Week 1 in Mexico 2012

Check out our photos at the end of the post.

We are on our first full week in to our Mexico experience. Although we spent more time driving than what we would have normally done, it was well worth being able to tag along our RV park hosts, Barbara and Sal Contreras. After hearing about our bad experience at the border last week, they were kind enough to contact us and allow us to follow them back to their park. Barb and Sal had been visiting relatives and had planned to return to Mexico the weekend that we were thinking of crossing. Lulu and I decided to take up their offer and tag along for the ride. The only problem was that they needed to get back in two days. Since we had done similar drives before, we decided to go for it.
Our original plans had called for stops and stay-overs along the way, breaking up our journey over two months. So, we would miss many places we planned to stay and explore, but as usual, our plans can, and most likely will change. We will either return to those missed locations or cross them off our itinerary. It is actually too early to make such a decision, so we will discuss it and decide on that later.

I must tell you that I am surprised and almost disappointed that I did not see some of the stereotyped Mexico that I had heard so much about. According to all the Mexican travel experts that I spoke to, I was told to look out for dismembered bodies strewn about the streets and highways and to be on high alert for banditos and drug cartel trucks hiding out in the thick jungle and forest, just waiting for us to drive by so they could force us to stop and highjack our truck and take all our money. I am also still looking for all those poor Mexicans that are running to the border and will be begging us to hide them in our truck when we return to the States. I can’t find them. And I am watching for those dishonest Mexican who wants to gyp us on our change when buying gas. Maybe, but they see me watching the pump.

Instead, I found modern, clean two and three lane highways that always had some kind of traffic passing through. We were never alone on these highways. So we always felt safe and compared the driving experience like any other in the U.S. And, depending on your idea of safe roads, you may or may not be thrilled about the idea of random traffic check points, but, many high-speed freeways are subject to random security checks by the Mexican Army and the Federal Police. We drove through maybe 2 and we saw a few more on the opposite side of the road.  We have also seen some on the country back roads and inner city bi-ways, where we were ignored or waved through. But, then, we were stopped by the Federal Police at an intersection on the way to immigrations in Chapala.

I think our big mistake was to have myself driving, Sal in the passenger seat and two beautiful ladies in the back seat. I didin’t realize that we could have been easily mistaken for the Mexican slave trade industry. However, the experience was not as frightening as some would expect. After checking my paperwork and verifying my VIN number, the officer was actually quite friendly and began a brief sociable conversation. Thanks to Sal, officer friendly just handed over all my “photo-copied” documents, (not one original) and eventually shook our hands and wished us a pleasant stay and encouraged our sight-seeing experience. He confirmed about how beautiful Mexico is and that we should not be too overly alarmed about the current ongoing violence.

Yes, the violence continues. We see on the local news stations that there are more assassinations of politicians and high-ranking police officials. One such incident took place in a town that we were driving through. Completely unaware of what the circumstances were, we came across a road-block in the tiny town of Vista Hermosa. We were forced to take a detour when a police officer sent us up a street that looked like it could barely fit a Fiat. I complained to him that I did not feel comfortable towing my 36 foot, 14,000 pound fifth wheel, up such a narrow street, but he was not concerned and just yelled for me to get going.  So, we did. With Sal up in front and Lulu behind, we managed to squeeze by the very tight turn. Then up a little farther, and with traffic behind us, I could go no more and had to back up. Some of the local neighbors came out of their homes and began ``to guide us through and recommended certain turns, which worked out. Eventually, we got through the nail biting experience and I found the people to be very patient and friendly. Little did we know that only a couple of blocks away were the bodies of assassinated police officials.

And that was our first near-happenstance with some of the actual violence that continues in this country. However, as we have been told by many Mexican expiates and nationals, that we need not be afraid, as the violence is not targeting ANY tourists. And just like in the United States, we need to be aware of our surroundings and be prepared to react accordingly, depending on the situation. The Colorado movie theatre incident could have occurred anywhere in the world, just as a drive by shooting can happen anywhere. We still feel safe here in Mexico. We remain vigilant, just as we have been for the last year as we drove through many of the United States neighborhoods.

So, back to our drive to Chapala. We found the scenery absolutely breath-taking. The weather was perfect and the traffic was almost non-existing.  At around 11:30am, we arrived at the American invaded and populated area of Chapala and found the local Mexican immigration office, right on the main road. We got the best parking spot for our over-sized dually diesel beast, right at the front door and in their parking lot. Inside were about 12 people and the sign-up sheet had only two names ahead of us. I was concerned that somehow, somewhere, something was going to be missing, incomplete or unauthorized and we had wasted over $300 and all the time and effort in our one-year Mexican visa. But, instead, with some new photographs, a couple of fingerprints, the stroke of a pen and the printing of some papers, our freshly laminated no-immigrante turista visa, formerly known as the FM3, were in our hands by 1pm and good until June of 2013. We were under the impression that this was not going to be a simple task, and that we would be returning to this office a few more timers before getting our cards.

