Stripes

Last fall, a friend in Chicago suggested that I should consider Brownsville Texas as a place to stop if I get to the Mexico border and don’t yet have my passport.

Ever since October, Brownsville has been a somewhat mythical place for me. My friend Marlena in Chicago was not even aware that Brownsville neighbors Port Isabel and South Padre Island.

Islands have become magical for me in Texas. I had an awesome month of May in Galveston Texas and a very beautiful week on Padre Island National Seashore on North Padre Island.

We arrived in Port Isabel last night and the Brownsville/Port Isabel/South Padre Island magic has already begun for me.

I had a fabulous night of sleep in the camper van and woke up in a deep state of peace and happiness.

And then I had my first commercial experience in the area at this Stripes convenience store in Port Isabel.

Our host this morning was the lovely and charming Anai (pronounce “Anna-E”).

Back in Chicago, us Anglos tended to sloppily think that most Mexicans in the US are recent immigrants. But I have sure been learning different about that in Texas – where so many people of Mexican origin have actually been in this country for several generations.

Anai’s people were among the first settlers in Port Isabel.

I like Stripes stores in general - and this one had some products that I especially appreciated.

I walked out of the store even more confident that this area is going to be magical for me.

Then I went on to the county beach at Beach Access Four on South Padre Island. People have been telling me that if I like the beaches at North Padre Island, I would be really knocked out by the beaches here.

I liked the beaches on the north island so much that I did not believe they could actually be nicer here.

But they are.

#majojohnmadden
#majoonconveniencestores
#majotalksbusiness
#badassbrothersdotexas
Me and my dog Magic had a stunningly good time in our first visit to a beach on South Padre Island.

Rock on, South Padre Island!

Rock on, Anai!

Today, I stopped back into the store and had a wonderful encounter with Miraya, the store manager.

She coached me a lot about dealing with this new area – and re-introduced me to the term Spanglish.

After being told that I would encounter Mexican culture more the further I got down the Texas Gulf Coast, finally that has kicked in. We are hearing Spanish everywhere we go in this area.

It is time for me to get serious about my study of Spanish - and surrendering myself to becoming truly bicultural, shaped and grown by letting Latino culture become part of who I am.

Don was busy making the store look nice very early in the morning & wasted no time helping me out. Much appreciated.

love the staff, very friendly. great prices, clean store.

Great staff, Great prices, Great store!

Easy in and out

Fill your gas tanks here, because in SPI the gas costs more.

Most of the staff (ladies) were very rude.. one girl thinks she is the owner or something... she cussed out a customer. Customer was in line and grew impatient because these clerks were gossiping about some other incident. VERY unprofessional. Where is management? I do want to say there was one gentleman clerk who was very courteous & was doing his job. HE ISN'T included in the distasteful experience

Very rude manager, or upper management that was there today. 6-27-23 No need for it!

Just went and the dude with glasses was rude 🙄