El Paso so far

Saturday night

I stealthed for the night in the Mission Valley, which is the older part of ELP on the southside adjacent to Juarez, Chihuahua.  Lots of street parking which is great for stealthing.

Walked into a little bar across the street and everyone was having fun, smiling, and singing with the jukebox.  Effortless switching between Spanish-English.  No douches.

Woke up, washed up, and went hunting for coffee.

Sunday morning

Headed to Joe and Vinny Bronson’s Bohemian Cafe for caffeine.  Normally I would make my own coffee but I am test driving ELP.  :-)

Got there a little early and it wasn’t open.  I walked the area and saw lots of neat Craftsman and adobe houses from the 30s I think.  Very small by modern standards but a natural human size, IMO.  I was able to walk without panting or getting soaked.

When it was open, a superchill fellow got me food and coffee and made excellent, friendly conversation.  Locals started to show up and they were friendly and chill, too.  I am starting to think everyone here is chill.  Awesome weirdo music.

Started out with Chilaquillas (sp?), tortillas with red sauce with eggs on top.  I needed that.  Iced coffee first, then the house brew.  Ahhh, I can think now.

observations

El Paso seems to be friendly and chill.  Relaxed. Human-paced.

It’s funny being the minority; at the bar the locals referred to “some white dude” because his relative rarity (~20%) made that useful information.