Tex-Mex Leftovers

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(RVICS Village; Smithville, TX)

Bob and I left Mission Wednesday morning to head to Smithville for the RVICS board meeting; Bob is a board member. I have a few random thoughts concerning our stay in “the Valley” which is how everyone terms that area…really it’s Texaco, meaning the area that is so integrated with both countries that neither country dominates! (I made that up.) But it isn’t like any other part of the United States that we’ve been to. I’d say there are more Spanish-only speaking people down there than there are English-only; that would certainly be true when the snowbirds are not there. (I know I’ve mentioned how valued the snowbirds are in that area…we read that they put $500 million into the economy. WOW!) Although the area is extremely depressed, economically, we haven’t been around people that were more polite than that area; I know I’ve mentioned it about Texans as a whole, but around the Mexican culture it’s even more obvious. Drivers are considerate, men still hold doors for the women, and you still hear “sir” and “ma’am”.
The weather wasn’t anything to brag about, but we hear that this was an unusually cold winter; one couple from Michigan that winters in Mission said if it had been like this the first year they came down, they wouldn’t have come back. While we haven’t had anything that compare to the northern states (hi, girls!) it sure hasn’t been anything to brag about!

Ok, now we’re headed to Giddings, back to Camp Tejas. We were there in November, and are excited about going back. We’ll stay at the Village until Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the weather, as they have one road that would not be fun to drive a motor home across if the road was muddy. We begin work next Monday.

And that’s all my news!

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Photos

"Welcome to Mexico; see our new cop car?"

The reason for making another trip to Mexico...
I needed a new purse! I didn't get a nice red one, but look at the price of them! I tried to convince Bob you can't have too many purses, but he wouldn't go for more than one...one new one, that is!

The main street in Progresso.
If it has a circus-like appearance, that's not misleading!

A very typical look of the sidewalk.
Fire codes aren't real important to the Progresso vendors! There were oodles of people around us, but when you start taking pictures, faces move out of the way! It made us laugh how fast people stepped out of the picture!

This is looking down one of the "alleys";
from comments I've received, I think these used to be dirt streets. (they're not really streets, they're just walkways) There are shops jammed along both sides, as well as where people should walk. But they're very clean.

Read the sign.
Now look at the merchandise they're selling! "You buy our booze, we clean your teeth!" Not a come-on you see in America!!! (we didn't get our teeth cleaned!)

It's all about the food!
This is the room where we had devotions and socials. It has a huge, ineffective fireplace, and is a very cold room! We brought our heater on social nights...welcome to the far south!

I've mentioned drive-through
convenience stores? (convenient, I guess, because they also sell liquor!) I thought this one was really cute! We'[ve never gone through one, so I don't know about the pricing, but there are a lot of them so they must be popular! We did walk into one once, and that made the guy working in there very excited...he explained we needed a car to shop there! I guess they had a side door where you could walk into the shop-on-foot section!

We went to a Marachi mass
at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valley. The shrine averages about 20,000 people per weekend, and has 11 services. The one we attended happened to be Spanish, but the music was outstanding. You can see some of the band in this picture. When they played those trumpets inside this stone room, it was gorgeous.

This orange tree has so many oranges
on it because the fruit is just bitter sour! It reminded me of our apple orchard when I was growing up~~the tree furthest from the house produced large, beautiful apples, but they were so sour that they couldn't be used for anything!

This tower holds water that's out of this world!
Doesn't it look like a spaceship on a stick?!

Comments

[Lisa]

Some of those pics remind me of Tijuana! And those purses are REALLY red! Do you get a free pair of sunglasses with them? And Im really glad you didnt get your free teeth cleaning at the liquor store!

[Danielson]

Hi, Lisa!
It was crowded like Tijuana, but I don't think the area is quite as big. Don't knock the red purses, I really liked them!!! Can you believe the price, for a soft leather purse? (that's a beautiful color!) So I take it you hope you're not getting one for Christmas!!

[bev]

No Red One
I had to laugh about the purses. Those open markets are great entertainment, just to walk thru. I was glad to see thatyou found a good use of the triple sink. You must have a lot of hours logged under the influence of paint:) The sun is shining and the ice is gone in MT. Spring is on its way. Love to both of you--Bev

[Danielson]

Hi, Bev!
I knew you'd like the purses!! If we'd been there together, we could have bought several, as it was, I wasn't sure what I would even do with one more purse!

[Sara!]

You guys get to see and do the neatest stuff! Great pictures... now quit RVICS and get home!!

[Lisa]

:)
Mom, you are correct about not wanting one of the purses for Christmas! :) Did they show you how to test if its real leather like they did in Tijuana? lol I told some girls at work today about the free teeth cleaning with the purchase of liquor and we have a pretty good laugh!

[Danielson]

Hi, Sara!
Get home??? How's your snow situation?!!! But I do miss you all.

[Danielson]

Hi, Lisa!
I don't remember how to test if they're leather? If they look like leather, and are soft like leather, that's good enough for me! Oh yeah, if they smell leathery that's a plus too!!!