I visited Big Bend National Park in West Texas with friends in September, 2017. Big Bend borders the Rio Grande and the park has a port of entry to allow visitors access to the Mexican village of Boquillas del Carmen.

The village of Boquillas lies west of the northern part of the Sierra del Carmen mountain range and at the south-west end of the Rio Grande's Boquillas Canyon. Boquillas was founded as a silver mining town in the late 19th-century. Mining ceased in 1919 and the population rapidly declined. Today tourism is the primary industry.

In the 2000 census, the population of Boquillas was 191. After 9/11, the border crossing was closed indefinitely and by 2006, there were only 19 families. The Boquillas Port of Entry reopened in April 2013. 

We took a rowboat across the Rio Grande and spent an afternoon in Boquillas.