Big Bend & A Trip to Boquillas, MEXICO

We got an earlier start into the park this morning because we were going all the way to the eastern side of the park.  The overcast skies of the two previous days were completely gone giving us a bright sunshiny day...

and a beautiful blue background to the Chisos Mountains.

Some friends of Ken and Bonnie's had highly recommended taking the boat ride across the Rio Grande to visit the small, remote Mexican village of Boquillas.  We were a little apprehensive but after talking with some of the park rangers, we felt like it was perfectly safe and would provide us a unique adventure for the day.

Below is some interesting history on Boquillas that Bonnie researched and provided on her blog Celebrating Life Daily:

In the late 1990's, Boquillas was a small town of about 300 residents dependent on the Big Bend Tourist Trade with visitors crossing the Rio Grande to visit the village's bar, restaurant, and taco stands.  9/11/2001 destroyed their way of life.  In May 2002, the border crossing from Big Bend was closed indefinitely.  As of October 2006 only 19 families remained in Boquillas.  April 2014, the new port of entry was opened.  They have seen substantial growth with electricity( brought over from the US side), a new medical care office, and enhancements to the public school.  The village's population is now about 200 people, 400 dogs, and 1 million scorpions!  In the 1930's the US planned to provide electricity for Boquillas, but for some reason it never happened.  All the copper wire that was going to be used remained in the village and now the residents use it to make "trinkets" for the American tourists.  It is their way of making money along with some bags and doilies they make.  They totally depend on the American tourists for their income. 

After parking at the Boquillas border crossing, we walked through U.S. Customs, had the ranger verify we were taking all the right documentation (passports) with us and told her to be sure and be looking for us to come back!  :)  We walked down a short trail to the Rio Grande River and were greeted by a Boquillas gentleman singing to us on the other side of the river.

We waved at the gentlemen with the boats on the other side of the river...

...and they rowed across and picked us up with Ken riding in the front of the boat...

...and Bonnie, Chuck and I riding in the back.

After the very short boat ride across the Rio Grande, we purchased our tickets ($5 per person round-trip) and then hopped on burros for the ride into town (that were also $5 per person round-trip).

"Hopped" is probably not the right word.  More like climbed on with much assistance.  Chuck nearly fell off of his trying to get on it.  

View from on top of my burro!  :)

We were all giggling like a bunch of little kids.  

Bonnie was the pro-burro rider...

...not only taking the lead but leaving us in her burro dust.  :)

"Wait, Bonnie!  Wait for us slow-pokes!"

The 3/4 mile burrow ride into town took about 30 minutes.  I'm sure we could have walked there faster but it would not have been near as much fun!

After dismounting our burros, we walked up the hill to the town of Boquillas.  Our tour guide and burro handler could not speak any English making the tour even more interesting.  I did remember how to ask a person's name in Spanish (Como se llama?) which are about the only words in Spanish I know.  His name was Louisias (I think).  

Louisias first took us to the Mexican customs office which was probably the only air-conditioned building in the entire town.  After completing the paperwork for our day visas, Louisias began leading us through the town.

All through the town, people would have little trinkets of handmade wire scorpions and road runners, hand-sewn bags, embroidery work, walking sticks, and lots of other souvenirs and gifts.

All the roads are gravel throughout the town...

...with limited electricity provided by solar energy.

+

Solar-powered street lights

The clinic...

...and the school appeared to be new.

But most of the homes and buildings appeared to be much older.

Water tower or water department?  Louisias called this aguas. 

A church.

I think Louisias was telling us this was a hotel or used to be a hotel.

This house had some pretty landscaping around it.

Towards the back of the town, Louisias took us to where we could see a small canyon.

There was a guy riding a horse down into the canyon with another horse following him -- out into the desert with all the scopions and rattlesnakes!!

Several of the homes had chihuahuas for pets.  They looked much different than the chihuahua breed of dog we see back home.

And some people had a few chickens.  

This rooster had one leg tied up I guess to keep him from wandering off.

All through the town, little children -- some just barely walking -- would run up to you trying to sell you bracelets or trinkets.  Samantha is just one year old!

And this little boy was proudly showing us his dog.  

As we began heading back to the center of town, we bought a few souvenirs along the way.  Everyone was so kind, gracious and grateful.  Made us wish we could buy something from everyone.  And Louisias was a great tour guide even though neither of us could understand a word we were saying.  

We stopped at what Louisias pointed to as being the better of the two restaurants in town for lunch.

There was a beautiful view of the Rio Grande from the restaurant.  That's the United States on the other side of the river (to the left).

We finished off our lunch with a couple of Mexican Coca-Colas.  

They taste a little different from Coca-Cola in the States but they were cold and delicious!

After lunch, Louisias led us back to our burros and we got back on for the ride back down to the river.

I got Bonnie's burro this time.

Are we a trio of professional burro riders are what?

Howdy Pardner!

We rode the burros back to the river...

...and then Chuck rode in the front of the boat on the way back across the Rio Grande with Bonnie, Ken and me at the back.

After we got back across, we went through U.S. Customs without any problems.  We each took a turn in front of a kiosk where the ranger put our passport in a machine to be read and then we spoke with a customs officer on the phone telling them how much we brought back in souvenirs, etc.  

We decided to get in one more hike while we were on this side of the park so we drove a few miles to the Boquillas Canyon Trail.  We loaded up with plenty of water since this would be the hottest and sunniest day we have hiked.

This hike also began with a few switchbacks...

...to a viewpoint where we could look out and see the Rio Grande River this time with Mexico on the left and the US on the right.

Then, we began hiking down on the other side of the viewpoint...

...and saw where Boquillas citizens had crossed the river and placed their wire scorpions and walking sticks for sale.  Of course, that's consider illegal but I guess the US Customs doesn't consider it enough of a threat and to costly to monitor.  It's hard to blame them when you consider the remoteness of their village and that they are just trying to make a living for their families.

As we started hiking along the edge of the river...

...this gentleman was singing to us from the Mexican side of the river.  He had a little tip jar on a rock on the US side of the river.

We walked further back into the canyon...

...and came across some more wire scorpions for sale on the rocks.  

When we reached as far back as we could go, we drank some water and rested for a few minutes.

The canyon walls here were not as tall as Santa Elena but still pretty amazing.

After resting a few minutes, we hiked back to the car for a total of about 1.6 miles.  The temperature outside was reading 99 degrees when we reached the car.  Thankfully, we had plenty of water and the a/c worked great in the car on the drive back to the campground.  

After we got back to the campground, we rested, ate dinner and then played cards until about 9:30.  We drove into the park hoping to get a great view of the night sky but the moon was out bright even though it was just a half moon taking away from the brightness of the star.  It was so clear and bright the half moon created shadows!

Another adventuresome day for the Hoslers and the Gregorys!  The people of Boquillas were so kind and so gracious.  It really makes you appreciate how very blessed we are here in the US and that we too should always be kind, gracious and both extremely grateful for and generous with our many blessings.

I thought I would finish my blogpost today with an entertaining video entitled "A Burro Ride to Boquillas."  Enjoy!