2022 Travel Log #9 Big Bend (and Terlingua)

Here are some sights and a few stories from our time in Big Bend National Park on the Texas/Mexico border! Actually...before we get to Big Bend, I forgot we stopped and explored Terlingua--the ghost town. Here is Terlingua:

Ruins of the old town.

Now, on to Big Bend!

This was the first of many wild horses we saw.

The first glimpse of the Rio Grande--one side US, the other Mexico!

Jackson wanted to fish, so John stayed with him while Johnny and I walked around the area a bit more.

In this next picture you can see a small Mexican town, Boquillas. Mexican families often cross the river and bring things they make over the border and set up on trails with jars for honor system payment. Johnny and I walked upon a guided tour, and the lady said the park stopped trying to forbid them from coming over. I have a few pictures of some of the things a little later down.

These were some men on the Mexico side. They didn't want this donkey to continue to follow them, so they tied its front legs together.

Here are a few of the wares they offered at one place, with the payment can/jar.

Oh, the beauty...

Adventures with this guy are the best! I am so grateful for him and the past 25 years of married life with him!

The top!

Some more little Mexican family shops at various trails.

This trail was neat as the Rio Grande narrowed into the canyon.

I am always behind, but I love looking ahead and seeing these three!

They actually take turns coming back and keeping me company.

It was pretty hot this day. It was so good to soak in all that sunshine!

You would often see these canoes on the other side of the river. They used these to come and bring over their goods and collect money.

Jackson wanted to get in the water, so me and him stayed back, took our shoes and socks off and put them in!

Really, are there tamales for sale?

Jackson really wanted to go to the other side. So we told him to go ahead!

He came back when he realized the water was pretty deep in the center and he would have to dive on in!

So guess who was going to show him how it was done!

He too came back when his pants legs started getting wet!

While on this hike, we ran upon a Mexican man on a horse. He encouraged us to look at his family's wares. I asked about the tamales and he didn't have them, but his brother does. He said he could ride over and get some or he would be back tomorrow. We think he was trying to heard these cows back over. There were several roaming around the trail.

While going down the trail, we walked upon him on the trail. On our way out, he was on the top ridge.

He invited Jackson to get on his horse.

After this hike, we set out on the search for the hot springs. There was an old community built around the hot springs.

You could stay at the motel for $1.00 a night and pay $0.25 to get into the hot springs.

Now, you just walk up and get in them. The hot water pools in the ruins of one of the old buildings.

Can you guess what he is planning?

If you guessed he was planning for them to swim across to Mexico, you were correct! For some reason, I can't get the videos of the swim to upload into Google Photos for me to add...Thankfully, there were no re-entry issues as they crossed back over to US soil!

We stayed here until the sun was starting to lower for the day.

While there, we saw a large herd of horses cross the river. I didn't have time to catch them on camera. But as we were driving out, we saw these on side of the road.