"Are you ready?"
"Yeah, I'm done"
"Let's go?"
"Sure"


View of the Amistad dam/Border crossing from Mexican side.

As we made our way back, we did not talk for the first twenty mnutes. Maybe we were tired, maybe we were full of energy after our adventure...For the longest time all I heard was sound of our feet moving through the dusty, dry gravel...An ocasional gust of wind...and nothing else....We did not have to make a single sound. Sure we were happy that we reached our destination relatively unharmed, but at the same time there was a strange sense of sadness in the air brought on by realization that our trip was almost over and soon we will have to return to the real world and to our lives leaving this place far behind. From our high vantage point we could tell where our original entrance was and that it would not take very long for us to reach the road where we left our car and where it hopefully was still parked.
Suddenly, the sound of our feet was joined by another strange, but familiar sound. It seemed to be getting closer.
"You hear that?"
"Yeah, what is it?
"Sounds like a motor, right?"
It was definitely getting closer....
"Crap, what is it?"
" I don't know...an ATV?"
"God I hope not!"
The possibility of somebody trying to chase us on ATV's in Mexico, while trespassing was a horrible feeling. It was that sickly, ugly emotion I've felt many times before while exploring an empty building and stumbling on security guard at the end of the hallway..For a brief moment you feel like your life is over...and there's nothing you can do...and how all this was a terrible mistake...etc, etc...Unfortunately we could not turn back...we proceeded ahead only faster...nervously giggling and occasionally looking back all wildeyed and giddy... I think it was called "Crazy Ivan" in "Hunt for Red October". Maybe I was wrong...I just knew that I was so scared
I could hardly hold my fudge!!!
Eventually the motor sound started moving further and further away, untill it finally dissapeared.
We decided that it was a motor boat moving too close to the shore...Yes , yes that's the ticket!.
Let's just hope our car was still there! Let's walk really fast...no faster so we can get there ASAP!!! The rest of our hike back was colored by nervous conversations about anything we could think of...Guns, cars, girls, booze, 911, ufo's...anything that could take our minds of possibility that our car might not be there....Last few hundred feet were the most desperate ever...untill we reached a certain point where we saw the most beautiful sight ever!!!


Shot of our wheels safe and sound.


Our car!!! It was still there!!!! I could kiss it if it wasn't for all the crap that got stuck to the hood on the way to Del Rio!!!
Getting inside the car, changing shoes and switching on AC was like a miracle to us...We made it! We made it!....Well, almost made it. We were still on THIS side of the border. I don't have to tell you that I drove fast, real fast..Trying to get closer to the border...It was time to go home.
However our trip wasn't over yet. We still had one major hurdle to face. American border crossing.
Border guard(lets call him Earl) in black greeted us when we rolled up to the US guard house.
After Earl got our passports he walked back inside and punched a few keys on he computer...
"Where are you from?"
"San Antonio"
"How long was your stay in Mexico?"
"2, 3 hrs"
"Open up your trunk"
What? What was happening? Was it something we said? Was it my breath? We looked at each other...I hear Earl looking through the trunk. Earl was a mean go-getter!
"What's in the bags?"
"Cameras"
Earl was snooping through my camera bag and my backpack!
"How long have you lived in United States?"
" Where do you work?"
"What are you doing in Del Rio?"
"What's in the cooler?"
"Water."
"What else?"
My girlfriend packed some fruit for us..In case we got peckish....
"Fruit"
"Where is it from?"
"San Antonio...HEB"
"Well, there's no sticker on the fruit. You know it's illegal to bring fruit into US?"
Oh no he didn't! Earl was going to take our fruit! He put on fresh latex gloves and produced white plastic bag.
"What i'm going to do!" Earl said with relish "Is to confiscate your fruit. I'm going to send it to our lab where our people are going to disect it." He was relly enjoying himself! "They are going to slice your fruit up and then they going to BURN IT!"
This was getting surreal...
" OK, go ahead i guess"
What else could i do? He had a gun. Big one! So Earl took our fruit and wished us a nice day.
How ironic that most grief we got on this trip was from a fellow American...


...and then we were home...

Perhaps Buddists were right...it's the journey and not the destination that counts...
We drove for miles and walked for hours...we tore our skin and left our blood on the rocks of Mexico....Sure our find was no King Tut's tomb, but so what...We had a great time, took some photos,
saw some places we never seen and all we lost was some peaches and grapes...That's a great trade off...

...and I'd do it again...

Today!


Inside yourself or outside, you never have
to change what you see,
only the way you see it.

Thaddeus Golas




THE END....