EL CENIZO, TX: A Mexican Town INSIDE The United States - Only Language Spoken Is Spanish
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- I explored the small border town of El Cenizo, Texas. It's a very poor town, but has made waves on a national level more than once. It is a fully Hispanic town, where the only language spoken is Spanish.
Travel Vlog 149
I’m from el Cenizo and we’re a friendly community. Most of the people of live there work in landscaping, truck drivers, oilfield and more. Most of the people have houses in el Cenizo and live in Laredo or rent their homes at el Cenizo and live in Laredo. There’s never violence crime just illegal immigrants crossing that’s it.
Could you elaborate on what El Cenizo translates to?
@@williamwilson6499it’s basically “The Ashes” so I wonder if it has a meaning locally?
@@williamwilson6499 Cenizo is a plant also known as "Texas sage". My ex husband is from this town.
And US manufactured weapons crossing into México also.
@@williamwilson6499 ashen or the color of ash.
I am from there too. It was worse when my family moved in. Our family was some of the first families back then. Thanks for keeping it informational and not criticizing it. My mom still lives there. It's cool seeing it as I live in WI and don't get back home much. Thanks!
Thank you for posting these videos. I'm a native Texan and it makes me happy to see this. I'd like to share some history about Texas. In the 1830's Mexico passed a law to curb illegal immigration of white settlers. Mexico abolished slavery in 1829 and this did not sit well with those white settlers renting land in Texas becuase cotton was a huge part of the economy at that time. The interesting thing about Texas is that even through the white washing of history, the stints of genocide of native Americans and Mexicans in the 1840's. The mass deportations of legal and illegal Mexicans in the 1920's and "Operation wetback" in the 1950s. Mexican-Americans known as Tejanos were still able to thrive in Texas. So what may seem like an old dusty Mexican town in the United States is as it's always has been even before the state was unionized. There are Mexican-Americans who live in Texas that are specifically rooted by generations and generation from Texas as am I. There's so much history and I encourage you and your viewers to uncover the rich history Texas has to offer. Peace be with you.
Native Tejano here, our family been here since 1680 and before...
I learned alot about how much of the U.S. was originally Mexico. But I was an adult with family in Mexico before I learned about people being legal Mexican Americans being deported. The person I spoke to just gave up and decided to live in Mexico. They wasn't bitter just resigned.
@@rayvillarreal3471 I'm from San Diego Texas
Here from El Paso to Brownsville, Tx people are in Mexico and U.S. and we love it.🇲🇽🇺🇲
9:05 The saying has something to do with the attitude of some Mexican Americans that feel they aren’t American enough to be accepted by the US and not Mexican enough to accepted by Mexico, so they’re stuck in the middle.
That makes sense.
Here they call them pocho
We really love videos like this. Texas is an American state that everyone loves so much.
Belong to Mexico!!!!
EXCEPT FOR TED CRUZ AND ABBOTT
I dont like its cannabis laws
America is from Canada to Chile
Of course is an American state" we are in America" Texas is a United states " state"
Really enjoying your videos. You have an interesting take on the whole Mexico-US border scene. We must not forget history though, and acknowledge that the folks from these towns don't feel mexican nor american, they're texans, and as they proudly say: "we did not land in Texas, Texas landed on us"... they've been there since colonial times. It's really peculiar how these people don't fit in either the mexican way of life nor the american one, they speak choppy spanish and a very hispanic english (if that makes sense), they just don't belong to either side.
thanks for doing the travelling for us!
Thank you for that, Ricardo!
I fit perfectly eating tacos and tamales my ancestral culture, boy.
@@juannmann9901 I love getting history lessons from millennials that learned their history from social media.
Quite a great set of points.
As when Texas left Mexico there were quite a few Texans who did NOT want to become North-Americans, they wanted their independence which did not happen after all.
Same as what happened in California where the Chicano culture started to take shape once the US started “colonizing” it: East Los, Figueroa St., etc.
