Mexico

My visions of Mexico were crushed when we visited Progreso, Mexico on Saturday.

In my head I imagined the walk over the Rio Grande to transport us into a tropical paradise, one where everyone lounged around with margaritas fit with little plastic umbrellas on the side.

Instead we crossed the bridge into a land of dirt, vendors, and poor people under the bridge crying out for help.

Hmm, Progreso is not exactly Cancun.

I held my purse tight and put on my game face.  We walked through the crowded sidewalks, mostly filled with Americans and Mexi-Americans looking to buy cheap cheese, pharmaceuticals, and dental work.  Walking one block meant saying no to 15 people who were trying to sell you something.

Mexico should be known as half off.  You can get anything you would get in the states for about half the price.  I think the coolest thing we found were bags of giant marshmallows.  They were about the size of your fist.  Imagine pulling those out at your next weiner roast.

We did get a margarita.  It was the size of a big gulp from 7-eleven and it was only $5.  Even between the two of us we couldn’t finish it.

When we cleaned out our apartment in Columbus, Brad found 2,000 pesos from 1985.  We were so excited, we made all of these plans to live like kings when we visited Mexico for the day.

Turns out they are worth nothing.  Old money in the United States can still be spent, but apparently 22 year old money in Mexico hearkens back to a different time with money that is no longer valid.

So much for living like Kings.  We did get some lunch at one of the restaurants in Progreso.  I forget what it was called but they had a lunch menu for about 8 bucks. 

I ordered the chicken fajita and Brad ordered a beef fillet.  I found out a chicken fajita in Mexico means a piece of grilled chicken and a half of a small baked potato.  Muy interesante.

We wandered around for a while, I took some pictures.  Since we didn’t really want to buy anything our trip to Mexico was not as exciting as for those tourists who could get anything from hammocks to dresses for nearly half the price.

We stayed for a couple of hours and decided that we had had enough.  We made the trip back over the Rio Grande and gave our passports to the nice American border patrol on the other side.  They asked me if I brought anything back and I said no.  He handed my passport back and told me to have a nice day.

That’s it??  It’s easier to get in the United States than King’s Island.  No one even checked my bags to make sure I didn’t sneak illegal drugs back in.

I could have brought anything back with me!

These days its normal to get your bags searched before entering a little league game, but I walked back into the states from Mexico with barely a glance in my direction.

Perhaps the border patrol were too busy watching the mariachi band across the Rio Grande..

Comments

i came back with two mexicans. we stopped at the car check and the border guard came to the car. i had my passport out getting ready all that. they took one look in the car and waved us on. the two Mexican citizens turned around and said thanks Rachel.
im like ok? its because I was in the car, the little white blonde hair blue eyed kid is the reason we were let through so easily.
i should have brought back some drugs with me and made some money.