When you first encounter the landscape of New Mexico, you get the feeling that you are in America, yet it doesn't feel like America at all.

The sky is excessively vast, and the land seems endless, with deserts and earthy hills in between, rather than green forests or skyscrapers. As you drive, there are almost no changes in the scenery.

Instead, the colors change. The ground, which is close to gray in the morning, heats up to a reddish hue by midday, and as the sun sets, it transforms into a mix of orange and purple. The desert here is quiet, but that quietness feels filled with ancient time rather than emptiness.

As you enter the area around the Rio Grande River that cuts through the heart of the desert, the landscape changes character once again. Trees and villages line the water, and suddenly, signs of human habitation become more pronounced. However, these homes are not the typical American style you might imagine; they are adobe-style houses made from earth. The low, sturdy homes standing in direct sunlight complete the unique southwestern scenery. At this point, the concept of borders begins to blur in your mind.

Once you step into White Sands, it no longer matters whether you are in the United States or Mexico. The endlessly stretching white sand dunes feel like a desert yet not quite like one, appearing as if it has snowed, but warm to the touch. When the wind blows, the sand moves slowly, making the landscape seem as if it is breathing. Watching this scene, you realize that nature came before nationality or maps.

As you head further south, the landscape gradually leans more towards Mexico. The colors deepen, the buildings become shorter, and the expressions of the streets loosen. Spanish naturally mixes into the signs, and the food smells shift closer to northern Mexico than the American Southwest. The border clearly exists, but the landscape does not stop there.

Here, the desert continues, and the sky remains unbroken.

Thus, the landscape of New Mexico does not say, "This is the end of America." Instead, it transitions naturally to say, "This is where Mexico begins." The flow of the land comes before artificial lines, and culture and color take precedence over administrative boundaries.

As you travel through here, it feels less like a journey through America and more like crossing a continent. The desert of New Mexico is endless, and at its end, the landscape quietly leads into Mexico.