Reynosa

[Lostboy]

Valley Monger,

Thank you for the info. on Nuevo Progresso. I won't be in the area until next summer but I will be sure to head for NP and check out the action.

LB

[Valley Monger]

Wanted to add a report on Nuevo Progresso for those who might be going to the BT there rather than Reynosa.

For those who have not been, Nuevo Progresso is basically a small Mexican border town that has re-made itself as a destination for Winter Texans to shop. You get there by driving South on 83 from McAllen or North on 83 from Brownsville or Harlingen. When you see the sign that says MEXICO - FM1015 you turn south and follow the signs to the border.

When you reach the border there are parking lots on the left and right had side before the bridge if you are going to park and walk across. If you do park, walk across the bridge and start walking south. N. Progresso has one main street that runs E-W and has about a million stores to grab the tourists. Grab a cab and tell him to take you to BT.

If you are driving, cross the border and drive about 5 miles on the main drag until you reach the main Freeway the runs N/S from Matamoras to Reynosa. When you come to the Freeway, get on the access road (don't get on the freeway, drive over the freeway and as soon as you get to the other side make a "U" turn and take a right on a small (terrible shape) road. You will see light off in what looks like a patch of trees. Keep on the road to BT.

BT has about 6 bars with a varying number of girls. Most are from small town around the area and to be honest I have never seen a 10. There are always a few 8-9's but most of the girls are a little plain, however, they don't see many gringos and usually don't expect the amounts of money that the girls in Reynosa do. $40 will get 1/2 hour and if you hook up with a girl, she will usually stay with you the whole evening, if you want.

They are not very aggressive and you will usually have to approach the girls, or send them a drink. Helps to know a little Spanish but you don't need to be fluent.

[Fefifofum]

Might want to stay away from Reynosa for awhile:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2811363

A friend and I were there two weekends ago and a group of 5 cops stopped us a couple blocks from the bridge (we were walking). They asked how many beers we had and they patted us down and stuck their hands in our pockets looking for"drogas". They let us go after that and we agreed we would not visit Reynosa again anytime soon.

We'll just stick to Matamoros and Acuna.

Oh, and we took a cab from Colorado's to the border and the driver refused to take our pesos. He was very rude to us and told us to go to Hell-in Spanish.

Reynosa sucks.

[Valley Monger]

For all of you who have written about problems in Reynosa, the shakedowns are not just in BT. They have gotton so bad all over the city that the American Consulate in Matamoros has issued a travel advisory for Reynosa. They have been kidnapping Americans and forcing them to make multiple ATM withdrawals. Here is the text of the warning issued by the Consulate in Matamoros:

Warden Message from U.S. Consulate Matamoros:

The following Warden message reflects an internal message distributed to employees of the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros, Tamaulipas State. We are sharing this information with resident and visiting American citizens in the hopes that it will help them to avoid becoming targets of crime.

The U.S. Consulate in Matamoros cautions all American citizens living and working in Tamaulipas about the use of Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) in their area. This reinforces the message included in the latest Consular Information Sheet for Mexico (dated July 23, 2004): "U.S. citizens should be very cautious in general when using ATMs in Mexico. If an ATM must be used, it should be accessed only during the business day at large protected facilities (preferably inside commercial establishments, rather than at glass-enclosed, highly visible ATMs on streets). Recently, there have been cases in which U.S. and Mexican citizens have been accosted on the street and forced to withdraw money from their accounts using their ATM cards."

In the most serious case to date, an American was abducted by unknown kidnappers and forced to make ATM withdrawals over a period of five days. He was fortunately released unharmed. This American may have been targeted because he was observed to repeatedly use specific ATMs. In other recent incidents, U.S. citizens have been stopped by police in Reynosa under various pretexts during hours of darkness, and coerced into making withdrawals from ATMs under the guise of having to pay a "fine."

While the incidents cited above took place in Reynosa, they could take place at almost any location.

For further information on safety and security in Matamoros's consular district, please contact the Consulate at (011-52) 868-812-4402 and ask for the American Citizens Services Unit. American citizens who live and/or work in Tamaulipas are encouraged to register with the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros. They may do so by visiting the Consulate's Web site at http://mexico.usembassy.gov/matamoros/matamoros.html, selecting the "American Citizen Services" link, then clicking on the registration link.


It seems like Matamoros is OK, as I have been to the usual places recently (Eclipse, La Covacha, El Imperio, Paradise) and there does not seem to be a much higher level of corruption than normal, however, until they get things uder control in Reynosa...I would not go.

There is a small, but active, BT outside of Nuevo Progresso, which is the main tourist trap on the border that also is safe.

[Pacifico]

I could go for a plate of bandeja paisa and a glass of aguardiente. Both figuratively and literally...

[Beavis]

Rice and beans might be a little better description than the truth. I have been a regular at various Boy's Towns over the last 5 years. I have had some great times and have found some great girls but, the last year or two it has gone downhill rapidly. The quality of the women has gotten worse by the month, the service and the attitudes have follwed suit.

On top of this these stories of being harrased by la policia have become too common. What intelligence these assholes have. They scare away the people who are there to bring money into their little shitty towns.

