An ugly hole, an interesting town: Bisbee, AZ

 

In my chronological report I left off at Columbus. Again the weather forecast prompted us to move further west, and we chose Bisbee, AZ as our destination for the night. We continued on the same narrow highway on which we drove to Columbus, SR 9, which led us at first through the same kind of country: flat, shrubby, arid, at this time of year and under a grey sky looking somewhat depressing. Once the road climbed up into higher elevations the area became more interesting, and finally we arrived in Douglas, another town very close to the Mexican border. We had looked for a restaurant to have a Mexican meal online and decided on the Original Grand Cafe located on the generously laid out Pan America Avenue. Despite its attractive historic town centre we didn't see any tourists, but we did find the tourist information and watched an informative video talking about the town's history. One question was answered in the course of it: Douglas was a planned town, and the streets were this wide in order to accommodate 20 mules turning. Not knowing either town, we had made a reservation for the night in Bisbee but what we saw of it now, Douglas would have been quite attractive, too.

Thus we continued on to Bisbee, another good half hour drive. The winding road climbed steadily upward for the last section of the trip. Right before we entered the town proper we passed a huge hole: Bisbee was a copper (and other ore) mining town, and this deep scar in the mountain is a reminder of its history. Following the directions of our GPS we turned up into a steep, narrow street – and found that there was no place to park in front of or beside our hotel, the historic (but what isn't 'historic' in this town?) Bisbee Inn or La More Hotel. We were advised to park as close to the curb as possible to leave enough room for passing cars while we unloaded our luggage, then turn back to the bottom of the street and park on the hotel parking lot one street down.

 

While driving is a bit complicated in this town, nestled into the flanks of the mountain, it is very interesting to walk there. Everything is steep, houses are precariously perched on hillsides, roads are narrow, and long sets of stairs sometimes aid in reaching the next level up or down. 

Artists are drawn to Bisbee, and the evidence is visible everywhere. Many if not most of the mostly small houses are well kept, small gardens cling to hillsides – we very much enjoyed our early evening walk, shadows slowly creeping up the hills. 

One could almost forget about the ugly hole that is at least in part responsible for the prosperity of the people who built these houses.