Bee Travel
Travelers can find desert 'treasure'
CHRISTINE HICKS- USTA Travel
Deserts … I've had a lifelong fascination with them. Well, volcanoes, too, but deserts are so much more compatible with, well, people. For example, you can live in a desert. You can't live in a volcano … leastwise not a live one. Accordingly, I've had considerably more experience in and with the former. Hot, dry, at times windy and always extreme, this unforgiving environment manifests a haunting beauty. Stark with contrasting colors, light, shadows, clouds and occasional water turn the stone and sand of the desert into a playground for the photographer. It's a landscape of constant change. It's minimalist.

While admittedly I may be the world's worst photographer, the images permanently on display in my memory are my best work. They feature Joshua trees in bloom in the Mojave Desert of California and stately saguaro cactus in the Sonoran. I'll be adding to this photographic collection later this year.

The Sonoran Desert straddles the U.S.-Mexico border. About an hour south of Tucson, you'll find the border town of Nogales. Often neglected as a second cousin (touristically speaking) to Tijuana, Nogales has welcomed travelers on El Camino Real, or The King's Highway, which passes through here, a migratory and trade route centuries old. Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico meet here.

The history of Nogales includes the footsteps of ancient peoples on a trail that was originally a footpath to the ocean. The Hohokam Indians are said to have come in search of shells, on their way to the Gulf of California. Following in these footsteps were the conquistadors in search of gold and gems. These were replaced by missionaries seeking the treasure of saved souls and whose missions still dot the area. When the border was finitely drawn in 1855, Nogales was still little more than a place where black walnut trees flourished (the name Nogales comes from the Spanish word for "walnut trees") and a trading post stood. It was the advent of the train that took the small trading post of Nogales to status as a trading center worthy to appear on a map.

While history makes for an interesting backdrop, the truth is most people come here - surprise! - to shop. As with the better-known Tijuana, Nogales heartily welcomes U.S. currency, offering crafts from Mexico as well as other Central and South American nations. This is Mexico, which means "let the bargaining begin." Few shops in such border towns display priced goods. Oh, and "caveat emptor," for not all goods are equal. Of course, there's probably nothing here you positively, absolutely need to have. But then, that isn't the point.

The point is that the desert renders its treasure to those who take time to seek it. There are cities large, such as Phoenix and Tucson, and towns small, such as Nogales, and the handful of ghost towns in the nearby rolling hills. And once you've taken El Camino Real, take it back for one more chance to inhale and imprint the quiet beauty of the Sonoran, or, for that matter, any other desert you desire.

(Christine Hicks-Usta has enjoyed more than 30 years of globe-trotting as a member of the travel industry. Direct questions to her at Bee Group Newspapers, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150.)