho Villa from some time in the far past when I studied American history and we were interested to see where Pancho Villa had made his bold raid on the United States and also to see if the campground might be some place to spend a night or two.

Pancho Villa's 1916 raid on Columbus was intended to intercept a train with a gold shipment on it, but the train was in fact hauling coal. The United States retaliated by sending General Pershing (of WWI reknown) to capture Villa so he could be punished. Although Pershing and his man followed Villa for a year, they were unable to capture him. This hilltop was a lookout post
because it gave a view of the Mexican country to the south for many miles.
Pershing employed this distant relative of a tank (or a Hummer?) in his pursuit of Villa.
The campground featured cactus of many varieties. It is very open and exposed so we would not want to stay here if the weather were either very hot or very cold.

Standing on the hilltop looking over into Mexico wasn't enough. We needed to go across the border, if only for lunch.
Well, make that "I" since Chorro didn't have his passport along. He opted to stay with the RV rather than risking not being allowed to come back to his own little bed.

I had heard about a shop in Palomas called "The Pink Store" that catered to tourists.
The Pink Store was easy to find.
It was staffed by very friendly English-speaking Mexicans. The merchandise was varied and colorful!
If I were to live near Mexico, I would definitely have one of these sinks in my bathroom.
Ever since I learned of the javelinas in Texas and New Mexico, I have been encountering pigs at every turn.
But still no javelinas.

The restaurant was worth the trip. The food was delicious. Here are my Enchiladas Nortenos when I finally stopped eating long enough to take a picture.
The interior of the restaurant was pretty entertaining in itself,
but live music was provided as well!

This little border town provides less expensive dental work, optical exams and glasses, and drugs. It was easy to see that providing those goods and services was profitable.
Contrast those buildings with these, providing services to Mexicans.
It was disturbing to see the poverty,
and yet I remember reading of a poll, about how citizens of different countries see themselves, in which Mexicans ranked themselves way higher in "happiness" than Americans ranked themselves. Interesting, huh?

Pondering that, Chorro and I headed back to Deming for the night.

Tomorrow is a new day.