Spring Break in Big Bend

(Page 2 of 4)

From near our campsite at Rio Grande Village, we all took a walk on a nearby trail. As soon as we came to some running water, we began to break apart and indulge in one of the favorite past-times of the trip: skipping rocks. Here Lindsay gives Kristi a few pointers on how to get that perfect series of hops:

We all spent the next couple of days near Rio Grande Village. Here is a view of some of us gathered around the stove at the campsite one morning:

(Kate, Niki, Kat, me, and Nopporn)

Not everyone was welcome at our campsite though. Our biggest menace was the evil peccary, a.k.a. javelina. In fact we were so enthralled with getting rid of these pests, that no one bothered to get a decent picture of them. The dark spot in the middle of this picture is one of them as we chased them off into the underbrush.

I spent much of the next couple days in pursuit of as many new (for me - hey, I'm an Eastern lad) western species of birds as I could see. After one especially good day birding, several of us met up in Boquillas Canyon. This is what it looks like looking into the canyon:

One of the highlights of this same day was an afternoon excursion to the tiny village of Boquillas, Mexico. To get there, we merely had to wade across the Rio Grande (which never got more than two feet deep). Here you can see the stragglers as we waded across:

This was the first time for me in a foreign country (I don't really count Canada as being very foreign). Long live the expression: "Taco y cervesa, por favor" This is about my full understanding of Spanish, and enough to get me by for the afternoon in Mexico. I spent the early part of the evening in Mexico, searching for desert insects. I found quite a few, spanning the insect orders: Neuroptera, Trichoptera, Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, Blattaria, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Odonata, Microcoryphia, Isoptera, Hemiptera, and Homoptera. Not too bad for a desert that was supposed to be "void" of insects at the time - especially considering the park side of the Rio seemed much more diverse. Later that evening we were all hosted by the gracious denizens of the Barker house for a pleasant evening of conversation, food, drink, and our first initiation in the "Salty Dog". Here is a picture of everyone on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande with Boquillas, Mexico in the background (yes the Rio does loop around back to the left):

(Back row: Kate, Kristi, Nate, Kat, Lindsay, Christina, Niki, Teresa, Nopporn)
(Front row: me, Alec) - you do have to click on the picture to make anything out!

While I was spending a lot of time with the bugs and the birds, some of the others in our group were spending time doing far more important things. And nothing is more important than perfecting the "Salty Dog". Here are Kat and Christina :

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