Ciudad Juarez, MX

I'm on the tail end of a tour of Texas. I've just spent 11 days in El Paso managing a go-live of a pretty complex installation of our product, and it went well. A day and a half in Dallas to finish up another project here, and I'm homeward bound. Three things have made this trip worth-while.

1. My job is an excellent combination of the things I liked about my last two jobs. I get to be an engineer, I get to be a manager, I get to travel enough to make it all interesting, and I get to work alongside people who are smarter than me. Moulton had 1(sorta) and 2, but lacked 3 and 4. CGE&Y had 3 and 4, but lacked 1 and 2. In short, I'm happier in my work than I can remember. It showed these two weeks, and consequently, this project has received rave reviews from the customer. I credit the solid execution by the software engineer, systems engineer, and installation team.

2. I've had time to think about stuff. Just stuff. Some of it ends up here, a lot of it doesn't.

3. Juarez, Mexico. It's a rough-and-tumble town just across the Rio-Grande from El Paso. It has a history somewhat similar to those of other Mexican Cities, but boasts a few milestones that helped define the relationship between the Mexican goverment and its people as well as between Mexico and the U.S.. Generally speaking, Apaches and other natives thrived, Spaniards conquered, a mission was built, natives were baptised, and then a couple hundred years of new-world tension resulted in what is now one of the focal points of our nation's southern border. Of note, the city hosted the first meeting of the Mexican and US presidents; a banquet that was to be a prelude to end of the revolution. The final battle (Pancho Villa et al) was faught here in 1911 finally ousting President Porfirio. The upheaval more-or-less cemented this rowdy city's reputation for lawlessness. Of course, prohibition-era Texas boozers and importers added a bit to that effect. There's a guy in Las Cruces who has taken it upon himself to build a fairly authoritative guide to the place... he's done a helluva job for a gringo: http://www.juarez-mexico.com/index.html.

Anyway, Hoa (the software engineer) and I checked it out on Friday night. I googled a decent club and Spanglish'd our way there via taxi. Don Quintin is definitely a local hangout; we were the only American's around. That also meant we were the only Californians around. Hoa pointed out that it also meant he was likely the only Chinese guy within 300 miles. Removed from the tourist-trap Avenida Juarez, the place was nice. It was the only place with a porsche and a bimmer parked outside. We had good time drinking petron and dos-equis, chatting up a dude who had recently moved there from Mexico City. Andrew was there with his girl and some of her friends. I professed my tequila-induced affections for la amiga en la camiseta de oro. Andrew quickly pointed out she was the girlfriend of a gangster. I should have guessed. Anyhow, the band was excellent and the atmosphere rivaled any club in LA. The fact that we had to get by on my broken Spanish kinda added to the fun.

A couple days later, I went for a stroll through the more central parts of town in daylight. Sure enough, once you get a mile or so from the border, it's nothing short of charming... almost humbling, really. There's a community here that is a hundred years removed and a thousand times more closely knit than the urban sprawl of El Paso. Case in point; farmers' marketplaces and newly erected boutiques operate under the shadows of a 200 year old presidio, a 130 year old Customs House (where Porfirio and President Taft met), and 350 year old Mission de Guadalupe. It's a wonder that I'm only 2 miles away from a Wal-Mart on the other side of the Rio Grande. The city's busiest boulevard, the one that connects them all, is named for the date of Mexico's 1810 liberation from Spain's rule; Avenida 16 de Septiembre (sadly, not for the date of my birth). There's a sense of home and history here that I haven't seen in a long time in many US cities.

San Francisco, of course, being one exception.