Testing the Boundaries

But she admits that it might take a while. "They're afraid," she said.

Housing advocates concede that there is almost always an initial reluctance among Latinos to move east because they worry about crime and discrimination. There are also few social services geared to them east of the river -- most of the agencies that serve Latinos are in Ward 1. And there are few shops that sell their traditional foods, or any foods for that matter.

"They think, 'I've never even been there and I don't know anybody else who lives there, and will I be welcome there?' " Siegel said. "It was just a mystery to them."

Interaction between Latinos and their African American neighbors has been limited largely because of the language barrier. But some African American residents said they encourage diversity as a sign that the neighborhood is evolving.

"The more diverse it gets, the more the property values go up," said Darius Reed, who lives at Highland View. "It kind of makes you realize what's happening in D.C. is changing drastically."

German and Elsy Ramos, originally from El Salvador, bought a $265,000, three-bedroom house on Chester Street SE in November after renting a basement apartment in Fort Totten. They don't talk much to their neighbors because they speak little English.

"We haven't had any problems with the neighbors," Elsy Ramos said in Spanish. "We're inside. They do their thing; we don't get involved with them. You have to get along with your neighbors, but you don't have to interfere in their lives."

It's been an adjustment for the couple and their two children. They spent many years in New Jersey, where it was not necessary to have a car or speak English.

They said their son Edmundo is the only Latino at nearby Ketcham Elementary School. They have decided to transfer him back to his former school in Fort Totten.

Like many of the families who move out of the neighborhoods with large concentrations of Latinos, the Ramoses return to Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights to shop and go to church. For one thing, their local bank doesn't have a Spanish-speaking teller. For another, they can't find their favorite foods.

On a recent day, Elsy Ramos, 48, left her English-language class in Mount Pleasant and walked to the Best Way grocery store. As salsa tunes blared from El Zol radio station, she walked around studying the prices before picking out Salvadoran cheese, Salvadoran sausage and yellow mangoes, among other things.

Then she boarded a bus to take her to 18th Street NW so she could get on another bus to take her home. As she started her journey, she was one of several Latinos on the bus. But 45 minutes later, as she was ending her trip, she was the only one. As she walked the two blocks to her home, she spoke to none of her neighbors sitting outside their homes.

But Ramos said she can't complain much. The family squeezed into a one-bedroom apartment for years. They scrounged to buy their home on her husband's $33,000 annual salary for cleaning offices at a government building. They do not have a car or cellphones, and they save their pennies, literally. In fact, they filled an entire water cooler with pennies -- $800 worth, which they used toward buying their house.

"I wanted a house so each of my kids could have their own room and I could have my own room," Elsy Ramos said. "Our dream became a reality."