The US-Mexico Border

The communities in our area stretch from Port Isabel on the mainland (pop 5000) west about 30 miles to Brownsville (pop 140,000) which is the border crossing. The Mexican city adjacent to Brownsville is Matamoras (pop 850,000) and the two cities are separated by the Rio Grande River. Now the Rio Grande is not wide like we had thought - we were surprised to find it was only about 100’ across right at the highway border crossing. We had an image of this HUGE river in our minds – probably from all those John Wayne movies!

To offer you a sense of what crossing the border was like – well, congested is the word that best describes it. We signed up for a day tour and were 13 in a van when we crossed one of the 3 entry points at Brownsville into Matamoras, Mexico. The tour operator clearly had some type of pre-approved entry pass. We drove very slowly through a short, narrow corridor (almost felt like a tunnel but it wasn’t) and suddenly, we were on the city streets and in the crowded city market of Matamoras. You would never know you even crossed the border - except for the 6 heavily armed guards lining the walls of that corridor. The streets in the downtown core were narrow and overly congested with parked cars on either side of the streets and people crossing hither and fro at will - and no English on the signage or in the market stores.

We re-entered the US at a different crossing into Brownsville with 5 primary lines – no transports, only cars. We waited in line about 30 minutes and our tour operator brought all the liquor and meds (half-price for Americans) to the front of the vehicle – there was no interest in my $15 shoes! The US officer opened the passenger side doors, checked our Immigration papers and passports carefully and compared them to each of our faces. He released us from that point to a narrow corridor where we slowly passed a K-9 shepherd with his handler – the dog sniffing at the door frames of the van as we drove by. Next stop was the Texas Liquor Commission booth to pay $1.25/imported bottle of liquor. The stop sign onto the streets of Brownsville were less than 10 feet away.

An interesting day! Will we ever drive across to Matamoras ourselves? No way – the congestion creates such a feeling of uneasiness and a real sense of criminal activity. Will we consider going further (about 20 miles) up the Rio Grande and cross into Mexico at Progresso? Probably – we’ve been told it is way less congested and safer. Will we cross at Progresso with our Jeep? No way – we’ve been told ‘it’s best’ to park your car in Texas and walk across.

Sorry there are no pics – they do not permit any to be taken at the US border itself – a change since September 11th.

And back at South Padre, there is a US Coast Guard Station close enough to us that we can hear the final bugle post when the sun and flag go down. The US Customs and Border Patrol Services operate their marine service from here. We have seen one of their boats - a 32' Donzi centre-console with a hard-top and four 250 hp Mercs on the back! It’s a busy area for smuggling, I’m sure – guns going south and people and drugs coming north.

Life at the border – a bit different than where I was raised at Sault Ste. Marie!