Ever heard of the “Border of the Five Flags”? It’s in Arizona, where you can stand on U.S. soil and see three countries at once: the U.S., Mexico, and Canada? Nope, just the U.S. and Mexico. The name comes from the flags that have flown there (Spain, Mexico, the U.S., etc.). Still impressive.
Then there’s the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the busiest land border crossing in the world. Over 100,000 people cross there every single day. That’s more than the entire population of Iceland. Every. Day.
You can walk across a bridge from El Paso to Juárez. On that bridge, you’re physically in two nations at once. It’s the closest most of us will ever get to being a centaur of geography.
The Great Wall of... Toddlers?
Here’s a funny detail: the border is so long that people have built gardens on top of the fence. Near Nogales, a charity group planted flowers in recycled tire planters along the barrier. It’s a protest that doubles as a garden party.
And in Tijuana, a section of the border wall is covered in bright murals. It’s called the “Border Art Project.” One painting shows a giant child peeking over the wall with a confused expression. Relatable.
There are even “friendship parks” where the fence has a gate. Families can meet face-to-face through metal mesh. They call it the “gate of hugs.” That’s both beautiful and heartbreakingly silly.
