El Paso

On our way from the Big Bend we had to stop at a boarder control. The guys talked to us about where we where going and where we'd been and wanted to see our passports. They also checked under the van with a mirror for drugs as well as a dog that sniffed around it. For one second I was worried perhaps people who rented the van before us had smoked some weed and left a trace but luckily this wasn't the case. We arrived in El Paso ("The Passage") which is a small city bordering Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. You might think there is a lot of crime in this place but it is apparently one of the safest places in the US. I'm guessing this is due to the increased security and army forces in this area. While in Big Bend we had noticed hat one of our headlights had been stolen. The whole mount was gone including the lamp. This was a bit annoying since we now couldn't drive late at night until we had bought a new light. Luckily we managed to find a car parts store that was a lot cheaper than anywhere else. Since this will be expensed by the rental company they should be lucky we saved them over 100 dollars. El Paso was not just a place to fix the car it was also home to one of the best places to eat on this trip. Cattleman's steakhouse was located on a ranch with a bunch of animals and beautiful countryside surroundings.

Big Bend national park

Before heading to New Mexico we decided to take a detour for a couple of days to the Big Bend national park. We took a couple of 2-3 mile long hiking trails to get some amazing views and pictures. We really wanted to see a bear but without any luck, even though there had been a couple of bears in the campground in the morning before we arrived. Just our luck. There were also warnings for mountain lions which I am really glad that we did not see. The only big animal we met was a couple of deers. However, we did get to see a rattle snake up close that rattled as soon as it heard us to let us know we should not get closer.