It was 59º when I donned my fleece zip-up jacket this morning. It was warmer than yesterday’s daybreak, but still cold. You can’t bottle up this coolness for later, so today, we got an early start. We pushed off for Big Bend around 8 am, but not before Wanda did a load or two of wash in the hand washer.
The big news around here is the wildfire that started in the central Chisos Mountains area yesterday afternoon. The origin is unknown, however, with no lightning strikes for weeks, human activity is suspected. My original plan was to visit the two canyons, one on each side of the huge park, then explore the Chisos Mountains on our last day, tomorrow. We already enjoyed the western Santa Elena Canyon yesterday. Today was the eastern Boquillas Canyon. I don’t know about the central Chisos Mountains area tomorrow as some of the trails were closed and some backcountry campsites have been evacuated. The entire Chisos area could be closed if the fire spreads.
Boquillas Canyon is another spectacular canyon carved by the Rio Grande River. Just before entering the canyon, the river banks in either side of the river are low sandy beaches. The Mexican town of Boquillas del Carmen is just up a dirt road about a quarter mile from the river. Normally, this extremely remote village is completely dependent on American tourists crossing the river. There is a special tiny customs office right there to make it all on the up-and-up. The office was closed. Crossing was prohibited. COVID strikes again.
That didn’t stop the desperate Mexicans from coming over to sell trinkets, tamales, and horseback rides. ICE and the Federales seem to look the other way as there isn’t any other way for the town to survive.
At the beginning of the canyon an older gentleman, who called himself the “Singing Jesus” belted out songs that wonderfully echoed off the canyon walls. He stayed on the Mexican side, but had a donation bucket on our side. I slipped him a buck. Sadly, I was the only person to do so. We also bought a trinket for $6.
It was the hot freshly made tamales that were the real gems. We picked them up on our way out of the canyon because we had salsa back at the van. We have never had a bad tamale in Mexico and these kept our streak going. They were delicious.
Anyway, back to the Canyon. This time we brought our water sandals. Good thing because, like at Santa Elena, we were able to extend our walk after the trail ended, by walking down the river, in the river. Again, the cool Rio Grande water kept the intensifying heat at bay.
After a while, we found a trail along the river and returned to land. It was through a dense thicket of tall prickly bushes that kept reaching out to grab us and pull us into their clutches when we heard a loud thumping sound behind us. Out of nowhere, a Mexican outfitter riding a horse practically ran us over. He was from Boquillas and was looking for a lost group of riders. He ran an outfitter business and I think the group he was looking for was a bunch of lost gringo customers.
The canyon hike was another amazing Big Bend adventure. The trinket, a wire replica of a Prickly Pear plant, will set on our dashboard for many miles, and the tamales satiated our bellies, at least for a short time. The Boquillas Canyon was gorgeous.
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