A bunch of Hispanics got “sandwiched” back when the US “purchased those territories”.
Hence WHY the legend of *”El Zorro”* if you research it from a contextual point of view you’ll easily understand who the baddies, the army guys, the police, the nasty hacendados etc. were.
It wasn’t only against the nasty wealthy Mexican landlords and their corruption. A LOT also refers to the Yankee takeover and how those two groups cooperated in dominating the newly acquired territory.
El Zorro mostly fought for those caught in the middle: “No soy de aquí ni soy de allá.”
These small, forgotten border towns would get almost no coverage on the majority of UA-cam. Most people, even in Texas only know about places like the Valley or Laredo or Del Rio. I'm glad you're driving around, showing places like this (so I don't have to). Cheers!
Thank you for the great comment, Shirley! 😀
Be careful driving into place’s you’re not familiar with
@@socorrojimenez2955 Texas is open-carry...
There are a lot of “ safe houses “ there, it’s where the coyote takes them and drops them off to cool his trail then he picks them up later for travel to Chicago, L.A , Nueva York and various other major cities in the U.S
Good morning from Isan - Northeast Thailand,
dogs running up the road ... looks like here. Another interesting insight into the real US that is never exposed. There is, what I would call, no visible means of support and from your commentary they see themselves as outsiders. I am always amazed that in whatever part of the world I have been to that has poverty, they manage to erect a religious building that is well kept, the rest of the place can look grim but not the church/temple/mosque ..... and so forth. Thank you for sharing another episode that has teleported me to the other side of the world.
Thank you for the great comment, Surin. :)
International fans! Wow!
no entiendo el inglés, pero puedo contar La historia de este lugar porque he vivido aquí por 35 años, tuve 4 hijas, y un Hijo, las mayores de mis Hijas graduaron de united South, y los 3 más pequeños de LBJ, son las preparatorias que. corresponden a este lugar, y aquí hay mucha solidaridad, Todas Las personas nos conocemos y en año 2012 se suicidó un Hijo mío, a edad de 21 años, y en septiembre 23 ,20 22 fallecio El mayor de mis nietos, en estas 2 ocasiones Toda La ciudad me apoyo grandemente, y me refiero a los abitantes, y al pastor, y Pastora Vasquez, porque ninguna autoridad, ni comisionados, ni mayor no nadie que pertenezca a presidencia, Ellos no Te apoyan nunca , El apoyo siempre es de La comunidad, mi nieto compuso y grabo algunas notas musicales refiriéndose a Cenizo Texas, mi ciudad,
Hello Surin, these towns are interesting. Young people don’t stay in them and head to the big city to seek their fortunes. The people that remain are those who have no options: the old, the sick, the very poor. I grew up in the area, but in a slightly wealthier area a few towns away, with more people and commerce. I left and thrived in the big city. So one advantage of the US is that even people born in these rural, poor areas still have a shot at socioeconomic mobility. That is something that is far less likely just across that river in Mexico. So just by virtue of being within the US (barely!) the people raised here have a chance to improve their lot tremendously.
Love your videos, you're very respectful towards those communities. Keep it up.
Thank you for that! :)
Hi Lord Spoda
Distinctly different!
Stray dogs on the roads was an unusual sight. Luckily, those approached you were friendly, wagging tails.
Brightly painted structure opposite to the City Hall was attention catching. Got a chance to see this small, peaceful border town in Texas. The town itself must have been surprised by your unexpected visit! Enjoyed the video.
Thanks for the same.
Thank you for the great comment as usual, Rajeev. :)
Wonder how many of those dogs are bilingual.
Woof!🐾
Nobody on youtube doing it like this right now. Thanks!
Thank you for that, Olin! :)
The town is appealing to me. I like the freedom and quietness.
It is fascinating that virtually every house had a tall fence and gate across the front of the property
By the way that carwash is a drive through, is very popular in South Texas. It is a convenience store with out getting out of your car.
That makes sense.