It was almost too good to be true. But, it was. God is great. We are now legally official temporary Mexican residents and we can stay here legally for up to one year, instead of the routine 6-month tourist visa, where we would have had to leave the country by October. We wanted to be able to just take our time and not be under pressure to hurry up and get our journey done in less than 180 days. Barb and Sal also had a good day, since Barb needed to get some of her paperwork in order and was fortunate enough to get things started.

I also got to purchase my Tel-Cel internet card which allows me to get on the internet with my laptop. We also got to have an excellent lunch by the lake. We found out that this area is heavily populated by thousands of American and Canadian retirees. Hearing someone speak English here is common, and most of the Mexican residents speak English fluently. We saw some gorgeous sub-divisions that were gated off from the main road. I am told that this highly popular area has fallen victim to high demand and high real estate prices, so finding an affordable home in this area would be difficult, just as trying to find the actual authentic Mexican lifestyle.

We love our stay at the Hacienda Contreras RV Park in Valle de Juarez. Other than Sal and Barb, we are the only park residents, so we have this place all to ourselves. I cannot understand why more people do not take advantage of the gorgeous weather and the un-crowded living conditions during this time of year. It is true that there are no other people to socialize with, but we do not mind it at all. The warm sunshine during the day, and the cool nights, make a world of a difference from those blistering hot days that we were having in Texas. What a difference. And, my most favorite thing is that there are NO MOSQUITOES at night. What a relief. The Texas mosquitoes just loved my Portuguese blood. They would attack me in swarms as soon as I would walk out the door. We had a small fortune invested in mosquito sprays. So we are prepared for the next invasion.

We have gone in to the lovely town of Valle de Juarez, which is only about 2 miles from the RV park, and we walked around the central plaza, which has all of the important places to get everything we needed.  We had lunch on Lulu’s birthday on July 23 at a small restaurant that was actually the front of someone’s home. The kitchen not only served their clients, but was also the household kitchen. The set up, furniture and tablecloth remind me of my Portuguese grandmother’s house, and the food was almost as good. We ate TWO full meals of grilled chicken breast with salad, fries, rice, bread and two cokes for under $10, total.

For desert, we stopped at the ice cream shop and had some fresh vanilla ice cream. Then we walked over to the butcher who deboned a boneless chicken breast and sliced it thin. Along with a two-pound t-bone steak, we spent 90 pesos. Just about $7.00. On our way back, we made a stop at the larger grocery store in town and bought a few things, spending another 115 pesos, about $10, and then headed back to Hacienda Contreras where we got a beautiful show that God put on for us. The sunset was stunning, just as the sunrise was earlier that morning. Our RV faces the sunrise on one side and the sunset on the other. I would compare the scenery to our mountains in Virginia, but the Mexican climate is much better.

Now we wait for our internet and cel phone issues to be resolved. The park had a problem with their modem and they are working on the internet issue. As soon as that is settled, I can spend a little more time on getting our facebook up to date and do some banking. Although my Verizon cel phone works fine here in Mexico, our global rate is .99 cents a minute, which can run up a small fortune in no time at all, so we are waiting for a cel phone to arrive and it would run only 1 peso a minute for all calls, including U.S. calls. That is about .07 cents a minute.

So we are adjusting well. We feel safe and very comfortable in Mexico, and are glad we did not get persuaded by our unfortunate incident at the border the week earlier. It was one of those things. And we are also glad to have not been influenced by the many negative comments that were made by so many people that we met along the way. I know that most of them meant no harm, but were only repeating what they had heard. It just goes to show you how powerful the tongue really is.  We heard so many horror stories about how bad things were in Mexico, and it is all so far from the truth. The Mexicans themselves will tell you first hand that all though there is violence, it is no different from many parts of the world, including our own United States. All we have to do is look over our shoulder and see what is going on in our own back yard, and we can see how true that really is.

If only we could all just live in peace and treat everyone the way we would want our parents or children to be treated. Wouldn’t that make a world of a difference? And if we would stop being selfish and always thinking about ourselves, but instead, take some time to help out that elderly person with their groceries or stop and help the woman that is getting beat up by her man. Better yet, how about letting God back in to our lives, homes, work and schools? And not be afraid of the repercussions from the non-believers. We need to start praying together as families and as neighbors. Then, I think, things just might change, just a little, but enough.
Live, laugh and Love,
Lulu and AL

Lulu feeling right at home. (Reading shades of grey #2)

7-11's are not just for Americans.

Chapala shopping

Barb & Sal and us having lunch in Chapala.

Donkeys and horses are still used.

Valle De Juarez

Don't back into the border patrol's gate!

