Reynosa-Hidalgo International Bridge — Local services in Tamaulipas

I was trying to find an alternative to going to the Progresso international Bridge. This time instead of driving to Progresso, I took a bus to McCallen for $28. I tried to research about shopping and such and mainly, I read that Americans should not go there. However, I was determined as from the McAllen Greyhound station, there are many rides for just a couple of $ to the bridge

Customs on the way in grabbed my e-cig & we’re going to throw it away so in my broken Spanish I tried to say how expensive it was & it was for me to stop smoking, that the liquid was in my bag so they dug in my bag & pulled the liquid out also. So they were going to throw both away but I explained that the vape cost $80 and the liquid with no nicotine was $40. There was one guy who kept trying to use his phone to translate something for me to hear, but every time he did it, it was completely nonsensical & ended with the word Lucifer, I kid you not.

Reynosa is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It absolutely is not for Americans. It is an actual town in Mexico, where I didn’t meet a single person that spoke English. It was very difficult to maneuver my way around the city, which is quite large on foot or even taking frequent taxis. You have to exchange your $ there or you will lose a lot. Which that’s not the easiest thing for most people to calculate the exchange rate, but there’s not anything there that you really want to buy.

I ended up walking around & I learned don’t carry a purse that feels like it’s lbs of bricks, but I walked around for 6 hrs, searching for what I normally easily procure in Progresso & I found nothing. It was just a very dirty almost scary place. There were also many South Americans there that didn’t speak Spanish.

Occasionally jeeps would fly up & people in full tactical gear wld all jump out, so I asked one of the cab drivers in Spanish: que es Estos¿ he said that was basically immigration. To me in my imagination, I was guessing that it was maybe the cartel running the city.

When I finally gave up on getting anything for my entire trip, I had a taxi take me to something that’s different there, which is as soon as you walk across the bridge you see there are casinos. I’m sure the odds aren’t great but that’s different from any border town that I’ve ever gone to that was catering to Americans. I went to one as you can’t find a restroom anywhere in the city & once I did at the bus station it was a pay toilet with a turnstile that cost six pesos to use and looked very dirty so I didn’t use it. I did cash $50 in because you have to play with their card. They had 3 rooms: paramutual betting, a live poker room & a room full of machines. However, although I only went to the room with machines in it, many of the machines were broken down but there were a lot of them. However, there was absolutely no poker, which is the only game that I like to play as well as no video blackjack, they did have keno & bingo, however. One of the waiters asked if I wanted a drink I said no thank you & right away they brought 2 bottles of water to me so they were very accommodating. It was a little bit cooler in there as I was hoping for some air-conditioning as nothing is air-conditioned there - none of the cars, none of the stores, or anywhere that had air-conditioning except this casino, and it didn’t have very much.

The bus to come back to McAllen cut it really close to get on another bus to leave McAllen. Well, it turned out that we were held up, not walking through customs, but the bus itself was held up. Thus, I was 10m late for the bus back home & had to rent a 3rd night at a motel.

Overall it was a terrible experience &...

For many People and for me, it is a sad experience many times; even, when we follow the guidelines required; I mean, in terms of what items are permisible to pass ,,, I observe People around me anxious and discusted about how some of the officers perform their duties. This situations happen when we are using the bus as our transportation. Nowdays, I have observed that most of the passsagers, are senior ladies, senior couples, in most cases... and we are checked as if we were passing something illegal,,, in the bus??? Bad People find better ways than a bus to do and to cross ilegal things.... Every time I cross the border; honestly, I pray to God that we find good, honest, understanding, courteous officials doing the inspección of our belongings in our lugage. Last time, we were about 10 people in the bus and we were hold by the guardia nacional "checking" for almost...

Not too much exciting to share about a bridge Crossing but just for those who are wondering, and now cost a dollar to walk from the u.s. to Mexico but only cost $0.25 to walk back from Mexico to the United States. It's always nice to bring a couple dollars worth of quarters in change with you so that you can share with some of the folks that are struggling financially as you cross the bridge. Always found it easier to park on the US side and walk across the border and then catch a cab or have family pick us up. Helps to avoid the long lines trying to get back to the US...