Thanks for taking us along, I really wish the local pets were better taken care of, otherwise I thought some of the comments were a bit rude , I absolutely would not be afraid in this neighborhood, I saw more animals then people out, and I agree with one other comment on here, people do the best they can with what they have, I bet lots were working hard in the next big city just trying to bring home a paycheck to put food on the table.
Yes! Live and let live!
Absolutely love your videos. It always fascinating to see the border through the lenses of another person. Your work and journeys give such an insightful perspective. I am wondering if you are making your way towards to El Paso and the border leading to Arizona. I’ve taken several trips from El Paso to Tucson and around that border region. It’s truly breathtaking.
Thank you for the kind words. Yes, sometime in the next few months I'm going to travel and video El Paso to Yuma. Really looking forward to it! :)
As El Paso was my birthplace and have since moved to Dallas, I have always been a desert dweller in seeking solace in the desert Southwest. The Chihuahuan and Sonoran desert are home to amazing little ghost towns, famous landmarks, and historical finds. Trips to Bisbee, Tombstone, and other points along the way are hidden gems in what is the contain.
Really enjoying the videos on border towns.. thank you for sharing the real life sites..those folks are the poor, God's hand help them..safe travels for you an your wife🌼
Thank you, Jenny. :)
vivo aquí, y me encanta, no me siento pobre, soy afortunada con tener vecinos como Los que tengo, aquí no Te sientes solo jamas.
My father is white and native American, but speaks Spanish, actually Mexican, Spanish is different, a little. And he was trapping down in south Texas in a little like this that was all Spanish. And no one spoke English. Anyway my father was there at a little cafe to eat. And he heard some young men come in and asked the owner who the gringo was, and he told them to leave him alone, he spoke better Spanish than they did, and he was armed. Which my father had a concealed carry licence , since he was a government trapper. He was there to solve a mountain lion problem, that was real bad.
Eso es la muestra de que el terreno de Mexico 🇲🇽 siempre tendrá esa distinción q no dejará de ser de MÉXICO
It was Comanche and Apache territories
Fue el terreno de comanches
Interesting border town! Thank you for all of the facts and figures. That really enhances your videos! Lots of dogs roaming. Looking forward to the next installment!
Thank you for that, Alexandra. :)
There’s a good amount of small towns like el cenizo all along the Texas/Mexico border. I grew up down there
lets taco bout it. 😂
@@chinaboss6683 Ah so funny chinaman!
8:11 cracked me up for some reason. The horse was just chilling. I hope the horse is ok though!
Most houses area in ok Condition compared to the ones in West Virginia!! Dilapidated and literally and Abandoned!! Good video!!!
Very fascinating place. Hard to believe that’s in America.
Could pass for a native American Reservation in the Dakotas.
Agree, it looks more like Native country than it does Mexico....mainly because of the trailers and wooden homes that don't really exist in Mexico.
Another great video! I’m very surprised at how narrow the river is. I imagined something much wider. Thanks for sharing and opening my eyes to the border area.
It's narrow in some areas and wide in others
Thank you for watching, Mark. More border videos coming - it's gonna get crazier as I approach Del Rio and Eagle Pass.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Don't remember if y'all went over to Ciudad Acuna last time you passed through Del Rio.
We didn’t.
El Camino de riyal from Lajitas to Presidio is a very engaging ride along the Rio Grande. You get to it from the bottom of big bend national park. And if you’ve never been to Langtry and to the Judge Roy Bean Museum on US 90 that is a pretty fascinating little place
El Cenizo started off as a "colonia," an impoverished neighborhood with little or no infrastructure. The city was incorporated years ago, but students still attend public school in the bigger city of Laredo, Texas, and probably many residents have jobs in Laredo.
Good video. Your giving us information along with your great pictures. 👍
Great. Video today you find the craziest places sometimes
Thank you, UC! :)
Actually, the border crossed them, they did not cross the border. read about it.
this place looks like salt creek in pueblo CO not even kidding.