Journal Entry by LULU

I am sitting under an orange tree ion Pharr, Texas. The wind is picking up to near tornado strength and I can hear the thunder in the distance. It is my turn to pick up the pen and tell you about all the exciting events and how we ended up back in Texas.  It was on a Friday on the 6th of July that we left Donna Texas. The moment that we have been waiting for since we began our RV journey just over a year ago. So, with as much toilet paper, paper towels, peanut butter, bug spray and so many other products that we stocked up on because we were told it would be hard to get or expensive in Mexico. Little did we know that we would also be on that list.

RV Park in Pharr, TX Orange trees in all sites.

HEATED pool in 100 degree weather.

No oranges in our tree.

We had a great stay at the Magnolia RV Park in Donna, Texas the week before. We spent the 4th of July with about 20 other summer residents and were able to entertain them for their cookout.  Like all the other parks we have visited, we met some great people and made some new friends. We made our heartbreaking good-byes and headed to the border.

Lulu finds a victim. Fred!!

Small group but fun. Last dance with LULU.

Tony was the 4th of July cook.

These guys were in the trees.

Magnolia RV Park

Sign posted on US side at Falcon Lake.

Surprise!! This is in the U.S.A., not Mexico.
The floor of Falcon Lake, Zapata, TX.
About 20 feet below level.

Al has spent countless days and nights on the internet doing research and communicating with people already in Mexico. He has compiled a list of  all the best methods, roads, tolls and towns to drive through and which places to avoid. So we headed to the Anzalduas International Bridge crossing in Reynosa, Mexico. We were privileged to be one of the first people to cross through this brand spanking new facility. The place was still shiny and clean and still smelled like fresh paint. Hardly anyone was there, because it did not even look like it was open to traffic.  Construction on the U.S. side in McAllen, Texas made it almost impossible to locate and barely accessible to enter. Therefore, it was an exciting and historical moment to see the sign “Entering Mexico”.   But have you ever noticed that the U.S. sign says “Welcome to the United States”? There are no welcome signs in Mexico.

So began our 9-hour ordeal. From 11;30am until 9:30pm, we paced and walked and followed two stone faced Mexican customs (ADUANA) agents back and forth from building to buildings and office to office. Our first escort was from our original crossing at Anzalduas to another crossing, about 20 minutes away at the Amanecer crossing near Pharr, Texas. One of the bridges that we were told to avoid because of traffic and because of the difficulty we would have had in getting on the freeway to our Mexican destination. It looked like the only Mexican ancient ruins were going to see on this day were the slums of Reynosa.

Brand new gate.

Not a scratch on it.

That is until AL got to it.

All of  this attention was not because we had the wrong paperwork or because AL forgot to leave behind one of his many firearms but because the Free Spirit got hung up on a “tope” (speed bump), just past the security gate on the Mexico side. Apparently the truck and RV began to rock and roll back and forth, just enough to bend the security gate arm back about 6 inches. We were not told this until a couple of hours later. We thought we were waiting to be inspected, since we got the “RED LIGHT”, and Al was inside another building taking care of some paperwork. While parked at the first bridge, we were told that we were waiting for the boss man from the other bridge to come and investigate. However, after no one showed up for a couple of house, we ended up following the lit up police car to the other bridge. So we got the full escort, with a cruiser in front, and an agent in the front seat. Once at the Amanacer crossing, we got in to the police car and taken to HQ. I had never been in a police car before, never mind the back seat. At least Molly was with us.

Our Mexican auto insurance adjuster arrived and we are told we are all set, but a minute later, we told nope. Mais uno minuto. (One more minute). Actually, it was many more minutos because no one knew what they were doing. Hours later, after Molly and I started eating the tuna salad I had packed up for the trip, before it went bad, and without any other food or water, it looks like we may be able to leave. Nope. So sorry. Mais uno minuto.

We were in a two story building with hundreds of people, most of them women. And when I ask to use a bathroom, they say, so sorry, no public bathrooms. More waiting. More tears and Al starts to get impatient. Now the insurance person tells us that they offered to pay for the damage, but the “Aduana” will not accept his word. Instead, they want cash or they will have to impound our vehicle until it is paid, maybe by Monday? It is now 8pm on Friday night.

Finally, someone comes up with paperwork. Now they hit us with a $23,000 peso bill, about $1,500, CASH!! So much for our emergency money that we had put away.  However, it is now getting dark, and we are no longer interested in driving in to Mexico. We pay our bill and back to Texas we go. I have written lyrics to a new song, and it goes..”I am proud to be an American, where at least I now I’m free, But, don’t go in to Mexico, if you ever have to pee….” It was a very stressful, discouraging moment and had us thinking twice about what we were doing.

