Remain in Mexico

View from La Roca Shelter

 

Getting to the La Roca shelter took some doing. A steep street followed by sets of steps to get us to the rock on which the shelter was built. Francisco (Pancho) Olachea Martin loaded our group into his ambulance, named after his daughter Cristina, and drove up the street. He even used the siren for kicks. That’s the kind of guy he is. The ambulance was tight for nine people, a couple of benches and a stretcher. In the front, a few drawers with bandages and a bin labeled “Various Meds.”

The fun of the ambulance ride evaporated the moment we saw the first room at the shelter, reserved for women and children. It was a dim, narrow space, maybe ten feet across. It looked like it was occupied before it was ready. Some wiring hung loose. An old stove provided some heat. Bunk beds took up most of the floor space. The remaining floor space was taken up by belongings and blankets. If the ambulance was tight, this room was even more cramped. The women and their children spent most of their days in this cramped space waiting for their turn at the border. There was an outdoor rec space, but we were told it was unsafe because of cartel surveillance. Continue reading “Remain in Mexico”

La Roca Restaurant and Bar

This is the first of a series of pieces I wrote, reflecting on my time at the Conference “Common Ground on the Border” and in southern Arizona.

Visiting a nice restaurant seemed a strange way to end the Nogales field trip to visit migrants, asylum seekers and deportees in Mexico. Sure, it was past lunch time and I was hungry. Maybe a taco stand would have been more appropriate. But La Roca Restaurant and Bar it was.

The place got its name from the rock grotto that forms one side of the dining room. The carved stone arched up to a high ceiling where massive wooden joists held up the roof. Night blue walls cast the room a somber light, and dark amber woodwork of the doors and windows further added to an ambiance of history that probably never happened. Continue reading “La Roca Restaurant and Bar”