I've read all these articles on "Juarez," but haven't ever seen the exact location of the "Pink Lady," "Casa Colorado," or "Club Panama."

I'm planning on a trip to Juarez and would like to have a good idea of where I'll be going to. I don't want to take a taxi if these places are within walking distance.

BTW this is a great site for information. I'll be much prepared when I do go down there. I just wish there were more post about the Juarez adventures.

Ok, I am going to give you the locations of all three bars and attempt to give you walking directions. Had I known someone would be asking I would have made sure to get exact street names for you last weekend and will do so next weekend if you still need them.

- Club Panama, Delgollado just south of Martinez (map is available at www.clubpanama.com, but unfortunately, as of this post, the web site is under re-construction)

- The Pink Lady, Altamirano & Ugarte

- Casa Colorado, Martinez & Ocampo.

If you walk south on the right side of Avenida Juarez from the pedestrian bridge (accessed at El Paso Street in downtown El Paso) keep an eye out for a restaurant called Tacos Lucas. You have a ways to go, but at least you will know you are on the right track.

You will pass a big gray building which has been abandoned on the right side of the street. There will be some hobos sleeping on the steps most likely. Keep going.

Look for a little street leading to your right which has a brown building on the other side of the street with the word "Dentista" in big letters. There are lots of dentists on this street, but this is the only one in a brown building with big letters on the side of a brownish builing at the intersection of a little street at the far end of Avenida Juarez. There will be a Casa de Cambio on the north side of the intersection. Once you've located that corner you have it made.

Turn right and walk about two blocks until you come to a big marbled colored building on the left side of the street which will remind of you of a bank or office building. I'm not sure it's a going enterprise or not either. But you can't miss it because it's only a couple of blocks.

Turn left at the big marbled colored building and walk another two blocks, and you will see Club Panama on the left side of the street. It has a black marble facade and is clearly marked. That's the first stop.

To get to The Pink Lady from there, stand in the doorway of Club Panama and look across the street and slightly to your left. You will see a little side street going west, away from Panama. Walk west on that street to the next intersection and turn left. Turn right at the very next intersection, and you will find Pink Lady dead ahead short two blocks away. This was a 3 minute walk.

To go on to Casa from there turn right in front of Pink Lady and walk two blocks until you come to the Tortilla Factory on your left (almost spitting distance from the Lady). Turn right at that intersection. Walk one block (maybe two) until you come to a bar which is painted green on the bottom part of the walls. Turn left at that corner, and Casa Colorado is one short block ahead on your left.

Confused? I got confused writing the directions. They sound like directions in a treasure hunt, but they will work if you pay attention. Next weekend if I have time I will make better notes and write everything down, but unfortunately this forum goes paid on August 1st. No need for me to pay about Juarez, and I am perfectly happy with Juarez. So email me at elk_dreamer@hotmail.com if you want more information.

A few words of caution about the zona. Avenida Juarez is a big, busy street on which you are in no danger whatsoever day or night unless you are shit-faced drunk and causing a problem. (Don't get shit faced drunk anywhere if you are walking is my advice.)

But the little area I have described to you is full of drug addicts, would-be pimps, street walkers, and transvestites after dark. Even so, it's ok at night if you remember to keep walking and not speak with anyone who speaks to you. If some guy gets in your face and starts walking alongside of you just say, "No gracias. No necessita nadda!" (Thanks, I don't need anything.) DO NOT stop and be nice to the guy, because if you do he WILL NOT go away, and there are policia down there who will frisk any gringo for drugs if he is seen talking to one of these waste-of-skins.

While we are on the subject of danger on the streets de Juarez, I will add that in a year of living there on weekends the *only* place in Juarez which ever gives me a second or two of genuine fear now and then is this area. Everywhere else you can walk the streets or take the buses without being bothered by anyone. So please don't take your impressions of the city from what you see in the zona, because it is *not* an accurate picture of Juarez. The locals hate the scum bags in the zona as much as we do.

If fact, I HIGHLY recommend that you get to the zona *before* dark and walk the route I have described once or twice to get your bearings. It will take you all of about twenty minutes to get from Panama to the Lady to Casa and back to Panama again, if that. Once you've walked it, you won't get lost again. They are that close together.

Also, don't forget that even in the zona not everyone is trying to screw you. Some of the doormen and people in the three bars you asked about can be very helpful. Once you get to Panama you could even pay one of them a couple of bucks to walk you to The Pink Lady and then on to Casa Colorado.

There is one guy in particular who works out of Panama whom I can recommend without any reservations whatsoever. He is a stocky guy in his early forties with a big handlebar mustache whose name is Martin. If you find him, your problems getting around are over. He speaks fluent English (not just enough to get by), and I have known him for a whole year now. Give him $4-5 and buy him a beer somewhere, and you will have made a friend.

Well, have a good time.

Dreamingeagle,

Thanks for all of your help. I have a map of Juarez, so I'm pretty confident I can find these places. I definitely will be going during the day just to familiarize myself with the area.

I will be going to Juarez for the first time in late August. Can you use USDollars at the massage parlors or should you get money changed to Mex.pesos?

Yes you do not even have to convert the dollars
into pesos. A sign telling how much the services
are is posted inside each place. Be sure to try Serenas or maybe
Encanto Massage parlor first and eat at the
steak retaurant down the street at the end of
the block east from the Encanto massage parlor.
Be sure to research the reports and if you have
any questions then I or dreamingeagle will
answer them.

Serina's will be 400 pesos/$45 U.S., Encanto 300 pesos/$35 U.S., and so on. The MPs will even give you change. I have never once had to ask for my change---although it usually comes at the end of the session--and it's always right, sometimes a mixture of U.S. and Mexican currency. Anyplace in Juárez will accept U.S. dollars, but sometimes you must settle for getting change in pesos. If you insist on dollars, someone will run out and try to find them for you, but why wait?

