I ended up not going to Juárez at all this past week because I was afraid of missing follow-up appointments with women in El Paso. This ended up working out really well for my project, but I found myself kind of missing going into Mexico. Therefore, I figured I would share the two most interesting things that I've seen in Juárez this summer:
1. A few weeks ago, when I was waiting to get picked up at the hospital to be driven back to the bridge, I decided to venture into the old mall across the street. The vast majority of the stores were closed up, but there was a decent crowd of people inside the grocery store and there were also people sitting on benches enjoying treats from the various stands. However, the biggest surprise was that there was an ice skating rink in the middle of the hallway! It was shut down "temporarily" according to the small hand-written sign, but I don't know how much I believe that since there wasn't any type of floor on the "rink". Regardless, Ciudad Juárez would be the absolute last place I would think to look for an ice skating rink, so now I am on a quest to find one in El Paso. Who knows, maybe we will see people from the desert skating in the Winter Olympics in two years!
2. On the international bridges, there are lots of signs about how there is no selling/soliciting/etc. allowed. Usually, the people selling gum and nuts and other random goods are right in front of the signs, making for a great photograph, but I figure that would be kind of awkward. Anyway, one day about two weeks ago, I went over the bridge only to buy more minutes for my cell phone and to buy an agua fresca. About 10 minutes later, when I was ready to walk back over to El Paso, the bridge was closed and there were at least 6 police vehicles. I got a little nervous, especially when I saw the Mexican police escorting approximately 8 men off the bridge. Then I was really confused because they sat the men in the back of the police pick-up truck and started driving away. It didn't make sense until they re-opened the bridge and, for the first time since I've been here, there was no one trying to sell random stuff. Evidently, every once in a while, the Mexican police decide to crack down on people not obeying the bridge rules and arrest the people they can, presumably to make an example out of them. (In case you were wondering, the U.S. half of the bridge usually has Customs and Border Protection agents hanging out, telling potential vendors to stay on the Mexican side of the bridge.) Two things about this situation kind of made me chuckle. First, I've never seen a group of people being "arrested" before without handcuffs and just sitting in the back of a pick-up truck. Granted, I doubt any of them would try to jump out since there was also a police officer in the back with them holding an AK-47. Second, the next day, there was plenty of business taking place on the bridge again, and they were the same people that I always see. This suggests that the penalty can't be that big of a deal and that the benefits of trying to make money on the bridge must outweigh the potential costs of apprehension.
I so wish that I had been able to capture photos of either of these, but hopefully you get the picture!
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