Around to Van Horn

Friday, January 11, 2013
Van Horn, Texas, United States
The Rio Grande is dry ! Yet another myth busted. I couldn't tell if or when I was crossing it. I had to ask at the El Paso Visitor Center, and then go back for a picture of the lost causeway. I am not surprised the river got lost -- El Paso is such a large and confused place its a wonder anyone finds anything. Yet it has an unexpected vibrancy and vitality I associate with landlocked border towns -- Mbeya lost in the SW of Tanzania had a similar kind of buzz, albeit on a much smaller scale. The two languages are used interchangeably everywhere, though Spanish predominates. The center piece of the town is this surreal bridge between the two countries, jealously guarded by Customs Agents, which spans a dry river bed any child could cross with ease.  

The forecast for the day was bitter cold with wind . The prediction came true -- but luckily the wind was out of the West and gave my gas mileage a huge boost. I spent the day avoiding the direct route -- i.e. Interstate 10 -- and instead drove down along the border on deserted state roads. I visited Columbus -- a former mining center a few miles from Mexico -- and discovered it had been stormed and burned in 1916 by Pancho Villa and his band of revolutionaries. A few Americans and lots of Mexicans were killed. They were chased away that same day, but the affront caused the US to mount a retaliatory expedition, 2,000 man strong, to bring Villa to justice. Six months was spent forming the troop under General Pershing and galloping around Northern Mexico, before the cavalry returned and shipped out to the fields of Northern France. 

I was struck yet again with how much Texas looks like Uruguay -- the fences, the rolling grasslands, the cattle, the windmills -- and now a mountain called Animas (actually in New Mexico -- a hill of the same name could be seen from my grandparents home). Hachita, a ghost town in New Mexico, means small axe in Spanish and reminds me of a childhood rebuke suffered in the presence of Mark Fairless.

In yet another attempt to avoid the freeway, I took a long detour up a 5,000 foot plateau towards the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Dusk found me at the entrance to the park, and I drove to Van Horn with the sunset gradually disappearing over the Black Mountain range to the West. 
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Comments

Harry
2013-01-12

If you like the area, everything from Southern California to New Orleans, it's hard to get it out of your system, which is the case for me. But if you don't nobody can understand why you are there. The trip from Van Horn to big bend and back out should be lots of fun. Give my regards to Marfa, the center of the universe.

Pita
2013-01-12

On the road again! It is great come up for air at your blog. I chose a good post since you mention Uruguay. Your writing and pictures are interesting as always. It is a treat to travel with you! Un abrazo fuerte.

2025-02-10

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