Mexican Cruise

On Saturday Jan 30, we had lunch at the Riverside Restaurant in Mission, TX with another volunteer couple here. Before lunch we took a river boat cruise that the restaurant operates on the Rio Grande. It was a short (1 hour) cruse, but it was interesting. The United States side is mostly thorn scrub landscape belonging to the refuge.

We traveled down the river to the Anzalduas Dam. It is a diversion dam for flood control and irrigation purposes.

Looking down river over the top of the dam.

And in the distance you can see one of the border patrol watch towers.

Near the dam there is a park on the Mexican side that was very crowded that day.

The Mexican side had a tour boat out too.

A flood on the river a few years ago cut a new river channel through the park, so at one point the tour guide said that we were completely in Mexican water so we could tell our wives that we had taken them on a Mexican cruise

There were some very nice houses on the Mexican side

This is a well worn trail on the Mexican side used by illegal immigrants. There was a matching one on the other side of the river.

This is an old smokestack left behind from a wood or coal fired irrigation pumping station.

Now there is a RV park surrounding it.

A border patrol boat ramp with an observation tower.

Finally back to the dock at the restaurant and a nice lunch.