South of the Border

I ran out of one of my medications and a call to the Kansas City VA revealed that I would not receive a refill for several days. Knowing that prescription drugs are readily available in Mexico, we decided to make a trip "South of the Border" for a short term supply. We set out for Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, about 8 miles away.


Since we do not have auto insurance coverage in Mexico, we decided to park the Blazer on the US side and walk across the bridge into Mexico. As we crossed the bridge over the Rio Grande River, a section of "The Wall" could be seen on the US side. This picture is looking West with the US on the right side of the river and Mexico on the left. You can see "The Wall" in the distance. "The Wall" was completed on one side of the bridge but was still under construction on the other side.







Vehicle traffic into Mexico was moving right on through with no backup. The Mexican border patrol didn't even ask the cars or trucks to slow down . . .











. . . but vehicle traffic coming back into the US was backed up all the way across the bridge as the US Border Patrol was checking each vehicle carefully . . . inside many of the vehicles. Good for our guys!











US Border Patrol agents carried handguns on their belts. On the other side of the border, the Mexican border patrol and police carried handguns too, but the Mexican Army was stationed at the border with automatic weapons. Soldiers were stationed on the sidewalks, in the street, behind sandbag barricades, and on the rooftops. A Mexican Humvee type vehicle with a machine gun mounted on the roof was an ominous sight . . . scary if you're not accustomed to it.
















Signs were posted advising everyone the Mexican Army was there for border security, but I suspect it's really because drug cartel and gang shootings have erupted frequently in other border towns and they are trying to keep the town of Nuevo Progreso safe for Winter Texans. It's quite the tourist town (tourist trap). We've been told it's safe to go to Nuevo Progreso, but we have been cautioned to not cross over into other border towns as we could get caught in the drug cartel/gang crossfire.


The "tourist area" of Nuevo Progreso has numerous pharmacies and dental offices. That seems to be their biggest business. We know of many Winter Texans who go there for medicines and dental work. It's obviously big business there. We were frequently solicited on the street for pharmacies and dental services. They commonly hand out discount coupons and the common line is, "It's almost free".

However, I checked in many of the "pharmacies" and couldn't find the medicine I needed. I was told that it was not made in Mexico. So I gave up trying to find my medicine there and will have to pay the US pharmacy price. I suppose if I had been asking for Viagra, everyone would have had it instantly available.



The sidewalks in the "touristy" area of Nuevo Progreso had so many booths and street vendors, it was difficult to squeeze through. We were continuously solicited for baskets, jewelry, belts, boots, hats, t-shirts, and trinkets of all kinds as well as for massages, manicures, and pedicures. Carole wouldn't let me get an all-over massage.

















We managed to get through all of that and stopped at a fairly nice restaurant for lunch. The restaurant, Arturo's, had white table clothes and waiters in maroon dinner jackets. The busboys were all in white. I had a grilled chicken breast in a green chili sauce and Carole had grilled salmon with hollandaise sauce. Both were really good.

We then walked the streets soaking up the atmosphere for a while. The main street in Nuevo Progreso is a very busy place in the middle of the day.

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So that was our day "South of the Border". Like many Winter Texans, we had to pick up a bottle of liquor at Mexican prices, but we were careful to buy less than the duty-free limit. We walked back across the bridge and it was nice to be back in the good old USA!