Boquillas Rhapsody
Rolling on the Big Rio
He was horse-knee deep in the warm brown water, riding his way back across after collecting the dollars earned from the painted walking-sticks he’d left with a little coffee can asking for donations, at the river overlook on the US side of the Rio Grande.
Trade in these sticks is a not so little source of cash in his village.
We’d driven to the overlook and started down the path to the river and noticed the quaint hand-painted walking-sticks, decorated with bright red, yellow and green parrots, some with pineapples carved out of the handles.
The sign at the edge of the path reminded US citizens that it was illegal to trade with anyone for goods along the border. A five dollar donation for a quaint hand-painted walking-stick will get ya twenty.
The path along the river was nice, easy walking after 2 days of fairly arduous hikes in steep, rocky terrain. Today was about looking at the Rio Grande, up close.
It was a placid, unpretentious bit of stream. On the other side, another nation. I guess that’s the only thing special to note about this muddy ribbon of shallow water. Rio Bravo del Norte.
Just south of the hill on the other side is the village of Boquillas del Carmen, State of Coahuila, Country of Mexico. About 300 people call the place home. Since the 1940's and the opening of Big Bend National Park just north of the river, in the State of Texas, Country of USA, the villagers have depended on the tourist trade from the north. The village is on the border of the Mexican national park, Maderas Del Carmen, a huge wilderness area seperating Boquillas from the rest of Mexico.
Since the establishment of these spectacular and remote national parks, discussion had been underway to combine them into an international wildlife peace park. In the interim, Boquillas stood as the only hamlet in between, subsisting on the tourists who came through from Big Bend to buy trinkets, eat lunch at the Park Bar, or stay at the Buzzard’s Roost on the way to visit Maderas Del Carmen from the north.
That all changed on September 11, 2001. The institution of strict border crossing prohibitions stopped the travel of tourists from Big Bend. Times got pretty tough in the village. Going to work was sitting on the south bank of the river, under the trees in the heat, waiting for your turn riding the little pony across to tend to the merchandise.
The only way left to tap a little of the lost economy that remained, so achingly nearby, was to leave the signature trinkets sold in the village all those years, the quaint red, yellow and green parrot adorned walking-sticks, leaning on a rock near the parking lot for the river path. With a small can and a sign asking a $5 donation for a walking stick. Next to an official sign basically explaining that you could go to jail for buying the walking-stick.
Note: On April 10th, 2013, a ferry crossing with passport control was opened at Boquillas. Although nearly half of the village’s population had moved since 2002, the place is starting to come back to life. And you can go to almost any shop and get a quaint hand-painted walking-stick, decorated with bright red, yellow and green parrots, some with pineapples carved out of the handles.
http://discoverboquillas.wordpress.com/boquillas-border-crossing-faqs/
