I have just spent the last 4 days in Brownsville, TX. Brownsville is as far south as you can go and still be in the US. After traveling constantly for the past several months, staying in 1 place that isn’t my home for several days has been hard.
Brownsville is like no other place I have ever been. As the natives have told me, Brownsville should really be considered Mexico. If the US and Mexico ever become enemies perhaps we could give them the city of Brownsville as a peace offering. Anyway, they are correct, it really is very Mexican here. All the billboards are in Spanish, you must be bilingual to get a job here, and the WalMart clerk I spoke to yesterday answered me in Spanish. 3 years of Spanish in high school did not get me very far…I still couldn’t find the sticky backed Velcro I was looking for.
The wildlife down here is a completely different story. I had heard from my friends that lived here that roaches, scorpions, and tarantulas were common sights. Well, they weren’t liars. I haven’t seen any scorpions, but I have seen the other 2. Our guys saw some snakes too.
And then there was the Mexican border town…
If a grown-Columbian-man wasn’t with me, I would not have gone to Mexico. All of the shop owners are very pushy. As you walk down the street they will yell, “Come into my store! We’ve been waiting for you! Free to look! I give you good deal!” When dealing with one shop owner, he told us, “Come on, you’re from over there. You’ve got the money.” Even the kids are very forward. As soon as we got out of the car 2 kids ran up with candy bars. They asked us to buy from them so they could buy new shoes. That was border town culture, I’m told the interior is very different.
Lots of security to get back into the states. Mexico apparently couldn’t care less if you come in, but the US requires a Passport now to get back in, as I’m sure you all know. You also can’t bring anything with seeds across the border. The Rio Grande is not so Grande between Brownsville and Matamoros. The rivers in Oil City are bigger… it was about the size of Oil Creek. Our hosts told us that it is not uncommon to see Mexicans soaking wet on the other side because they swam across. They also told us that the border wall that has been proposed will actually cut through the town of Brownsville and part of the college campus will be on the Mexico side.
The culture down here is very Hispanic. The men greet all the women (me included) with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. They are all very respectful- carry things, open doors, give women the front seat, etc. That is about the only thing I will miss about Brownsville, TX.