The border towns are a good getaway for an evening if you live in Texas but that is all. I have spent a lot of time in Colombia in the last year and once you have been to a similar country you can only use the border towns for a slight improvement over a crack *****.

Sorry to hear that these fun places are on the way out but I guess we can hold on to the memories because they will never rebound again.

[Pacifico]

The leader of the robbers is a heavy-set guy with a thick mustache and curly hair. They said the exact same thing to me, that if i did anything I would go to jail. I reported them anyways and got my money back along with an apology. I've seen them several times since then. I walk by them and always make eye contact, and they always look away.

They will rob ANYONE, regardless of your appearance or nationality. I would like to see anyone who claims to be "immune" to police robberes to go down there and walk around for a few hours.

I just stepped off the plane from brazil, and have no desire to go to reynosa.. At least until the afterglow is long gone.
These border towns are like eating rice and beans... It only tastes good when you're starving.


Pacifico

[Pierroth16]

Thank you for the info, even though I don't know where the police station is I will try to go there and explain what happened to me. For sure the next time it happens to me I'll be there again to see something being done. I never drink whenever I to BT because usually I'm the designated driver and I like to be in my 5 senses whenever I'm going to enjoy one of those girls there. And I speak a very good spanish. That time I told the guy at the front desk in BT of what has happened to us when we were leaving and he said "That's not my business son, you and your friend are on your own". These comments comming from a policeman drives you nuts but since we were already leaving, we just said between ourselves forget about it. Next time I'll try Club 65.

[Bbond]

Pierroth16........

If you speak spanish and are not drunk, go directly to the police station and report what happened. I have done this with great success. Don't go in rasing hell, just go report what happened.

[Pierroth16]

This is to all of you guys going in the near future to BT in Reynosa. If you go one big recomendation don't get down of your car unless you're going to pussycat, lipstick or any of the clubs at the entrance of BT. If you want to enjoy one of the girls in the little rooms well drive around in your car and whichever girl you like park in front of her room and do it and go back to your car. You are asking why? because I was there last week with a friend and boy did we pay for it. There are like 2 groups of rats oops sorry policemen walking around just stopping anyone that walks by wherever you are and they start searching you and they take anything, watches, cellulars, or money. This is what happened to us we were just walking by checking some girls when all of the sudden they said "Parense ahi cabrones, sabemos que traen drogas con ustedes". Which means "Stop there fuckers, we know you have drugs". They just made us stop in a wall and search us and what do you know they took away 300 pesos from me and 200 pesos from my friend, we were going to argue and they told us shut the fuck up in spanish and don't argue or you 2 are going to jail at the moment. We were so upset not because they took away or money but because we can not do anything about it, it sucks!!. I asked the guy at the parking space where we parked to know what can we do, and he told us that right now nothing because they don't care if you are mexican, american, or whatever if you speak spanish, english, french, etc.
My recomendation don't get down of your car unless you are going to screw a girl. And try to leave your wallet in your car and hide some of your money in your shoes or socks. JUST TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES AND YOUR MONEY BECAUSE THOSE SO CALLED "POLICEMEN" ARE GOING TO STEAL YOUR MONEY!

[Pierroth16]

Like always thanx for the info "Pacifico". It's really appreciated. Hopefully when I'm there I'll give it a try to the massage ads and I will let you know how it went.

Later

[Pacifico]

Club 65 opens around 4pm and is open until at least 3am. It's less than 10 minutes walking distance from the bridge.
Most of the girls are in the 18-25 range. 65 is just one of several similar clubs downtown.


Pacifico

[Pierroth16]

Hi,

"Pleasure G", nice report, well I haven't been able to go to the famous Club 65. But it looks like maybe in 2 weeks I'll be able to go to Reynosa for a whole weekend. So I have some questions. Do you know around what time the club opens? Around what time did you take out the girl? What are the age average of the girls? Did you get there in your car or by taxi, if by taxi how much do they charge you, are the taxis available anytime?, well thank you for your information. Oh I almost forgot, Did you use a pill, if so what kind??

Later and take care.

[Pleasure Giveh]

I was in the Valley a couple of weeks ago and made my first visit to Zona Roja. I was very careful and did not have any problems with LE as has been described here.

I walked around for a while checking out the sights and ended up going to Club 65. It has been recommended here as being the best place to go. There were abot 10 girls working - range from 5-7. I picked out the girl that I wanted to spend some time with and paid the 100 pesos for the room and 300 pesos for her hour of time. As was suggested here, I did not discuss prices, just paid her. Acted like I had been there before.

The girl I chose was Maria, I know - all Mexican girls are named Maria - sorry. She was about 5'3" maybe 130# body about a 7 - nice tits. I popped twice in the hour that we were together. We started out with a bbbj then switched to missionry followed by cowgirl - that did me in and I popped. We layed there for a few minutes and then I recovered. We did a little doggy style then she rolled over and I finished the second time russian.

I had a great time and as long as you are careful you should be safe.

[Pacifico]

Pierroth,

The pedestrian street ends when you get to the train tracks. That is the part with several hotels and bars. As you know, 65 is on the other side of the train tracks. I won't go anywhere near these places in the summer, when it becomes a hot sweaty hell-hole. No wonder there is not much discussion going on right now. I won't go back until october at the earliest. I've got my sights on Uruguay and Argentina next month.