Stan and Connie Spielbusch's Web Site

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February/March 2001

The Rio Grande Valley, Part 2

February/March, 2001

We're still enjoying the Valley, especially the weather. They say it's been cooler than normal here, but it's just right to me. I prefer 60's and 70's over 80's and 90's (hmmm, that applies to music as well as temperature)!

We've done a few touristy things around here, including a visit to the Mexico border town of Progreso, a trip to Benson State Park to see some birds, and the Hidalgo County Historical Museum in Edinburg.

Progreso is a busy and dusty little town where you can buy all kinds of "stuff". About every other store is a pharmacy or a dentist because so many people come here to get their prescriptions or dental work cheaper. Vanilla and Tequila are also popular. Then there are street vendors with all kinds of things for tourists. Of course you have to watch your step to avoid stepping on the little kids begging for coins.

(Click photos to enlarge)

We didn't see many birds at the State Park the day we went. I tried taking a shot of a crane-line bird through the binoculars. It came out pretty good, but not quite in focus. As we were leaving, a whole flock of chukalakas landed in the trees right above us and worked their way through the branches. These birds are large, about like a pheasant. The sun was on the wrong side, though, so it's hard to see detail.

The Hidalgo museum tells the history of the Valley from pre-Columbian times (before Columbus and the Spaniards arrived) up to the 1900's. It's located inside an old courthouse, which includes a hanging room -- it was used just once to hang a man. My favorite artifacts were a bowl made out of an animal's horn (about 5" in diameter) and a canteen etched with a nail by a soldier recuperating from war wounds. I guess I'm impressed by things that take a lot of time and patience.

Mexico Tour

We took a 3-day bus tour into Mexico, which went to Monterrey, Santiago, and Santillo. It was the first time we've done a multi-day bus tour. It was a nice way to go, since we didn't have to worry about anything except what time to meet the bus. Once we got close to Monterrey, I was surprised to see mountains. I didn't know Mexico had mountains in this area. Unfortunately it was hazy all the time we were there so I couldn't get good photos, but take my word for it -- they are awesome.

Monterrey is a large city, the 3rd largest in Mexico. In the center of town there are some very nice parks, a great museum, lots of sculptures, and a pedestrian plaza about 4 blocks long. We stayed at the Doubletree hotel, which is at one end of the plaza, and spent the evenings walking and browsing the shops. The photo below is an elaborate fountain in a city park at the other end of the plaza.

Mexico has lots and lots of Volkswagons (there is a factory in Mexico). Even most Taxis and some police cars are Volkwagon Beetles. I'm glad we weren't playing slug-bug, our arms would be really sore! Another interesting sight was the old churches and modern sculptures in the same area. If you look closely at the right-hand photo below, you can see 4 mountain ridges through the haze.

The Museum of Mexican History is only a few years old and very nice. There is a huge courtyard and fountains outside, and inside the history ranges from the Aztecs to the 20th century. Luckily we had an English-speaking tour guide, since everything was in Spanish!

Also in Monterrey we visited a brewery (we didn't get to go inside), a baseball museum, and a glass factory where they made glass figures. The figures are mostly made by shaping blobs of glass by hand -- one worker drops a blob on a stick and another worker shapes it by pinching or stretching the blob with various tools. Of course you could buy their products, but they are rather heavy so we passed.

Outside the baseball museum there was a school kids' tour. Whenever Mexican kids see a camera they want to pose for it. They're so cute and innocent.

Santiago is a small town in the hills outside Monterrey. It is old and very clean (they have stiff littering fines there). We visited a small 250-year-old church and a scenic overlook where there's a statue of Santiago (St. James).

From the overlook you can see a large reservoir (one of Monterrey's water supplies). Personally I was intrigued by the geology of the area -- all of the mountains were created by the limestone (ancient sea beds) being folded up at steep angles. Now I know why there are so many devastating earthquakes in Mexico -- many of their cities are sandwiched between two mountain ranges (the Sierra Madre's as I recall).

Near Santiago is Horsetail falls -- a surprising sight in such dry country. This park has lots of picnic areas and is a popular area for locals as well as tourists. The source of the falls is a spring, even though it's high up in the hills. Obviously it's named for its shape. But there are real horses there too, in case you don't want to walk all the way up to the falls.

Finally there was Saltillo, medium-sized town with an old historic area and modern outskirts. There are a lot of factories popping up around Saltillo, including Ford and Chrysler. It's the "sister city" of Austin, Texas (remember that Texas used to be part of Mexico). Once again we see modern sculptures mingling with old historic statues -- here's a square in front of a government building. All government buildings in Saltillo are made of an unusual pink limestone. Across from the government building is a huge old church (almost 300 years old), with an extremely ornate front. There are 75,000 churches and shrines in Mexico.

We also visited a Sarape factory where they make sarapes (blankets), ponchos, and other woven goods. It's basically a house with some looms in it. Of course they were manual looms. It looked like hard work to me, kinda like using a stair-climbing machine all day long.

Well, that's about it for now. Gotta go, the bus is waiting!

Thank you for visiting our travel site. Please visit our other sites too:

Campground Master -- A tracking program for your campground or inn. Easy to use and learn, but modern and powerful. One of the most inexpensive systems, great for small campgrounds. Designed by campground owners and full-time RVers.

MysteryPhotos -- Every week a new photo is shown, which may be a close-up of something, or a section of a common object or sight. Guess what it is and you might win a prize. Lots of fun for the whole family! Free screensaver and wallpaper too.

Awesome Screen Savers -- Cool photographic screen savers of the highest quality, for Windows PC's. Download FREE Lite versions of them all. Some are created with photos from our travels, some are awesome photos from NASA. (Contact me to have a screen saver made with your own photos!)

Cottonwood Software -- My shareware business site, currently featuring File-Ex 98: a Windows 95/98 dialog enhancement tool. Great for people who work with a lot of files.

Free -n- Cool -- Tons of Freebies, Giveaways, and Cool Sites -- all in one! You'll find a large selection of free samples you can get mailed to you, free games, screen savers, internet services, etc., plus hundreds of contests of all types, and a unique "intensely cool sites" list.