boquillas
i walked down the hill and reached the rio grande. there was a guy with a rowboat sitting across; he saw me and rowed over. he said "five dollars round trip", so i handed him five dollars and he rowed me over to mexico.
there, on the other side, stood a few people supervising some burros. they said "burro to town five dollars", so i handed them five dollars and they handed me a burro. i stepped up onto a stirrup and sat on the saddle. how did one ride a donkey? i jerked on the reins and it started moving forward, sadly, slowly; i rode it into town, following the only road.
when i arrived in boquillas, i left my burro with somebody tending to a pack of burros, and walked up the hill. i visited the immigration office as a sign directed me to; i had been told that an enhanced driver's license was sufficient to cross into mexico, but this particular sleepy border crossing had no idea what it was so they said "okay" and waved me away.
i walked through town, but it was a shithole. every thirty seconds, a little kid ran up to me with a handful of trinkets and tried to sell me one. i did end up buying one that i kind of liked from a girl named maria.
i walked into an empty restaurant for some lunch, hopes high that mexican food in mexico would be delicious, and ordered a "burrito grande" along with a mexican coke. the mexican coke was great, mainly because it was cold and the weather was really fucking hot. the burrito grande was muy pequeño and honestly rather disappointing. still hungry, i ordered some chips and guacamole and salsa, and it was delicious.
i walked back down the hill towards the rio grande. the burros at the edge of town were still all standing there looking rather sleepy and dejected. no person was in sight, so i walked all the way back to the river along the dusty road, and got rowed back across to the us.
back in the us immigration office, i scanned my enhanced driver's license at an automated kiosk and the phone on it rang. i picked up, and a voice asked: "are you a citizen?". i said yes, and the person told me i was free to go.