LOL. One of many. Visit northern Maine. French is the first language.
There were some fairly nice vehicles that cruised by you; and were parked at some of the properties you drove by, so it looks like their 'wealth' is tied up in their transportation choices in many cases, which I don't find that surprising....
1. Centreville, Illinois
• Median household income: $17,441
• Median home value: $47,900
I have a new respect for the people in Martha's Vineyard.
You need to come to Oak Cliff Dallas Texas. It’s little Mexico in the middle of a big city.
Jefferson Street used to be the nucleus for our people.
@@rayvillarreal3471 still is
@@raulmendoza8607 heck yeah, was born n raised in the Cliff, remember Tejas street from the 80's
Thank you sir for such a great tour
It’s hard for me to imagine living in a place like that it’s so dry, hot and desolate. I live in WV where we have four distinct seasons. I love watching your videos I get to travel that way 😂 Thank you
I just moved to WV after spending 25 years in Texas, its so nice that it's actually cold when fall hits.
In Texas it'd be in the 90s for another month.
Although cos Texas is a 'livable desert' it drops colder at night even in the summer
Laredo/ El Canizo area is hot and humid... not dry. But agree, I couldn't live there either.
Well some people don't have choices where they can be in luxury places all they can afford is what you see there and that's it
este es mi ciudad y La amo con sus calores, con sus gentes tan mi gente
@@blancahernandez3461 saludos desde Idaho! Que lugar tan humilde es Mexico! Que Dios la bendiga ❤
Thank you for showing us the real stuff between USA and Mexico.
Thank you for watching, Saul.
Poverty is relative. I live on Social Security and a small teacher’s retirement check and could live there very comfortably. In fact I’m quite comfortable where I am. Live below your means and be rich immediately.
That looked like one of those soda and beer drive-thru stores they have those in San Angelo and I'm sure all throughout Texas.
You might be right.
That's exactly what it is - a drive-thru booze barn. Wonder if extra contrabands are available for pick up. 😂
So many fenced off front yards . Strange to see that . Bars on windows too.
Actually the whole south Texas along the border, we speak Spanish. Of course we speak Spanish its in our roots. And that town isn't the only one like this, there's many places in many areas that have that, it's called colonias and from there is where many of the huge mansions get their start. Trust me. And I mean legally, hard working, education and lots of struggles. I started in one of these and still live on, but we have come along ways to get here,.Now our kids will get to grow out in the world,have that leap,.but Spanish will stay till we die, the south is great place to live, no worries, or at least that's how we roll. Lol
We speak a combination of English and Spanish. "Tex-Mex" I went to Havana and Mexico CIty and couldn't understand fully what they saying.
Look up the republic of the rio grande not the restaurant in McAllen. Brownsville to larado south of the check points and similar north in Mexico is pretty much still it’s own thing. If you have to cross through a line of checkpoints with boarder patrol to access the rest of the country you probably are not really fully part of it, other than for government taxation purposes.
Border Patrol.
People who can afford horses are not poor. "He eats like a horse" is a saying for a reason.
Never a dull video on your channel my friend. good for you.
Those dogs were cute 🥺
At 6:00, that is not a car wash...that is a drive-thru beer, etc. store, very common throughout south Texas years ago...some remain...
For being the "poorest" town in the US it sure looks better than most of the "poorest" towns in Louisiana that I have seen videos of
We travel to Texas once a year. I recently found you on YTube. Just want to suggest the towns off Texas highway 17 from Pecos to Presidios...what a view!
THANK you Lord soda 🙋🏽♀️💯
You are so welcome!! :)
Wonder if you put a different ethnic group in the town if it would still be run down..
Have you ever filmed indian reservations? This town is like Beverly hills compared to a reservation
I don’t think that memorial was the “Halloween spirit” but where several died in a car accident!
Texas Sage have several of them, they bloom every 4-6 weeks during Spring and Summer. Most plants just bloom once not this one it's constantly getting new blooms.
