Growing up in the Rio Grande Valley

This post was written by Rosa Flores, our event host.

I'm a television reporter in Houston, Texas; but my roots run deep into the lands of Mexico. My grandparents on my mother's side are half Spanish and half Mexican. My grandparents on my dad's side are from Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

When I was born, my parents lived in Progreso, Texas; but I was born
in Rio Bravo, Mexico. Odd, hugh? My parents didn't have enough
money to pay a hospital in America; so my mother crossed the border and into Mexico to deliver her 4th of July baby.

Growing up in the Rio Grande Valley was an amazing cultural experience. I remember going to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico to buy "tortillas," avocados, soap, "pan dulce". you name it, and my family found it two miles away in Mexico.

This was before September 11th so crossing the border was easy. Sometimes immigration agents didn't even ask us for our documents, or if we were United States citizens.

The only thing agents asked was "¿Que llevan?" Or, 'What are you bringing back from Mexico?" So, for me and for the people who grow up on the border between the United States and Mexico, there isn't much of a border. Like any other neighborhood, I had family, friends and acquaintances a few miles from my home, it just happened to be in Mexico.
Summers were always fun! My father would drive us to my grandparent's ranch in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. It was a blast! To my cousins and me it was an amusement park. We had natural water holes to play, a river to fish, and a forest filled with Mexican Indian artifacts. Among the many things we found were arrowheads, stone axes, stone bowls and pieces of pottery.

You have probably figured out that I like digging into the past.
That's why I'm working on a book about the history of the town where I grew up. The book, titled Progreso, is due to publish next year. I found that Captain James Baker, from Houston law firm Baker Botts invested in my hometown in the 1920s. The rumor in town is that infamous gangster Al Capone traveled the area during the Prohibition.

Before speakeasies on the Mexican side attracted people to Progreso, Texas, a visionary by the name of Juan Jose Hinojosa requested a land grant from the Spanish crown in 1776 and was given rights to the land in 1790.

Through the years the border changed on my town many times; it has belonged to Mexican Indians, the Spanish Crown, Texas and the United
States at different points in time. Even though the border has moved
many times, I am proud to say that my roots have survived the turmoil.