around new mexico (3)

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Joined
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elmer, nj
more travels around deming (please note that again these pictures were taken with my cheap digital camera, set to low-res and close-up instead of wide-angle)

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after returning from one of our tours, my stepfather drove us around deming to see the
christmas lights. I tried in vain to get this picture to turn out properly (didn't have my tripod
or good camera with me). can you guess what this image is suppose do be?

nmtravels2.jpg

on the way down to palomas, mexico, we encountered this large vehicle carrying a huge scoop.
my stepfather surmised that they were making them in mexico and then hauling them up to
the tar sands region of canada. there were no advanced warning vehicles way out in front of the
truck like you'd see in upstate ny; they just assumed that you would see them a few miles away
(road is very flat and straight) and that if you were smart, you would get out of the way (we pulled off the road)

nmtravels3.jpg

just north of palomas still in the u.s. is the near-border town of columbus, nm. pancho villa
raided the town and fort here with a band of rebels in the early 1900's and then escaped across
the border. an extremely extensive search was made by general pershing and about 10,000
troops, a few planes, pack animals and other incidentals though villa was never found
this is an old town jail. I thought I had taken pictures of the old fort structures, but
sometimes my cheap camera does unusual things all on it's own (or neglects to do them)

nmtravels4.jpg

the us/mexico border crossing just north of palomas mexico. if you look to the right of
the picture, you can see what look like square posts with spaces between them
this is the new border wall that extends 400 miles to the west into arizona. (not enough
space for a human to squeeze through but small critters can)

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older border wall with razor wire on top, wall behind it

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steel post border wall that extends westwards into arizona. where pres. obama ordered the wall construction
to halt, many illegal aliens and drug traffickers do an end-around into the united states.
this area of new mexico is fairly calm because of the wall though border patrols go here
and there and check out any vehicle that is stopped along the road, though in arizona the drug
gangs from mexico have extended their operations and it can be fairly unsafe to be outside even
in the u.s. north of the border for quite a ways. recently a rancher was killed in arizona when
he went to the aid of some mexicans that were being accosted by unknown entities (gang people
who were getting after or extorting the aliens). his ranch was not far north of the border

to give you an idea about how severe the drug gang problem is, I was told that in the city of juarez,
mexico which is across the rio grande from el paso, texas, there were more people killed from
drug-related activities (murders and hits) in 2009 than the combined total of war casualties
in both iraq and afghanistan

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the famous 'pink store' in palomas, mexico which has a fascinating array of extremely colorful
items for sale, and has a very nice restaurant. they point out very clearly on their menus that
they use a full range of cleaners and disinfectants to prevent bacterial outbreaks. I
had the lemonade with ice, and suffered no ill-effects (the food and live music was
very nice as well). palomas caters mainly to retired american citizens who visit their
eye doctors, dentists and other medical professionals. the local 'business community' 'protects'
the local businesses and clients, and though these fees are passed along to the customer,
the cost of these services is quite a bit lower than across the border in the united states
(don't go there at night, however...). other border towns south of arizona and california
however cater more to tourists and vacationers and have amazing resorts and restaurants and food

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yours truly and a very nice sculpture of local hero pancho villa, who raided the border
town of columbus new mexico, including the local fort. here they have a holiday on the
day that villa raided the u.s., including a parade with fireworks. at the deming, nm
local museum which had a section on world war 1, they displayed a german-made machine
gun that had been found in mexico, and it was surmised that germany had supplied these
and funded pancho villa's raid in the hopes that a distraction would keep the united states out
of ww1. instead, it gave the u.s. an opportunity to organize themselves and give general
pershing a chance to lead some troops before getting into the war

nmtravels9.jpg

mexico side of the palomas/columbus border crossing (image looks skewed because my
cheap digital camera at times makes a funky interpretation of the photons it receives on
it's ccd :mad: )

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on the way home we stopped at the rockhound state park, and a spring valley state
park which was just across the way from the rh state park. spring valley was designed to be
a cool respite during the extreme heat of summer; tables, benches and pavilions are
found along the road winding up into the hills. the elevation and hills provide cooling breezes
(and the hills are amazing to look at and you can wander anywhere) just watch out for rattlesnakes,
tarantulas and scorpions!

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most of these 'hills' are the remains of volcanic plugs; stepfather posing underneath a very large hill

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more dramatic hills in the park

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view of the back side of the floridas (flor-EE-das) mountain range seen through hills at the state park
 
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