The Foreign Service Journal, October 2007

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 23 ive me the Big Mac con queso, por favor,” says a teenager with pants hanging off his hips. “La quieres con french fries?” responds the cashier. “Claro que si, ma’am! And a coca grande, too.” Welcome to the Texas-Mexico border. Not quite Mexico, not quite the United States, but rather a distinct parallel universe with language, food and traditions that are a fusion of the neighboring nations. Sitting in the central plaza with its pastel colonial facades and wafts of carne asada (grilled beef) from nearby vendors, one sometimes finds it easy to forget just which country you are in. “Thank goodness for cheap tacos,” you think as you look at the Spanish sign on an adjacent kiosk, before realizing that the “$2” listed is actually dollars, not pesos, and you’ve got your decimal point mixed up again. You’re no longer on the Mexican side. And when a green-and-white border patrol car cruises past to pull over a rusty Volkswagen van in search of illegal aliens and narcotics, your presence north of the Rio Grande is confirmed. Los Dos Laredos, as the sister cities of Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, are collectively known, take pride in superlatives. The self-proclaimed “Gateway to Mexico” is the busiest land port of entry for commerce in the whole 1,952-mile border. With 95 percent of the population claiming Mexican heritage, Laredo recently became the most ethnically homoge- neous city in the United States, and it claims to be sec- ond only to Las Vegas as the fastest-growing city in the U.S. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Men’s Health magazine recently named Laredo the “happiest” city in the U.S. (El Paso came in second.) Or perhaps the survey, based on a comparison of antidepressants prescribed per capita, simply did not take into account the possibility that U.S. residents were getting their pre- scription medications in the unregulated market that flourishes just south of the border. Gorgeous George Each year Laredo hosts the largest party in the United States honoring President George Washington — or Jorge Washington, as he is called here. The George Washington Birthday Celebration is Anglo- American colonial culture wrapped in a colorful Mexican poncho. It is representative of the bizarre cultural quirks that make the border region unique. The monthlong F O C U S O N T H E U . S . B O R D E R S C ULTURAL Q UIRKS & T ASTY T REASURES : T HE T WO L AREDOS T HIS SELF - PROCLAIMED “G ATEWAY TO M EXICO ” IS THE BUSIEST LAND PORT OF ENTRY FOR COMMERCE IN THE WHOLE 1,952- MILE BORDER . B Y J ENNIFER L UDDERS “ G Jennifer Ludders recently completed her first tour in Nuevo Laredo. She is now in language training for her next assignment in Ho Chi Minh City.