Mexico
General Plutarco Elías Calles

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Travelers at this place
    • Day 33

      Border Wars

      October 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      TRUMP FOR 2020... Build the wall!

      Today along the Mexican border we ran into a couple who come down from Maine every year as volunteers in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the reason are: A: In Maine, in winter it gets to 30 below. B: They care about the place.
      It was a bizarre scene. First we saw neatly bagged piles of rubbish in the middle of nowhere then we came across them with those stick-claw things wandering all over the place picking stuff up.

      If you go through any official entry port into the United States the security is insane, many razor wire manufacturers have built their fortunes on America’s border control paranoia yet get away from those points and the fencing is woeful or non existent.

      Right up against, like touching the actual border line with no barriers are Mexican houses that run drugs or just enjoy throwing all their shit over to the American side, this then blows all over the country and that is what the couple we met were doing, picking it up.

      The border is so easy to cross, every night they bring drugs across from Mexico, sometimes leaving them close by or up to 5 miles inland. Then they take a GPS readings, give those coordinates to people in someplace like Phoenix so they can come down and locate the stuff.

      Everyday this couple, along with the rubbish they collect uncover drugs. Today the showed us cocaine and marijuana they discovered, the place is lousy with it, it’s like a shotgun approach, keep throwing enough rocks and eventually you’ll hit something or in this case get some drugs through.
      For the people around the border it isn’t about stopping improvised people seeking a better life, it’s about the drugs, the crime coming over and the trashing of the place so now many that were once against building the wall seem all for it.

      Building Trump’s Wall they haven’t logically started at one end and headed for the other, they’re hitting hot spots and this is one of them though it’s Monty Pythonesque in a way because alongside a known drug runners house with no other new wall construction either side for hundreds of miles they’re erected a piece of Trump Wall.
      You can imagine their reaction...“oh Pancho! what weez do with all our drugs now? zee Americanos build zee big wall in our backyard, weezs dumb Mexicans too lazy and stupid to walk next door”
      Read more

    • Day 34

      Mexico, Arizona and the Sonoran Desert

      October 21, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

      There is only so much cheap Tequila you can drink, Mexican drug smugglers you can handle or how much more can you take of hearing everyone’s opinion on Trump’s Wall so to get away from it all the best thing to do is head out into the desert... where they’re smuggling drugs and building walls.
      At least there is no Tequila out here so we’ll be sober enough to appreciate all the pretty stuff.

      The quietness is deafening till the noise really is deafening from low flying fighter jets that are based just over the next hill or somewhere, we’re not sure but it can’t be too far away America doesn’t have cat swinging room from one military base to the next and with their history the next conflict won’t be too far off so they’re probably just making sure they’re match fit for the main game.

      They gave it a rest during the day so we had a chance to really appreciate the Sonoran Desert in all its quietness and isolation and as it is with these sorts of places that are so incredible it’s pointless trying to describe them.
      The nights in the desert are just as good, you sit outside with the stars, warm breezes blowing and nights sounds all around.
      Then night sounds above!
      It’s like rolling thunder, they just keep coming, no wonder they gave it a rest during the day, the US Air Force are now on night manoeuvres.
      You can see why people in war zones get so traumatised. First there is this distant rumble then the sound increases and as they go over the top of you the noise vibrates your bones.

      Just as well they aren’t bombing as well or are they?
      How far have we driven into the desert?
      We drove past a sign the other day saying WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, we try and blame one another for driving back into that area, Rhonda wins.
      For a while this was a very peaceful and beautiful place, one of the best, now we’re cowering under the RV with s couple of saucepans over our heads.

      EPILOGUE:
      They’ve gone, it’s quiet again, the warm breeze has returned along with the night sounds of all the desert critters. We sit back by the fire reaching for that nonexistent bottle of Tequila, that’s a shame the Margarita glasses were primed with plenty of salt but a cup of tea in this setting tastes just as good.
      Read more

    • Day 160

      Organ Pipe Cactus NM

      November 18, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

      Very close to the Mexican border in the south western part of Arizona lies the only area in the United States where organ pipe cacti grow. I really love the landscape of the Sonoran desert and greatly enjoy the scenic drives and hikes in this national Monument. However, driving along the border fence, I saw at least 150 assumedly illegal immigrants, who seem to have no problem crossing the fence and were walking towards a Border Patrol EncampmentRead more

    • Day 9–11

      Organ Pipe National Monument Arizona

      February 16 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

      Beautiful green desert with rhyolite volcanic rock canyons. We took a dirt road for 21 miles in Ajo mountains to hike to arch rock and hiked from the campground to the Victoria mine which was used to mine gold and Silver. The sunsets from the campground were so beautiful.
      The organ pipe cactus only grows here and across the border in Mexico. The indigenous Tohono O’odham collect the organ pipe fruit in summer to make syrup. The palo verde trees are so beautiful with green trunks for photosynthesis and serve as nurse trees for saguaros.
      Read more

    • Day 12

      organ pipe national monument

      January 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F

      II brought rain to the desert but the cactus are happy

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    General Plutarco Elías Calles, General Plutarco Elias Calles

    Join us:

    FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android