NOMADVENTURE

  Third Time’s the Charm!   Sorry Base Camp, you’re gonna need to sit this one out… After drowning our sorrows in guacamole at a Mexican takeout joint on the US/Texas side of the border, we hatched Plan B. Leaving our beloved, overweight-by-Mexican-standards Base Camp in Big Bend National Park, we would ford the Rio Grande, and make our way on foot, or by burro to the small village of Boquillas.

Upon our return to Maine for the summer we were invariably asked by everyone, “What sorts of adventures did you all get up to this time?” We could have focused on Base Camp, our school bus that we bought from the local district, and converted into our magic carpet ride, when our sailboat Tiny Bubbles II sold. We could have focused on the manatees that accompanied us as we swam in springs in Florida, the epic climbs of Hueco Tanks, just outside El Paso, or the glorious time we got to spend with friends and family— we could have focused on that… What stuck in our minds were our failures. We had failed in our search for our next boat, and we had failed to enter Mexico. It’s true, Mexico told us we were, “demasiado pesado,” or too heavy. Too heavy?  “Sí.” We had already been rejected at the previous border town of Ciudad Acuña, but we were told our luck could be better 50 miles south in Piedras Negras.  So Close, Yet So Far — Piedras Negras Border The woman in the border office th...