They're beautiful, one of my favorites. The colors are amazing.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Mine are purple in color.
I live and work here in the RGV area .Work in the medical field as a Home Health Clinician .Many of these places you have shown in your current and previous videos ,I have been there already treating patients .Ive been to Mexican side ,as well .In fact I just returned from Monterrey Mexico few days ago and will fly to Mexico City thru Reynosa next week . You need to visit the other side as well .Its not as dangerous as secular media depicts. Just dont travel at night !
We are going to do another border series of video, this time Mexican towns. :)
Oh, no. I know those towns. Now is NOT a good time for a gringo to go nosing around down there
I wouldn't go to the other side, and I was born there. Don't know why people say everything is cool, no its not. You're just been lucky.
@@frankgonz31 few people know that there are Koreans,Chinese et al who are living and working in Reynosa .I travel and stay in Reynosa every month .Its likely i stayed already in hotels there .Im Asian . i dont travel to Colonias at night ,only during the day . Its like Pepito in Mexico City ,they said its dangerous .Ive been there so many times alone and walking . I love Latino guys !
A word of advice.. do not go to the Mexican side.. I was born there in Nuevo Laredo .. people who say it’s not dangerous they have been lucky.. DO NOT GO.. specialty if you are white (gringo). I get what you are doing and you are doing a great job..but you don’t have to play with your life or your spouses life by walking into a literately a war zone. If you ever have to go let it just be for medicine and tostadas de la Siberia and come back immediately, God bless you all.
Love your vids. Check this out.. at 20:18 you see a sign on the fence - "Elsa Degollado" - that means "beheaded" or to "cut off the head" - in English
Interesting.
This town is similar to Socorro or San Elizario which is near El Paso TX. Majority speak just Spanish and live in similar conditions like this.
I’ve seen and enjoyed a lot of your videos. I’d like to comment on why that town might look the poorest town in all United States (although it may be not). As you can see by the houses, no matter how humble they may look, they are newer builds compared to other parts of the country who have beautiful older homes where poor communities have the privilege to reside in. This place was probably uninhabited and the homes they live in they probably built themselves with their own hands
Ive been on lots of islands that look like this.
Guam looks like this in some places but they mostly keep it clean. Some parts of the Philippines looks exactly like this place but with more palm trees, chickens and kids running around.
The dogs are free security and let people know when someones around.
Not surprising.. That used to be Mexico🤷 small group of people that simply maintained where they already were b4
THANKS FOR THE BEAUTIFUL VIDEOS, 💯💯
Loved this and how it showed this town.
Thank you!
awesome find ! it does look very poor place to live! what is with all the fences almost every where
They were everywhere, for sure.
I think is more like they are not considered real Mexicans by Mexicans.. But they are always US Proud and feel very Américan… It’s a weird situation because well that used to be Mexico and one day it wasn’t any more and they suddenly became Americans…
I was surprised how good the roads looked.
Because people actually live there and the town is not dying, unlike most of the Texas towns he drives through.
Great job Lord Spoda!
Thank you, Bradford!!
theres a town in the cali desert called MECCA ca . its similar to cenizo , you should go check it out nic amd joe
A thimble full of history would help. Spanish was the dominant language in many parts of the Southwest from the 1600s until well into the 19th century. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo transfered 55 percent of Mexico's territory to the United States, so it's not surprising the Spanish language has deep roots in the Southwest. The treaty also protected the civil and property rights of Mexican citizens who stayed in the United States and naturalized under the provisions of the treaty. To a great extent, these provisions were not honored. This is not to say learning English is not critical to economic success or that unfettered immigration is a good thing because its not...but history is messy and simply identifying this place as a "Mexican border town," obscures the bigger picture.
Thank you for this! People really act like this was never Mexico and there were never any Mexicans here. What did they think that when it became the USA, the Mexicans just vanished into thin air?
