Observations of the border

1. Anyone who swims the Rio Grande doesn't know how to walk.


This photo is taken of the international bridge in Laredo, TX. Those folks walking across the bridge are Mexican nationals who work or shop in Laredo. I watched for an hour and a half. Steady, all the traffic the bridge could hold. Those who were shopping were buying those things that might not be available, or they were buying those things that were valuable for resale. At the end of the day, the traffic reverses and those folks who came over, go home. Those lucky enough to have jobs over here, pay Social Security and they are working for retirement, just like the rest of us working stiffs.

2. The women are beautiful, but not in the over-makeup, boob-job American sense. They are women as God intended them to be.


I don't know who this young lass is and it doesn't matter. She showed up in a photo I was taking of the street. Young, soft curves, delicate features in the morning light. She was shopping and she is representative of the young women who cross the bridge every morning. The older ladies have a soft dignity born of life. There is nothing artificial about them. What you see is what they are.

3. We were stopped by the border patrol about twenty miles north of Laredo in a common border checkpoint. The officers there cleared us quickly. We asked why there weren't more tourists in Nuevo Laredo and were told that there is a drug-turf war going on over there and they are killing about one person a day. The tourists are staying away and that is causing the border vendors a loss of business. We noticed on Wednesday that we appeared to be the only four gringos on the south side of the border, and that might explain the loss of cross-border American traffic.

4. The border problem is a whole lot more complicated than it seems at first glance. There are a lot of good people who will be affected, regardless of whatever the Congress decides to do about the border.

We've been east-bound since noon. We left Laredo after lunch and started home. We're spending the night at Baytown, Texas and tomorrow we'll make the final jump to central Louisiana. Vacation is about over.