Longer lines than usual at the border!

Easter holiday or Semana Santa gives most people in Mexico a week holiday. The holiday also makes for some very long lines at the border. Seemingly everyone was making a run for the border the day we crossed at Nuevo Laredo. Our normal 5 hour trip turned into a 12 hour trip with the long, long wait. There were car searches on both sides & it seemed if street vendors could be selling "stuff" they were. The car lines on the Mexican side looked like a rolling market place. We observed anything & everything being sold car to car. It was a hot melange of food, exhaust fumes, sweaty bodies & beggars just outside of our car window. I'm glad people see more welcoming sites in Mexico; as Nuevo Laredo these days would be a real "turn off" for even the most seasoned Tourista! Welcome to Mexico is writen above the border entry but it certainly isn't the feeling one gets when the Army tanks sit just across the river from Laredo. For those of us who remember Laredo in it's finer moments there is hope for a brighter future. (1970's & 1980's it was fun & relatively safe...truly dating myself here!) Things can always change. For now the "Girl's trips" to the border for shopping at Marti's, Margaritas at the Cadillac Bar & fun are just a memory of the past. We seriously don't worry when we travel through Nuevo Laredo, it just makes me sad.



















Of note this little tank had an amphibious propeller at the back, the only water close was the Rio Grande. Hmmm!