A Mexican Chinatown
Sounds fascinating, right?
This mythic place is in Mexicali, capital of Baja California Norte, and according to the interwebs is a result of influxes of Chinese laborers to build railroads and irrigation systems. It's also only a couple hundred miles away. Roadtrip!
The ride out was interesting. At least 75% of the traffic was RVs or border agents. I suspect the RVs were heading out to Arizona, but OMG, the border agents. Once we reached the desert they were everywhere. About every half a mile we'd see one in their white SUV, slowly driving along beside the highway dragging a skid made of four tires. Every high point in the landscape had a watch tower. It was fairly creepy.
Finally, we arrived in Calexico and drove around for quite a while before finding the one parking area that didn't have a two hour limit. This was the first serious hint that this was not a tourist-friendly area. Crossing into Mexico was, as usual, very easy and completely uneventful. Immediately upon entry it became even more than obvious that tourism is not on Mexicali's priority list. No helpful kiosks. No helpful signage (even in Spanish).
The people were perfectly nice, even though we were the subject of significant interest. Two obvious foreigners wandering the streets somewhat aimlessly? I'd stare too. But no one was threatening in any way, and only a couple asked for money.
Overall the visit was pretty dull. La Chinesca wasn't all that Chinatown-ish. We did eat a a buffet style Chinese restaurant, which wasn't bad and tasted surprisingly like what you find in the States. There was also a shop with lots of imported Chinese tchotschkes, and that was about the extent of it.
Still, several interesting things were learned.
1) My Spanish is better than I thought
2) It's easiest to get pesos from an ATM
3) You must watch where you walk. Deep, open pits are common in the sidewalks
4) Sears is a seriously upscale department store down there
5) Next time I go to a border town, it'll be TJ. A higher risk of beheading is worth a two hour shorter drive and more interesting things to see.
This mythic place is in Mexicali, capital of Baja California Norte, and according to the interwebs is a result of influxes of Chinese laborers to build railroads and irrigation systems. It's also only a couple hundred miles away. Roadtrip!
The ride out was interesting. At least 75% of the traffic was RVs or border agents. I suspect the RVs were heading out to Arizona, but OMG, the border agents. Once we reached the desert they were everywhere. About every half a mile we'd see one in their white SUV, slowly driving along beside the highway dragging a skid made of four tires. Every high point in the landscape had a watch tower. It was fairly creepy.
Finally, we arrived in Calexico and drove around for quite a while before finding the one parking area that didn't have a two hour limit. This was the first serious hint that this was not a tourist-friendly area. Crossing into Mexico was, as usual, very easy and completely uneventful. Immediately upon entry it became even more than obvious that tourism is not on Mexicali's priority list. No helpful kiosks. No helpful signage (even in Spanish).
The people were perfectly nice, even though we were the subject of significant interest. Two obvious foreigners wandering the streets somewhat aimlessly? I'd stare too. But no one was threatening in any way, and only a couple asked for money.
Overall the visit was pretty dull. La Chinesca wasn't all that Chinatown-ish. We did eat a a buffet style Chinese restaurant, which wasn't bad and tasted surprisingly like what you find in the States. There was also a shop with lots of imported Chinese tchotschkes, and that was about the extent of it.
Still, several interesting things were learned.
1) My Spanish is better than I thought
2) It's easiest to get pesos from an ATM
3) You must watch where you walk. Deep, open pits are common in the sidewalks
4) Sears is a seriously upscale department store down there
5) Next time I go to a border town, it'll be TJ. A higher risk of beheading is worth a two hour shorter drive and more interesting things to see.