[Paddlewise] Border Crossings

Re. Duane Strosaker's recent writing about his border crossing from
Imperial Beach to Tijuana:  When Arthur Hebert and I paddled from South
Padre Island in Texas across the Rio Grand (aka Rio Bravo del Norte
depending on which side of the border you learned the name) to Baghdad
Beach in Mexico we noticed a US Border Patrol truck driving along the
beach and apparently following us.  
Since Rafael had driven us from South Padre to Mexican customs in
Matamoros the day before and thus all our papers for the border crossing
were in order, we got a kick out of the idea that we were eluding the
border patrol, that is, that we were going to cross the border and there
was nothing they could do about it (short of shoot us out of the water,
- a possibility we figured most unlikely).  When we actually crossed the
river we saw the US border patrol flashing its truck lights over to the
Mexican side and thought that was their way of signaling to the Mexicans
that someone had crossed and would need official "attention".  We were
mildly disappointed later to learn that the flashing truck lights was
not meant to alert the Mexicans to us renegades but, rather was a
gesture of respect and acknowledgement of our expedition. 
Larry Koenig
 
 

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