Music News from the Big Bend of Texas
For the last 13 years, long-time Terlingua resident Marcos Paredes has taken food and presents to the children of Boquillas on Christmas Day. Marcos and some of his friends and neighbors have bought presents for the children plus turkeys and hams for their families, and delivered them personally.
This is a wonderful tradition. For it to continue, we need to pitch in.
Continue reading “Boquillas Christmas – Santa Needs Your Help. 2017.”
Reservations are required. Contact Gloria Page: 432-294-4137 (US cell phone) or book through Far Flung Adventures: 800-839-7238. Tell them “Pat sent you.” Maybe she’ll throw a free stay my way. I just got home and I’m ready to go back!
To get there, stay on “Main Street” (avenue Libre Commercia) in Ojinaga- that’s Hwy 67, the highway to Camargo.
About 20 miles outside OJ, take a left on Hwy 200 – it’s clearly marked. You just have to remember that San Carlos’ “real” name is Manuel Benavides. Thirty miles later, you’re in San Carlos. Go over the bridge, take a right just past the first liquor store, go up the dirt road, look for the sign.
If you’re curious about Ojinaga, safety in Mexico, etc., you might want to read my previous blog post HERE.
Above is the “big house.” It’s huge, with three bedrooms, two large bathrooms including one that has a tub big enough for two large adults to soak in, great kitchen, a porch that could seat 50 people easily… and rents for just Continue reading “Casa la Gloria in Manuel Benavides, Mexico (San Carlos, Mexico)”
Ojinaga sits just across the Rio Grande from Presidio, Texas. The drive itself is a destination – people come from all over the world to drive River Road. At the end of the drive is an adventure and really good food.
This was my 4th trip to OJ and my 2nd solo trip. When I ask locals what there is to do in OJ, the answer is always Continue reading “Exploring Ojinaga”
For the last 12 years, long-time Terlingua resident Marcos Paredes has taken food and presents to the children of Boquillas on Christmas Day. Marcos and some of his friends and neighbors have bought presents for the children plus turkeys and hams for their families, and delivered them personally.
This is a wonderful tradition. For it to continue, we need to pitch in.
Although there is now a legal border crossing into Boquillas, tourism is way down from where it used to be and without our efforts these children will not have much of a Christmas.
This year, Santa needs some help. He needs your help so that our less fortunate neighbors to the South can celebrate Christmas.
Lots of Big Bend locals go to Ojinaga (OJ) regularly to shop and eat, go to the doctor, buy prescription drugs, get their shoes fixed… it’s a great resource.
I’ve lived down here over 2 years and I’ve only been once. I’ve got a passport- I think my reticence was that it’s different, strange. I don’t speak Spanish. Crossing back into the U.S. is irritating. And… aren’t there dangerous cartels in Mexico?
OJ is about an hour and a quarter drive to the West of Terlingua. Today, I rode with a buddy who was going shopping and to the dentist. It was a blast and a breeze.
The dollar is strong in Mexico: 1 dollar = 16 pesos. I don’t think in base 16, so I flipped the equation: 100 pesos = $6.25. For some reason that made it easier for me to compare prices.
Our deal was that I’d buy our meals, and my buddy would drive and show me around. First stop was at the street vendor who sells shrimp cocktails. Because so many of the bank executives in OJ are from Sinaloa on the coast, they’ve arranged for fresh seafood to be delivered daily. Continue reading “Ojinaga – Shopping Day in OJ”
There were many more people on both sides of the Rio Grande. There was massive media coverage- National TV, radio, and print outlets sent crews to cover the celebration.
Our community, from both sides of the border, gathered to show our love for each other and express visibly the fact that it’s one community on both sides of the river. Continue reading “Voices From Both Sides 2014 – Fiesta Protesta!”
Let’s get this out of the way first:
It’s as if the flat-bottom boat that the smiling guide delivers you to Mexico in is actually a magic device – like climbing through the back of the wardrobe in “The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe,” or climbing down the rabbit hole with Alice.
Boquillas is another country and another world- especially at night.
During the day, the sun is out. Lilia and Bernardo, who own the best restaurant in town- Falcons, have a “George Womack installed” solar power system, and little solar panels dot yards all over town.
At night…
I went over to Boquillas along with fellow musicians Mike Davidson, George Womack, Laird Considine, Jeff Haislip, Charlotte Teer, to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the opening of the Boquillas crossing.
For over a decade, after the paranoid psychopaths closed the border, Boquillas suffered economically. All businesses except one bar closed, families either left or sent their children to stay with relatives in other towns. The 30 minute trip to the park store for supplies turned into a 6-hour trek over bad roads.
I’ve written about this before- it was a cruel, stupid decision based on “lowest common denominator” politics and needs to be reversed…
And, now the crossing is open.
Continue reading “Boquillas Overnight – dancing in the dark.”