Nuevo Progreso Revisited

Nuevo Progreso Revisited

It has been several years since Carol and I last ventured across the Rio Grande River to participate in the tourist activities Nuevo Progreso offers. The rising influence and control of the drug cartels has prevented many people from going to Nuevo Progreso for safety reasons until the last year or so. Even though the cartel still has a presence, during the winter months, Winter Texans flock to this little Mexican border  town of approximately 10,000 to purchase prescription drugs, liquor, have dental work done and enjoy the food and shopping.

While visiting the Texas Valley area recently, we decided to take the walk across the International Bridge and spend a few hours in Progreso as the natives call it. So with passports and camera, we struck out. We paid our 25 cents to get through the turnstile and proceeded. As we crossed the International Boundary things immediately changed. There were the beggars below the bridge, crowded streets, and vendors hawking food, trinkets, clothing, and dental services. Drug stores, bars and restaurants were in abundance. Arturo’s Restaurant is still there serving their famous fried frog legs -Umm GOOD.  Upon the advice of others, we headed back across to the U.S. around mid-afternoon. It cost 30 cents this time and the wait to pass through U.S. Customs took about 20 minutes. Passports were checked!  Yes, it’s basically still the same. I hope these photographs give an idea of life in Nuevo Progreso.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

 

8 thoughts on “Nuevo Progreso Revisited”

  1. Michael, I adore all that COLOR! Makes every picture look so happy. The whole scene shines with happiness. The photos certainly show at. Great job!

  2. glad to hear that you made it across and back across the border. we went years ago before 2007 when passports were made required. i recognize some of the shops along the sidewalk and remember it just as you described.

  3. Mike, you really captured Nuevo Progreso. We made two trips over there in the last few weeks. We have some favorite places and we enjoy the people.
    We leave SP I tomorrow for Kerrville. Our weather has been wet for a while so hopefully we will find the sun there. We won’t be stopping in CC this year but hope to see you later .

    Till later down the road, Posey
    .

  4. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this blog.
    I am hoping to see the same high-grade blog posts from you later on as
    well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own, personal website now 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.