But now after a few days of re-grouping and looking back, and after many encouraging and positive posts from our Mexican RV friends, I can look back and see that this was not the normal routine. It was an unfortunate accident that my driver was to blame for, whether we like it or not, and, the delay was not done on purpose, but was because they had two young agents that were not familiar with their procedures. Throughout the day, we could see the frustration in their faces, as they were given the runaround by their superiors.


At the start of my journey I wrote that I will not fret over tangled Christmas lights or lost luggage. So, for now, my heart sinks back in to place and AL is back on the internet re-routing our journey. New plans are underway and we hope to re-enter Mexico without any problems very, very soon. We still have our health and happiness and we will pray for that other world that we wait for where we all live in peace as one. Stay with us… Go West…. Or South??  Or is that East? Thank you GPS? No, but rather, ....thank you GOD!!!

We were told that diesel was cheaper in Mexico.

Lulu

The chapel at RV Park in Pharr, TX

Saying Good-bye to Texas

 Hello friends, It seems like it has been such a long time since we have updated our blog. And I apologize for that, but these last few weeks has not been much going on, except for just catching up on every day, mundane, routine matters. We really haven’t gone on any special trips, been anywhere out of the ordinary and have not been sightseeing.  I did, however, fly out to Florida earlier this month, to visit my doctors and take care of a couple of maintenance issues back at our condo in Holiday (where they are having some viscous weather these days, and we are praying for everyone to come out of it very soon). We had a leak in our bathroom that stained the first floor ceiling and then, while I was there, the upstairs toilet bit the dust, and I ended up having to replace the entire bowl.

Tahitian Gardens Pool, Holiday, FL

Water Stain on Ceiling

Best I could do for now

 I never worked so hard and so fast in such little time. I repaired a 6’ x 2’ ceiling, replaced the entire toilet bowl, saw three doctors, dropped off my prescriptions and flew roundtrip from Harlingen, Texas to Tampa, Florida, all in four days. I did not sleep much, since I was determined to get my repair job done before leaving. So, I stayed up late and got up early, every day. And then, I cleaned the entire apartment when I was done. Right up until the last minute. Afterwards, I was a hurting man for the next couple of weeks, because my body is just not used to doing that kind of hard labor. But, it’s done and I went a few hundred dollars less this month. I still have a vacant 2-bedroom apartment that is remains for rent. See my blog page on it at www.HolidayFlorida.blogspot.com . This is only for someone we know as we will not rent out to the public, unless they come highly recommended by someone we know. So, we don’t advertise. If you are reading this, then you are most likely in our circle of friends, so if you are interested in the condo, we can get you in there for a very good price.

When I said that we haven’t had much excitement, I guess I was being a
 little reserved about it, because we did have a couple of unexpected  incidents that surprised us in different ways.  Our first curve ball was having a tire blow out on us while coming back home from church on Memorial Day weekend. We were not going more than 40 or 50 miles an hour, and on a secondary road, when the tread came off the rear dually tire and damaged the driver side rear fender. This little incident caused nearly $2,500 in damage and another $800 in new tires.  To add insult to injury, we were without a truck for 4 days.

If you know me, then you know that I always look at everything as a blessing from God. Regardless of what it may be, I think that God does things for a reason. No matter what we may think, there is a reason for EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, we do not possess the intelligence to understand what it is that God is trying to do for us. Then, sometimes we do, or at least, God makes it so that we know why or what God is trying to do.  In this tire incident, we already knew that we needed 4 rear tires, but we were not ready financially, so we were holding off for the following month to do it. But, God had different plans for us. He wanted me to take care of it NOW.

Thanks to American Express, I had 30 days to pay for my new tires. Then, PEP Boys gave me a rebate of the cost of one tire. So, that brought my balance down to $600. My auto insurance company gave me almost $2,000 to fix my fender with all new parts. I found a body shop that repaired the damage for about a third of the price, without having to buy a new $1,000 fender. Now, I had enough to pay off AMEX, and had money left over to help pay for the repairs that I had done to the Florida condo. Whether or not this was God’s plan, it makes sense to me. It all worked out in the end.

The other unexpected incident was the passing of our 80 year old neighbor here at the Anglers Nest RV Park. Tom and his wife Marlys, are full-time residents here and we are only about 100 feet away from their trailer. There are three other families here, but us being the closest, received a phone call from Marlys at about 2am to ask for our help in picking up her husband who had fallen on the way to the bathroom. He was not feeling well that night, and had not been feeling himself for a few days. After seeing Tom again later that morning, he passed away while taking a nap later that afternoon. Lulu had never been exposed to someone passing away like this, so although she handled it well, it was a new and wearisome experience. Fortunately, I have seen this hundreds of times in my career, so I was easily able to help out, and knew what to expect. Ambulance, police, detectives, medical examiners and funeral homes all come in and out of the house, and some have little or no sensitivity when dealing with these situations. It seems that no one ever really takes the time to sit down and explain to the family why they do it the way they do, or what they will be doing and why.

