The Border-Trip Home Part 3

We left our hotel at 4 in the morning to try to hit the border early. We thought with the end of the long Easter week that the traffic might become an issue. I am always amazed at how many people from the states come back to their small Mexican villages. We see car loads with kids, grandparents and the parents on our drive. For a Mexican there is no place like home. It again shows me the love of family these folks have. I know Mexicans that will drive for days during the holidays to get back to their small rural villages to spend Easter and Christmas. I guess this surprises me since I have know folks that would not drive two or three hours to see members of their family. I know some that would not drive across town!
The landscape is different now, a lot of farms and acre after acre of crops. Being from Fresno, California and growing up around farms, it is a beautiful site. I love the smell of dirt and the rows of crops. I know it sounds silly but I love the irrigation of the water. So precious and so needed. Mexico feeds so many people all over the world that is is amazing site. The US use to be like this, but the farm land has been taken over by other things now. Very sad to see the farmlands disappear, it is like seeing part of my childhood vanish.
As we get closer to the border farms turn to barren land. Having lived in the high desert of California when Paul was in the Air Force, I even enjoyed this part of the trip.
We got to the border with no problems and although we had about 50 cars in front of us it went pretty fast. If you have never crossed the border I can tell you that waiting in line is the most interesting part. It is like a carnival on the road. Food vender's, belts, hats, jewelry, car seat covers, pots, you name it and it comes by your car. Lots of windshield washers as well. We got ours done and he did a great job and all for 10 pesos! When our daughter Jill and her husband Erik crossed after Christmas the wait was about three hours and she told me that Erik ate the whole time. Tacos, ice cream, rice pudding, and even cotton candy if you like that stuff. Paul and I did not get any snacks because we knew we were headed for lunch with our daughter and three grand babies. We were saving ourselves.