Crossing the Border to Mexico

Nuevo Progreso is a Mexican town in Río Bravo Municipality in the state of Tamaulipas located on the U.S.-Mexican border. The Progreso-Nuevo Progreso International Bridge connects the town with Progreso, Texas. This border crossing is about 35 kms from our RV resort. There are border crossings closer to us ( as the crow flies we are less than a kilometer from Mexico) but they are not considered safe. So last Sunday we drove to Progreso, Texas, parked the car at the international bridge and walked over to Mexico.

Just as we entered the bridge was this sign:

Are they afraid we will stay in Mexico

As a side note, In Texas snowbirds are welcomed and several events are staged in the communities where they stay to welcome them back each year. We feel much more welcome here that we ever did in Florida.

The traffic to enter the US from Nuevo Progreso was lined up on the bridge:

Most appeared to be Texans returning from Christmas shopping across the border

But there were not a lot of people walking over the bridge with us:

The usual sign at the centre of the bridge:

The Rio Grande is not very wide in this area thus making it a prime spot for "undocumented aliens" to swim or paddle across to the United States. But that is a subject for another blog post.

No customs officers greeted us as we left the bridge and entered the town. And there was only one officer processing cars, and no line-up:

As we entered Nuevo Progreso we were greeted by a street lined with shops on the inside of each sidewalk and street vendors along the street side of the sidewalk.

The vendors were all hawking their wares but were not overly aggressive and there were no street beggars. However, under the bridge as we entered the town was lined with people begging for money. The area was fenced off and they could not come in contact with shoppers but it was very sad to see and makes you realize how poor these people are.

The main thing many Americans and Canadians come for is to have prescriptions filled and dental work done. Both are very inexpensive here. This dental mall was right at the bridge:

It is common to see businesses that serve alcohol as well as offer dental services. An interesting business diversification idea:

Most of the products for sale were made in Mexico:

An integral part of native religion in Mexico is the depiction of many gods as skeletons. Skeletons are considered good luck and are a symbol of fertility, the dicotomy of life. The god Quetzalcoatl is said to have stolen bones from the the god of the underworld to create the different races of mankind. It is believed that the god Mictlantecuhtli and his wife preside over the world of the dead. They are always portrayed as skeletons. 

Skeletons are featured during the celebration of Dia de Los Muertos (the day of the dead), a two day festival when Mexicans honor their ancestors. Every year the departed come to visit, to feast and party with the living. The next day all go to the cemetery, where the party continues into the night. Then the living go home, and the dead await the next year.

There were lots of hammock vendors along the street selling hammocks of different styles:

This gentleman made these hammocks

As did this one

Not to sure about these

After a couple of hours of wandering and looking we returned across the bridge and cleared US customs:

Picked up our car and returned to Bentsen Palms Village RV Resort.

To enlarge the pictures simply left click on them
You can follow more of our adventures on our facebook page
To contact me click here 
We enjoy and appreciate your comments. To comment simply click on the comments link below.