Thursday, April 16 — Silver City to El Paso

Early this morning, after we said a quick goodbye to Matthew, Nora and Hazel, we spent some time exploring Silver City, a place we liked very much.

We began with breakfast at the Javalina Cafe, where someone treated us to a special cake made with chocolate mousse!

We went to the museum at Western New Mexico University.

Inside this museum are wonderful pieces of pottery made by the Mimbres-Mogollon people who lived here at the same time the Anasazi people were living farther north and west.  

Marie Therese and Anne Marie noticed that most of the bowls had a hole in the very bottom. These holes seemed to be different from other broken fragments. It could not be a coincidence that all these bowls were missing a piece in the same place.

We asked the museum docent, who said that Marie Therese and Anne Marie were right! One theory is that these holes were "kill holes."  After a member of the community died, their own personal bowl had a hole pierced in the bottom. The dead person was buried with the bowl over his or her head. The person's spirit could then escape through that hole. Wow!

Later, as we walked around town, we came to a river at the bottom of a gorge.

When the town was first built, around 1880, the main street was built over a creek. One year, the creek flooded, and the water destroyed almost every building in the city.

Only one house survived the flood.  Here it is:

In mid-morning, we got back on the highway and drove in the direction of El Paso. 

We ate lunch in the car again, as it is still very very windy here. It is impossible to eat outside.  We parked our car in the town of Mesilla, near Las Cruces, New Mexico, and this is where we ate lunch.

Here is a building in Mesilla:

Soon we arrived in El Paso, Texas, where we were the guests of my friend, Callie, in her beautiful home.

We took a ride in Callie's truck.

Callie took us to see the border fence between the United States and Mexico.

In the distance, we could see a U.S. border patrol car on the other side of the fence.

The officer drove up to us and spoke to us from the other side of the fence. When he understood that Marie Therese and Anne Marie had come all the way from France, he opened the gate and let us come inside!

Here is the Rio Grande River as seen from the Mexican side of the fence. The Rio Grande River forms the border between Texas and Mexico.

Here is what the fence looks like from the other side:

Later, we went to a lovely tapas restaurant near the center of El Paso. Callie and her husband had made some benches and decorations in this restaurant.

Callie is standing on a bench which Ernesto made.

Callie finished these beautiful pieces of wood which now decorate this restaurant, called "Tabla."

Here is the railroad station in El Paso. (I thought it was a church!)

Thank you, Callie, for a very interesting experience in El Paso, and for your excellent hospitality!