Reynosa, Mexico

I’m still struggling to come up with a handle for the new girl. Herself 2.0?

She’s not really a Herself. Too much feminine charm for that. It’ll hit me.

She invited me to Reynosa to see where she grew up, her hometown. She has a house there that she inherited, and it needed sorting out. So a 2-for-1 trip. Besides, she wanted a second driver, and a second set of eyes on the autistic son. Fair enough.

Also to meet her sister. That’s a big deal. As was my reaction to being in the non-touristy section of her town. I gathered that from the questions she asked when we were back.

Reynosa is on the border, with McAllen TX being on the other side. The plan was to stay in McAllen, since the house wasn’t in real shape to live in. It was loaded with her brother’s stuff. Stuff he left after he moved. She also wanted to bring a bunch of stuff to the motherland, so she rented a car. Wise move, as her car would be a bit out of place there. It’s a little too nice for the neighborhood.

So the car; she got a Nissan Rogue from Avis, who fussed a bit about it crossing the border. Something I wouldn’t have mentioned, myself. That said, it fit all our stuff, ran great if not impressive, sipped gas, and was comfortable for a small SUV.

I took the first shift driving (since she knows where she’s going in McAllen). We had a mandatory stop to pay homage to Chip & Joanna’s Magnolia empire in Waco by stopping by the silos, and going to Magnolia Table for breakfast (for lunch – it was after noon).

BTW, check out the skies. It was miserable until Austin.

I ended up buying coffee cups and yet another cast iron skillet.

That there is a 4″ pan. Perfect for two eggs. That said. The Magnolia empire is worth seeing, I suppose. But not worth going to see.

It was a long ride to McAllen. McAllen reminded me of LA, more than Houston:

The next day, turns out was pet appreciation day. Or so I heard. My Pets:

I didn’t need to click on that “check out your pups” link the boarding place send. Made me feel sick.

After an OK hotel breakfast we hit the motherland.

Getting across the border to Mexico was easy as paying a toll. Inspections were perfunctory, if all all. They only looked us over once. No big deal. One we went through the city. Reynosa, for the most part, reminded me of Long Beach. There were more worn out parts:

The house was small, and cute:

We moved stuff in. Moved stuff around, then hit the tax office. House tax needed paying. This was in a shopping center near a mall with an H-E-B of all things:

It was like a huge, clean, efficient Fiesta Mart. Very, Very cool. We picked up odds and ends and went to lunch.

In what was to become a routine, the girl ran the son to el bano, leaving me at the table to deal with the waite staff. Hoof. My Spanish isn’t where it needs to be. Tea is “Te”, and they mostly have none. Not of the iced variety. I worked out “Pineapple Juice” and waited for the Girl. She hooked us up.

I had Cabrita en Salsa. Goat in sauce. It was really good. That said, they don’t put the good parts in a stew. They use them for other dishes. What goes in the stew is chunks of meat on bones. More like bones with meat on them. Like the spine. You have to work at the dish for awhile.

One of the things I liked was that instead of chips and salsa, the restaurants we went to – all of them – put out tostadas, unsalted, with a number of things to dip them in. BTW- you don’t dip there. You spoon it on the tostada chunks on your plate.

We headed back to McAllen. Going in was easy. Getting out? Notsomuch. First, you need pesos for the toll back. And second, US Goobermint workers. The line moved much like it would at a post office. And it ain’t “security”. It’s Govt. workers that don’t care one bit that you have an hours long queue, which at the tail end is full off beggars offering you all sorts of things. They have squeegee people also. Luckily, the Girl was driving and was plenty adroit at waving them off.

The next day, when we were leaving early to have breakfast in the motherland. I went to the other room (we had an adjacent handicap room for the boy), I said “Hey Buddy! Good Morning!”. He practically ran to me to elbow bump. Made my day! He’s hard to read at times.

This time when we got to the restaurant I worked out Chai Latte and Coffee while the bathroom duties were happening. After breakfast we went to meet her sister, who was going to watch the boy whilst me and the Girl wandered around town. She’s really sweet, just like the Girl.

The downtown area was like many towns I’ve been, only a little more busy. We hit the Cathedral, which was awesome:

We wandered around, shopped, bought gifts. Went to a coffee shop, where she ordered this time. We planned on a lunch with just the two of us, but we weren’t hungry so we went back to grab the boy and get across the border to the US while the getting was good.

Didn’t work. Still took an hour to get across.

Some fun observations:

• Gas is by liter there. I calculated $4.40 a gallon in US dollars.
• Gas north of McAllen was $3, or just under. That didn’t last.
• There’s more nuance to Spanish than they teach in high school, or on Babbel. For instance, I learned you can’t say “Best” (Mejor) unless you qualify it. For instance, you can’t say “Es mejor, or es el mejor”. You have to say “It’s the best I’ve eaten” es lo mejor que he comido. Or The best I’ve had. Something like that. Bueno suffices. It was good.
• Water is a thing there. Virtually no water pressure anywhere we went.
• No one orders water. Not in a glass anyhow. You can get a bottle.
• Ain’t no Dr. Pepper anywhere around there. Not that I saw.
• I really wanted to see VW bugs. I only saw three, and they were clapped out.
• BTW – in Spanish, at least as I detected, they tend to speak with more candor – Negritos (Blacks), for instance. At one point, the Girl was pointing at a hotel that had an indoor pool – “Up there – where gordita is” (fat lady, in suit, at the pool)
• Only saw maybe half a dozen negritos. So few I could count them.
• When you want to say “thank you, mam”. It’s “Gracias, senorita” no matter how old the woman is. Don’t say Senora, even though she is one. (I was told that, I didn’t do it)
• I was counseled to have my sling pack in front, and my wallet in front as well.
• Didn’t see much of a line queued up to walk across the bridge. Then again, I think they jammed them, so they were just hanging out further back. Couldn’t tell.

The trip back was uneventful. The boy can’t speak, but you could tell he had enough of being in the car. It’s a good 8 hours from there to here, with a meal break and pit stops. We ordered food, ate, watched some tube and passed out.

The next morning after breakfast I headed back to Plano to pick up the dogs. I got there. Got paid up (hoof! I’ll get a house sitter next time).

And got mugged by two very happy dogs.

Happy to see me and go home.

Both dogs have been clingy all week and I’ve been spoiling them.

Back to the grind for me.