Friends Bruce and Jeannie invited us to meet them for lunch in Nuevo Progresso in Mexico today for lunch, and since we had planned to go anyway in the near future, this worked great for us.  We arrived at the parking lot just before the bridge, paid our $2 for parking, and began the walk across the Progreso International Bridge.  The pedestrian toll was $0.50, basically the cost to leave the US.  About midway of the bridge, we officially crossed into Mexico.  As the bridge crossed onto land, the beggars cried out from below, and then further onto land, began reaching through the rails.  After exiting the bridge, we were on the streets of Neuvo Progreso, and were immediately struck by a more neat and tidy appearance, i.e. less grit and grime than we had seen in the past, though it was by no means what we would refer to as clean.

Our first stop was at the pharmacia (pharmacy) to check med prices.  And then, it was a slow walk along the narrow, crowded sidewalks to view the goods of all the street vendors. Restrooms are hard to find in Nueuvo Progresso, but our favorite restaurant, Arturo’s has a really clean one, for restaurant patrons only, so we stopped by for a break and a diet coke.  They brought peanuts and fresh fried tortillas, dusted with chili powder. We continued shopping for another 30 minutes, finding Mexican vanilla and vanilla beans to buy on our way out.  We met Bruce and Jeannie and Menlo and Micky at the Red Snapper, an American style restaurant; it proved to be loud and the food was perhaps below average overall, though my fish tacos were very good.  After eating and visiting, we said our goodbyes, and left the restaurant.

We returned to the store across the street to pick up the vanilla and vanilla beans, then walked back to the pharmacia to pick up meds for the next traveling year.  We paid $0.25 to leave Mexico, crossed back across the bridge, and went through customs, following a couple of ladies who had drunk way too many margaritas.

Back at the resort, we soaked a bit in the pool and hot tub, joined our neighbors for happy hour, and played card bingo where I won once again—either Kay or I have won at least once each night we’ve played except one!  The pot was almost enough, but not quite, to break even for the night.