ChronoTech Corporation

Albuquerque’s South Valley is a very unique place. It is really the only place in the city that has a ungentrified cultural identity. You see a lot of things there that you don’t typically see in most American cities. Sure, southern California has areas that are heavily populated with hispanics, and so does Texas. The difference is that those places tend very much towards the ghetto side of the social ladder. The South Valley is not a rich area, but it is not really a ghetto either. It’s a place where most of the population speaks Spanish, though for the majority there, it is not their only language. You can drive down Bridge Avenue, and see a vacant lot full of little carts selling every imaginable product that is made in Mexico right next door to a Wal-Mart. You can also find carts at the intersection of two-lane roads that carry far too much traffic, selling food until 2:00 in the morning.

When you enter the South Valley, you find yourself in an area that just feels different from the rest of the city. The people who live here may be poor, but they don’t let despair set in. They revel in their culture, celebrating it with every action. I was driving down Bridge Ave. to cross over to the Westside to go feed my cousin’s dog, and just past the Rio Grande, there was a small Karate school holding a barbecue to raise money. In any other part of the city, this would be a paltry affair. There would be maybe four or five small families, looking bored and wondering why no one seems to care about something that contributes to their community.

Not in this case. At this barbecue, their was close to 500 people milling about, eating, and talking. One man was playing a guitar, and while I couldn’t hear what he was playing as I drove by, I could see people dancing to the music he was creating. The thing about the Valley, is that the vast majority of people in Albuquerque, even those who live in other parts of town, have their roots in this one district. This is where there parents and grand-parents live. It is where they come home for Christmas, and the place they leave to go out into the world. No one lives in fear in this place, no more than anyone living in any other part of the city does, and quite a bit less than someone who lives in Los Angeles.

The Valley is the place that makes Albuquerque more than just another city. It’s what sets ‘Burque apart from El Paso or Tiajuana. It is a place where the culture stretches back to roots that came into being more than 300 years ago. The Valley is what makes this city home.