The Los Ebanos Ferry

Thursday, our regular grocery day, we decided that since we had to go all the way to Rio Grande City, we would go about 20 miles farther into the "valley" and to the town of Los Ebanos. Los Ebanos is a little village on the banks of the Rio Grande...very quaint. But, the main attraction there is the hand pulled ferry that crosses the Rio Grande. This ferry was started in 1950 and is still operating to this day. It holds 3 cars and a few people and takes them from the US side of the Rio to the Mexican side. Here are a few photos of it....yup, those weeds on the other side are Mexico. Here are a few more views......and one more.. You can ride across and back for about 50 cents, and we fully intended to take a ride....but the man who owns the ferry decided not to operate it that day..go figure..We had our passports with us because the minute you are in the middle of the Rio Grande, you are IN Mexico. I guess this dude who owns it can just up and decide not to run it any time he wants. However, when it does run, the border patrol and inspectors are on the scene, rest assured.
Here is a car lift that they put the cars up on to check for drugs smuggled underneath...
And here is Dennis standing by the historical marker on property..
Here it is close up..easier to read if you double click on it..
If you ride over on it they would appreciate some help with the pulling...Here is the 250 year old Ebony tree that the cable is wrapped around..
I just had to take a few photos of the little village of Los Ebanos...here,we are driving down the streets..
Here is the little cemetery..I love the Mexican's cemeteries..I've never seen such floral tributes, not to mention the statues!!.. ...and I love the little churches in these villages... All of the stained glass window in this church were a beautiful blue..
All in all we had a neat trip, even though Den was disappointed he didn't get to help "pull" the ferry across..We might stop there again next weekend when we go into Progresso to walk across into Mexico..can't wait for that trip...
I suggest you go to this link....
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE7D7103EF933A15754C0A966958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
All you have to do is click on this link and it will take you there...trust me, Dennis had to help me with this so I KNOW it works...I still want to "take the ride and pull the cable"..maybe another trip...hmmm..Later.