During my police career, I always took the time to sit with the family and explain what the next few hours would entail. They needed to know why we had to have a detective there, and sometimes taking photographs, and why the ambulance could not take the body, and why the medical examiner had to be involved, and sometimes brought down, etc….. Most likely, it is usually the first time someone has gone through this, so they don’t know why all of this activity is needed, and it can make it very traumatizing for anyone that loses a loved one. I rarely see someone take the time to explain what the procedure is. I always thought that police and EMS need to take the time to explain this when they have this kind of call
Once again, God made sure that we were around at this moment and to help out Marlys and provide the assistance, comfort and consoling that can be so lacking during these times. To make things more difficult for the widow, was that Marlys had just gotten released from the hospital after major surgery. So, she was in no condition to be doing many of the things that she needed to get done. Marlys is a strong woman, and handled the entire situation very well, but she was still alone, with all her family in a different state and with no friends nearby. For some reason, we were there to fill in and we were happy to have helped out.

So that has been our excitement for the last couple of months. Now, we are preparing for our next journey, and that is still going to be Mexico. If all goes well, we may be leaving on July 1 or 2.  Since we have been in Texas, I have been able to do my homework on all this Mexican violence that everyone keeps talking about. We have met some wonderful people on the internet that have been living in Mexico, and they have given us some great advice. They also have become our first hand accounts of what is going on in Mexico. These folks are experienced RV travelers that continue to drive the highways and bi-ways of Mexico, and they have never experienced any violence against them. I’ll be posting another section on this subject in a separate post.
Most of the cartel violence is concentrated in the Northern border states of Mexico, so, we intend to getting past the territories within a few hours and should be outside the drug cartels trade zone within a day. We have no intentions on stopping anywhere along the way.  Our first stops will be along the Mexican highland interior where the temperatures are a little cooler than it is here in Texas, and milder than the Mexican beaches. We are making our way to the outskirts of Guadalajara and then to Valle de Juarez, just South of Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake and the highest concentration of Americans and Canadians. We should be at Hacienda Contreras by around September 1st and remain there until December or January, when we will head to the West Coast beaches and slowly make our way North to Arizona by next fall. Of course, all this is subject to change, depending on what we like or dislike.

Our communications will be limited, since our Verizion cel phone will work in Mexico, but will run about one dollar a minute. We will be getting an internet card once get in Mexico, which I believe is about $20 a month and has 2.5 gb per month. I have no idea how much that will take care of, especially since we will be using skype as a phone. Of course we will be checking out their cel phone plans and looking at our  options there as well.

We are packing up and getting ready to leave Angler’s Nest where we have made a home for the last four months. This small, 60-unit adult only RV park, is almost like a small neighborhood that is made up of all family members. And, although the park is a little tight, the residents and owners are the best people anyone would want to have as neighbors. Even though we really have nothing to complain about, it is time to move on, and start exploring other places. We leave the Nest with great memories and new friendships.
We will probably just move to another RV park nearby, that is closer to the bridge we will be crossing on Monday.
We recently had a tarantula move in to our site yard. He has dug himself a little trench and occasionally he will stick out his little head. He only does this at night, and he is very quick to duck back inside his hole if he senses us nearby, or if we shine any light on his home. He is the coolest thing. When you have never seen something like this before, it is very exciting to see.



The only other thing going on is my recent bout with back pain. Since we came back from Florida in January, I had been getting some very severe pain down my back, in to my hips and down the back of both legs. I visited a local chiropractor in town, used back braces, did my stretching exercises, and applied heat and ice, and heat and ice. And, none of these things helped. What did help, was Lulu’s idea of placing some extra support under the sheets on my side of the bed. Eventually, we purchased a very firm 3” sponger bed topper, and since then, my pain has gone down substantially.

I'm not a specialist. If you can read this, send me an email

What is interesting is that my recent MRI shows two new disc herniation and additional disc degeneration, since my last MRI nearly 10 years ago. So, I don’t get it. The doctor didn’t think that the mattress played too much of a role in my recent pain. But, I have to admit, that since changing my sleeping surface, it is almost like nothing had ever happened.

Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville, TX, earlier this month

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention that we put on the Anglers Nest very FIRST pool party. The only 10 people left in the park, and two grandchildren all met under the clubhouses canopy and shared some KFC food and several deserts. And, the highlight of the event was the child’s inflatable 4 foot wide pool. You can see by the photos that we had a blast.

Molly doing what she does best!

And, I guess that’s it for now. Lulu hasn’t had any gigs in this area, since most, if not all of the venues, are closed or have suspended their entertainment until the fall. Molly is doing OK. She has been on her meds that control her heart condition, fluids and thyroid. She now has cataracts, but we can’t find glasses to fit her, so she will just have to get by without.




God Bless you all and we will be back soon.