It would be interesting to know what percentage of people in this town have a bank account. Cash is king in a lot of these border towns.
Anywhere where its easy just to walk back and forth between countries, you will see a lot of people who live and work on both sides...often with family and homes on both sides.
I remember in the 80s, it was pretty well tolerated, before the major migration issues.
This is a very typical border town. In fact, that one looks more affluent than others.
Great video , maybe next time bring some dog food , those dogs were friendly
I keep it with me now.
Will you travel throughout the entire U.S-Mexico border?
Also enjoyed the video
That's the plan, although not straight through. We'll be visiting the Gulf Coast next month, then we'll be back to the border, El Paso to Yuma, AZ after that.
Thank you for sharing these videos! Another place you may want to check out is Meadowlake and El Cerro Mission NM. I couldn't believe I was even in the US when I went there.
Thank you for the tip, Michelle. We'll be heading back into NM later this winter. :)
Great as usual When you come to Bristol check out the old virginia intermont college on moore st as well as some old houses there plus the other roads i mentioned in another video.
I will!
Lots of good places to eat Angrey Italian Cootie Browns or for lunch EATZ on Moore St not to be confused with the old college love your vids be safe!!!@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip
Where's all of the people?
What is the job opportunity?
Most of the people are at work in Laredo
El Cenizo (ash looking color) Greyish I guess , as the Texas sage , also “ ni de aquí ni de hallá “ means “ Neither from here nor from over there” . Very interesting place . Good video thx
There are lots of Mehikan towns inside the US: Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, Tampa, SF, NY, Charlotte, Atlanta, Chicago etc, etc..
I’m am animal lover, so many dogs. So sad. Heartbreaking.
Another great video! And you do make me feel like I'm there :)
Thank you for the kind words, Lorrie!
Beautiful small town
Reminds me of a few reservations, dogs and all.
The town may only have 40% HS graduates, but they were smart enough to ditch trash Facebook.
I live in cenizo and theirs 96.6% of graduates at least at the high school we’re supposed to assist’s to.
The police officer ran your license plate?
That's messed up, and should be illegal!
That’s true American freedom no one is dictating how you supposed to live beside yourself
We just started watching your channel. Have you ever been confronted by anyone while filming?
Only once, in downtown Billings, Montana. It was a homeless guy, and he started screaming at me, asking me if I had a permit. I said "No, I don't need one" and started moving aggressively at him, and he backed off. He was high on something.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip That’s crazy. We haven’t experienced that yet but most of our stuff is out in the woods.
Brownsville TX has a few barrios and communities that look like these too . Nothing new to us who live in Deep South Texas 🤷♀️
The dogs are looks out for the locals. If you don’t look right, they bark out your presence to the people down the road. You lucked out. ;)
Webb county (which is where El Cenizo, Laredo, Rio Bravo etc are in) is about 97% Hispanic and Laredo itself is about 95% Hispanic, it’s one of the least-diverse cities in the United States with a population of over 250,000.
You can live in Laredo all your life without having to use much English at all, so that special situation with language isn’t just an El Cenizo thing. Being from Laredo I was shocked the first time I visited the border city of San Diego CA where Spanish isn’t as ubiquitous as it is down here in South Texas, we generally think all the border’s the same but we really are very unique part of the country!
I used to volunteer as a firefighter back in 2015 when I was still in high school. It would take me an hour to drive there and an hour to go back home. I stopped going after 3 months
Acording to America history all Texas' new Mexico' arizona' California's and part of Colorado towns belongs to Mexico' so what you mean mexican towns inside of the USA' you should read history"
Hey Spoda...as a dog lover i can't help but feel sorry for those poor dogs walking around...btw...if I wanna find me an old project car to restore or hot rod it looks like those border towns are the perfect places to look as I seen countless old cars,trucks,vans etc just laying around...it's rather astonishing hearing how poor and desperate these people are and how impoverished they live & all the while they've got old cars laying around on their property that's worth some serious money...I even saw a 53'-56' Ford truck you passed!...those trucks are worth a good chunk of cash...it's a damn shame to see everything just left to rot like that....anywho,good video brother.
