Tucson first impressions

June 29

The first thing that literally hits you after you get off the plane and out of the airport at Tucson is the hot air. Imagine walking into a sauna and you will more or less get a picture. For the first few minutes it is so stuffy that I am left wondering how I will be able to make the next few weeks here. Then I get used to it, like everyone else.

The city is beautiful, and unlike anything I have seen in Winnipeg. Everywhere you look there are mountains surrounding you. It doesn’t matter where you are, you will see them in the distance. They look very grand and majestic. Then there are the cactuses, some up to several metres tall. I am told they are a special type of cactus that is only found in Arizona, I don’t know the name of it but will have to find out.

NMD’s base is a former convent that is part of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. The church is really neat, it is brown bricks and looks different from churches I have seen in Winnipeg, it also has a courtyard. The church generously agreed to allow the group to use the former convent to stay while in Tucson. Food is provided to us and we sleep in rooms that are quite spacious but have no beds or mattresses so our sleeping bags have to do. The NMD members I have met so far are extremely friendly and outgoing. They are coming back from two weeks in the desert, and have stories about meeting and providing aid to migrants as well as encounters with the Border Patrol that were sometimes friendly and at other times not. I hear stories of 16 year old migrant youth being picked up and locked up in paddy wagons, the volunteers offered the officer water and food to give them; he said they were fed and provided with water already, however when one of the volunteers asked the boys the same question in Spanish they said they weren’t. Stories of hungry migrants coming to the camp and asking for water and food and being provided with these essentials before being sent on their way. Of helicopters flying low over the NMD camp at night and shining searchlights on the tents making it difficult for the volunteers inside them to sleep.

Other than the lack of access to a place with internet that does not involve an hour or more of walking, my only pet peeve is the water. You know how in Canada if you want cold water you turn to cold and if you want it warm or hot you turn to hot? Where we live it doesn’t really work that way. If you turn the tap to hot water you get hot and if you turn to cold you get lukewarm that becomes very warm in a matter of seconds. Luckily we have a fridge and a freezer and everyone chills the water and use ice cubes. That will definitely not be an option in the desert and I’ve been told that when we get to the camp, the water will only be warmer.

I am looking forward to going, and the conditions are a small preparation for the desert.


This is not my first time in Tucson. I came here in December 2009 to learn more about the situation on the border. It influenced my decision to return and volunteer with NMD. It is far less hot in December. :-)