El Paso - sorting socks and eating enchiladas

One of the tasks in the shelter is working in the ropería sorting clothing donations. I'm not sure why but this turned out to be my least favorite thing to do -- unless I'm sorting socks. I like sorting socks. One day my fellow volunteer came into the office to tell me that there is a rat in one of the donation bags and could I capture it and sort through the bags it may have eaten. Why do people think that I'm ok with rodents? This was not the first time I've been in a similar situation! I asked for a broom, a face mask and some gloves -- and was given some paper towels and a prayer. That was sufficient honestly as I threw out most of the bag in question (poop galore) and saw nary a whisker of the perpetrator.

Two things worth mentioning: many of the refugees made every effort to help the volunteers from sorting clothing to organizing and folding bedding to cleaning out the showers. They wanted to be busy and to give back and I think that is very telling. And two, if shelters near you are accepting donations please consider providing new underwear and socks, shoes, and clothing in smaller men's sizes. Please also consider who will be wearing the clothing you're donating. In the bin I found a few of Beto's campaign t-shirts that had "Border Surge" emblazoned across them - perhaps not the most appropriate for a Guatemalan refugee.

That day at lunch I was treated to champurrada brought especially over the border from Juarez by someone whom Sr. Peggy refers to as "an elder." It is like a combination of api and coquito (which is a terrible description for the vast majority of you who haven't had api) in that it's a spiced corn drink mixed with cinnamon and chocolate and typical for the Christmas season. Like api, it's yummiest when super hot. I link to this recipe with the caveat that I've never made it and I'm not Mexican so I can't vouch for the recipe's quality or authenticity (but the first recipe I looked at suggested using Taza chocolate so I rejected it out of hand) so here: https://www.mexicoinmykitchen.com/champurrado-mexican-thick-chocolate/

That day there was no bus arriving so I got to leave early. Another volunteer, a college student from El Paso, had seen my list of restaurants to try on the recommendation of the surly bartender and was horrified. She fleshed out my list with better establishments, including some vegetarian standards, and even offered to drive me over to L &J Cafe on her way home.

L&J Cafe is next to Concordia Cemetery, the final resting place for many Texas outlaws and lawmen alike. It is the only cemetery in Texas to have a section for Chinese people and
it also had a section for Jewish people, Freemasons, Mormons, and babies. Very egalitarian. We visited John Wesley Hardin's grave - yet another figure from US history that I knew nothing about. Basically Hardin killed a lot of people in the 1870s - including a man who annoyed him by snoring too loudly (we've all been there) - and wrote an autobiography of his exploits while in jail. His grave is in a cage because his family wanted to relocate his body but a court order and lawsuit prevented its removal.

When I stepped into L&J Cafe, I got the impression that I had also fallen into a crowd of gunslingers and rabblerousers but then I was seated away from the bar. Their menu supports this feeling: in 1927 the bar was started as a speakeasy popular with soldiers from Fort Bliss. Slot machines were hidden in the walls as well. In 1936 it officially opened legally and was renamed in 1968. Please don't shoot me but I thought my enchilada was a little salty.

Later that evening, I went to El Paso's Christmas fair to find my small-town husband who would show me what the holiday season is all about. But really I just ate delicious delicious churros.