Roma

Roma sits on a bluff above the Rio Grande about an hour west of McAllen, and it has been there since 1765, back when it was part of New Spain, decades before Texas or the United States existed. Many families in town can trace their roots back just as far, which makes the local saying feel less like a joke and more like a fact: when in Roma, do as the Romans.

The day starts at Fiesta Restaurant, where owner Chayo and his wife Lea carry on a taco tradition his parents built over 30 years, cranking out roughly 1,400 fresh tortillas a day from a kitchen that never slows down.

From there, downtown Roma reveals itself as a national historic landmark, a Spanish colonial plaza where assistant city manager Alfonso Ramirez explains how Spanish ranchers once received up to 5,000 free acres just for agreeing to work the land.

The 1928 suspension bridge connecting Roma to its sister city across the river, now the only one of its kind left spanning the US Mexico border, stands as a quiet reminder of a time this felt like one community split by a river rather than a line.

South Texas also happens to be one of the best birding destinations in the country, with 500 species passing through the region along overlapping migratory flyways. Roma Bluffs and the World Birding Center turn up painted buntings, kiskadees, and kingbirds within a few minutes of downtown, and nearby Falcon State Park adds butterflies, bass fishing on the third largest lake in Texas, and a shot at spotting roadrunners and green jays found almost nowhere else in the state.

Dinner belongs to Rancho Cafe, where 79 year old Rosie Munoz and her son Mel have been feeding Roma for over five decades off a menu with close to 200 items, cabrito included.

The night wraps up at Ancestral Craft Spirits, where Leonardo Sanchez and his partner Eduardo Ocampo Ramirez grow Texas agave for seven to seventeen years before turning it into a spirit they are legally barred from calling tequila or mezcal, so they named it Blasfemus instead, a nod to the old mezcal maker who once called their whole project blasphemous.

It is a day trip that proves a border is just a line on a map, and the people, food, and history on either side of it have always been connected. Thanks for subscribing – http://bit.ly/3TL61AO