Progreso, Mexico: Home of the World's Largest Pier

Because it was a late December cruise and the weather was great, we decided to spend our time at our Progreso, Mexico, Port of Call at the beach. We had never been to Progreso before, but the decision to either spend our five hours touring the town or hanging out at the beach was an easy decision for us. It was cold and wet at home and we were in sunny Mexico! From my research, I knew that there was a good beach at the end of the world's longest pier, so little of our limited time would be wasted in transit.

The world’s longest pier was not on my travel bucket list before I read that we were going to use it during our cruise, but I quickly added it.

The town of Progreso was built on a limestone shelf that gradually drops as it moves farther out to sea, so a four-mile-long pier was required for big ships.

We disembarked the ship and quickly walked through the little market that was between the ship and the free shuttle. The shuttle bus was waiting for us.

By the time we got to the beach we were hungry. Beaches always make us hungry. We found a table on the beach, and I ordered red snapper and Kathy ordered nachos. After the waiter took our order, less than two minutes passed before we heard the first beach-vendor pitch. Kathy was sold when the vendor threw in an ankle bracelet with the necklace and wrist bracelet. I took the twenty dollars from my billfold and paid the man.

Our next vendor sold candy. The nutbars looked delicious, so I reached into my billfold for two dollars.

Uh-oh. In our never-ending quest to make our travels memorable, we must have subconsciously not taken enough money with us. “This is not good,” I told Kathy. She agreed.

The beach vendor was looking at us like “Are you going to buy that nutbar or not?” After I broke the news to him that we could not pay for the nutbar I was holding in my hand, he said something amazing, “Forget about it, enjoy it. Maybe next time you can pay for one.”

After thanking the beach vendor for his generosity, I began counting my money. I had already asked if the restaurant took credit cards, and that was no. We had not asked the waiter how much the bill was going to be, but I knew it was more than the five dollars that I had.

Without wasting any more time, I walked downtown to look for a bank. I found two banks where the tellers had difficulty telling me in English that they did not process cash advances. I am not sure that they had even heard of cash advances.

Our route to the beach was over a four-mile pier, so the route back was that long plus the several blocks to the shuttle, the wait time for it, and the heavy traffic to travel the several blocks to get to the pier to begin the four-mile trip back to the ship.

The world’s longest pier was looking like an obstacle now.

We had three hours before the ship sailed; if I left then I might have enough time to get to the ship and back with the money. So, I left, telling Kathy to enjoy the beach and I would sightsee to the ship and back.

Locating the shuttle service took more time than I had envisioned, so I began to worry more. When I boarded the bus and found a seat, I did not waste any time before I asked the stranger seated in front of me if I could borrow twenty dollars. I must have done a convincing job of explaining my predicament because he reached into his billfold and pulled out a beautiful twenty-dollar bill. I put his cabin number in my phone notes and got off the bus.

Fifteen minutes later Kathy was shocked, but happy, to see me.

I paid the bill and then found the vendor who gave us the nutbar. We paid him what we owed and bought another treat.

When we got back to the ship, I found the cabin of the guy who loaned me the money and paid him his twenty dollars plus a ten-dollar bonus for making my life a lot easier that day.

There are nice people all over the world.