I've been to some of those fun and safe places in Europe that some of us fortunate sons get to go at some point in their 20's, but Mexicali was unlike any place I had ever been to. This was more of an actual working class city compared to tourist spots like Tijuana or Cancun, and with it's proximity to America, probably more prosperous than most other Mexican cities of similar size. I wore a pair of sunglasses with my cheap Target shirt as a meager attempt to "blend in," but I was the only gringo in town.
The city used old American school buses for public transit, as seen in the picture on the right. Although the temperature was over a hundred degrees, the market areas along the street managed to stay cool with cleverly placed sheets of plastic and a few small air conditioners and fans. On every block there was a paramilitary clad policeman with a fully automatic submachine gun, so I made an effort to dodge the trouble that came to me.
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| I didn't want to get any pictures of the Mexican police with machine guns, but this showed up in one of the frames. This is one of the armored cars that picked up and dropped off the police on their beats. It looked to be a standard late model Ford 150 with a special armored "shell" bolted on. |
Some weird car you don't see back in the us. Looks to be a Spanish Ibiza? |
| There was a park against the border wall. Right past the border station people were climbing over. |
A pink Mexican church. |
