{"id":91088,"date":"2015-10-14T10:35:39","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T16:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=91088"},"modified":"2015-10-14T12:12:05","modified_gmt":"2015-10-14T18:12:05","slug":"across-the-border-juarez-market-shows-signs-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/10\/across-the-border-juarez-market-shows-signs-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Across the border, Ju\u00e1rez Market shows signs of life"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_91303\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-91303\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/TuribusJuarez-771x465.jpg\" alt=\"The Turibus Ju\u00e1rez, which some says is helping bring life back to the Ju\u00e1rez Market.\" width=\"771\" height=\"465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/TuribusJuarez-771x465.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/TuribusJuarez-336x203.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/TuribusJuarez-768x463.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/TuribusJuarez-1170x705.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/TuribusJuarez.jpg 1480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Turibus Ju\u00e1rez, which some says is helping bring life back to the Ju\u00e1rez Market.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In many ways, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/El-Mercado-Juarez-Pagina-Oficial-352641044869341\/timeline\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ju\u00e1rez Market<\/a> on Avenida 16 de Septiembre was the emblematic microcosm of the economic impact of violence and insecurity in Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez.<\/p>\n<p>The once-thriving tourist destination on the edge of the city\u2019s downtown was already suffering a historic decline when the hard ripples of 9-11 struck the borderland, triggering a U.S. security clampdown that led to three- or four-hour waits for people crossing back over to neighboring El Paso, Texas.<\/p>\n<p>The violence of 2008-2012 was almost the nail in the coffin for the Ju\u00e1rez Market. For many years the sprawling indoor-outdoor venue of curios and candy stands, artesan\u00edas and typical Mexican-food eateries sported a desolate look, eking by in a ghost-like state virtually devoid of customers and staffed by scattered vendors and anxious-looking waiters hanging on by their fingertips.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This story was produced by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/frontera.nmsu.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">Frontera NorteSur<\/a>,\u00a0a U.S.-Mexico border news service run by the Center for Latin American and Border Studies at New Mexico State University.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>So on a recent Sunday swing by the market, Frontera NorteSur\u00a0was somewhat surprised to see most of the tables on the outdoor dining patio occupied by customers enjoying lunch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow there are many tables,\u201d said a satisfied Nelly Castillo, proprietor of the Apolo Caf\u00e9, one of several restaurants open for service at the Ju\u00e1rez Market. Castillo credited a good deal of the uptick in business to a bus parked on Avenida 16 de Septiembre, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/turibusjuarez\" target=\"_blank\">Turibus Ju\u00e1rez<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Launched last May as a new and privately-owned tourism enterprise, the bus whisks visitors to several sites around the border city, including the Ju\u00e1rez Market, for a ticket price in pesos the equivalent of about six bucks. Roberto Cano, Turibus Juarez trip coordinator, said the company also offers special day-trips to Samalayuca, a rural Chihuahua town situated about 30\u00a0minutes from Juarez, for about $25.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The excursion includes a meal and tastings of sotol, an agave-sourced spirit commercialized in Samalayuca, Cano said.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with FNS, Cano said Turibus Ju\u00e1rez has attracted clients from Mexico, the United States, New Zealand, Australia and Germany. But the lion\u2019s share of his company\u2019s business, he explained, comes from U.S. immigration policies. The U.S. Consulate in Ju\u00e1rez is a mandatory stop for Mexican nationals from all over the country completing the bureaucratic procedures necessary for U.S. residence; many people pass days or even weeks in the city waiting for their proper papers.<\/p>\n<p>For people with time on their hands, the Turibus Ju\u00e1rez beckons. \u201cThe majority of (customers) are from the consulate,\u201d Cano said. \u201cWe go to the hotels and pick them up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Every 15 evenings, Turibus Ju\u00e1rez offers another special tour that includes the Ju\u00e1rez Market, he continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are telling people the myths and legends of Ju\u00e1rez,\u201d Cano said about the evening jaunts to the market. \u201cIt\u2019s a little dark, with ghosts\u2026 it\u2019s completely dark and scary,\u201d he added, with appropriate music to boot.<\/p>\n<p>The young tourism specialist revealed that two of the myths and legends told to Turibus Ju\u00e1rez&#8217;s customers include \u201cLa Planchada,\u201d a tale about a creepy nurse who kills kids in the hospital, and \u201cEl Loco Polis,\u201d a story about a dead cop whose body contaminates a well underneath city hall from which people drink. \u201cI know it\u2019s gross, but people like it,\u201d Cano laughed.<\/p>\n<p>According to Cano, Turibus Ju\u00e1rez\u2019s regular <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1275675102\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Tuesday<\/span><\/span>-Sunday trips, escorted by English-speaking guides, leave from the strip mall where the Viva Mexico restaurant is located near the Bridge of the Americas &#8212; or the Free Bridge, as it is called in local parlance.<\/p>\n<p>Besides the Ju\u00e1rez Market, the bus stops at the new Plaza de Mexicanidad and several museums, including the Casa de Adobe, the place where Mexican revolutionary and soon-to-be president Francisco Madero sought refuge during the Mexican Revolution more than a century ago.<\/p>\n<p>Looking like the wise aunt of the kitchen, Nelly Castillo sounded relieved at the uptick in business at her Ju\u00e1rez Market restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe sold very little, my husband and I,\u201d Castillo said, recalling recent years when the world turned upside down. \u201cWe didn\u2019t pay the gas, water or anything, because we couldn\u2019t\u2026 we were struggling, struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked why she persisted, Castillo answered that she has 35 years invested with the caf\u00e9 and resolved to remain with the familiar. \u201cWe said we\u2019re going to stay here and we did. Thanks to God,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Although violence began declining after 2012, Castillo described 2013 and 2014 as still \u201cdifficult\u201d years. This year, however, has been a much better one, the small restaurateur judged. \u201cPeople are starting to come, not like before, but they are beginning to see things are okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Almost across from the Juarez Market\u2019s Caf\u00e9 Apolo stands a rusted jewel of Ju\u00e1rez, the long-closed and crumbling Victoria Theater, now fenced off and reportedly slated for remodeling as part of the overall downtown development marshaled by the state and local governments that is proceeding in stages.<\/p>\n<p>Castillo said she wasn\u2019t privy to the particulars of the overall redevelopment plan, but contended that restoring confidence in would-be visitors is the real key to the recovery of the local downtown area economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The violence of 2008-2012 was almost the nail in the coffin for the Ju\u00e1rez Market. So on a recent Sunday swing by the market, Frontera NorteSur was somewhat surprised to see most of the tables on the outdoor dining patio occupied by customers enjoying lunch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2732,"featured_media":91303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[118,236,195,1285],"class_list":["post-91088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-economy","tag-mexico","tag-mexicos-drug-war","tag-paso-del-norte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2732"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}