Paso del Norte - Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

Cars, buses and people on foot stream along Avenida Benito Juárez in downtown Ciudad Juárez toward the Puente Internacional Paso del Norte, one of the oldest crossings between Mexico and the United States.

The bridge leads straight into downtown El Paso, so this street never really sleeps, with commuters and school runs in the morning and shoppers under the street lights in the evening. Paso del Norte means "Pass of the North", after the natural gap in the mountains where the Río Bravo cuts through, a route Spanish travelers were using as early as the 1500s.

The Spanish founded a mission on the south bank here in 1659, and when the border was drawn along the river in 1848, the settlements on the north bank became El Paso, Texas.

Did You Know? Ciudad Juárez was itself called Paso del Norte until 1888, when it was renamed in honor of President Benito Juárez.

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