Going to Mexico is Easier Than Going to Canada

I've just lost the entire post I'd written about visiting Nogales, Mexico, so this will be brief. Maybe spotty, like my internet connection. Le sigh.

We made a day trip there, as we judged anything outside of a few blocks from the border to carry too many warnings. The kids had three items on their list to find that morning: a colorful Mexican blanket, an iron wood bird, and a tin art mirror, and we had great luck finding them and non-haggling the price down. (The trick is to ask the price, hold it, then hesitate a while. I found this out by accident, as I was genuinely not sure about the purchase, but then the shopkeeper brought the price slowly down to half the original quote. It seems like a good no-guilt way to bargain.)

The Arizona and Mexico side of Nogales are separated by a fence. 

The city was very walkable and colorful. If "shop 'till you drop" is your personal mantra you'd love being the center of attention here and scooping up lots of beautiful treasures. As shopping isn't on our roster of family hobbies, the shopkeepers waving us down and imploring us to shop in their stores wasn't exactly our siren song. (Neither was the call that they have "anything I want" from the doorways of the pharmacies. What I really want is a sunscreen for my face that doesn't make me look shiny and attract all of the dust in the southwest, but I don't think that exists.)

Also, the border crossing was nothing like I expected. I'll sum up what was deleted when my internet imploded: Canada border, mean; Mexico border, nice. (If there was ever a horrible contest to make babies cry with just a glare, those US agents that work the Canadian border would be a tough team to beat. They've got attitude to spare.) After literally being waved into Mexico, we were sure returning to the US side would be tough. Wrong there, and also wrong at the other border checkpoints along the freeway further inland. Every agent we saw working there seemed perfectly capable of doing their jobs without instilling illogical fear into anyone with a passport in their hands. 

When we passed through our last checkpoint both agents smiled at us and wished us a good afternoon. Our entire family said the same thing as we did when we saw this door art in Mexico that morning: "Whoa, that is so cool."