Your National Border

This is the border, the Rio Grande. On the right is Mexico, the left the United States.

Most of the border in my region is this rural, this remote. You might think you could walk across the river undetected, but I doubt it. There are only two places in the region where you can cross legally--across the crowded urban bridges of El Paso or through the sleepy small town of Presidio.

Besides visiting family, many Van Horn residents cross to go to the pharmacy or visit the dentist. Some dentists are U.S. trained and licensed, and provide equivalent care for a fraction of the price.

Even if the national fence is erected, there will be a couple of large gaps, and one of them will be across the entire southern boundary of the Texas Mountain Trail region.

I don't know if that's because so much of it is impassible (large sections of the Rio Grande shore are sheer cliffs) or if the numbers passing here are relatively low. or if our border defense technology is more sophisticated than in other areas. The reason may be entirely political; I just don't know.

Our tiny local post office is open longer hours now, because it is also serving as a passport office. After the first of the year, you'll need a passport to fly into Mexico, and by 2008 you'll need a passport to cross to Mexico by land or by sea.