A Ghost Town and a Mexican Town

Heading to Arizona Today
We will be in Arizona until after Easter, then SoCal

We saw 2 towns while we were in the Big Bend area.  One was the Terlingua Ghost Town and the other was Boquillas del Carmen, MX.

Terlingua started as a cinnabar mining town.  Cinnabar is the mineral refined to make mercury.  Once the market for mercury crashed, people walked away from their homes leaving the town empty. But it has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years as tourists (like us!) are interested in the history.

First we went to the General Store to enjoy a beer and a sunset.

Gorgeous!

Lots of locals hang out here and a couple musicians began to play on the front porch.

General Store

"The Porch"

Music for all to enjoy

We visited the Terlingua Cemetery where the locals continue to bury their loved ones.  Many of the people buried there died in the flu pandemic of 1918. People are buried above ground because the ground is very hard.  The graves are made of the stone local to the area.  In addition, I noticed several of the graves were of people of Hispanic descent and it was interesting to observe the candles, jewelry and other items on the graves.

We also climbed the hill to look at the Catholic Church, St. Inez.  It is no longer a parish, but they keep it open for people to walk inside.

 On our last night into Terlingua we had dinner at the Starlight Theatre.  No longer a playhouse, it is now a restaurant with live music every night.  We were there on 1/2 price burger night!

The journey into Boquillas, MX was just as interesting.  After showing our passports on the US side, we walked down a path a bit to hop in a row boat and crossed the Rio Grande.

Once across, we walked into town and showed our passports to Mexican Immigration.

There is not much to this little town, really.  Just a few small adobe houses and some souvenir shops.

We stopped in one of the restaurants and had a light lunch, including Mexican Cokes - a big deal down here.  Very cute restaurant.

As you can tell from these past 2 posts, we really enjoyed our stay in Terlingua/Big Bend.  The weather was great and we met some awesome folks along the way, in addition to enjoying more of our beautiful country.

View from our RV - every morning!!!!