Big Bend and the US Mexico Border

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Nancy enticed me to travel while we’re at the cusp of spring here in Pennsylvania. She came up with the idea of wandering the US –Mexico border to check out the situation ourselves. I had Big Bend National Park in Texas on my bucket list, which is right on the border, our plan crystallized. We would fly into El Paso, the center of the immigration crisis, rent a car, and tour and hike for 5 days.



Getting hotel reservations was hard. We learned that it was spring break in Texas; families were traveling. There are not a lot of hotels in the area, other than in El Paso. The economy is good in Texas, and people are spending money.



As soon as we arrived in El Paso, we drove off in our 4 wheel drive GMC rental. Our agenda was dictated by our reservations. We reserved the first night in Marfa, Texas, about 150 miles from El Paso. If you haven’t been to Texas, it is true, all is wide open and spread out. Marfa has a couple claims to fame. The movie Giant was made there, starring James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson. It is a kind of art mecca. Minimalist artist Donald Judd moved there in the 1970’s and took over a former army barracks, filling it with “art”. Over 40 years, other arty types moved in, so now there are galleries, artists, restaurants, and a couple of hotels. We stayed in the hip and relatively new St George. We dined at the Chinati Hotel, where the actors stayed. The hotel is loaded with fun memorabilia and photos of the actors and movie.



We didn’t think much of the “art”. Some of the “art” at the former barracks consisted of car-size outside concrete box structures. Inside, 100 refrigerator-sized aluminum box structures filled the barracks. Nancy accidentally brushed one of the structures with her pocketbook which prompted a rebuke from the guard. “Aluminum seems tough but it is actually fragile”, she said, which seemed kind of strange. There were other buildings on the grounds that were not open. We hoped to see if there was anything of interest in them, but as soon as we headed off the path, another guard questioned us. The whole thing was a bit obsessive; the art was weird, and people that work there might be a kooky as well.



After a good lunch at The Water Stop in Marfa, we headed to Alpine, Texas, about an hour away. There were no snowy peaks glinting in the sun, but there were interesting shops and galleries. We chatted with a friendly woman in the local artist’s cooperative about immigrants and the border. She said that their county, Brewster, was larger than the state of Connecticut. We passed at least 3 roadblocks, one on the interstate, and others on local roads. Border security is big business there. Border Patrol has lots of staff, cars, trucks, helicopters.



Our evening’s destination was Chisos Mountain Lodge in Big Bend National Park. We had our own little cabin, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1940’s. It was comfortable, clean, and a short walk to the dining room. The food was plentiful and good, although the staff were a bit overwhelmed. The dining room is the only place around if you aren’t cooking yourself, and visitors took advantage of it. Our plan the next day was to get an early start for the Boquillas Border Crossing.



The Crossing is about 25 miles from Chisos, which is next-door in Texas distance. We arrived around 9:30 a.m. at the border crossing and thought that it might be closed, as we were the only car in the lot. Inside there were two Customs and Border Patrol officers. They briefed us on what to and not to do. We headed out back and twinkling in the sun was the Rio Grande. As promised, when we reached the bank, a ferryman set out from the other side in a rowboat to pick us up. Upon arrival in Mexico (there is no barrier), we paid our $5 crossing fee. The Chefe assigned us a local guide, which we didn’t mind, and we set off to walk to Boquillas del Carmen, the 300 person village about a mile away. There were donkeys to ride if you wanted them, but we love to hike. I got a chance to practice my rusty Spanish on our guide and the vendors in the village, who sold textiles and works of art. I brought a lot of small bills, and our mission was to help the local economy by buying what caught our fancy. We had a coke, and bought some tortillas to have later for lunch. The guide proudly showed us the solar panel field that provided power to the village. We also visited a hot spring that was about a half a mile away. When I asked if there were snakes (serpentiente) he showed us trails in the sand where snakes had crossed recently, but we saw none.



At about noon, we’d seen all there was to see, walked back to the river and took the rowboat across to the US. At no time did we feel uncomfortable in the least in the village; it was a highlight of our trip.



Once back to the US, we bought some fixings at the camp store nearby for a picnic lunch at the visitor’s center.



