Mesilla, New Mexico

We got a nice phone call from our daughter Barbara and her hubby Henry today.  They had just returned from a week in Jamaica at a very nice resort down there.  They have traveled to Mexico, Dominican Republic and Jamaica and rated the trips in that order.  They said the service was the worst in Jamaica and best in Mexico.   We wound up chatting for over an hour and got caught up on a lot of things going on in their lives.  They have very busy lives and keep on the go all the time.   In 1846, President Polk declared war on Mexico and sent troops to New Mexico and California under General Kearny. This began the military era in New Mexico, which lasted for about 50 years. At this time, Mexican troops were garrisoned in Mesilla. By 1848 the war had ended and most of the state had been ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
		According to the treaty, the boundary between the United States and Mexico was to extend from the Gulf of Mexico and follow the Rio Grande to a point eight miles north of El Paso and then continue west to the first branch of the Gila River. The boundary was established from a map drawn by J. Disturnell of New York. When the United States sent men to survey the boundary, they found that the Disturnell map was in error. El Paso was actually located 40 miles north of its position on the map and the Rio Grande was actually 130 miles to the west. A settlement was made between the two countries known as the Gadsden Purchase, but diplomatic tension followed.  In 1853, the United States negotiated with Mexico to resolve the boundary dispute which resulted at the termination of the Mexican War and to purchase the land in question. This was known as the Gadsden Purchase. The treaty was consummated by the raising of the United States flag in the Mesilla Plaza by Fort Fillmore troops. With the protection afforded by the forts in the Southwest, north-south and east-west traffic along the trails increased and Mesilla found itself in an optimum location for economic growth. It became an important stop on two stagecoach, mail and trade routes-- the El Camino Real, which reached from Chihuahua to Santa Fe and the Butterfield stage route, which extended from San Antonio to San Diego. The Butterfield Stage Stop was located east of the Mesilla Plaza, between Calle de Guadalupe and Calle de Principal. Gerry and I are camped right next to Mesilla and have been there a number of times enjoying the old homes, church and shops.  It has a lot of history as stated above and also in later years Billy The Kid and other outlaws hung out there.  There are a number of nice restaurants, bars and wine tasting shops in the area and overall the place has a lot of charm. The shop below had a ton of interesting things for sale and we would have liked to go in the shop, but they were closed.  The whole area is touristy and we were surprised so many of the shops were closed on Sunday. This is a winery and wine tasting place just off the town square.  The architecture was very neat and reminded us of Antigua, Guatemala.  Very plain on the outside and beautiful inside.  We hope to return on Monday for a wine tasting if the price is reasonable.  Many places charge $15 for a tasting and that doesn't make any sense to us.  It's their product and we don't feel it is right to pay them to taste and help sell it.    These are two shops on the town square and are really neatly restored.  We tried to out wait the person parked in the car in the right, but he wasn't in any hurry to move out of his illegal parking space. This house was just off the square and had the prettiest flowers and gate to their property.  Inside was a huge palm tree that dominated the interior courtyard. We drove through the town and turned around when we got to the first field of onions.  They looked like they were just about ready to be harvested.  The tops were quite green, so I guess it will be a couple weeks before picking.   There was a gated community with huge homes already completed and many vacant lots.  One house had really neat statues of an Indian and a cowboy just outside the entrance.  The entrance door was large enough to drive a car through with space to spare.   Rich or poor, it is nice to have money. Our morning started off nicely enough until our water hose broke. The water pressure here is so strong that water hoses don't have a chance unless you have a pressure valve on them.  I had turned the water on very little and even that wasn't enough to keep from bursting the hose.