|
| |
| |
|
EL PASO |
| |
Back when Texas was still Tejas , EL PASO , the second oldest
settlement in the United States, was the main crossing on the Rio
Grande. It still plays that role today, its 700,000 residents joining
with another 1.7 million across the river in CIUDAD JUAREZ , Mexico, to
form the largest binational (and bilingual) megalopolis in North America.
At first sight, massive railyards fill up much of downtown, the belching
smelters of copper mills line the riverfront, and the northern reaches
are taken up by the giant Fort Bliss military base, where two museums
trace the military history of the city from adobe Spanish outpost to
largest air defense center in the western world. Its dramatic setting,
however, where the Franklin Mountains meet the Chihuahua desert, gives
it a certain bold, rough pioneer edge, bearing more relation to old
rather than new Mexico, with little of the pastel softness of the
Southwest US. Local legend has it that when Wyatt Earp arrived in sharp-shooting
El Paso, he thought it too wild for him, and boarded the first train to
Tombstone.
The Town
Downtown El Paso holds surprisingly little to see apart from a couple of
passable art museums; what character it has continues to be shaped by
the US-Mexico border . In times past outlaws and exiles from either side
of the border would take refuge across the river, and today's traffic
remains considerable and not entirely uncontroversial. The border itself,
the Rio Grande, has caused its share of disagreements: the river changed
course quite often in the 1800s, and it was not until the 1960s, when it
was run through a concrete channel, that it was made permanent. An
attractive park, the Chamizal National Memorial (daily 8am-5pm; free),
on the east side of downtown off Paisano Drive, was built to commemorate
the settling of the border dispute and provides a pleasant place to
picnic. The Border Patrol Museum , 4315 Transmountain Rd at Hwy-54 (Tues-Sun
9am-5pm; free), is a small but engrossing museum explaining the work of
the patrollers and highlights the ingenuity of smugglers. The Cordova
Bridge heads across the river into Mexico, where there's a larger park
and a number of museums; there are no formalities, so long as you have a
multiple-entry visa for the US and don't travel more than twenty or so
miles south of the border. The El Paso-Juarez "Border Jumper" trolley
departs hourly from the visitor center; the $12 round-trip ticket is
steep but does provide a pretty comprehensive tour of the city.
Although El Paso is predominantly Hispanic, there is also a substantial
popu-lation of Tigua Indians , a displaced Pueblo tribe, based in a
reservation (complete with the almost statutory casino ) on Socorro Road,
southeast of downtown. The reservation's arts and crafts center is open
to the public, selling pottery and textiles. Adjacent to the reservation,
the simple Ysleta del Sur , the oldest mission in the United States,
marks the beginning of a mission trail (information office tel
915/534-0677, ) running alongside scruffy cotton, alfalfa, chili, onion
and pecan fields. Two miles east, the Socorro mission , moved from its
original seventeenth-century site on the river, shows an unusually heavy
Native American influence; the crenelation on either side of the bell
tower represents a Tigua rain god. Still an active church, inside it is
relatively unadorned, with hand-carved ceiling beams and lattices; major
renovation efforts, replacing crumbling concrete, will continue through
2003. Off the beaten track, six miles further along the trail, the
cathedral-style San Elizario was the chapel for the Spanish military,
with whitewashed walls, jewel-colored stained glass and a decorative tin
ceiling. Splendid views of three states and two countries can be seen
from the southern rim of the Franklin Mountains, either from Scenic
Drive or from the vertigo-inducing Wyler Aerial Tramway (summer Mon &
Thurs noon-6pm, Fri-Sun noon-9pm; rest of year Mon, Thurs & Fri noon-6pm,
weekends noon-9pm; $7; tel 915/566-6622, ), which climbs 946 feet to
Wyler Observatory.
In Concordia cemetery , just northwest of the I-10 and Hwy-54
intersection, a shambling collection of crumbling stones and plain
wooden crosses commemorates assorted pioneers and desperados. The grave
of John Wesley Hardin , much romanticized gunslinger, is marked by a
crooked headstone northwest of the Chinese graveyard, a section walled
off since the Chinese built the railroads in the 1880s. El Paso is also
the home of Tony Lama, makers of top-quality cowboy boots , available at
substantial discounts at three outlets across town.
|
Vacation Rentals in El Paso |
|
|
|
|
|
from $50.00
USD