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Along the California-Mexico border (CNN)The borderlands of California and Mexico change dramatically as one drives toward the Pacific Ocean. The Imperial Sand Dunes give way to majestic mountain peaks and, eventually, the lush hills of San Diego.
The scenery reminded me of what Big Bend National Park ranger Michael Ryan told us hundreds of miles before we reached this part of the southern border.
"It's not just one border," Ryan said. "It changes, depending on where you are."
Ryan has lived along the southern border for nearly 30 years. But after a nearly 2,000-mile journey from south Texas to where the southern border reaches the Pacific Ocean, it seemed like Ryan's words just don't refer to the physical changes.
The southern border is a dynamic environment, culturally and environmentally. It's constantly evolving.
Alicia Martin recalls the days, as a young girl, when a group of friends would freely run across the border to buy ice cream from a vendor on the Mexican side of the border.
"We would just walk across, wave at the guy and go back. That's it," Alicia Martin said. "So this thing of a line. A border. A fence. A wall. I mean it doesn't compute for us."
Those days are long gone, and the Martins know it's not coming back either.
The US State Department warns that the Mexican state of Sonora, which includes Nogales, is a "key region in the international drug and human trafficking trades," and encourages American citizens to limit travel to main roads during daylight hours.
But the Martins stress that the neighborhoods around their restaurant are safe, and say that because the borderlands are often painted as a wild and dangerous place it hurts development and growth.
After September 11, when border security became a higher priority, the Martins say intensified immigration controls and the fear of border violence dramatically effected tourism to Nogales.
"It was like somebody came in and flipped a switch. There was nobody in town," Martin said.
La Roca struggled to keep its doors open. Alicia Martin's uncle opened the restaurant 45 years ago and the thought of going out of business was painful. The couple held on and now they're starting to see business and the energy of this border town come back to life.
With diplomatic tensions between the Trump administration and the Mexican government starting to escalate, the Martins worry about what will happen next.
Chris Martin argues that throwing up trade barriers, dismantling NAFTA and building walls will only bring back more depressing days.
"They are such harsh approaches. You are treating a symptom," Chris Martin said. "It's education, it's economic security, it's economic strength that is going to keep people from migrating in droves from one country to another."
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