Fist time I saw the house was during our trip to Amistad lake near Del Rio,TX and an impromptu visit to the Amistad dam. US/Mexico border runs on top of the dam and we thought checking out the crossing would be cool. There is an observation area on top of the dam and it offered awesome views of both sides of the border. Riverside on one and miles of Mexican prairies on the other. That's when I noticed the house that was seemingly perched on the edge of the canyon in the middle of nowhere. I snapped a few shots of it and we drove home. A week went by, but the memory of the house did not leave my mind. What was it? Why was it there? How do I get a closer look?



Internet research did not uncover any information. At just about every turn I've encountered dead end. Finally a chance meeting with a state trooper from Del Rio shed some light on the mystery. Trooper said that he heard a rumour that the house was originally built for a movie being filmed on the border some time back. Sure it was and interesting morsel of information, but I needed more.....Fast forward to early August. Since our schedules were in synch me and Phalanx decided to give it a shot. Armed with our passports, cameras and lots of drinking water we left San Antonio early in the morning. For anyone who has never made San Antonio-Del Rio trip...let me tell you...3.5 hour drive is about as exciting as a funeral at an orphanage..Friends you keep on these trips are very imporant since long drive can quickly turn into a torture show.
Fortunately I enjoy Phalanx's company and time flew by pretty quickly.
When we got to the border we parked on the oservation area to get a good look at our target.
That's when reality hit us...hard. From the top of the dam, house looked totally unreachable...
It almost seemed like it was on another planet...We sheepishly looked at each other..should we turn and run home with our tails between our legs..? or should we man up and continue forward?
There's no shame in defeat, but we were already here...Buddists believe that the road is more important then destination...but what the hell do they know?...We decided to push on!

Crossing the border was a total revelation. As we drove up to the guard house, sign saying "ALTO" made us stop in front of mechanical arm preventing our entry into Mexico. We stopped and waited...and waited ...and waited ...for about five minutes. Nothing happened. There was nobody there." Is this what the border is like": we thought...Is anybody home? Finally, tinted door of the guard house slid to the side and a uniformed man stuck out his head . He was squinting at the bright sun, chewing some lunch and taking a quick look at our car. "OK" he barked and waved his hand. Mechanical arm went up and we were in Mexico...

END OF PART 1