Learning in Texas

I learn something new all the time. Such as not knowing how hot Texas really was. I feel that this area is pretty darn close to the temperatures in Florida. I have not found much of a difference with the humidity levels, although, I don’t think I will be here long enough to tell how much of a difference there is between the two states.  As for me, when it boils down to what is better or what is worse, hot is hot, humid or not. If it is 95 degrees, you are going to know it is 95 degrees. And I wouldn’t care if it is a dry 95 or  humid 95. It is going to feel HOT!!

Nopal cactus in bloom.
They use this cactus as a vitamin. Good for diabetes,
blood pressure and digestive problems.

We will be staying in the “Rio Grande Valley”  (RGV) of Texas for about another month. The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) is at the Southern-most end of Texas, by the Rio Grande and just North of the Mexican border. The spring weather is HOT!@!@  We have had steady 80 to 90 degree weather just about every day with very little rain. The wind is usually blowing strong, which I believe is ideal weather. We have the summer heat and sun, mixed with a strong breeze that seems to cool things off.  Just stay out of the direct sun and the wind will make things cooler. Most of the time, we have our windows open or we hang out in our screen house. Mosquitos and other flying insects are a constant annoyance, but with the appropriate treatment like sprays, lights or candles, they seem to stay away.

They have not taken down the sign, but this still is up on Highway 281.

Speaking of staying away, I have also learned that the RGV is just about abandoned by its’ winter residents. Our RV Park is almost empty. Most of the people that were here have packed up and gone back North. Most of them come down here just for the winter season and have a base home somewhere North of Texas. They come from cold weather states like Minnesota, Wisconsin and as far as Canada. So, unlike us, they only come here for a few months to get away from the cold weather. Although some residents bring down their RV’s and trailers, several residents do not even own one, but instead, will rent a trailer here in the park, and have been doing so for many years, returning every winter.


We have been told that 60% of the winter residents in the RGV are “Winter Texans”.  Meaning that they live elsewhere and only come here for the winter. They are Florida’s equivalent to the “Snowbird”. But, unlike Florida, this area becomes almost like a ghost town, with many businesses and events closing for the summer. For example, the American Legion in Mercedes, Texas, where Lulu sang at during their Friday night fish fry, was full to capacity not long ago, but now, they remain closed until the Winter Texans return in the fall. The Don West Flea Market in Donna, Texas, also closed their gates in April.  Just the other day, this spot was crawling with bargain- hunter’s 3-days a week. And, we recently returned to Progresso, Mexico, which depend heavily on the money-spending American and Canadian tourists, that visit their small town every day to buy medicine, souvenirs and get their teeth, fingers and toes worked on. Now, all you see is desperate business owners trying to lure whoever walks by in to spending just a few dollars. The streets are nowhere near what it was a few months ago.

Little Mexican Texans waiting to pee.

A big Mexican Texan waiting to eat.

It has been a couple of months since we arrived in this area, and we do not regret our decision. It was a last minute move, because we had not decided if we would have continued West on I-10 and travel in to Nevada, or drive South in to the warmer weather. Of course, the warm weather prevailed and we made the call only 4 weeks prior to arriving. I had expected that we would have been too late to get a spot, but we were very fortunate to wind up at the Anglers Nest RV Park. We got our warm weather, and we met some of the nicest people in the country. Normally, this entire area is booked solid for the entire winter season.
Another thing that I learned was the number of RV parks in this area along with the number of “winter Texans” that spend time here. Of course, they all need to be entertained, and I quickly learned that there were many, many “entertainers” in this area, and that they have all gorged up all of the venues for the entire season, leaving us very little to pick from. Lulu only performed a couple of gigs, and they were right here, in this little, 60-site, no- frills park. Fortunately, they residents were very generous and made it a worthwhile gig, and, we got some exposure. We had some folks that came over from other parks, and they were pleased with what they saw. The phone has already been ringing for bookings for next year.  I was very happy to hear more than one person say that Lulu was one of the best entertainers that they had seen in this area. It is nice to know that when we retrace our steps, and be able to shower the RGV and their Winter Texans with some Lulu Entertainment. Unfortunately, that may have to wait an additional year for us to come back this way. We still have not made it half way through our bucket list of places to see.

Entertainment at Veteran's Appreciation Day on May 5

Mexican folkloric dancers at the festival

Getting ready to dance.