Personally, I like to get about $40 in pesos when I first cross the bridge, but ask for "cincuentas, por favor". 50 peso notes are worth roughly $6 U.S. You can't have enough small bills anywhere in Mexico for tips and what not.

Not that I tip 50 pesos for much anything except a really fine girl...but they have a way of quickly turning into 20 peso notes in the form of change for small items and 10 peso coins. 5 peso coins are good for a bus ride, by the way, and Juárez has an exceptional bus system.

For instance, Doctorgood, if you walk across the street from the Villa Manport and wait in front of Serina's you can hop a bus which will take you right downtown. It's a 10 minute ride and beats the devil out of shelling out $10 for a taxi. When finished, you can then talk down to the catedral and take the "Circunvalación" back to the Villa Manport and get off right where you got on the bus in front of Serena's. Just walk to the catedral and ask anyone where to catch the "Circunvalación" autobus. It's like of hard to explain exactly where the corner is from memory, but it's only a block or so from the catedral.

Actually, we could learn a lot from their bus system. Instead of having some big company who decides the routing, the buses are individually owned, so the drivers make sure the buses go where people need to go. Never seen anything like it in the U.S.

There is a taxi stand a block or so east of Encanto (in front of a small park). I've never failed to find a couple cabs there, and the drivers usually will take you to the Santa Fe Bridge for $5 - $6 tops. Just be sure to negotiate the fare before you go.

Why pay $5 when you can hop on the bus for 50 cents? They come along every 15 minutes even on Sunday. It also stops on the same little street running parallel to Avenida Juárez where the taxi will let you off. You really should try the bus when in town. I was spending between $30-$50 on taxis every week. That's another girl...

I agree. My point was that if you gotta take a cab, you don't need to spend ten.

That's very true, Tio.

Following is in response to a question in Is Juarez Dead topic, which I'm putting here instead of there because this is info for someone who's never been to Juarez before.

Juarez commentary seems to have migrated to W S G, which you might want to try for latest information. Options -

1. Massage Parlors - If you're going to be there by, say 7:00 PM, 8:00 PM at the latest I'd suggest trying one of the massage parlors. There are a number, spread out all over the city. It's hit and miss though -- you may walk into a place and just see porkers. Price is right, maybe $30 to $50 for about an hour.

2. Brothels with Bars -- Sans Souci (aka Casa Colorado), Panama Club, and Pink Lady are whorehouses, listed in order of how good they are. I've seen some nice looking women in Sans Souci. I've never seen a woman that I would pay to f__k in Pink Lady. Panama is in between. They're all located in the red light zone, very close to the border at the Santa Fe Street Bridge crossing. Avenida Juarez is the name of the street that dead ends into the Santa Fe Street bridge on the Mexican side of the border, and the red light district is just west of and runs parallel to Avenida Juarez.

3. Brothels without bars - In the same red light district, there are several small whorehouses with women milling around outside that don't have bars attached. Also, maybe 8 or 9 blocks south from the bridge on right (west) side of Avenida Juarez there's a hotel. In these places it's about $20 for a quickie with a reasonably decent looking woman. I've actually run across a few 8's in this area, although the norm is more like 1's to 6's.

4. Topless Bars -In the same red light zone there are a number of topless bars. Some of the women in the topless bars will sleep with you and some won't. Many of the bars have rooms on premises. Queen's has been a favorite of many. I've had good luck a couple of times in Irma's (I think that's the name, it's been a while) and Virginia's. But your best bet is just to walk around, stick your head in a bunch of places, and look at the talent. Then if you go in and buy a drink, make it obvious to any girls you talk with early on that you're looking for something more than conversation so you don't waste a bunch of time and money on drinks. Bars close early so you don't want to wait around until too late.

5. Higher priced topless bars outside red light district -- this is where the best talent is, but I don't know much about it, and from what I understand these places don't have rooms on premises. It's hit or miss as to whether women will go with you.

Given that you don't speak Spanish, this is what I'd do. Drive to the Santa Fe Street Bridge in downtown El Paso. Park your car in one of the lots there. Walk across the bridge. Find a taxi driver who speaks good English. These guys are all going to rape you (figuratively speaking), but since you don't speak Spanish, just relax and enjoy it. But if you pay more than $20 for what I'm recommending here, then he truly is screwing you. Anyway, tell the guy you want him to first: 1. Drive you past Sans Souci (Casa Colorado) and Club Panama. These are inside the red light district, but a little hard to find, and you'll get a feel for the area while he's driving you there. Tell him you're not going to stop at either place, you just want to know where they are. And, just in case, print out Dreaming Eagle's instructions in Newbie's guide on this board on how to get to these bars.

2. Tell cabbie that next he's going to drive you to _______ massage parlor (you fill in the blank). A couple of recommendations -- (a) Sirina's seems to usually have a number of women in the late afternoons/evenings. (b) Felina's usually has better than average lookers, and Genesis is only one block east of Felina's, so you can try both. When you get to massage parlor, knock on the door to make sure they are open and there's a woman that's doable. Then tell taxi driver he can leave.

3. When finished ask massage girl to call a cab for you, or write this on a piece of paper and hand it to her: Necesito un taxi. Pudieras telefonear un taxi, por favor? Tell taxi or hand him a note, "Por favor, llevame a la frontera, al puente de Santa Fe en Avenida Juarez."

4. After taxi takes you back to the bridge, turn around, walk a couple of blocks south back down Avenida Juarez, then hook a right (go west) a block or two and wander aimlessly through this den of sin and iniquity until you find something to your liking. And remember Sans Souci (Casa Colorado) is closest think to a sure thing (doable women that will have sex with you, no ifs ands or buts) in this area.