States of the Southwest
Much of the Southwest is desert. Some of it feels a bit magical.The people of one important Southwestern state have called their state The Land of Enchantment. That state's New Mexico. About half of the territory of each of the states of California, Colorado, and Tevas has been called part of the Southwest. Like New Mexico,Arizona is all in the South West; all of Nevada is probably there too.
Neighbors in Mexico
Much of the Southwest of the U.S. boarders on the Republic of Mexico. Nearly all of it was lightly settled by the Spanish speaking people of Spain long before the United States became a country, and much of it had been claimed by the countries of Spain and Mexico.
The Mexico village of Boquillas is across the river from Big Bend National Park in
Texas. "The river".is called the Rio Bravo in Mexico and the Rio Grand in the US, I have crossed it often and have seldom need to swim, In the heat of summer it feels nicely cooling and seems neither grand nor bravo, but one can find beauty there, It is important in this land of little surface water. It is also important in marking the political border between Mexico and the United States.
I seem to remember there being a little unofficial, unguarded wooden walking bridge from the US to Boquillas. There was no immigration officer. The people of Boquillas seem to no longer cross the river to pick up their mail in Texas nor do many
Texans walk walk over to buy food items. Is my memory wrong? It seems that they had made shift to cross without getting wet. The people of the Boquillas area Spoke Spanish, some English a few spoke a couple of indigenous languages. It was much the same with the Texans. Still seems much the same, but it is now harder to hear Indian tongues.
When I was last across the river from Boquillas it was still possible to call across the river to si if any of the nicely finished walking sticks were available and visitors to the Park did so. They made a deal for the price and when all went well the useful sticks were promptly delivered across the river. Seems I also remember bathing on the US side in a hot springs coming up from under river water, but that all is now history. I remember some pleasant late evenings there.
That brings back some other memories not far from a different part of the Southwest along the border. No river marking this part. I remember another hot water spring coming up just below water. This was in Baja California, Mexico not far below the frontier. This kind of natural hot spring is rare.
Native Americans
There were many different indian tribes in the southwest. There many there still. There may be a donen just in Southern California. Only a few are easy to find. Tribes you may have heard of include Shoshone, uni, Hopi, Navaho, Apache. Hopi and uni were early comers, Navajo were much more recent arrivals. I am not sure of the order of arrival of Shoshone. Please tell us if you know.
We have called the Hopi and uni Pueblo people. They lived in substantial permanent villages and practiced considerable agriculture. They also kept turkeys. Do you know of any people who have been on the land longer? They are considered a peaceful people, but not so long ago they rose up to drive out Spanish and Mexican settlers from nearly all the Rio Grand river valley. Many of those settlers' retreated to as far as Mexico city and Spain!
Apache and Navajo arrived to the Southwest in a poorer condition than the pueblo people, but discovered that their bow and arrows were better than those of the Pueblo population. The Pueblo people had a better memory of using the atlatl, but that helped them little against Apache armed with bows. The Navajo and Apache, I believe, spoke Athabaskan languages which were very different from the languages already in the land.
The Apache that I knew loved their pretty highlands and new pickups. They once joined Spanish and Mexican settlers to defend themselves from Pueblo peoples, but that did not last long. Now they are fond of new technology and enjoy the venison they hunt on their own lands.
The Navajo early became herders of sheep and weavers of wool. They now have airport, and radio, and TV stations on their own lands. They are a monder people, but on their very extensive lands some choose to live much as their early ancestors did. Their principle land is bigger than many US states and stretches into four large western states.
Spanish speakers
There are many in the Southwest who speak some Spanish. Some johnny-come-latelies, much like me; some whose ancestors were here from Spain long before the Pilgrims touched Plymouth Rock; many like Indian tribes which dealt with early Spanish explorers and settlers, many like the flow of immigrants from Mexico and a few from many lands from the south. Still Spanish is somewhat eotic to many English speakers.
Many tribal peoples of the SW speak Spanish, some of anantique sort, some integrated into their language. some near the border speak a fairly modern Spanish, Some speak their own language as well as English and spanish. that's more than most other Americans.
Baja California
Baja California is definitely a Mexican state, but for some Americas it feels a bit like the US Southwest. Not so very long ago Baja California was a frontier territory a bit removed from the rest of Mexico. Now it has become an important Mexican state. Now it is an important tourist destination for Mexico, the US, and beyond. It now has some agricultural production for Mexico and the US, fishing is still important beyond sport fishing.
Many from California an beyond find Baja peninsula a romantic, eotic, and beautiful destination that seems a bit more accessible than do most. Near all know the bustling border city of Tijuana (aunt Jane). A very few wonder if the Sea Gypsies learned much from the Seri Indians. The large Southern California city of San Diego is close to Tijuana, So, Tijuana is close to San Diego, right?
Mojave Desert
The Sonora desert is an important part of Southwestern USA. But the much smaller Colorado desert of the Salton Sink is important too: It is densely populated in part including Palm Springs. It has some important agriculture near Salton Sea. It also has an intricate and extensive highway and road system and has relatively easy access to the large city of Los Angeles and to the Pacific Ocean. It is also connected to Mojave desert in a couple of ways and both share portions of the Colorado River. The Colorado River has long been an important feature of the American Southwest. I believe that both the Mojave and the Colorado touch on the Sonora desert. The Sonora is a connection between Mexico and the US Southwest.
Wildlife
The Southwest has plenty of wild life even in the deserts. Since the 1950s and the control of DDT there is more wild life then ever. There are certainly more mountain lions and probably coyotes than antes. I have even seen Mexican red wolves for the first time. There are more Mountain sheep with their great horns. Maybe there are not more of them, but rather we see more of them because we are living closer together. No one has seen a camel in a long time. Some birds have increased in number; I not roadrunners and ravens among them. More quail seem to be being shot.
There is a lot of pressure on the wild habitat of the Southwest. Bears are seen, but rarely hunted. They are sometimes removed with little ceremony from some areas. They have been seen in desert foothills which has not been natural for them. Mountain lions have been seen on the desert recently which is not usual. Their feline second cousins, the bobcat, is not completely accustom to the the desert, but seem to get along well there and in many places. The bobcat may be trapped more than any animal except the rat these days, Trappers have found excellent foreign markets. Should you be looking for a different kind of wildlife and still stay in the SW, you can cross over to Nevada and soon be in Las Vegas.
The little silver grey fo is more common on the desert, but is seldom seen, It has become more nocturnal then ever, Desert tortists are still around, but sometimes like to travel and are too slow to get across the highways safely.
There are Towns in This SW
I have mentioned cities, bur have not mentioned towns. There are plenty of them in the Southwest of the United States, including on the desert. Nevada is still the least populated state in the American Southwest. It has plenty of towns, big ones, little ones, and ghost towns, mining towns and even more than one cow town. At the end of WWII, Las Vegas could still be called a town. Need I mention that Las Vegas has a large urban area and is certainly one of the world's largest gambling cities. There is another gambling city in Nevada is closer to being a town. It started with the mining boom, mostly silver. It is a charming and interesting city, RENO may be too far north to be considered Southwest.
Should you be lookinf for a differnt sor of wildlife, you can cross in to Nevada, get to Las Vgas and still be in the SW
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