More from El Paso and Juarez

I think I may be slowly getting use to the heat. It still wakes me early every morning.

Last week we took a day trip out to The Carlsbad Caverns. It was the first time I was crossing back into the US. It went as smooth as could be expected. The border guard was just a little confused as to why I was there. So we set off (Isabel, Mayela, Pablo and I). Once outside El Paso it was just desert after desert. I think there are some pictures in that album. This was all brand new for me. Along the road there we're some houses dotted here and there. I couldn't (and still can't) fathom why anyone would want to live so far out.

The road then led us up towards the Guadalupe Mountains. The Chihuahua desert surrounds this. Again something I wasn't use to was seeing flat land to the horizon and then a huge mountain range jutting out.

The caverns were huge. The area is all limestone, so over millions of years they were carved out. The lift took us down about 750 feet and we were able to walk for about 2 mile underground. Hopefully that'll give some idea of the magnitude of these caves. I think the largest chamber is the 7th largest in the world. Then again I may have just made that up. It is also full of bats. Didn't get to see any because they roost really high. It said the numbers can range from between 100,000 up to 1.3 million (I hope I have those numbers correct) depending on the season and times of drought etc.

The drive back was nice as the sun was setting across the desert. Funnily enough some clouds showed up to slightly obscure the view. Both Isabel's and my camera's batteries died so we couldn't really get any good photos.

To cap off the day we all went to see Brave. I highly recommend it.

I don't think I've spoken about the driving yet. It is completely different to home and I don't mean because we drive on opposite sides to one another. Indicators seem to be optional. I've seen 2 car crashes since getting to this continent. Now neither of them were terribly bad, but it's more than I've seen since I started driving back home. The driving appears to be a lot more agressive than home too. All in all I don't rate the experience highly, so less of that and more of what we are at.

We hopped the border to El Paso downtown on Tuesday. By hopped I mean walked over a bridge and through US Border control again. Now the gentleman that questioned me could not fathom why I didn't need a permit/visa to cross even though I had all the correct documentation so that held me up a few minutes. First thing I did in the land of the free was pick up a bandana because my forehead was getting pretty sweaty underneath my cowboy hat. I don't know why but we decided to walk around El Paso at about 12 oclock just as the day was reaching it's hottest. In the end I handled the heat pretty well. Isabel on the other hand got really flustered. We skipped out of the midday sun into Cafe Cental. Fanciest Cafe ever. I felt really rich in that place. They even gave me a little table thingy to put my backpack on. Pablo joined us for lunch and was drooling over the hostess in the place. To be honest there wasn't really a whole lot going on in El Paso. They have a street festival at the end of the week that we are hopping to catch.

After lunch we took a drive up the Franklin Mountain which overlooks all of the city and Cd. Juarez as well. It was an amazing view. I'll add some pictures to the album opposite. (below should be a mashed together pic :p)

We're taking it handy over the next few days. Some more friends to visit/meet and hanging out with Isabel's family. We're due to journey onto Chihuahua city on monday. I'll see if I can add something to the blog showing what dates we're moving around mexico/where we are at the moment as a few people have been asking me when we're due home before we head off to Germany. Until then.