Matamoros, Mexico

On December 31st the Andersons had to leave to go home and get ready to move to Germany. We know about moving and we were really happy that we were able to spend the time we had with them. I am not sure I would have taken the time out to go on such a trip with all the work they had ahead of them to move but we were thankful that we were able to do such a fun trip with them before they leave. We will really miss them.

We decided to take another trip into Mexico on the 31st and we thought we knew what we were doing this time around. We found the bridge that was closer to the market so we would not have to walk so far but discovered that there was not a place to park the car so we could then walk across the bridge. So, we went back to the same place we parked last year and walked across the same bridge into Mexico. This time, we took a taxi to the market instead of going on the long hike to get there. That made everything much easier.

Lori, Brett, Ryan, Jared and Flat Stanley crossing the border. In the background through the fence you can see the Rio Grande, although it really does not seem that grande to me.

Brett, Lori, Ryan, Jared and Flat Stanley at Mercado Juarez. We bought the whips last year and so there really was not that much I was interested in buying. The boys had their own money to spend though and it was fun to watch them barter as they thought really hard about how much they were willing to spend for things. When it is my money price is not nearly as important as it is when it is their money.

A closer picture at the market. Ryan is holding the bongo drums that Lori thought would be great to have. I did not encourage the purchase of the noise making device.

Brett, Jared, Flat Stanley, Ryan and me at a different part of the market. I do not normally wear my hat low over my eyes like that but when I carry Ryan on my shoulder he pushes my hat down so I can hardly see. I think this was the last trip where I will be packing him around because he is getting so big.

Nosotros al mercado en Mexico.

I was able to walk us straight to the Burger King where we ate last year. There were many places to eat and street vendors selling food, but Burger King is a much safer bet even though the Mexican Sprite and Diet Coke taste a little different than they do in the United States. (I bet you did not know that.) Flat Stanley as glad to eat at a place that had clean restrooms.

Jared is the mater at bartering. He wanted a horse figure/statue but one of the vendors offered-up these dolphins which really got him interested. But, he was still not committed and when he is spending his own money, those are some tough decisions. The vendor started at $25 which was too much for Jared to spend so he kept walking away. In the end, Jared got it for $12, which was within his budget and worth it to him. It was so funny to watch Jared think so hard about what it was worth to him. After that, he was explaining to Brett that the key to getting a good price is to "act like you do not really want it."

We had a great time going into Mexico and doing some shopping even though I was not really interested in anything. Lori and I did get some of the Mexican jackets like the kids have and a new one for Ryan that should last him for a while. In a few years we may have to go back and upgrade Brett and Jared's jackets as they get bigger. We had fun and it is always an intersting experience.

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.