Mexico Part 2: Matamoros, Day 1 & 2

We got picked up from the airport by Kempton's driver and armored suburban. The car doors are HEAVY and about 6"thick. His driver has become like part of the family, you could see that him and Kempton got along super well. I was very excited to see Matamoros and compare it to Mexico City - the differences are like night and day. Matamoros is run down and a big portion of the city is in disrepair. It's run by the cartel so that's not surprising.

The first day in Matamoros we just visited for a couple hours and chilled, then later went to a Mexican restaurant. (Aren't they all Mexican in Mexico? Haha). That night we enjoyed ice cream on Kempton's outdoor patio.

It was interesting to see how the country dealt with COVID, it's certainly nothing political with neighbors down each other's throats for varying viewpoints. It's a fact that a global pandemic is going on and everyone masks up and takes precautions to stay healthy. End of story. Everybody wore 2 or 3 layered masks. Walking into any public building - restaurant, hotel, church, grocery store, convenience store, etc. there was a mat you had to step into with a disinfectant solution to kill COVID from your shoes. At the restaurant in Matamoros they had a makeshift shower out of PVC pipes that you had to walk through as a mist of disinfectant sprayed your whole body before you could enter the restaurant.

These are tons of awesome sculptures that a neighboring lady makes for the neighborhood, with no reason other than she wants to. They were so cool! Here are some of the sculptures.

You knew upon driving by the heart that you were entering Kempton's neighborhood.

An actual alter that gets used daily, just outside of someone's home.

matAMORos with the lovely Katrina couple! My favorite!

More sculptures

 

  

On Kempton's patio

This is the Consulate where Kempton works. The security is pretty tight - a walled and gated entrance to get into the parking lot, another walled and gated checkpoint entrance that checks I.D. and approves your entry onto the grounds of the Consulate. Once onto the grounds there's beautiful courtyards to greet you as you enter the main gate with another security checkpoint and we were only allowed in as Kempton's guests. It was VERY FASCINATING to see where he works and see what he does, absolutely incredible! The Consulate is very efficient at what they do, I was expecting to see cubicle desks piled high with paperwork knowing it's all about visas there. There were certainly a lot of desks but every desk was spic n span clean and the bins were empty - they are just so clean and efficient. I was amazed. There's another courtyard upstairs and out the door to sit for lunches and it overlooks this incredible sculpture.

This is inside the Consulate

The courtyard on the upper level of the Consulate building overlooking the sculpture.

 

One side of this sculpture represents Matamoros and the other side represents Brownsville, TX. The diamond in the middle is how the two cities come together to support each other's economies. Beautiful, I love it.

 

The streets of Matamoros

The funeral home

The crematory

If you keep driving a little further into Kempton's neighborhood you'll see where the wealthy and elite live.Yep, Kempton lives with the wealthy and elite! He has spikes and barbed wire security all around his property, 3 locked gates/entries just to get to the front door, an extra secure lock on all windows, and a 6" HEAVY secure door into his bedroom. His bedroom is the "Safe Haven" so if anyone were to break into their house, the family knows to run to the Safe Haven.

The wealthy and elite in Matamoros are the cartel and politicians. They like to keep status quo so neither of them ruffle the other's feathers. These are some of their fancy homes.

Here is the Rio Grande River and border into Texas.

This is the line to cross the border into Brownsville, TX. You can see some people make a living selling goods and services along the line of cars trying to cross the border. They just carry their carts and walk in between all the cars.

 

Before we left we stopped the a department store to find some souvenirs for the kids. Lance came home with two Mexican shirts and two Mexican hats. He fits right in here in the PNW, haha!

Group photo before we said our good byes and left for the airport. Thank you Bonnie and Kempton for an incredible trip!!!