Rain gardens bring countries together

Rain garden, corner of Struck St. and Watts Rd.



Recently, I passed one of my favorite rain gardens on the way to Woodman's.   It's a large garden draining a parking lot, at the corner of Struck St. and Watts Rd.  I saw a group of people working on the garden, and decided to stop and find out about the garden.

They were an extended family of five Mexicans, who only spoke Spanish--so I can't provide many details.

Head of the group was Romeo (right), from the state of Chiapas, next to the border with Guatemala.  He has a business working in gardens--they were removing weeds.  He was assisted by three women--two of them sisters.  They came from the state of Veracruz, on the Gulf coast.

The women (Elsa, Guadalupe, and Ana) said they had been in the US only a short while.

Americans go to Mexico for vacation, or sometimes to study--medical school, for example.  Mexicans come here to work or on cultural exchanges.  Since NAFTA, I'm amazed at how integrated we've become on this continent.

For example, when I was in Cabo San Lucas two winters ago, I talked to a number of Mexicans on the street.  Many knew where Wisconsin is--and some even knew about Madison.  One had been to Milwaukee.

Do you know where Chiapas is?

How many states are there in Mexico?


Her name is Eowyn.