Close Encounters
Posted on April 23, 2009
Filed Under Adventures | 2 Comments
Posted by Daria
Big Bend National Park is truly spectacular, with an amazing variety of rocks from all different geological periods in one place and more species of wildlife than any other national park. We’re spoiled—living in the Southwest, we get to see these kinds of mountains and mesas all the time—but we were still very impressed.
We had two interesting encounters at Big Bend, ones probably familiar to those who have been there before but new to us.
We went on the Boquillas Canyon hike, a short steep hike that leads down to the Rio Grande. Along the way we spotted small scorpions and walking sticks made out of beads. They were for sale along with painted rocks and chunks of pretty minerals, like calcite. The makers/sellers live across the river in Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico. They’re not allowed to cross the border to sell these items, and by buying them people are encouraging them to cross the border illegally. The park newspaper warned that if we were caught with their illegally purchased items, we could be fined. And if the vendors were caught on our side of the border, they could be sent to Presidio, the closest legal border crossing, and deported. They put the fear of God into you for even considering buying something.
We saw a vendor sitting under a ramada on the Mexican bank and saw his helper on this side checking the metal cans to see if anyone had put money in them, then heading back across the river, which was low enough to walk across. We saw another man leading a horse from one bank to the other. If someone wanted to enter the United States illegally to live here, Big Bend isn’t the ideal place to do so, since it’s a long way to any good-sized town. These people just want to make a few bucks, and who can blame them.
Adding to the scene was “Mexican Victor,” a guy who stands on the Mexican bank and serenades U.S. hikers, who are welcome to leave money in his donation can. He’s going to sing to you even if you say, “No, gracias,” and if you don’t leave him money you feel guilty. The whole situation had us discussing morality and the implications of the scene for a while. (NPR did a feature on this a few years back, which you can find here.)
When you realize how easy it is to cross the Rio Grande here, and drive along Interstate 10 as it hugs the international border, the idea of a border-long fence seems prohibitively expensive—perhaps insane. (Coincidentally, when I was writing this as we drove along I-10 near Esperanza, Texas, we passed the Border Patrol picking up an “illegal.”)
Our other encounter was of the four-legged variety. We were sitting at our Cottonwood Campground site, at the very southern tip of the park, when out of the brush trotted a whole herd of javelinas—shaggy, white-collared, black mammals that look like giant rodents (real name: collared peccary). Stan grabbed his camera and started sneaking up on them as they grazed. Sierra grabbed the video camera in case they charged Stan. Eventually, the 14 of them ate their fill and trotted back into the brush.
Then we waited for dark so we could marvel at the infinite stars. Away from light pollution, they really do twinkle. All in all, it was a remarkable couple of days.
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The barbeque (I can’t ever remember how you spell it) sounded somewhat terrible to me until you said it loses the fat in the process of cooking — does it really? Years of cooking carefully have left me pretty cautious! However, I think it might be okay when I listen to you! And I love the seasonings. Stan, didn’t Tom and Jimmy and you boys go to Big Bend when you were kids? I seem to remember that you did — and hearing Jimmy’s stories of Texas! Maybe it was a different park. I feel terrible when I hear the stories about the border crossers. If I were they, I would probably try just to improve my life, but, on the other hand, it is a real problem. We are full of illegals here, as are many places in the US. I think it is strange that Iowa has so many!
When are you going to explore Colorado?
Gretchen
All the farming states have huge migrant populations–Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas. We’re still planning to come to Colorado in July.