Day 5: TecH2O Museum

Flora Naylor & Claire Cho

We woke up bright and early on Thursday to drive to El Paso from Santa Fe. During the five hour drive, most of up were fast asleep. However, for the few minutes that we were awake, we passed through beautiful landscapes filled with plateaus and mountains. For lunch, we pulled into Las Cruces, NM to eat in front of the World’s Largest Chile Pepper, located in front of the Big Chile Inn. We spent some time just talking, bonding, and of course, taking pictures in front of the chile. After lunch, we headed back on the road for the final leg of our drive. One of our favorite parts of the trip was driving through a mountain range and then being greeted by the city of El Paso below. We arrived safely at our Airbnb and settled in.

After an hour of recuperating, we set off to visit the TecH₂O Water Resources Learning Center, a museum run by El Paso Water to educate the public on water conservation and management. At the museum, we learned about the unique issues facing El Paso because of their location in the Chihuahuan Desert. We read about the history of El Paso, some easy tips for water conservation, the desalination process and treatment plant they run, and other water reclamation projects throughout the country. We had a fun time roaming and interacting with the museum; throughout our short visit there, we collected stamps at the different stations to earn a special prize - a TecH₂O lanyard. Before leaving the museum, we took a picture with Stormy, an elephant made from illegally dumped trash collected from canals peoples’ backyards. This sculpture was created to raise awareness of illegal dumping, a problem that plagues El Paso.

After the museum, we went to Walmart to buy groceries for the following days. We then drove downtown and through the beautiful Bhutanese inspired UT El Paso campus to meet Dr. Eva Moya for dinner at El Rincon de Cortez. We treated ourselves to flautas, enchiladas, and burgers while engaging in intriguing conversation with Dr. Moya. We learned about her and her work at UTEP and told her about ourselves and our trip. We spent hours simply talking about her life, politics, and other social justice issues. She also gave us an overview for the following day, as she arranged a tour for us and meetings with community partners in El Paso.

Leaving the restaurant very full, some of us pulled over into a parking lot that overlooked the cities of both El Paso and Juarez in Mexico. We spent a few minutes gazing in awe at the beauty of the lights. We returned to the Airbnb and reflected on what we were excited for in the coming day and our first impressions of El Paso. We were eager to learn about the colonias, visit the elementary school, and learn more from Dr. Moya. We were looking forward to learning about another layer of the water justice issue present in El Paso. We were all amazed at the striking differences between El Paso, New Mexico, and Houston. El Paso is a dual city, connected deeply with Juarez, creating a unique identity. We were enthusiastic to learn more about this city’s identity, its culture, and the water issues that surround it the next day.