I learned that my well-intentioned friends and family that were warning me of all the violence and drug problems in this area really did not know what they were talking about. I was glad to see for myself that the Texas/Mexico border area is not the drug-war-torn-border-town that everyone claimed it would have been. We were told that we were crazy to come down here. They said that the drug cartel was kidnapping tourists and bringing them back in to Mexico to behead them. People also told us about the wild-west style gunfights that were happening on a daily basis across the Rio Grande and that they were shooting at anyone they could see on the American side. These stories were from people that claimed to have been told by reliable sources, like their cousin Vinnie who had to return home because the border patrol told him it was too violent to be here. In fact, I did hear from a resident at another RV Park close by that the U.S. Border Patrol did in fact do a presentation at their park and persuaded the tourists not to travel in to Mexico for fear of them being abducted. They even went as far as doing a slide show presentation with violent images of the dead bodies that had fallen victim to the drug cartel villence. I don’t know if this was an exaggeration or a poor-taste presentation by the U.S. government.


Needless to say,  that although we hear about drug related violence in Mexico, we haven’t seen any of these things. In fact, we have walked over to Mexico twice and I have not seen any gunfights, or Mexican drug cartel and police shoot-outs. From where we stay, or even from just about most of this border area, I cannot see the streets of Mexico, let alone having a stray bullet land near me. As for the Mexican drug violence, it sounds just like the gang wars that we have within our own country. The cartels are feuding amongst each other, and they usually make examples of those that cross them. Sounds like they knew what they were getting themselves in to when they got involved in their drug trade.

The dogs here are big!!

 The local TV news is loaded with incidents of massive drug seizures being made almost daily, and news of car chases, armed robberies and murders happening in many of the larger cities nearby. Geez, almost sounds like St Petersburg, Florida or Boston, MA to me. Nothing that is unusual to any American city, so it really doesn’t surprise me to see this kind of stuff, except for the amount and frequency of the drug seizures coming across the border, but I think it is only expected, knowing that the majority of our illegal drugs are coming from South America. I still say that the huge amounts that they are finding, are minuscule compared to the stuff that IS getting across. Those seizures are only the necessary losses that the drug cartel is making to keep the agents busy enough for them to get the bigger shipments across in a different manner. And, until our Americans stop buying the drugs that they supply, this will only continue. Money talks!!


There is another observance that I think would surprise the ordinary American who has never been here and has been brainwashed with the indecorous tales that we have been hearing for so long. And, that is the number of Mexican registered vehicles that come across the border and are found parked in shopping plazas all around town. That means that there are Mexican residents that legally cross over the border and make purchases to bring back in to their country. There is this misconception that there are masses of Mexicans illegally crossing over by rafts or hiking under cover of the night and breaking in to houses  forcing Americans to hide them out. In fact, the majority of Mexicans would not even think about leaving Mexico. The ones that do so illegally, are in the minority, and cannot obtain legal status to cross over. Some of those people are not even Mexicans, but rather Guatemalans or from some other Latino country.  Yet another myth that we have been able to discredit.

Folkloric dancing

I am also surprised to find that there is a lot of Spanish- speaking going on in many local public places. I am referring to retail and such. The employees seem to talk to everyone as though we all understand or speak Spanish. It feels as though we are in Mexico. Many of those people do not make an effort to speak English, and even though we are responding in English, they continue to speak in Spanish. I found out that this area was in fact part of Mexico at one time.  Maybe, these are people that are just descendants of those that have lived here since that time, and just continue their traditions? Either way, it is good practice for me as I brush up on my Spanish in preparation for our journey in to Mexico.

Is Texas that is for lovers?

Speaking of which, we have been working on obtaining our Mexican tourist visas that has become a little more complicated than I expected. We could go the 180-day tourist visa, which is very easy to get, and much less complicated, but the 180-day visa is a problem to me. We would be forced to leave Mexico after 180 days, and then we could return, only after waiting 180 days, and then we would have to get another 180-day visa. This particular tourist visa, known as the FMM, cannot be renewed while in Mexico, so we would have to make sure that we plan accordingly and be back over the border by the 180 days. If not, we could face big fines for over-staying the visa.


The tourist visa I am seeking is the 1-Year FM3, which allows us to stay up to a year and may be renewed while in Mexico, therefore we would not have to rush to get out. However, getting one entails a little extra work and a little more government bureaucracy.  Nothing is impossible. We will get around it.

Lulu making sand castles at Boca Chica beach.

Park your vehicle right on the beach.
No walking with chairs, coolers, floaties....

For now, we plan to stay here a little longer so we can do a few things we still have not got to do. We spent a day at Boca Chica Beach, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, and have gone to some festivities. We also need to get to a nature trail or two and a few other sightseeing days that we need to get done. We will be at an almost empty park, and a less-populated area. Nevertheless, it does not sound any different from Florida when the snowbirds go back home in March. We will make do.


And another thing that we learned. Mexicans do not celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  And here we were waiting for parades, and loud parties and tequila. No such thing. In fact, May 5 is not even a holiday in Mexico. The date marks the anniversary of a victory in 1862 in the fight for independence from French forces. It is also not, as is often assumed, the day of Mexico's celebrations of independence, which are actually held on September 16.  Cinco de Mayo celebrations actually is a day of Mexican heritage and pride that is traced back to California, and started by some of their Mexican immigrants. The date has actually been exploited by corporate America to get Americans to spend their hard working money.


