A few minutes goes by and the people at the register still haven't left; half of the stuff they are buying is still bunched in their arms. You start to get irritated at how long it is taking and step a little closer, focusing on exactly what is happening at the register to see what is holding the line up.
It is your ears that realize what's going on first as you hear the rolling r's, the "ye" sound of the double ll, and the overall speaking speed of the Spanish language coming from the people. Occasionally a phrase of English will haltingly pass through their lips, but they, and the frazzled sales associate behind the register, rely more on the age-old standby of miming to get their respective points across. A transaction that should take more than a three minutes is now taking closer to fifteen as key pieces of information keep getting lost in hand-gesture translation.
It is after you hear the sales associate say, "OK, let me start over again," that you start to get really mad and start to think not-so-nice thoughts about all of the people passing illegally through the border and about how they refuse to learn English, ultimately leading to situations like this when a half-hour-long trip to buy some socks and a new polo suddenly becomes an hour-long ordeal. The problem is, you're missing one key piece of information: These people are not immigrants and they are not illegal.
These people are part of a growing group of people from Mexico that are spending their free time, their vacation days, and, perhaps more importantly, their money here in America, especially in towns and cities close to the border.
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This blog is here to explain why exactly so many Mexican citizens are trekking across the border for shopping and other leisure activities and how their visits are affecting the economies of towns and cities along the border as well as the entire national economy.
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