Today, we went to Best Optical located near Plaza San Pedro, and Carvao to get some eyeglasses for me, and for some new reading lenses for Jim.

He didn’t want any new frames, as he just loves the old ones he’s been wearing for years and years.

I got an eye examination, picked out a nice pair of frames, and ordered those new polycarbonate lenses – Jim just got the polycarbonate lenses. The whole thing came to $96, and we paid in dollars.

You couldn’t get a deal like that at Wal-Mart, anywhere.

On the way back home, Jim and I discussed the arrest, yesterday, presumably one of the most dangerous narcos,  Eduardo Teodoro Garcia Simental aka “El Teo.”

El Teo has been blamed for much of the violence in Tijuana.

He was arrested in the calm and beautiful town of La Paz, here in Baja California.

I guess La Paz was a good hiding place, or at least seemed so.

Fortunately, Mexicali has nothing like the violence that is raging in over the control of the “drug turf” in Tijuana.

Everything is peaceful in Mexicali.

Back home, I was fixing dinner, while Matthew was watching television, and Jim was reading an old copy of the Los Angeles Times, that had been laying around.

“Hey,” said Jim, “Here’s an article about Mexicali.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Yeah,”  answered Jim, “listen to this. It says, Here in Mexicali, people fear the desert sun more than drug hit men. The city of 700,000 has a homicide rate comparable to that of Wichita, Kan., and one of the biggest police deployments is Operation Beat the Heat, in which officers haul blocks of ice to shantytown residents.”

“They never brought us any ice,” said Matthew.

“Hey, Matthew – we’re not shantytown residents – at least not yet, ” laughed Jim.

Jim continued, “There hasn’t been a bank robbery in Mexicali in 18 months, or a reported kidnapping in a year. Indeed, the city of wide, treeless boulevards offers little evidence of narco-extravagance or violence. Mexicali’s conservative population of civil servants and agricultural laborers has tended to frown on ostentatious displays of wealth. Outsized mansions are few.”

Jim paused, and said, “This article is bunkum, the streets here have plenty of trees.”

“Yeah,” I said, “whoever the reporter was probably never set foot in Mexicali.”

“You’re right, MaryAnn,” replied Jim, who continued reading, “But some Mexican authorities say the U.S. is partly to blame for not improving its border defenses in adjacent Calexico, the third-busiest U.S. – Mexico port of entry, which handles about 40,000 pedestrian and car crossings daily. One recent undercover investigation suggests that U.S. inspectors may be stopping as few as one in 40 shipments through the 10-lane crossing.”

Jim put down the paper, and said, “Yeah, it takes us at least an hour and a half to wait in line in our truck at the border – the line sometimes stretches for a mile. The only scenery is the Calexico water tank.

Seems to me that the U.S. Border Patrol guys are doing a great job – they take their time with each vehicle, and are real straight fellows.”

Jim picked up the newspaper, and continued, “Beyond the border crossing, smugglers face relatively few obstacles. Unlike in San Diego, where they must run a gantlet of local law enforcement, only a handful of Calexico cops and Imperial County sheriff’s deputies patrol downtown streets, including Imperial Avenue, the north-south thoroughfare leading to Interstate 8.”

Matthew interrupted, “When is two and a half men coming on?”

“You missed it,” said Jim, continuing to read the paper, “Calexico Police Chief James Lee Neujahr, standing at the palm-lined gateway to the city, pointed to the ‘Welcome to Calexico’ sign at Friendship Park, where cartel lookouts report on the progress of drug shipments coming through the crossing at 1st and Paulin streets.”

Jim stopped reading again. “MaryAnn, did you ever see any drug cartel lookouts in Calexico?”

“Not that I know of,” I replied.

Matthew chimed in, “I think I did.”

“What makes you think that?” asked Jim.

“This guy had on those real big sunglasses,” answered Matthew.

“Well,” said Jim, “then you better stop wearing your real big sunglasses.”

Before Matthew could answer, Jim read on, “Neujahr believes smuggling groups long ago figured out that Imperial County lacks resources, a neglected status reaffirmed this year, he said, when the Justice Department issued $8.7 million in Southwest border crime grants. Communities as far away as San Mateo County in the Bay Area got funding, but not Imperial County.”

Jim got up and put the newspaper into the trash, and said, “Geez, almost seems like some folks in the U.S. want those drugs to get through.”

“Why?” asked Matthew.

Jim looked at Matthew, and said, “Not all folks are as good as you, Matthew.”

I just shook my head, smiled, and continued mashing potatoes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 1:44 am and is filed under Mexicali. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.