Dessert - of course! Hot in the summer, gets pretty chilly in the winter, but nothing like up north of course!
The homes are all shades of brown, from a very light beige to dark brown. Except that now and then a yellow one sneaks in, but even that is a "brownish yellow". Once in awhile a white house surprises you, and I even saw one a shade of blue! Very surprising! You don't see many green lawns, just a lot of yards with stones in whites, browns and blacks, cactus, and other dessert plants. In fact, my children's back yard is just dirt! Makes for dirty kiddos, but that's OK! They do have a nice big shade tree though. Hopefully soon the landlord will put in some kind of ground covering. Their front yard is all white stones with a desert plant or two.
The city is built around a mountain, if I remember correctly it's the Guadalupe Mountains. To get from one side of town to the other, you can either drive through town, or drive over the mountain on what is called Transmountain. The view is amazing and beautiful from up there. A good place for a picnic, but a bit cool this time of year! There aren't a lot of very tall buildings - nothing like Chicago or New York! The downtown is small compared to other cities.
There are definite areas of the very wealthy (Wow! The homes are amazing and there's lots of grass there!), high middle, low middle and poor. People refer to the different areas of the city as "west side" or "east side". I haven't quite figured out which is better - neither, I guess, they're just different! Near where Ken and Esme live, there are blocks and blocks of "rentals", some nicer than others, some in groups, others duplexes. But just drive a couple blocks and you see amazing mansions! Many mansions are built up high on the hills and mountains surrounding El Paso. Why they would build on a sand mountain is hard to understand. Several homes had retaining walls built below them - apparently erosion is happening!
The people are mostly Hispanic. But they've totally integrated into the U.S. life and many of them can't even speak Spanish. Although I did hear a lot of Spanish there! But it definitely has an El Paso accent!
El Paso is a clean city, and really beautiful. I always enjoy my stay when I visit Ken and Esme. It has some super restaurants: Nothing But Noodles is a favorite! As is Al-Zaituna, where they serve delicious Mediterranean fare! I could name more, but you get the picture! There are great parks and a very fun zoo in El Paso too!
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