Tecatito Fence by the Tecate Peak


 
Isabel refered to the place as Tecatito. Tecatito which is the little town of Tecate north of the U.S. Mexico border has a bigger twin also called Tecate in Mexico. Tecatito has about 100 residents for its population while Tecate which is separated by a fence constantly monitored by U.S border patrol has a population of 100, 000.

 I signed up for the hike because of my fascination with Native Americans. I consider Mexicans as Native Americans. More of Native Americans from the lowlands. They tilled the land and were more of agricultural workers until manufacturing industries took over their farm lands. Displaced and unable to find livelihood, the only option was to migrate South. There is no way they could migrate to the north. There are the fence and the border patrol.
There was nothing written about finding the Sacred Mountain Ranch at  Tecate Peak.  Perhaps, behind this boulder marker is the story  of the Kuuchamaa, the Kumeyaay Sacred Mountain. Stories written about the Kumeyaays, the dominant Native American tribes before the area was discovered by a certain Diego mentioned about the Creator God Spirit himself put the mountain there as the sacred place. The mountain was named Kuchamaa by Creator God Spirit himself.  The mountain was said to be a venue where  Kumeyaay shamans held their rituals and acquired their spiritual powers.
I made sure I took a photo of this discarded clothing I saw at the foot of the boulder marker of the Sacred Mountain Ranch. It looked like a woman's skirt to me. I could not help thinking of Isabel's story. A young couple cross-over once approached Isabel for water. The water and food that Isabel initially offered as Good Samaritan came with a cross-over saga that has been a common narrative from border crossers who would later get into the statistics of illegal immigration and undocumented aliens. That of paying a coyote to cross the border. That of women being raped by coyote, a human smuggler,  as among the prices of crossing over the continental fence put up by a richer neighbor. 
 The snakehead boulder is one of the most elaborate rock formation I have seen on my hikes so far. It looked like a friendly-looking reptile head to me at first. The friendly looking reptile seems to watch over Baja California and Tecate in particular.

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