In the nature trail brochure at the Rio Grande campground, it told about a traditional Mexican border town a few miles away. I've been to several border towns, but they were all modern-day, commercialized cities. Well, the next day I went to see it. First, you drive through a gate (below left) with no border patrol presence -- highly unusual on this border. The sign says simply "Boquillas Crossing - Bienvenidos".
Then you park above the river, walk down to it, and pay a guy $3 to pole across the river (in a fairly strong current) in a metal rowboat made from an old gastank. Below center is a shot of the crossing from a hill by the parking lot, with the village at the base of the mountain just above the center of the picture. Then you pay $2 to either ride in a pickup truck or on a burro up to the town. I (below right) obviously chose the burro, since I'd never ridden one. I asked the guy if the burro could carry 200 pounds and he laughed -- said they could carry 750 pounds ... lol.
21. BBNP: Boquillas, Mexico
My Travel Log
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Below left is a view of the village main (only) street. Center photo is the church and on the right is the local bar -- neither these or any others in Boquillas have electricity, although several have a solar panel on the roof and some have a TV dish antenna in the yard.
Boquillas has two eateries -- one that serves either 3 Tacos or 3 Burritos for $1 and the other that serves Enchilada plates for $5. The next three shots are of the Buzzard's Roost, the restaurant where I ate several Enchiladas.
Left: You can see the much overloaded rowboat crossing the river. LOL .. Don't worry .. when they're carrying tourists, they only take about 3 at a time. When locals, it seems 6 or 8 is the right number.
Finally, it's goodby to Boquillas with a picture of one of many little boys who insisted that I take their picture. Sorry, didn't get their names.
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Oops! I heard in 2005 that they (U. S. Government) have closed this border crossing for security reasons. Too bad - really a neat little town to visit. Didn't see any terrorists there, but I guess you never know. I'm leaving the story here for nostalgic reasons.
2016 UPDATE! 4/3/2016: Was just watching CBS Sunday Morning show and what should I see but Boquillas, Mexico! Some of the same views as what you see below. Seems they closed down the "unofficial crossing" right after 9/11, but then opened an "official crossing" in 2013. You can now visit Boquillas just as I did back in 2000. And it still looks pretty much the same.
