Monday February 4, 2008

We slept like babies - the bed is great! Woke up briefly three times with the howling of coyotes, but they didn't keep us up. After breakfast, we drove to the camp store for a hot shower ($1.50 for 5 minutes - not bad) and it felt great. Drove out to Boquillas Canyon and walked the trail over the ridge and down to the river. Met a singing Mexican named Victor who was serenading us from the other side (Eii, yii, yii, yii). We put a couple of dollars in his bucket - we felt safe doing this as he was not selling anything. As we came back up the trail, we saw another Mexican crossing the river. Victor said not to worry, it was his friend, Manuel, coming to pick up the tips - quite illegal for him to be on this side of the river, but I suppose the chances of getting caught are slim in such a remote area. We came back to camp for lunch - took a rest in the shade of the tent - and then we were ready for another walkabout. We drove to the trailhead for Hot Springs. This was used as a health spa from 1909 to 1916 when they were forced to close due to border unrest from the Mexican Revolution. It reopened in 1927 and the owner built a motor court and general store which also served as a US Post Office. The owners sold the property to the state of Texas in 1942 and eventually it was given to the National Park Service. There were a few petroglyphs and pictographs on the cliffs, but they were in poor shape. There were also large nests in the cliffs (looked like hornet nests on steroids) - we assume they belong to a type of swallow. The hot springs are adjacent to the Rio Grande. I took off socks and shoes and waded for a bit in the 105 degree water - too hot outside to truly enjoy - would be fab ulous on a cold day. Met us with our tent neighbors there (there are only 3 tents in the whole campground - all the rest are RVs). They are from northern Arizona. We invited them for a dinner of burgers and Greek salad - they brought steamed cabbage and Dove chocolates for dessert. Had a lovely time chatting with them until about 9:30. They will be leaving for Chisos Basin tomorrow.