I had many difficulties with my life and would not be where I am today were it not for my wife and daughters, but before then the chief joy I had was the wild country along the U.S.-Mexico Border. This is a tribute to La Frontera and its people.
I grew up in Yuma County, Arizona and have been in La Frontera for over fifty years of my life, including Yuma, Somerton, and Tucson, Arizona and Hobbs and Las Cruces, New Mexico. Despite my problems, the deserts of the American Southwest is among my favorite parts of the planet. The mysterious deserts were my teachers and helped me survive.
When I was younger it was easy to sneak out of my parents view and disappear down a side canyon -I did this in the Muggins Mountains, where Clothos Temple stood. lonely and mysterious along the edge of Telegraph Pass.
The Algodones Sand Dunes, the Chocolate Mountains, Coon Hollow, the Cargo Muchachos, and the Salton Sea, all in the California borderlands, the Kofa, Gila, Chiricahua, Pajarito, Santa Rita, Little Harquahala, Huahuacha, Castle Dome, Santa Catalina, Tucson, and Laguna Mountains in Arizona, and the Organ, Florida, San Andres, Sacramento, Animas, Peloncillo, in New Mexico, plus eventually the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas, and the western mountainous region of Texas. On the Camino del Diablo along the Arizona-Sonora border one could find life boiling down to essentials. Hiking up the trail over the Sierra in Baja California with only one’s immediate companions in view certainly did the same. I’ve mentioned many of these before, but my love for the area also includes people. Even the crusty ranchers, but especially the Native Americans. The Kachina Dancers at Acoma pueblo gave me a taste of their culture. The Hispanic culture is also alive and well along the Border. I was happy to take my wife and daughters to Dia De Los Muertos in Mesilla where several times we helped other members of our Quaker meeting erect a Peace Crane Wall in honor of those who gave their lives in the Middle East.
Wildlife is plentiful, although sometimes you have to be patient!
The open sky, the high mountains, the desolate dunes, the narrow canyons and some of the almost part of the landscape towns give la frontera a chaotic flavor. However, that flavor is unique and very engaging. For all the trouble I had there, I have to love the wild and semi-wild country there.
But the towns are also engaging. Tucson, Yuma, Willcox, Portal, Tubac, Tombstone, Prescott, Flagstaff, all in Arizona; Mesilla, Springer, Clayton, Raton, Cloudcroft, Las Cruces, Lincoln, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, all in New Mexico; El Paso, Alpine, Marfa, Presidio, all in Texas, not to mention Calexico, El Centro, Jucumba and San Diego in California. These are just a sampling of the towns and cities (I lived in Tucson for five years, in Yuma for 20 years and Las Cruces for over 30 years) I knew while I lived on the border. Many are charming, some less so, but all have a certain flavor and history.
Unfortunately, the Southwest is drying out and both the Colorado and the Rio Grande are dry in part over some time of the year. Between family considerations and the horror of seeing the changes occuring in my favorite places, I have retreated to the Pacific Northwest and its spell is also working its magic. There are still wild places and on the east side even a scrubland sagebrush desert. Still, I miss La Frontera! It was my home, for better or for worse. Viva la frontera, mi amor!