We will, however, miss our new Texas friends. These people have been so nice to us, and have extended their generosity, friendship and hospitality without reservation. They have accepted us in to their close-knit community and treated us as though we have been coming here for the last 10 years. In the short time that we have been here, we have spent some very preciousmoments with our new friends, and have shared many fun events. The park owners have been extremely hospitable, and have even allowed us to stay past their “closing date”, when most of their residents leave. We were fortunate to have selected this park for our stay. We constantly are reminded that God is always guiding us in the right direction.  And, it is proof that He places us in the right area and with the right people. Angler’s Nest RV Park will be another place that we will never forget, and it will be at the top of our list when we retrace our return in the future. We will never forget the great times here and we will miss our “Nest” friends.


Adios mis amigos!!

Winter Texans going home

A POST FROM LULU
 

Turning AL in to a Texas cowboy.

  Where has the past four months gone? I was just resting comfortably in my magic recliner, you know the one?, the one that has the powerful seat that sucks you in and stops you from getting things done. That is my reason for not getting a pen and writing down our wonderful experiences on the road. Just four months ago, I had wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving from my last visit to my storybook. Thank goodness for my super good looking, sexy and brilliant husband (can you tell who is doing the typing here?), yes my great, handsome husband is always doing something at the computer, and it is not unusual to find him updating our Facebook pages with our Texas news journal events. In fact, we are so busy doing all kinds of things that we could have a regular monthly newsletter that could look something like this;

Waiting for our 1 lb burgers at
Gonzalez Burgers

Section A; Entertainment; Besides Lulu and AL entertaining at the Angler’s Nest clubhouse, we were invited to the Mercedes, TX AMVETS to their weekly fish fry on Friday nights.  There was a houseful of wonderful people that we met, and we enjoyed some “Scaryoke”, I mean karaoke, which some people, including myself, got to show off some talent.

Mr. Stan's apple pie

Section B: Restaurants: I do not know where to begin. If you have seen our Facebook pictures, you might think that is all that we do. Giant burgers in Donna, TX, homemade cake and cookies from our neighbor Ms. Darlene,
and she was so kind to even knock on the door and ask if AL had any diabetes issues, yeah right….  Then there is Stanley, who you might see on one of our videos on Facebook.  Stanley came by on one of our very cold days, when it dropped from 85 to 55, with a hot homemade apple pie. He is the park’s pie maker and all the women love him because he is as sweet as pie. He is soft spoken, and frail and his smile is bigger than his whole body.

Kissing the bride again.

Section C: Places to go: I could run out of ink if I would write about all the places we have been to. You all know the softy that I am when it comes to all the special places that stay engraved in my heart. Especially those romantic spots that our footprints have been left behind, like “Lulu’s Homeport” in Alabama on Valentine’s Day. Al and I renewed our wedding vows there on a surprise date out. I don’t think the ink on our original vows have had a chance to dry yet. I mean it has only been a year. But, it was a very warming ceremony to recreate over again with my best friend.

Cleaning the catch of the day.

Wherever we go, whether it is outside in the sun, sometimes in the rain, flea markets, picnics, or just sitting on the magic furniture, as long as I can feel the sunshine on my face, and keep my feet on the ground, literally, I know that this dream will never end. There really are too many places to get in to details, but there are always first times for us, wherever we go.  In fact, Al went on his first pontoon fishing expedition with some RV park buddies, and although I was invited, I took a rain check. I still have nightmares from my “Carnival Cruise gone bad” in 2004 during a sunny day; a rogue wave tipped the ship over enough for the lawn chairs to slide off the eighth floor balcony. The Captain had it all under control and got us back safely, just as Al got back safely with 56 fish amongst 5 fishermen. Good job.

The bugs are not this big,
but there are big spiders, mostly
in holes in the ground, and the
big boys are always digging
them up for play pets??

It is nearly midnight and I can see the fireflies outside the back window on this muggy and buggy night. You need to buy stock on insect repellant as we have bought just about every kind. Everyone has a remedy to keep away the mosquitoes, like rubbing vanilla on your body. So why do I still have bumps that itch like heck and I scratch until they bleed? And I smell like a sugar cookie that attracts ants.

It’s all good, since we will be heading to Mexico soon, and I can try rubbing tequila and lime on my limbs. Wait, that has nothing to do with bugs. I think it is a country song that goes “what goes on in Mexico, stays in Mexico”. Just ask Tobey Keith.

Adios mi amigos.

Baby ducks for sale at the
77 Flea Market in Brownsville, Tx

And by the way. May you all have a blessed Easter Holiday.  We will be having Easter dinner with our RV park hosts, Linda and Pat, and whomever may be left here at the park.