Did I hear someone ask where are the Chisos? Well, entirely in the Big Bend Nat’l Park (BBNP). We met our friends Karen and Ralph Roberts there at the Rio Grande Village.

Between all the trails to hike and the birds to ID we were very busy. Cattail falls had real water and the Window opened onto a huge panorama after hiking a mountain canyon. Javelinas sometimes raid the campground and at Cottonwood, we inadvertently “fed” the troop when we threw out some shells to our pistachios. Whoops!

We are in a dirty RV "park" in Teralingua, TX on the edge of the BB park. Our canyon float trip got modified cause the water release in Mexico has ended and there's not enough water to go through the Santa Elena Canyon we wanted to see. No worries, they're taking us to another were water is not a problem. The Rio Grande, is not Grande and doesn't even look like it has been in historic time. I was expecting a river smaller than the Columbia, Maybe the Sacramento or American Rivers. The Rio flows coffee brown about as wide and deep as the Santa Ynez after a big rain, except it doesn't flow nearly so fast! Mexicans paddle across in anything that floats to sell curios and songs illegally in the park. They leave out their wares with a jar stating their price and then paddle over to get the money. It's a strange transaction. One man sits at the head of a canyon and sings Mexican ballads to Big Bend hikers.