The first surprise was in the morning, when we got up 2 hours in advance to get ready for our river trip and as we were preparing breakfast someone knocks on the door. It's one of the river guides, telling us we are 10 minutes late. We crossed time zone yesterday and we didn't even know. We forgot to set the clocks ahead 1 hour. We hastily collect a few things in our backpack and head out without breakfast. Our group was waiting: 2 families of 3 people each and 4 guides. We have 3 rafts and one kayak on trail. We will be navigating the Colorado canyon (it has nothing to do with the river, we are on the Rio Grande) in the Big Bend state park, which is separated from the national park by the twin towns of Study Butte-Terlingua. The road to the canyon is incredible, not just for the scenery - we cross valleys, mountains, canyons and the river - but in itself: a true roller coaster like no other, at one point it climbs with a 17% grade (over the federal legal limit, set at 15%) and it's winding. The guides tell us that many movies were filmed here, in fact but the Contrabando creek there's still a movie set ready for future shots. John Wayne was a regular in the heyday of his career, more recently, Kevin Costner was here (Fandango) and Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas).
Petr and I will be traveling with the guy who carries our food supplies. Great idea! At least our lunch is assured if everybody else goes missing! There are two other rafts with 3 people each plus one guide. The fourth guide is a biology student who makes a little money on weekends taking tourists on river trips, he is following us by kayak. The Rio Grande is a lazy river for the most part, the rapids are easy especially at this time of year and we don't even get that wet. The canyon is quite narrow in some parts, the vertical walls drop 650ft in the water. On some rocks in the water, turtles are sunbathing. At some point, we get on land to take a walk into a canyon on the right side of the river. This is Mexico!!! Our guides point out features of the canyon, and many plants that are used for their medicinal properties. One of them in particular has oily leaves that have shown cancer-fighting properties.
Back on the water, we continue to a beach for lunch. Here our guides set up picnic tables with a gourmet lunch for us: sandwiches, fruit and vegetables, crackers and cheese, drinks, pickles, peanut butter & jelly and chocolate chip cookies. After lunch we continue down the river and the biology student trades places with Petr. Petr is now in the kayak and will have to face the rapids. I am waiting with the camera pointed at him in case he flips. Nope. We get to the endpoint with no incidents. We follow the same rollercoaster on the way back, during the trip our guides explain the history of the town of Lajita, which we go through right before Terlingua. A rich Texan bought the entire town some time ago to turn it into a luxury resort with a 19-hole golf course. He even had the Lajita International Airport built, and a man-made an estuary of the Rio Grande to use the water for the grass. But people don't seem to latch on to the idea. Only time will tell...
Back in the campground at dusk, we lay out the plan for tomorrow. I am getting onto my Bianchi tomorrow morning, there's no question about it.
The entrance to the canyon.
Preparing for the river trip.
White water on the Rio Grande.
More rapids.
A turtle in the sun.
One of the rafts facing the rapids.
A peaceful portion of the river.
First stop: a walk into the canyon.
The river seen from the beach.
Butterflies and yellow flowers in the canyon.
More rapids.
Petino the Reckless going down the rapids.