Oh what cranky pants we all are today.
Is it because we are another 4 hours south…and it’s still COLD 🥶? Probably has something to do with it. But pretty sure we were all happy with company and new friends and today it’s just the 4 of us. Wait, why did we leave again? We could’ve hung out longer last night and just come down during the day. Plus it’s cold today. What were we thinking???
We drove the 4 hours to the park entrance. It was still another 30+ minutes into a campground but we were beat so we pulled over on the side of the road right by the sign. This is what we woke up to.
Big Bend National Park. 30th National Park.
We drove into the visitor center and they told us to beat feet to a campground if we wanted any chance of getting a spot. This was still pretty early in the morning. There was about 5 cars including us circling the 100+ campground looking. The campground was full. Sucky suck, Bad moods still lingering. You know…let’s just check with the campground host anyway.
Our positive camping spot juju continues. The campground host gave us a spot that has been under reservation for a week but they haven’t showed up for 5 days but never cancelled their reservation.
Bad moods slightly better…but not much. Personally I felt slightly better about leaving last night because pretty sure if we had rolled in after lunchtime that (getting a campsite) would not be the case.
So what are we going to do today?? Well the roadwarners are surpassing their statewide continental travels to going International. The Warner’s are going to Mexico 🇲🇽 .
We are camping at the Rio Grande Village Campground right on the Rio Grande River.
Edwin drove last night and so I looked up what there was to do in Big Bend. A highlight is to go to Boquillas canyon and take a boat across the river. From there you can hike the mile up to town, get a ride in a truck, or rent a donkey or horse. Get some food, buy a souvenir, and return.
After we got our camping spot secured and the girls asked “what are we going to do today?” it was highly entertaining to tell the girls that we were going to go to Mexico and ride a donkey. Of course they didn’t believe me, so they were getting really annoyed. They didn’t even realize where exactly Big Bend National Park was except that it was in Texas. They did not yet know that we are literally on the USA Mexico border.
Since we weren’t able to go to the main visitor center this morning, it was still cold outside, there was another visitor center right next to the campground so we decided that was our first stop toget a better lay of the land before we set off.
One thing I’m finding myself personally getting more interested in along the trip is water. I love seeing the start of rivers, the confluence of them and understanding the water usage. It’s hard not to get nervous about our water situation. Much less rainfall and more demands because of population growth is causing real water right issues. The Rio Grande used to flow into Mexico. Because we/American farmers use so much water the Rio Grande is a trickle by the time it reaches Mexico. The Rio Grande that flows along the border of Big Bend National Park is now predominantly the Rio Conchos and it begins in Mexico.
I had a lively conversation with a gentlemen, Ron, and he asked if we went to San Luis Rio Colorado in Arizona. There you can see where the Colorado runs dry. The Colorado doesn’t even flow into Mexico anymore there. Wish we had gone there…but now we’re kind of past it so we another time. Ron was also planning to go to Mexico and he asked if we didn’t mind and he could tag along with us so he didn’t have to go over alone. So off we drove the few miles to Boquillas Canyon to cross the river.
We are officially in Mexico. Viva 🇲🇽 Mexico
Isabella felt good getting back on a horse.
The restaurant had 5 items on their menu. Cheese enchiladas . Chicken tamales. Goat tacos. Dos Equis. Margaritas. We ordered 1 of each. All were excellent.
This town of Boquillas has 250 people living here. There are no visible stores, grocery or other except items along the road for sale to the tourists. The nearest town is 4 hours away. This town’s entire sustenance is from the +/- 100 tourists that cross the Rio Grande from Big Bend National Park each day…except in 1/2 June, July & August when the temperature reaches 120F – which the owner of the first restaurant promptly told us he then just throws a bucket of water on the tile and lies down 😆) 5 boat ride per person. $5/mule ride. $8/horse ride. $7/truck ride. (but you can just walk the 1/2 mile up to town on your own legs for free) 🙂 Food & drinks weren’t exactly expensive but they weren’t inexpensive either. Nor were souvenirs. We spent more money than I though 2 hours in Mexico would be, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. How could you pass up a donkey ride, homemade chips, tamales, enchiladas, tacos, y margaritas in Mexico 🙂
Edwin and Ron walked back down next to the mules instead of taking the truck.
To get back into the states, there was this teller machine.
So the people in this town cross the border to get gas online from the States. The national park service guy manning the border said most of the trucks parked outside are owned by residents from Boquillas who come over to purchase
Oh and another souvenir we bought was a sombrero for Daisy to connect to her paternal lineage. She was mighty happy let me tell you…she’s actually a pretty good sport.
We drove to the Boquillas canyon trail a few miles away and the girls and I went for a walk along the riverbank.
The trail ended but Vera scaled the rock wall and got us to follow her and to find these tracks.
We were convinced they were a beaver but I guess beavers are only found in Santa Elena canyon, here, there are nutrias.
I have a feeling there will be some more señorita Daisy pics
We weren’t quite ready to head back to camp and another few miles away there were some hot springs. From the campground it was a 3 mike walk. We could take a dirt road and get about a mile away. Edwin has already been walking around a bit today so I rode by bike to go check it out first. It was definitely cool, but the girls would not have been excited so after I soaked my feet for a few minutes, we headed back to camp.
Vera did some bike riding around camp. And we wrote some post cards.
I walked around the campground tonight. It was so dark. No campfires are allowed and it’s always a mixture between cool and foreign to walk around in complete darkness. It is a dark sky park here at Big Bend and hoping it’s clear like tonight tomorrow night do we can go to the dark sky program.