South Padre Island Pix

Last night the rains came. It started raining in late evening and around midnight a cell came through with wind driven rain unlike any we have experienced while camping. By morning we had only some showers that ended at mid morning. The skies remained cloudy and threatened rain most of the day but we only had some quick showers.

We decided to explore Brownsville, 23 miles southwest of South Padre Island. When we got to Brownsville we parked the truck and walked over the Gateway Bridge, one of several connecting Brownsville with its sister city, Matamoras. The reason for walking was that we did not have insurance that covered the truck in Mexico and didn't feel it was necessary to purchase it for the short time we would be across the border. Entry into Mexico was easy... no questions asked. As soon as we crossed the border we realized that this was the wrong day to come. It was election day and a new president is being chosen. Add to that the fact that it was Sunday and we found most of the stores near the border were closed. We didn't go further into town because we figured that it would be no different. In many ways this was better than our time in Tijuana a few years ago where you could not take one step without being accosted by sales people pushing their wares. Many Americans go into Matamoras to shop for items that are cheaper on that side of the border. There are many drug stores because drugs (not the illegal type) can be purchased in Mexico at a lower price without prescriptions.

Our return to the US was a little more difficult then going the other way. Hundreds of Mexicans were crossing over the border to go shopping in Brownsville. US Immigration procedures are more strenuous and it took us longer waiting on line to be processed than we actually spent in Mexico. The first street you hit when crossing into Brownsville at the Gateway Bridge is Elizabeth Street. The street is lined with shops catering to the Mexican shoppers. It seemed to us that most of the stores sold clothing and household goods. Shoe stores seemed to be the most popular with more than one on every block.

Last night the rains came. It started raining in late evening and around midnight a cell came through with wind driven rain unlike any we have experienced while camping. By morning we had only some showers that ended at mid morning. The skies remained cloudy and threatened rain most of the day but we only had some quick showers. We decided to explore Brownsville, 23 miles southwest of South Padre Island. When we got to Brownsville we parked the truck and walked over the Gateway Bridge, one of several connecting Brownsville with its sister city, Matamoras. The reason for walking was that we did not have insurance that covered the truck in Mexico and didn't feel it was necessary to purchase it for the short time we would be across the border. Entry into Mexico was easy... no questions asked. As soon as we crossed the border we realized that this was the wrong day to come. It was election day and a new president is being chosen. Add to that the fact that it was Sunday and we found most of the stores near the border were closed. We didn't go further into town because we figured that it would be no different. In many ways this was better than our time in Tijuana a few years ago where you could not take one step without being accosted by sales people pushing their wares. Many Americans go into Matamoras to shop for items that are cheaper on that side of the border. There are many drug stores because drugs (not the illegal type) can be purchased in Mexico at a lower price without prescriptions. Our return to the US was a little more difficult then going the other way. Hundreds of Mexicans were crossing over the border to go shopping in Brownsville. US Immigration procedures are more strenuous and it took us longer waiting on line to be processed than we actually spent in Mexico. The first street you hit when crossing into Brownsville at the Gateway Bridge is Elizabeth Street. The street is lined with shops catering to the Mexican shoppers. It seemed to us that most of the stores sold clothing and household goods. Shoe stores seemed to be the most popular with more than one on every block.


		Point Isabel Lighthouse, left and seen from South Padre Island (shot with a telephoto lens) was built in 1852 to guide ships into the harbor. It was visible from 15 miles out at sea. This is not possible with the wall of condominiums and hotels that now line the beach on South Padre Island. The lighthouse was retired in 1905.


	Crossing into Mexico. Rio Grande River, seen below US bound traffic, marks the border.

	Matamoras shopping area adjacent to the border crossing			One of the many drug stores we saw in just a few blocks

	Election Day in Matamoras, Mexico			Line waiting to be processed by US Immigration. We were probably the only Americans crossing at this time.

	Elizabeth Street, Brownsville. Most of the people in the shops and on the street were shoppers from Mexico.

	What this shop has to do with New York is beyond us			Sign on one of the stores in Brownsville really defines the shopping. It literally says, "Everything is cheap."

			Largest fly rod in the world (listed in the Guiness Book of Records) is located in Port Isabel. According to the sign it is fully functional and would take "two dozen strong men or ONE LARGE TEXAN to operate it."