Big Bend National Park

Maderas Del Carmen /Rio Grande River

Bruce and I have been in the park for almost a week now and plan to stay another week or so. We've hiked miles, had a snow storm and saw lots of wild life. Luckily, we didn't see the mountain lion that a fellow camper ran across, while they were bike riding. Needless to say they turned around and rode the other way. They told us that a friend of theirs was attacked by a lion while they visited the park.

The park is the size of Rhode Island so we moved from one campground to another to hike other trails. One hike we've gone on took us from a mile high down to 4000 ft. This was the hike to see the Window. That was a hike that we obviously went down, that is until we had to hike back up. It sounds harder than it was but it was a gradual incline. Along the way we came upon a paisano as the Mexicans call them. It's a roadrunner to us. The guy thought he was hid by his camo. He would walk ahead then stand dead still. We would walk a little closer and he would walk ahead and stand dead still again. That went on for awhile until he decided to scurry into the brush. I managed to get a few pictures. When we see them on the road they are moving quite fast to get across the street. Driving along the roads in the park we saw javelinas. They resemble pigs but are not related. Another hike we took was 8 miles round trip to Hot Springs. When we got there several people were sitting or had their feet in the hot pool of water. Of course I had to put my feet in. The water is 108 degrees and felt so good after the hike to get there.

We are so close to Mexico we can see it across the Rio Grande River. In the tourist info stations there are figures of roadrunners, plants, scorpions and walking sticks (made of a sotol plant) that the Mexicans make out of copper and beads to sell. The money goes towards a school in the town of Boquillas Del Carmen. Along the trail, we see they leave some to sell. It is illegal and I wonder how they get across and leave the things there. I didn't see any money in any of the containers. We went to an overlook to see the town of Boquillas and were looking at the items there. We left and Bruce saw a guy looking up over some rocks. He then went over to see if we had left anything for him. He even waved to us. I only know of two towns where it is legal to cross to and from Mexico in this area. Presidio and Del Rio. I think the town is desperate. There wasn't much to it that we could see.

We found a really funky restaurant here in the town of Terlingua TX. It's called Starlight Theatre because it was an old theatre. Monday night is buy one get one free hamburger and fries. Home made and very delicious. Margaritas for 2 bucks everynight from 5-7 pm. 1 dollar tacos which we have yet to try. How can you go wrong!!!

PS We tried the tacos tonight and they were yummy!!