Matamoros, Mexico

After arriving in Brownsville we decided the next day we would go to Matamoros, Mexico. We were not interested in driving because getting across the border in the car is a huge pain in the rear end with the long lines. It is especially true getting back into the United States. There were two bridges we could walk across, the old one (Puente Viejo) and the new one (Puente Nuevo). We were armed with the map below and we wanted to minimize the walk so we wanted to cross at the old bridge but unfortunately we could not find the old bridge. I was so clever as to get the map of Matamoros off the Internet before we went there so we would know a little bit about where to go, but I was not clever enough to get a map of Brownsville so I could figure out how to get to the old bride. So, after wandering around Brownsville we decided to just park the car and cross the bridge we could find, which turned out to be the new bridge. That meant more walking for all of us except Ryan, who I carried on my shoulder for a good part of the walk.

We pretty much followed the route on the map from the new bridge up to the market. It was good to have a map because we were able to stay in areas where we felt perfectly safe and were not wandering aimlessly through the streets.

We did not carry our big digital camera because of its size and bulkiness and we were going on foot. I also anticipated buying things so we tried to minimize what we carried with us. I did take our small camera so I could take a few pictures in Mexico. Here are the boys at the market with their new Mexican whips.

The boys at Mercado Juarez.

The kids have been saving their money for this trip so they could buy their own things. Jared with one of the salesman after Jared bartered him down for a statue.

The boys in the market while Lori was bartering for a purse. Lori loves bartering and is one tough customer.

Me with the boys out on the street with a bunch of shops.

We walked to the city plaza to check it out. Here is Lori and the boys by a statue in the plaza.


Lori and the boys resting on a bench in the Plaza. At this point we were hungry and we found a Burger King to have some lunch before heading back to do some more shopping.

Ryan trying out his new whip.

We decided to take a cab back to the bridge to walk across because we were too tired to walk all the way back especially with all of our purchases. We had a great time and really enjoyed our visit to Mexico. Matamoros was a much better border town to visit than Piedras Negras/Eagle Pass where we went with my parents last year. Any future trips to Mexico border towns will be to Matamoros because we had a great time there.

One of the reasons I like to go to Mexico is to have the opportunity to practice speaking Spanish. When we were in Mexico everyone wanted to speak English to me. I had more opportunity to speak Spanish in Brownsville than I did Matamoros! It was very interesting.

Another interesting thing was the flea market in Brownsville. They have a huge flea market there and on Saturday afternoon Lori was sooo tired that she could hardly keep her eyes open. We were driving from Brownsville to South Padre Island and we passed the flea market and I mentioned to Lori that it was open and she sat straight-up in her seat and was energized and ready to go! Did someone say shopping!? So we went to the flea market and is was very similar in both products and feel as the mercado in Matamoros and probably more Spanish was spoken there. We did not buy anything while we were there but the experience was very interesting.