We have two topics for this week's blog. The first one is about the unique landscape with it's very different plants. The other is the nearby Mexican border and the issues surrounding the illegals who are attempting to cross.
We enjoyed four days at Patagonia Lake State Park just 20 miles north of Nogales. This is both a desert environment, but also a water shed of the San Carlos River. The lake has been created by a dam, but the river valley has supported people as they hunted for food for many years. We enjoy bird watching and the water and its treed banks bring a variety of birds here. Thanks to another birder we were alerted to and shown a very rare bird. The Elegant Trogon (below) is both scarce and also beautiful. We also saw the Grey Hawk and the Broad-billed Hummingbird who are found in the southern portion of Arizona and further south into Mexico.
The marina at Patagonia Lake State Park.
On Wednesday we travelled west to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. This park is the only place in the United States where you can see large stands of Organ Pipe Cacti growing naturally.
Jim discovered just how sharp the thorns are on this Cholla Cactus. It's easily detached branches can spread and root when conditions are right.
And how is a bird able to perch on them?
The Ocotillo is a very thorny plant often mistaken for a cactus. It has the ability to sprout leaves within 48 hours of rain and is now nearly to the point of blossoming (see below). The Ocotillo will lose their leaves in a time of drought and then grow it's leaves again when it rains.
The Saguaro (sa-WA-roh) cacti at sunset.
Our campground is beautiful but does not have hookups, so Jim was able to try out our solar panel which we had just purchased this winter. We are learning to conserve water and use battery power which is supplemented by the solar panel. No energy hungry appliances - microwave, electric heater, toaster or TV.
Our second blog item is the US/Mexican border and the issues of illegals who are trying to enter the country. Our proximity to the border has opened our eyes to the problems of trying to control the influx of people and the desire of the illegals who want to improve their lives. There are many reasons for people wanting to cross as we learned while listening to a speaker/singer at the "Second Hour" at a Sunday morning church class at Shalom a few weeks ago. From this speaker we learnt that some of these illegals are from further south like central America.
For example: the young son who has sick parents that need to see a doctor - so he hopes to earn money to help them.
Or the middle aged man who has a family in the US and has lived here for years and was then arrested and sent back because he did not have papers.
These border patrol vehicles can be seen on any highway or country road checking for illegals who might have crossed the border.
While camping at Kartchner Caverns we observed this plane doing low level searches while a white van patrolled on the ground.
We noticed this tethered blimp over the mountains in the city of Sierra Vista and assumed that it was there for surveillance.
Sign at the entrance to the park.
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