We were only able to reserve one night at Chisos Mountain Lodge, and from speaking to others, were lucky to get that. We did an afternoon hike into Santa Elena canyon of the Rio Grande, which was scenic and a good workout. This walk is one of the Parks signature ones, and quite busy.



We’d reserved the next night at a golf resort, Lajitas Lodge, which was outside the park at the other end, “only” about 70 miles away. The Lodge was OK, but not for what they charged. We had a nice dinner, and breakfast there, and left early as we had a 250 mile drive back to El Paso. The sleeper on the way back was River Road from Lajitas to Presidio in Big Bend STATE Park. There were very few visitors there. It is called the most spectacular drive in Texas in one of the guidebooks. The road alternatively runs along the Rio Grande, and undulates over the mountainous terrain. By serendipity we stopped to hike into Closed Canyon, which looked like a Billy the Kid hideout. Walls rose 100 or so feet on either side of the 20 foot wide canyon which led downward, eventually reaching the Rio Grande. We hiked for an hour and saw only 1 other couple.



There was no way to avoid the drive back to El Paso. We arrived around 6, and overnighted at the Marriott near the airport, which was a good choice. Dinner was at the L&J Café a popular spot with locals and celebrities.



That next day was our day to explore El Paso. The city resembles post war Berlin, with a fence that runs through the entire city as far as we could see. We headed downtown to Old El Paso. The city is about a million people, but there are also about a million people in Juarez, the Mexican other half. It was easy to see from roads and train tracks that not long ago both towns were connected, but for now those days are over. Downtown El Paso Street, leads right into a border crossing. The shops along the street have goods appealing to Mexicans coming into town; all sorts of items with the theme being inexpensive. We decided to go into Mexico again, and walked across the Rio Grande Bridge along with many other pedestrians and vehicles. Unlike the Boquillas crossing, this one was busy. We walked a couple of blocks into Juarez. The area was not very appealing with mostly currency exchange and fast food shops.



We got our first up close look at the border fence here. It’s easy to see why a wall won’t help. The middle of the river is the border between countries. The fence is on the US side. Immigrants cross the river, which is shallow, and are then on the US side. They walk up to the wall- no need to climb it- they are already on the US side. Then they walk along the wall to the left or to the right until they come to a border crossing, and wait there for US Customs to deal with them. We saw men, women and children in a chain link fence holding area with Customs agents figuring out what to do with them. The only way a fence or wall would keep immigrants out of the US would be if constructed on the Mexican side! This humanitarian crisis is deeply disturbing and we ought to be working together to figure out the best way to deal with it. On the airplane back Nancy observed a family that spoke no English, and thought that these were folks being sent to another area of our country for detention after crossing the border.



After returning to the US, we drove around El Paso to get the lay of the land. This is a sprawling city. We looked at the University of Texas at El Paso, which looked quite prosperous. There is a big army base, Fort Bliss. I tried to get into the museum there, but the rules and regulations guard said that we needed a pass, with no obvious place to get it, so I gave up. We heard that there were some high end neighborhoods in West El Paso, and saw a couple of them. Generally, our impression is that the city is lower and middle class, with a few wealthy people.



On the way into El Paso, we passed the El Paso Mission Trail, and returned that afternoon to visit. The Socorro mission, founded in 1682 claims to be the oldest continuously practicing religious congregation in North America. We were the only visitors, and were lucky to find two volunteers there who showed us around. I particularly liked one ancient beam prepared from a v shaped double tree trunk brought from mountains far away.



We also visited the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Native American tribal museum. These folks fled the Santa Fe area for El Paso centuries ago, and settled under the wing of Franciscans. They appear to be quite prosperous now with their Speaking Rock Casino, smoke and liquor shops.



A constant in this area is the sun and heat. Even though the daytime highs were in the 80’s because of that constant heat, it felt warmer to me. I guess people who like the California sun would like West Texas, but from my point of view I miss the greenery. Trees, bushes, and grass only grow where they are watered.



Dinner that evening was in the Cattle Baron restaurant, next door to the hotel, so thankfully no more driving. Cattle Baron had a good salad bar, the meat was excellent.



One can see and do a lot in 5 nights. I recommend the trip if you like driving, current events, history, and outdoor activities.

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