PHOTO ESSAY: A story from the other side

A day at the market in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, the city across the river with an estimated population of 422,000

Story: Jazmine Ulloa
Photos: Andrew Rogers
Volume II, Issue 3 (Crossing Borders)

MATAMOROS, TAMAULIPAS — Hector Elizondo just took the long drive from Buffalo, Texas back to his home in Matamoros, Mexico, Saturday night. But you wouldn’t be able to tell by the hearty smile he offers approaching customers at his friends’ fruit stands the next morning.

The cheery semi-trailer truck driver has been behind the wheel on and off for the last 20 years and owns a parking lot a block down from a crowded vendors’ street. When he’s not watching over his lot, he visits with the vendors.

Driving cargo between Mexico and the United States, Elizondo sometimes visits his two teenage daughters living in Virginia. “It’s like I get paid to see my family,” he smiles.

While he is a U.S. resident, he’d offer his home in Matamoros to anyone willing to experience a little of the city he loves so much, Elizondo says.“I live very well here,” he says as a matter-of-factly, “I may not have much, but I live well.”