Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Santel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Santel and the surrounding area.

• Weather ...
  • Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
  • The National Weather Service forecast for Santel

• Astronomy & Satellites ...
  • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
  • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Santel:
  • 26.376148, -98.882633
  • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
  • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Santel

• Bird Watching ...
  • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
  • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Starr County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Starr County
  • Since Santel is near Hidalgo County and also Zapata County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Hidalgo County
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Zapata County

• Waymarking ...
  • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
  • Open the Waymark.com report for Santel

Curious and Interesting Names Near Santel ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

• Airport Heights
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Airport Heights is located in Starr County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airport Heights
• Evergreen
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Evergreen is located in Starr County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Evergreen has also been known as:
  • Evergreen Colonia
• Hackberry
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Hackberry is located in Starr County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hackberry
  • Hackberry has also been known as:
  • Hackberry Colonia
• Hilltop
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Hilltop is located in Starr County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hilltop
  • Hilltop has also been known as:
  • Hilltop Colonia
• Joseph Griggs Colonia
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Joseph Griggs Colonia is located in Starr County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Joseph Griggs Colonia
• Margarita
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Margarita is located in Starr County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Margarita
  • Margarita has also been known as:
  • Margarita Colonia
• Mitchell
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Mitchell is located in Starr County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchell
  • Mitchell has also been known as:
  • Mitchell Colonia
• Salmon
  (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Salmon is located in Starr County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salmon
  • Salmon has also been known as:
  • Salmon Colonia
• Sammy Martinez
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Sammy Martinez is located in Starr County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sammy Martinez
  • Sammy Martinez has also been known as:
  • Sammy Martinez Colonia

How Far From Santel to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Santel to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Santel and extending to:

• Rio Grande City, which is the Seat of Starr County, lies just to the East.
• Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 277 miles [445.8 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Santel to Austin, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 16 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
• The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,530 miles [2,462.3 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 60 days and walking would take 87 days.
• The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,404 miles [11,915.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
• The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,125 miles [13,075.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
• The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,000 miles [9,656.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'