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November 18, 2011

(Click on Photos to see Larger Images)

The bridge walk from Progreso, Texas to Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas, Mexico begins at the bottom of this slope near the vehicular gateway seen in the distance. 

People on the bridge are tourists going into Mexico for a day of shopping.  They park on the Texas side of the border because of auto insurance policies that probably will not cover their vehicles in Mexico.

 Note the backed up traffic from Mexico into the U.S.

On the Mexican side of the border, customs inspections are very cursory, compared to those on the U.S. side.  Even though Mexican officials are concerned about guns and drug-money crossing the border, it would seem they expect the U.S. to do most of the enforcement.  There may be ten or twelve people on duty here on the Mexican side, but on the U.S. side there are dozens of Customs and Border Patrol officers on duty whenever the border is open.

The first crossroad after the border inspection station is the intersection of Benito Juarez and Coahuila streets.  The red building on the corner is the duty free shop where we sometimes purchase a bottle or two of alcoholic beverages.

During the past two years the Mexican Army had mounted a huge presence at this intersection, but recently the military has pulled out of Nuevo Progreso.  People I have talked with are even more afraid to shop in the city.  They thought of the army as a high level of protection on this violence prone side of the border, but now there is no protection at all.

Looking back toward the U.S. side from the duty free store the minimal border control is evident.  Last year the Army had an armored vehicle with an automatic grenade launcher stationed in the area between the yellow lines.   A platoon of soldiers supported them from sandbagged sentry posts on two of the four corners.

Our first shopping stop was the El Disco department store.  They sell lawn ornaments, saddles and riding gear, pottery, piñatas, trinkets, t-shirts, liquor, groceries - nearly anything except truck and car parts.

Two years ago this store would have been packed with tourists.  Now you can see from one end of the store to the other with no shoppers in sight to block the view.

This is the view of El Disco from the street.  It is the brick building behind the blue complex on the corner., which houses dentist's offices and a pharmacy.

For the first time, I noticed advertising on the street for a "Men's Club."  They may have been there before, I just didn't notice them.  Most advertising is directed to retired, senior citizens (Winter Texans) who live primarily in RV resorts on the U.S. side of the border in the Rio Grande Valley.  Most of the businesses are dentists, pharmacies, veterinarians, curio shops,a few  boot stores, bars and restaurants.

The clown in the white coat works the sidewalk in front of a dentist's office.  He makes sure every tourist knows where the office is and that the dentist offers "very special prices."

Down toward the end of the town, where the main tourist section begins to fade, there are more bars where only the more adventurous travelers go.

A school girl crosses the street as she casually saunters her way home.

From the second story deck of the Red Snapper restaurant Benito Juarez street appears to be timeless.  Replace the cars and trucks with much older cars and  trucks and this could be a town from the 1940's or 50's .  Replace them with horses and wagons and it looks like an old-west cowboy town.

The Red Snapper is where we ate lunch.  I took the previous photo from inside the red railing on the second floor.

I had the catfish fillet served with seasoned rice, French fries and garlic toast...

...Vicki had beef tacos with refried beans and rice.  The food was excellent and the service too.  Nicely attired waiters all speak English and they're very attentive.

We even had live entertainment.  He was fairly good, but we have heard better lunch performances in Nuevo Progreso.

Both our lunches, a couple margaritas, a soft drink and the entertainment cost about 20 bucks including tips to the waiter and the entertainer.

Despite  promises to ourselves  eat at one of the outdoor food emporiums, we have always chickened out and ate at one of the well-known restaurants.  I think it's the local business people and employees who keep these small businesses alive.

We have often heard that the food offered from these carts is outstanding, but still we haven't tried it.

This vendor is grilling beef for taco lonches.

Two years ago this sight would have been unimaginable.  Any store-front wide enough, or deep enough for more than two cockroaches would have been rented and filled with trinkets and trash for tourists to buy.

Across the street La Fogata, one of Nuevo Progreso's landmark restaurants, has also closed.  Operations have been moved to a very nice, upscale restaurant in McAllen, Texas where they are well-known for serving cabrito.  

Through windows now boarded up, you used to be able to watch baby goats roast on a spit beside a mesquite charcoal fire.  The meat, called "cabrito" in Mexico is considered a delicacy and one of the few places to get it at a reasonable price was La Fogata.

In a space on the sidewalk as wide as the table is long, a street vendor sells a single kitchen gadget.  It slices veggies, potatoes, zucchini, etc. in a spiral such that they can be breaded and cooked on a grill and eaten as finger food.

Garlic ropes are another popular item offered by street vendors.

This plume of black smoke at first looked like it could have been a bomb, maybe that's what I'm expecting whenever I go to Mexico, but I think it was a sugar cane field being burned just before harvest. 

For some reason burning the cane before harvest increases the sugar content and makes it much more valuable.  Smoke plumes like this occur frequently in November and December as Sugar Cane is a dominant cash crop in south Texas.

In the city of  Nuevo Progreso, however, the dominant type of business is Pharmacy and Dentistry.

Tourists from the U.S. flock to the border towns for inexpensive medical care and prescription drugs.

We went for lunch, duty free liquor and prescription drugs.  There was no sign of drug cartel violence, nonetheless, many Winter Texans are scared and avoid going into Mexico for any reason.