Melba, our guide has been making these trips for over 38 years and is a member of the Mexico tourist association. She is an American living on South Padre Island, but knows both the border towns like the back of her hand. She also assured us we would be safe in this large town, as they now have Special Forces from the Mexican military patrolling. They brought them in after they found all (or many) of the police on the take and when they ran their guns, not one had the one issued to them......Matamoros has a population of over 850,000 and is a very clean town. It also is the home of many, many "wealthy" ranchers. We drove through the neighborhood where many of these ranchers had homes.
One of the many facts we learned on the tour was that it is mandatory for every Mexican boy to serve at least two years in the military. We also learned that most of the factory workers in Mexico are women between the ages of 18 and 44 are the primary employees. They are paid $5.50 per DAY.....they do however get medical, meals and hospitalization benefits. Still doesn't seem like a good deal to me!!!
I got a kick out of the donkey that is like our horses in Walmart.....
The market area is very clean compared to Progreso....more expensive though. We got laughing at some of these merchants. They would yell, "hey lady, hey lady....come into my store...WalMart prices in my store".....others would yell, "come Senorita...come see my junk; I have very good price for YOU"!! I am honest man".
Lots of bars on windows in and near the border towns!!
Beautiful children's dresses....
Melba told us they had the BEST coffee here, so of course Salt, Gene and I made a stop to purchase 2lbs. for $6.30. Had we known just HOW good it is we would have bought 20 lbs.Much of their coffee is grown in Vera Cruz.
The Senorita packing and or grinding the coffee....
Strong, medium or mixed....
After the tour and an hour and a half of shopping we went to Garcia's www.matamoros.com/empresas/garcia-s/ a beautiful restaurant with and department store. The food was wonderful as well as inexpensive. A full dinner with soup, salad bar, entree, desert and a complimentary Margarita. As the three of us don't drink, Gene got to drink all 4 of the Margaritas....it was a really good deal for him.......
The group minus Gene who was taking the picture.....
We got to try some unique foods. Here our waiter shows us a vegetable called jimica. The natives peel, and cut it into strips and then sprinkle key lime juice over it. It immediately quenches your thirst, as it is filled with water. It is also quite tasty, even though a bit bland.
This is Melba our guide......
I checked my mail and face book before dinner, and found this picture of Lindsey Elizabeth Boyer, Kelly and Brian's new baby. Congratulations, to both of you, Elizabeth is BEAUTIFUL. A new baby and snow for Christmas in your new home....You guys are at the top of your game. Love you both!!
And while I was checking out the postcards, Ruth found this young good looking surfer dude....
We attended the Wassaling with the Turtles event at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center. We had quite the lesson in Sea Turtles, and loved it.
Fred the loggerhead....
This poor little girl had barnacles growing on her shell....you can see where she has lost a part of her shell (where the staff was scraping the barnacles off) and a new healthy one is growing back. The barnacles only grow on them when they are ill.
This little guy was caught in the rocks and was all scratched up!!
The camera doesn't do this little girl justice, her shell is BEAUTIFUL!
She was in bad shape but they were able to stabilize a fin in this jacket......
The Leatherback, the largest of all sea turtles.
A stop at a restaurant on the wharf....Pirates Landing. Salt made friends with one of the birds....
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