Nuevo Laredo Trip Report
May 7-8, 2004

There is not much to say about Nuevo Laredo as a mongering destination. It’s a fine place to drop by while in the neighborhood, but certainly not worth going out of the way to see. I am glad that I went, as I was in San Antonio anyway and had never experienced a border town. I’ll spare you the details on all that stuff though.

The information on NL on this board is not very recent, but it’s all pretty much accurate. I will try to supplement some things here that I could not find on this board when doing my own research:

Driving to Laredo/Nuevo Laredo:
I never bothered to drive across the border, but the roads on the other side didn’t seem too bad. I don’t know where one would park while visiting boystown, so perhaps it’s better to just park on the US side and walk.

When coming down on I-35, you’ll take it all the way to the end. When it ends, it will dump you out onto Route 81/83, and you’ll see lots of signs for the Border. You’ll want to take a right-hand turn. These are all one-way streets, so you’ll take a right turn onto any of a variety of streets where it is allowed. Hidalgo or Iturbide streets would work, or you can just follow signs towards the Visitor Center. Go until you reach Santa Maria Ave, at which you’ll take a left. That will bring you right to the parking lots, all of which were open 24 hours.

Crossing Over:
Bring quarters, as you have to pay 50 cents and the turnstile only accepts quarters. Same deal coming back, although it’s 25 cents in that direction. I was not ID’d at all crossing into Mexico, and on the way back into the US I just showed my driver’s license and they let me in. Your experience may vary, and it never hurts to have a passport or birth certificate with you I suppose.

The Town:
Nuevo Laredo is basically a town, with an infrastructure designed to extract money out of you. In about 3 minutes of walking around I’d heard “hey buddy” about a dozen times and had been offered weed, coke, and viagra. It was interesting to walk around for a little while though. Right when you cross over the bridge, there is a town center that seems to span for about 8 blocks south and 4 blocks both east and west. There are plenty of little stores, places to eat, etc. Actually, I’m sure it’s not that interesting once you’ve been to a border town a few times.

The Hobby/Boystown:
When you cross over into Mexico, you can find cabs right there at the very first corner. I paid $10 for the 15 minute ride, which was the standard price. The cab will drop you off in front of Papaguyos. As is well-documented, Boystown is an outdoor complex within a walled structure, and consists of a very small grid-like street system. Within the complex are some bars and some rooms that the girls rent out so that they can conduct their business.

The best quality and most expensive bar was Papaguyos. I saw a few lookers in there, a bunch of average-decent looking girls and a few that I would consider to be less desirable. The asking price is $80 and $15 for the room, but this can be negotiated down to $50 - $60. I’m not too much of a haggler, but I agreed on $60 plus the room with a really nice-looking girl from Monterrey who called herself Janet.

The next evening I decided to walk around and really just absorb the whole BT experience. I went into pretty much all of the bars, and found them to all have some common characteristics. The girls will either drink as fast as they can, or will try to rush you into taking them back for business as soon as they can. They were also all pretty aggressive in approaching. That doesn’t really fit my style, so I just had some drinks in a few places and walked around as the night went on. I talked to a few of the girls hanging outside of their rooms, and it was all pretty much the same story. $20 for sexo, another $10 for oral (with condom) and another $10 for the girl to get fully nude. I got the impression that it would be pretty uninspired, but I found a really nice looking girl so I tried it out. As suspected. It was very mechanical and impersonal, so I just finished up and went on. One note on this…there is no opportunity to shower afterwards, and the girl I was with just wiped herself off, put her clothes back on and went right back outside. Maybe it’s just a psychological thing, but I like to shower afterwards and like to see the girls do the same.

Anyway, I hung around some more and ended up back at Papyguyos, where I took another girl back for $60. I was drunk at that point and don’t remember her name, although she told me she was also from Monterrey.

NL Versus Other Destinations:
In a nutshell, the best thing about NL is its proximity to the U.S. It’s a fine thing to do if it doesn’t require going out of one’s way, but for an actual planned trip pretty much any other place I’ve ever been (San Jose CR, Bogotá, Cali, Medellín and Cartagena) were significantly better. What I really didn’t like was the fact that I could not very well sit back, relax, and talk with other hombres while scoping out the talent. Of all the places in Boystown, none really had close to that environment (like at the Blue Marlin in San Jose, for instance). Also, the girls in Costa Rica and Colombia, both in quantity and quality, are miles above what you’ll find in NL, pretty much for the same price or less.

I realize that this is not exactly new information or perspective, but the info on NL here on the board is kind of stale. If nothing else, hopefully the logistical information will be helpful to others who might decide to drop by.