Brownsville/Matamoros: Things to do, what to know (Texas/Tamaulipas Vlog 2022)

What's going on in Brownsville/Matamoros? For the past week, we have been exploring the area around Brownsville, Texas, USA, and it's southern neighbor, Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. It's a pretty isolated place and takes awhile to reach, but like most places that come with any difficulty to reach- it's actually awesome! This place has surprised us to say the least! In this video, we cover some of what to do in the area and what to eat. We also take a look at what's going on in the area. The good, the bad, the beautiful. Why we'd live there: It's an extremely underrated place with a lot of amazing things to see and do. We actually both agree that the US side would be an amazing place to live. Very few places in the US have places that are warm and green year round, so that's a huge plus to this area and something that we love. It's also very bike friendly. You often see people biking from Brownsville to nearby bird and nature sanctuaries. It has very nice coastline and most of it is undeveloped and natural. Most importantly, it's basically the next best thing to living in Mexico for Americans. Not only can you actually visit Mexico very easily, which has endless perks, but the similarities of downtown Brownsville and many cities in Mexico is uncanny. The food, the shopping, a lot of the architecture, etc. It's fantastic. The area is also still surprisingly affordable. Things to do in the area: There is world class birdwatching here that people travel from all over the world to experience. We especially loved the Sabal Palm Sanctuary for this because it has thousands of palm trees, great Rio Grande River access, and is very green and lush. The richest man in the world is having rockets built to try and get the human race to Mars in nearby Boca Chica Beach, and it turns out you can literally drive right though where it's all happening. It's a crazy experience to see history in the making and it's an attraction that will probably eventually be heavily touristy and harder to access. Visiting Mexico is a huge plus. Although most people from the US visit Matamoros for medical tourism, there's also excellent food near the border. (Of course there's excellent food- it's Mexico!) There's also really nice museums and art/culture parks. Disclaimer: As of 2022, Matamoros is not considered a safe place to visit and you should do your own research before visiting. We recommend only visiting if you feel comfortable and informed, and only sight-seeing during the daylight hours. The beaches are really world class. South Padre Island is your typical touristy area that mostly caters to Spring Breakers in March, Winter Texans during the winter, and tourists for the rest of the year. It is nice though. Up above SPI is undeveloped and natural beach that stretches on for quite awhile. It's stunning with some great dunes and you're allowed to drive your car for endless miles down the beach. We drove on the beach and hiked down it, 3 miles after the road dead ends on the beach, to a hidden gem called 'UFO Beach'. An unofficial nude beach where a huge buoy that washed up years ago resembles a UFO and has been decorated in unique artistic ways. You can even climb up in the buoy and decorate it yourself. Things are really happening in Brownsville, Texas...big and small. Hope you enjoyed the video guys. It ended up including a lot more than we expected. There's a lot to unpack in Brownsville! We'd love to know your thoughts on this area and topics we covered in the video. Would you visit or live there? Thanks for watching! We don’t currently have a Patreon but if you enjoyed our content and would like to buy us a cup of coffee, here’s a link to our PayPal tip jar! https://paypal.me/ganzamedia 00:00 Intro 00:54 Downtown (Our thoughts, accommodations, etc) 01:57 The border fence/ ’No Mans Land’ 03:54 Vegan Pozole & Texas BBQ 05:31 Palm Sanctuary in No Mans Land 06:53 Resaca de la Palma State Park 07:40 Heading into Matamoros, Mexico 12:23 Issue at the border 13:16 SpaceX at Boca Chica 16:40 South Padre Island (Overview + Hidden Gem!) #brownsvilletexas #southpadreisland #matamoros #tamaulipas