Posted April 21, 200619 yr welcome to the mexican half of "los dos laredos." nuevo laredo, mexico (pop. 400k) is the quintessential "la frontera" border town. it has the most crossings of any border city, but you will prob never go there unless you are a trucker, a texan or stationed nearby in the military. here's what i learned. nl has an interesting history, caught between spain, mexico, texas and the usa. when the newly formed governments of mexico and texas wouldn't help them out, laredo became the capital of the short-lived "republic of the rio grande" in the early 1800's (a big tex-mex stretch of la frontera today). in 1845 when the "republic of texas" was annexed to the usa, laredo was again abandoned until the border was established as the rio grande in 1848. then, anyone who wanted to could move across the river to be a mexican citizen and the city of nuevo laredo was formed. during the civil war they ran shipments from corpus christi to the confederate states thru laredo railways. in 1935 the pan-american highway made laredo thee main route for trucking as it is to this day. today they reportedly have a huge drug/gang problem that makes any usa cities problem look smalltime & also many maliquidoras, or former usa factories now located here for the cheap labor and lack of rules re pollution. interestingly, they celebrate washington's birthday with a ten day festival -- who knew? actually it makes some sense as it combines celebrating george and u.s. independence with pre-lenten festvities. also, they have the only cross-border pro sports team, the "tecolotes de los dos laredos" (or the tecos for short). they play baseball in both mexican and american leagues (aaa) and alternate their games between parque la junta and west martin field. pretty cool for a hot dusty town! the main drag is avenida guerrero, but it is thankfully not touristy. despite the 100 degree heat, i liked nl fine -- they have good food and two pretty and leafy plazas. on with the show: crossing the border the pan-american highway: all for one, one for all guarding the border --- in the most literal sense aww -- cute! getting ready for easter see? los do laredos are good pals ay caramba! ceviche? here? raw fish in 100 degree weather? yr kidding? no thanks thanks but no liquados either billy's botas is a locally famous vaquero/cowboy bootmaker this was among the most famous borderland watering holes but is all closed up at the moment the story is that it opened as the cadillac club and was very popular during prohibition it was run by a new orleans expatriate & is the home of the "ramos gin fizz" drink and also the "popper" -- where the white-jacketed waiter slams the shot down on the bar with a florish somehow the name was changed to the "slammer" in other cadillac bar chainlets in the usa never fear, the ubitqious senor froggy's chain is here too -- taking up all the cadillac business no doubt colorful! eating a gringo-ized version of the local specialty for lunch, quail & frog legs senor jordan? es tu? what the...? talk about an open balcony viva zapata! ah well too bad i missed this & the bullfights too due to the easter holiday we're buddies sez it all if i was her i would go crazy with all these presents and toys around me they prob lay down a red carpet when these trucks come around ...and thats all folks *** adios nuevo laredo ***
April 21, 200619 yr It always amazes me how you can cross a boarder and enter another world. I love Mexican cities. So colorful.
Create an account or sign in to comment