"My reaction to places with U.S. post offices but little English spoken was: Big Deal. It always nice to find parts of America that don't seem like every other part."
Problem is these parts are not just confined to the border. There are several towns in NC now where it is hard to find English spoken and our schools are full of young spanish speakers, many of whom are in ESL programs and speak little English.
Yes, when I moved to Chicago in '64 everyone spoke Polish. If I wanted to communicate with the salesclerk in the restaurant, clothing store, Goldblatts, Woolworths, etc. I'd have to go find a Jewish merchant to translate as it seemed the Poles did not bother to learn English but the Jewish merchants knew many languages.