Tucson

Tucson, more than any other destination, gave me a lot to think about. I guess I was thinking too much to take any pictures. It was very beautiful, though, and I want to do it justice. Here's a picture someone with a better camera took of the Sonora Desert. Isn't it nice?

Photo Credit: E.J. Peiker

In Tucson I stayed with my friend Ali, who is working for Borderlinks, a non-profit that does experiential education about immigration, border economics, and poverty. They also cook meals for their groups, so I got to help out with that when I was in the office.

One night, we went to the Greyhound station. Every night, people released from the Eloy Detention Center, whose "customer base" is the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement are dropped off at the Tucson Greyhound station. If they're lucky, they can catch a bus that night, but if they're not, they have to wait until the morning. Unfortunately, the station closes between 11:45 PM and 5 AM. We went to talk to the people arriving from Eloy, make sure they had tickets, and find a place for them to stay should they need it. Luckily, everyone had tickets already. My Spanish is abysmal, so my friend and a couple of other people did all of the talking, but I'm glad I went. I never would have imagined that this need was there unless I had been shown it. Seeing that makes me want to seek out where people need help in my community when I get back home.

We also visited the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, where we saw lots of native plants and animals. The undisputed highlight - which topped even the adorable napping of desert mammals - was watching the curious behavior of two nest-builders. One bird was perched in the beginnings of a nest, sitting precariously where a cactus arm reached out from the main stalk. The other bird would fly down to the ground, search for and find the perfect twig, fly back, and land on the back of the other bird to place the twig. They repeated this process for quite some time while we watched and laughed.