Delivering Prints by DHL in Ciudad Juarez

Manuel Guerra and Krrrl carried prints across the Mexican border to send to half of the Ambos Lados artists from Mexico, on April 1, 2019.

Stack of print packages,

in Horned Toad Prints studio in El Paso,

ready to be taken across the border to Juarez, Mexico

We drove the prints to the border,

and parked the car on the US side

Carrying the prints over the Santa Fe bridge,

between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez

International Bridge,

on the Mexican side

We took a taxi to the DHL office

DHL in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Pleasant wait,

we sent the prints with no problems  --

DHL took a credit/debit card

(but does not take American dollars)

COMING BACK

Feliz Viaje,

on the Santa Fe bridge coming back into the United States

Crossing over the Santa Fe bridge again,

from the Mexican side

Lots of traffic waiting to get into the US

Looking over the Rio Grande river,

which separates the US from Mexico,

looking into Ciudad Juarez graffiti

The border is in the middle of the river

President Trump threatened to close the border that day

between the United States and Mexico

These barbed wire barriers are new,

and were not there before President Trump threatened to close the border

View into El Paso from the Santa Fe bridge

Back in the USA,

El Paso

It cost roughly between $30 and $40 to send a package of prints to a Mexican destination, mostly overnight, depending on whether the was one package, or up to 14 print packages.  This is the DHL price in Ciduad Juarez, after we crossed into Mexico.

We sent a single package of Ambos Lados prints to Puerto Vallarta from Albuquerque via FedEx, and that cost $150 US dollars.

Karl Whitaker bought a round trip plane ticket from Ciduad Juarez to Oaxaca, and that cost $150 total.  He will be bringing the rest of the print packages to Mexico on Wednesday, April 3, 2019.

President Trump had threatened to close the border that week, but fortunately it did not happen.  Likewise, the Popocatepetl volcano threatened to blow outside of Mexico City, and fortunately that did not happen (video of Popocatepetl on April 14th).  Either event could have kept the Mexican exchange prints from getting to their destinations.

Update:  Ultimately all the prints arrived at their Mexican destinations, though not all the next day.  However, many of the artists had to retrieve their packages at DHL, as they did not arrive at their houses.  We had to call and email those artists, after following the tracking numbers, to insure that they picked up their print packages.  By the end of the week, everyone had their prints.