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The Big Blue Marble Newsletter: Sample Article A traveler without observation is a bird without wings. Reality Tours: What a Concept While most people associate borders with long, stress filled lines, ugly towns, and curt customs officials, I love them. To me, they represent the first glimpse of a new way of life and a chance to see the dynamic, sometimes even violent collision of two countries in action. Few borders are more compelling than San Diego- Tijuana. On one hand, it is bleak. An impenetrable wall designed to permit free movement of deer but not people (which is illuminated by huge Kreig lights and held under constant helicopter surveillance) runs through the heart of the region. The US-Mexican Friendship Park, until the 1980s a place for families separated by the border to meet, stands empty -- a poignant reminder of the tumultuous relationship between the two countries. Tijuana, even though filled with trappings of US prosperity such Costco and WalMarts and huge suburban shopping tracts (with small town homes which locals call ?chicken coops?), remains dusty, poor, and chaotic in contrast to the affluent San Diego suburbs just on the other side of the wall. ?On the other hand, the area has an amazing vitality. Trade and people still cross the border with surprising ease. Some 100,000 Americans daily commute across the border from their homes in Tijuana (which cost about 1/3 of similar homes in San Diego) to their work in San Diego. Nearly 5000 maquiladoras (factories) from the far corners of Earth (employing around 300,000 people) have set up shop in Tijuana to take advantage of Mexico?s cheap labor ($75 a week) and the region?s easy access to the US market. More tourists cross the border daily ? in search of cheap booze and pharmaceuticals ? than any other place on the planet. One of the most vibrant artistic sub-cultures anywhere is developing on both sides of border born out of the chaotic and vibrant interaction between the US and Mexico (note: if you want a thought-provoking and extremely literate analysis of both countries, read Richard Rodriguez?s books Brown and the Hunger of Memory.) Sadly, tourists don?t get any sense of what?s happening in these incredible communities. Most come to Tijuana, buy trinkets, and leave before sundown. Yet, it doesn?t have to be that way. Thanks to Global Exchange, a small non-profit based in San Francisco, you can in a very short time, as I did recently, get a first hand glimpse into the politics, history, and culture of everyday life on both sides of the border. nfortunately, the tour is a bit of a secret. My tour (which was held during the Day of the Dead in early November) only had three other participants. A retired politically active attorney, Lynn, and his wife, Cathie, who runs a program for migrant workers in Oregon and a sweet, flight attendant from Texas, Julie, who took part in the tour to do a thesis for one of the classes needed to finish her degree. Yet, it shouldn?t be secret any more. Never have I seen so much of a community in just a matter of three days. Thanks to our able tour guides, Claudia, an activist and educator with Global Exchange and Carmela, a talented Tijuana artist, we meet a diverse and inspirational group of people including:? Jaime, a Mexican labor attorneys and activist, who struggles to get maquiladora workers the pay, benefits and working conditions (sexual harassment is rampant since nearly all the workers are young, females) they are legally entitled to receive under Mexican law;? Lourdes, an ordinary Mexican mother turned into an environmental activist when her neighbor was besieged by poisonous flumes from an unregulated battery recycling factories;? Patricia, a University professor, who heads a non-profit in Tijuana, dedicated to helping indigenous people (including a small band of 200 native Americans living near Rosarito Beach) maintain their culture and secure their rights.? Luis, the leader of a squatter settlement in Tijuana, which has been fighting with the government for nearly thirty years for the right to own their land (note: when they settled the land it was on the far edge of Tijuana; today, it is in the middle of a large scale transportation corridor (which may eventually include a freeway and a light rail system and an industrial park). We also participated in a diverse cross section of activities that allowed us an intimate glimpse into the lives of the people of border region including:? A tour of the US Border Patrol, led by a Public Information Officer, which highlighted the agency?s efforts to defend the border (note: most Mexicans enter the US through the areas where there is no wall. Most of these unwalled areas are deep in the Sonora desert. Since the walls were erected in 1994, over 3000 migrants have lost their lives trying to cross the desert.)? Accommodations for one night at a church run shelter offering free accommodation for migrants in Tijuana who planned to illegally enter the USA or seek a temporary refuge before they return home after being deported from America (I will never forget reading a note from one migrant at the shelter who poignantly described the moment ? seeing his daughter with a bloated stomach from hunger ? he decided to risk his life to cross the border). A visit to a slum in Tijuana (populated by new migrants looking for work at the maquiladoras) with hundreds of makeshift tin shacks perched above the Tijuana river which smelled like pure sewage,? Attendance at a Day of the Dead celebration at a school in Tijuana dedicated to teaching bilingual education (Spanish-Mixtec) to indigenous children from Oaxaca.? A walk along a section of the border (on the Mexican side) decorated with crosses and coffins inscribed with the name of each migrant who died trying to cross into the US (a surprising number of these unfortunate people were from outside of Mexico, including Brazil, Lebanon, and even Africa). The people and places we saw touched my heart. It was, on one hand, sad to see so much suffering. On the other, it was moving to witness so many people dedicated to making life better. The tour also made me think. I originally, thought that the process of globalization of the border economy would, while difficult for now, eventually lead to a better life for the residents of Tijuana. Now, I am not so sure. While globalization seems inevitable, it has probably made the bulk of the people?s lives in Mexico worse and, perhaps, more importantly, does not seem to hold much promise of enriching their lives in the future, either. Yet, maybe with the intervention of the dedicated people we met on this tour, Tijuana will survive and prosper. I, for one, sure hope so. FOR MORE INFORMATION Global Exchange offers ?reality tours? throughout the Earth including Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, and Argentina. The tours usually cost around $150-200 a day. The accommodations and food, at least on Border tour, were comfortable, clean, and good quality. In addition, Global Exchange uses part of the funds as donations for the organizations that the participants visit.? Nine different organizations sponsor reality tours. Most, like Global Exchange, are non-profits with a somewhat leftist agenda (though to be fair they do try to present a balanced view of the area ? our tours included a schedule visit inside a maquiladora, which unfortunately was cancelled by the factory, and the Border Patrol tour). Arthur Frommer?s website recently featured an excellent summary of these organizations.
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