Recovering the stories of the borderland
Los Caminos del Rio: Texas and Mexico

Bi-lingual Board Meetings

Meanwhile, operating costs for the Los Caminos staff of five, including a full-time preservation architect, four field offices, and a legion of volunteers, are funded by annual con­tributions from municipalities in both na­tions along the corridor. Projects are fund­ed from existing governmental and foundation sources on both sides. And, Celaya said, the meetings of the 20-mem­ber board “take place in both lan­guages sometimes.”

There are some snags, however. Los Cam­inos has applied for National Park Service designation as a national heritage area, and Texas U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutch­ison is a supporter, Torres said. But some of the property owners in the corridor are worried that official status will bring new regulations on their prop­erty — even though federal heritage corri­dor legislation protects against that.

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Still Putting it Together

Celaya also admits that Los Caminos has yet to do what it needs to do in the way of market­ing and promotion of the region. Most of the visitors are still “Winter Texans” vaca­tioning from the upper mid-west, or hard-drinking spring breakers on the beaches of Browns­ville.

Instead, they have concentrated their efforts on restoring or stabilizing historic buildings and other resources. That’s the priority, Celaya says, because without that, they have nothing to market. The history — the story — is everything.

Telling the story presents a dual chal­lenge for Los Caminos in the age of NAFTA. In the booming cities of Mata­moros and Browns­ville, the maquiladoras, and the busy border crossings of Laredo and Mc­Allen, the trick is to preserve the physical heritage from obliteration by new development and population growth.

In the rest of the corridor, they need to rescue their heritage from simple neglect. Out there, Celaya said, “you would see the old river the way it was a hundred years ago. Those villages sort of stay back in time.”

The explicit aim of Los Caminos was to create greater prosperity by connecting the fragmented historical attractions of the valley and packaging them for new tourists. But it is too soon to see a signifi­cant economic impact, Celaya said.

“We’re still putting the corridor together.”

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