Oh boy.
My brother and I drove a few hours south of San Antonio to visit some relatives in Misson, Texas. On Saturday, we drove about 20 minutes further south, parked, paid a quater per person, and walked over into Progresso, Mexico. It had been awhile since I had gone, the last time was back in January of 2004 when I went to Cozumel, Mexico on vacation and few times before that when I visited some distant relatives in Tampico, Mexico.
First we crossed the pedestrian side of the international bridge over the Rio Grande. Once you get to the other side, the Mexican government has installed shutters over the gaps above the hand rails to distort the view of the beggers some 25-15 feet below on the shore line. We're talking naked, filthy kids asking for loose change or anything you may have. If you want to be sadistic, you can throw a few coins here and there and watch them scatter and cluster like pigeons. My uncle had a choice time clearing his pockets of any handfulls of pennies he had.
Here's a pleasant version (maybe because it comes from the town's site...) of the bridge we crossed-
Once you cross the bridge and get onto the main avenue, you'll notice every other shop is either a pharmacy or a dental office. Major discount prices compared to the US. In the pharmacies, you can get any illict type of medicine you want, prescription or not. My cousin got offered $200 to purchase some vicodin, however, as any drugs you claim on the return are subject to a prescription check, she declined the friend's offer. There are a few choice "megastores" in between the dental offices and drug stores. That is, they carry food, crafts, sell alcohol, have a bar set up, and if you're lucky, a pharmacy too. Thankfully, everything is priced in US dollars to make shopping for 2nd rate and lower priced goods all that much easier.
Everything is a hustle over there. I'm talking bootleg cds, dvds, tshirts, tatoo parlors, whatever. I even saw a Scarface bed set. Every other shirt over there seems to be a Rey Msyterio wrestling portrait. Some girls in front of us got suckered into buying a 'french poodle' from some street vendor pushing some filthy dogs ("un pedro de frances...un 'poodle' de frances"!
)
Every child on the store front's avenue is either shining shoes, begging for change, or doing some other sort of ploy for any form of money. I made the ingenious decision of wearing my old, worn boots and had to face every shoe shiner in the town. The best price I got was $1 or two mazapan candies. I declined both offers.
Despite the horrendous sidewalks, dirt and dust roads, and lack of any traffic ethics, I actually enjoyed going from shop to shop. You can carry your choice drink (or legal Cuban Cigar) from store to store with no worries. It's really laid back. I was very interested in purchasing some low priced alcohol, namely some huge ass bottles of Jose Cuervo, but my brother was being a bit up tight about crossing the bottles past customs for me. I did purchase some very fine and fresh Corona drinks to loosen up. Very good.
The only thing I brought back was a carton of smokes and some Mazapan Candies.
Either way, it was fun, albeit filthy, but Im glad I'm back.
My brother and I drove a few hours south of San Antonio to visit some relatives in Misson, Texas. On Saturday, we drove about 20 minutes further south, parked, paid a quater per person, and walked over into Progresso, Mexico. It had been awhile since I had gone, the last time was back in January of 2004 when I went to Cozumel, Mexico on vacation and few times before that when I visited some distant relatives in Tampico, Mexico.
First we crossed the pedestrian side of the international bridge over the Rio Grande. Once you get to the other side, the Mexican government has installed shutters over the gaps above the hand rails to distort the view of the beggers some 25-15 feet below on the shore line. We're talking naked, filthy kids asking for loose change or anything you may have. If you want to be sadistic, you can throw a few coins here and there and watch them scatter and cluster like pigeons. My uncle had a choice time clearing his pockets of any handfulls of pennies he had.
Here's a pleasant version (maybe because it comes from the town's site...) of the bridge we crossed-
Once you cross the bridge and get onto the main avenue, you'll notice every other shop is either a pharmacy or a dental office. Major discount prices compared to the US. In the pharmacies, you can get any illict type of medicine you want, prescription or not. My cousin got offered $200 to purchase some vicodin, however, as any drugs you claim on the return are subject to a prescription check, she declined the friend's offer. There are a few choice "megastores" in between the dental offices and drug stores. That is, they carry food, crafts, sell alcohol, have a bar set up, and if you're lucky, a pharmacy too. Thankfully, everything is priced in US dollars to make shopping for 2nd rate and lower priced goods all that much easier.
Everything is a hustle over there. I'm talking bootleg cds, dvds, tshirts, tatoo parlors, whatever. I even saw a Scarface bed set. Every other shirt over there seems to be a Rey Msyterio wrestling portrait. Some girls in front of us got suckered into buying a 'french poodle' from some street vendor pushing some filthy dogs ("un pedro de frances...un 'poodle' de frances"!
)Every child on the store front's avenue is either shining shoes, begging for change, or doing some other sort of ploy for any form of money. I made the ingenious decision of wearing my old, worn boots and had to face every shoe shiner in the town. The best price I got was $1 or two mazapan candies. I declined both offers.
Despite the horrendous sidewalks, dirt and dust roads, and lack of any traffic ethics, I actually enjoyed going from shop to shop. You can carry your choice drink (or legal Cuban Cigar) from store to store with no worries. It's really laid back. I was very interested in purchasing some low priced alcohol, namely some huge ass bottles of Jose Cuervo, but my brother was being a bit up tight about crossing the bottles past customs for me. I did purchase some very fine and fresh Corona drinks to loosen up. Very good.
The only thing I brought back was a carton of smokes and some Mazapan Candies.
Either way, it was fun, albeit filthy, but Im glad I'm back.
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