After lunch, Jerry and I hiked over to the town square, which is located at the cornor of busy Blvd. Zaragoza and Calle Juarez, while the girls resumed shopping.  We hiked up Calle Hidalgo, and observed quite a few interesting sights, the most interesting was a group of masons working on the facade of a building, repairing cracks in the stucco.  The scaffolding looked flimsy, and we suspect that a O.S.H.A. inspector would cringe if he or she observed what we saw.

Left:  As we hiked along Calle Hidalgo, we couldn't help to marvel at these daring masons.  Right:  On another building, these guys don't seem to be afraid of hights, or flimsy scaffolding.

As in many Mexican cities, Reynosa has a town square, anchored by a large cathedral at the north end.  The town square also serves as a park, as it's nicely landscaped, has benches, restrooms and even a bandstand.  It's also lined with "puestos" (small, semi-enclosed stands) and push-cart vendors selling just about anything you could want.  I almost regretted eating lunch at Paraiso, as there were street vendors selling all sorts of tacos, tortas, menudo and roasted corn.  If you love authentic Mexican food, it doesn't get any more authentic than the street vendors.

Left:  Crossing busy Calle Zaragoza to the park, with the cathedral just to the right of the twin towers, partially obscured by trees.  Right:  We brave the crossing and get our first look at the park and some of the vendors.

Like in most Mexican cities, the centerpiece of the park is a large bandstand, where musical events are held on Sunday afternoons, and on many weekday evenings.  Unfortunately for us, there wasn't a mariachi band to entertain the noon time crowd, as we would have enjoyed a bit of local music.  But it was fun to stroll around the park, and observe the people, particularly the vendors shining shoes, as there seemed to be many of them. Mexican culture is generally quite conservative, and in view of that, many Mexican men, particularly in larger cities, wear leather shoes and cowboy boots, which, naturally, require a shine.  So the shoeshine vendors do a thriving business.

Left:  The bandstand in the center of the park.  Right:  Walking south on Calle Morelos, toward El Centro.

A park in a Mexican city is an excellent place to observe Mexican culture, as you can check out vendors, mariachi bands, lovers strolling arm in arm, children running, playing and feeding pigeons, and families relaxing and playing together.  Go to any park north of the border, and you won't see this kind of culture.

Photo:  One of the many shoeshine guys who gives a customer's cowboy boots a shine.  Note that he is sitting on an old office chair.