The Most Laid Back Border Crossing In Texas Inspired A Movie And A Country Song

If you don't mind getting your feet wet, you can easily hop back and forth across the Rio Grande at this crossing, (yes ... it's a legit crossing), in Big Bend National Park.

If you don't feel like wading or, if the Rio happens to be in "high flow" mode, there are always a few boats handy that will take you over for a couple of bucks.

Hopping back and forth between countries is not only allowed here, it's encouraged ... just be sure you have your passport.

Once you're over the Boquillas Crossing, it's less than a mile to a tiny village where you can have a drink, a bite and/or do some souvenir shopping. If that's too far, another couple of bucks will get you a ride in the back of a local's pickup or on the back of a horse or donkey.

Seriously. It's THAT easy. A beautiful afternoon south of the border, good food, cold beer and then you wander back over at your own pace. Like most crossings used to be but without a ton of people. Time it right and you and yours could be the only people there.

Boquillas Inspired A Country Song And A Short Film

Texas country crooner Robert Earl Keen wrote an ode to this little crossing in the 1990s, when he sang about taking his sweetheart on a row boat across the Rio Grande "for two dollars in a weathered hand," paid to a captain named Pablo. The song tells the story of a long, hot afternoon on the Mexican side, singing and drinking cold beer. - usatoday

Hurry - Crossing At Boquillas May Soon Be Impossible

There were many "informal" crossings up an down the Rio for years but ALL were closed following 9-11. (Click the links below to read about 1 that used to be near El Paso.) In 2010, The American and Mexican Presidents got together to reopen the Boquillas crossing. Now, new plans for an extension of the Border Wall may shut it down again.

READ MORE: El Paso's Back Door To Mexico Pt. 1

READ MORE: El Paso's Back Door To Mexico Pt. 2

The plot of the short film, A Gringo Honeymoon, is a little different. It's about an American doctor illegally harvesting human organs in Mexico who falls for a prostitute and wants to bring her to the United States of America.