The Big Bend of the Big Bend!

Wednesday started out overcast and cool.  Our low temperature in Terlingua was 47F and we woke up with a chilly walk outside.  We decided to walk down the road to the nearby Chili Pepper Cafe.  Not much to look at, but it had the best Mexican breakfast we've ever had!

After mailing a package (across the road at the little post office - this is a VERY small village!), we headed into Big Bend National Park.  Our goal on this day was to explore down on the big bend of the Big Bend - the place where the big bed of the Rio Grande makes its most pronounced bend.

As we drove, we caught a glimpse of the tall, jagged and ghostly Sierra del Carmen, across the river to the south in Mexico:

Our first stop was Rio Grande Village, right on the river.  We weren't expecting much because the brochures and map only showed a short nature trail.  But this nature trail was longer, more rugged and more beautiful than we expected!

First we crossed a small bridge into a beautiful, verdant estuary (you can see the footbridge in the lower right corner of the photo below), and then climbed to a viewpoint, where the Rio Grande and its valley spread out to the west before us:

The river was both smaller and more striking than we expected.  We were warned that the water is low because of lack of rainfall, but we didn't expect the river to be so shallow and narrow that it is easy to wade across in many places.  David was very sorely tempted to cross over and have Kathy get a photo of him standing on Mexican soil, but Kathy's reminder that that might be an illegal border crossing, and that the river may be monitored, was enough to cause him to satisfy himself with at least standing in the river:

Not to be outdone, Kathy got her photo taken rock hopping into the middle of the river:

Our next stop was Borquillas Canyon, where the Rio Grande makes a turn north into an inaccessible, steep-walled canyon.  We started with a climb to an overlook, where we got tremendous views overlooking the river, as well as the Mexican side with farms and grazing horses.  We could then hike down to the side of the river where the canyon wall blocked all further entrance for foot traffic:

Here's a photo looking back from the canyon upstream:

Our third stop for the day was the old Hot Springs, west of and upriver from Rio Grande Village.  This had been the site of a tourist hot springs, and the area still has the ruins of the original buildings:

The walk along the river from the spa housing complex toward the hot springs itself took us along some beautiful sandstone and limestone rock walls, where we could see petroglyphs and pictographs.  Unfortunately, many of them had faded, and a number of them were marred by recent grafitti.  While they were interesting to look at, none were dramatic enough for photographing.

At last we arrived at the hot springs itself, located directly on the edge of the river.  We couldn't tell where the spring originated, but it appeared to bubble up right at the river's edge.  The original owners had built a stone spa enclosure into which the 105F water bubbled.  The stone structure allowed the water to then fall down into the river (on the backside, to the right of David as seen in this photo).  The hot springs water was perfect for a little soak, especially in the 68F air.  Here is David enjoying the spa --

-- and Kathy having fun herself!

Directly across the river (again, quite wadeable) was a primitive tent and a primitive stick shelter, which we guessed house campers who steal across the river at night to soak in the spa.  There is no doubt that this area has a great deal of extracurricular river crossings - both by Mexican residents of Borquillas and nearby farms, to buy needed supplies, and by U.S. residents of Terlingua, Marathon and the surrounding ranches to visit relatives, buy cheaper Mexican merchandise, etc.

There is a "problem" (at least as the NPS officially sees it) with Mexicans who cross over the river to sell folk art to tourists.  Signs warn tourists not to patronize them.  The Mexican entrepreneurs have responded by simply spreading their wares across rocks at strategic tourist spots, and leaving tin cans for suggested "donations" in exchange for trinkets.  Well, the authorities might sieze the trinkets or a day's profits, but no one is around to be arrested.  It seemed pretty obvious, from the number of informal sales points, that in fact the NPS informally tolerates the practice.  This is understandable, because it is relatively harmless, and it is impossible to stop people from wading back and forth across the river all along the more than 108 miles of its length in the park.  Of course, drugs and smuggling are entirely different matter.  There is an active border crossing at Borquillas, which the two countries are planning to expand to permit more legitimate commerce, but also to beef up border patrol and supervision.  Many U.S. tourist cross here into Borquillas to get a taste of Mexico, although we chose not to do so.

At the spa, we met an interesting group of tourists.  They included two women - one from San Antonio and one from Dallas - a woman who has practiced immigration law and established an immigration law clinic in the Terlingua/Lajitas area for a number of years, a young couple, the young woman of which was from Austin and the young man was from Ontario, Canada, two men on a bicycle backpack trip through west Texas, and a couple of others that we didn't have a chance to chat with.  It was a very sociable group and we enjoyed comparing notes - especially learning about life in this area from the Terlingua attorney.

On our way home, we caught a beautiful panorama of the Sierra del Carmen with the late afternoon sun on it --

-- and likewise a spectacular view of the Chisos Mountains silhouetted in the late sun:

Our drive through the park is so long that it takes us around the Chisos Mountains, and we also got a view of them from the other side, lit by the early evening sun:

We got home to the RV in time to have a cool beer and watch the sun drop down behind the buttes surrounding our little hamlet of Terlingua.  We also had our first chance to take a shadow photo of ourselves near the Hot Springs, which is our way of saying "adios" to that suprising and wonderful day at the Big Bend of the Big Bend of the Rio Grande!