I have a friend selling dodge old school ride like 56 or older if you like i get you info.
@@Caro-cc2vb well that's cool and all but I'm currently working on a classic Chevy van so I'm not in need of a project right now...but I appreciate the info bro...
How much is a 53-56 ford truck worth if it is been sitting forever?
@@Regularguylive well that's a little hard to give a definitive answer to without looking at the truck close up but I'm gonna say as a ballpark figure if it's not to far gone and it has good bones that $5000+ is a good guess...restored those trucks are in the $50,000 range...
P.S. I'm from South Bend Indiana. And I respect other peoples neighborhoods, and cities. I don't go around filming !
You can add half the towns in Kern Co and San Joaquin Ca to your list of only speak Spanish
Actually, I wouldn’t say El Cenizo is anything unique amongst border communities along the Rio Grande. When I read the headline of this video, I honestly thought it was referring to Eagle Pass, TX, which is actually an incorporated city, and much bigger than El Cenizo. The inhabitants of Eagle Pass actually say that their city is the “most Mexican” town in the US. Go figure.
I just spent two days in Eagle Pass. Eagle Pass has Walmart, Holiday Inn, McDonald's, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Sonic, Wendy's, O'Reilly's Auto Parts, JC Penny, Ross, Marshalls, Whataburger, Planet Fitness, Chili's, Panda Express, Starbucks...all very American. El Cenizo doesn't have a single US chain store of any kind. There's not even a gas station there. It's much more like a Mexican town than Eagle Pass.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip The presence of all those typical American stores and restaurants that you mention can be deceiving. In spite of all that, if you zoom in on the community, it has the same statistics and demographics as El Cenizo. 98% Hispanic (Mexican) population, the people use Spanish by default, high poverty level, etc I know this because one of my friends came to America for the sole purpose of improving her English, and it so happened that she ended up in Eagle Pass for this while working the phones for a local insurance agency. She got a rude awakening on day one, when she realized that every single caller spoke Spanish, and in many cases they didn’t know English. The poor girl ended up not practicing her English and instead had to learn Spanish from scratch. Never mind that there was Walmart, Cinemark, Holiday Inn, you name it. In fact, you can find all of these same business entities (and more) across the river in Piedras Negras, Mex., an actual Mexican city, for what it’s worth. (Ironically, they have certain American franchises that you won’t find in EP). Furthermore, if you venture out of Eagle Pass to its outlying unincorporated sprawling communities, you won’t find any of that, and only what you saw at El Cenizo (just ask locals to give you direction to communities known colloquially as “las colonias”, many of which lack certain basic amenities). The fact that all those American business entities even exist in Eagle Pass are only a testament to its significant (growing) population, and have nothing to do with its actual culture.
All of those stores and restaurants are in Mexico as well.
@@darrylmcginty1296 spot on. Piedras Negras has all of that standard American fare and more. It actually puts Eagle Pass to shame with regards to this.
Another awesome video. Very, very interesting. I did notice that most of the houses have fences around them and it looks like they close the gate after pulling their vehicles in. Do you have any ideas why that is?
It is a border town and they get unwanted visitors through the night.
I live in cenizo and usually we close the gates because theirs a lot of stealing here.
It's a custom they bring from mexico the majority of the houses in mexico have high fences made of block and a main gate in front locked with chain and pad lock to keep thieves out they even put bars covering their windows
El Cenizo, Tx. Translate to: (EL Cen - e - zo = the ash), as in when the wood burns out, all that is left is the ASH. Hence not from here nor there, not wood nor dirt.
Yes, I saw that. I also saw a translation that said it also meant "unlucky one", or "one who is jinxed".
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip nop
Check out hopkins park,illinois
Never understood the idea of living in abject poverty, yet letting hundreds of dollars in scrap metal rust away on your property.