Boquillas del Carmen , often known simply as Boquillas , is a village in northern Mexico on the banks of the Rio Grande. It is the northern most populated place in the municipality of Ocampo, located in the Mexican state of Coahuila. Located next to the Mexican-American border, visitors walking from the United States can enter the village via Boquillas Port of Entry and tourism is the main industry in Boquillas.
The village is located just west of the northern part of the Sierra del Carmen mountains and on the southwestern edge of Rio Grande's Boquillas Canyon. Boquillas del Carmen was founded as a mining town in the late 19th century, after valuable minerals were found in nearby mountains. Mining stopped in 1919 and the population declined rapidly.
Video Boquillas del Carmen
Histori
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Silver was discovered in the Sierra del Carmen in the early 1890s. The arrival of the miners led to the formation of two border camps on both sides of the Rio Grande: Boquillas in Texas (now the Village of Rio Grande) and Boquillas del Carmen. In addition to silver, lead and zinc are also found. Mined ores containing these metals are melted in a small stove by the river near Boquillas del Carmen before being transported by road to El Paso where it is further processed. The local mining company operates a cable car across the Rio Grande between two Boquillas. At the peak of mining operations, there are between 2,000 and 4,000 people living in Boquillas del Carmen.
20th century
Around the turn of the 20th century to 2000 people live in Boquillas. The main work comes from industries related to the production of lead ore, silver, and fluorine from nearby mines. Mining stopped in 1919 and the city's population quickly declined.
Efforts began in the 1930s to create the United States-Mexico International Peace Park in the area, joining Big Bend National Park with Maderas del Carmen in Coahuila. Boquillas del Carmen will be the center of this proposed international peace park, but this effort has not yet been realized.
Nonetheless, Boquillas del Carmen works with Big Bend in other ways. Tourism from across the Rio Grande became a major trade with the opening of the Jose Falcon restaurant in 1973. In the late 1990s, Boquillas was a small town with about 300 people heavily dependent on Big Bend tourist trade with visitors crossing the Rio Grande to visit the village bar, restaurant, and taco stand. Children placed adjacent to the village Christian mission sell rocks collected in the desert or from nearby caves. The tourism options include horse and donkey rentals, drinks at the Park Bar and an overnight stay at a local bed and breakfast known as Roost Buzzard (since being renamed La Zappolita).
Country music star Robert Earl Keen is known for frequent visits to Boquillas and released an album in 1994 titled Gringo Honeymoon which the title of the song said about one day he and a female friend visited the village.
During the 2000 census, the city's population was defined as 191 people.
21st century
The events of September 11, 2001, dramatically influenced Boquillas del Carmen's way of life in the 20th century. In May 2002, the border crossings from Big Bend National Park to Boquillas were closed indefinitely. As of October 2006, only 19 families consisted of about 90 to 100 permanent residents in Boquillas. Most of the city's population was forced to move because of the closure of tourists who crossed and destroyed the city's traditional economy. At the time of the 2010 census, the city's population was recorded to consist of only 110 people.
On January 7, 2011, the US National Park Service announced plans to reopen the crossings using a ferry and passport control center planned to open in spring 2012. After several delays, the new Port of Entry Boquillas finally officially opened on April 10, 2013. The current operating hours are 9 am to 6 pm, Wednesday through Sunday, depending on seasonal changes. Since the opening of the border, the city of Boquillas del Carmen has experienced substantial growth with the addition of electricity (from solar panels), new medical care offices, and improvements in public elementary schools. One phone line now goes into the village. When someone calls the line, the operator declares a certain time in which the caller should call back, promising that the operator will find the person who is calling and make sure that he is on the phone to receive the call at the appointed time. The villagers now say about 200 people. There are at least two restaurants/bars in the village and some antique shops (mostly manic crafts). Visitors are allowed to bring a bottle of alcohol to the US through this entry point. Someone may not bring tobacco back to the US through this entry point.
Finally, a somewhat self-deprecating remark about the village by the people living there: "Boquillas del Carmen has 200 men, 400 dogs and a million scorpions."
Maps Boquillas del Carmen
Infrastructure
By 2015 a solar farm is operated, providing electricity throughout the village.
Regardless of the river that crosses into Big Bend, Boquillas can be reached by road along Mexican Federal Highway 53. The nearest settlement of any size is Santa Rosa de MÃÆ'ºzquiz which is 150 miles away with a travel time of at least 4 hours due to poor road conditions.
Demographics
Since 1990, the population has never been officially registered as more than 200. Its population has decreased by more than 40% during the period 2000 to 2010. By 2017, the population is estimated to have grown to about 300 people.
In 2010 the details of Boquillas del Carmen's religion are:
- Roman Catholic - 59 (53.6%)
- Protestant/Evangelical/Biblical Christian - 44 (40.0%)
- No religion/Atheist - 6 (5.4%)
Climate
See also
- Big Bend National Park
References
External links
- Panorama of Virtual Reality Near Boquillas
- Visit Boquillas Information and Tours
- Mexican cities slowly recover from closed limits
- The US left the Mexican border crossing to the jungle guard
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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