¡Viva Terlingua! Mi corazón del desierto (oh yeah, and Austin too)

So yeah, I spent over a week in Austin. It was pretty great, I got to hang with old friends, meet some new ones, spend some quality time with my relatives, and see the old sights so familiar to my heart. Austin is my home away from home, and so everything I did there, even the stuff I've never done before, felt familiar and comfortable. This was not part of my adventure across the States. It was more just a waypoint in between the real purpose of this trip.

I did get a chance to go to a pretty unique Lesbian Drag King show one night, followed by hours of dancing at a gay dance club, which was certainly fun. It was basically just a lip-synching, choreographed series of performances from mostly women dressed up as men (most of which probably used male pronouns on a regular basis). There were a couple of "femme" women, one of which did quite the burlesque telephone operator strip-tease, complete with spinning tassles. We left after the first couple of songs of the second half. The one that gave us that urge for going was a pretty sad Dubya spoof where someone came out in a suit with a Bush mask on and proceeded to prance around the stage, at one point pulling out a bag of white powder and shoving it in his face, at another pulling out a banana and pretending to shoot himself in the head. It was pretty lame, so we decided to bounce.

The next morning, after maybe 3 hours of sleep on Black Star Stephen's futon, he woke me up and we headed about an hour out of town to Lexington, TX, home of Snow's BBQ, for some early morning cooked meat. The place opened at 8am, and according to several news articles (including one from the New Yorker), it was highly advised to arrive at opening and expect about an hour wait to get your food. Snow's website said "open from 8 am until we run out of bbq!" We took all this advice to heart and decided to wake up at the crack of dawn and hit the road by 7:15 or so, to ensure that our trip would not be in vain.

Arriving at Snow's, we were pleasantly surprised to find a line that took no more than 10 minutes to wind our way through. And to boot, by the time it was my turn to make my order, Snow himself was behind the counter! This was a truly, uniquely Texan endeavor, I felt, waking up so early for a BBQ breakfast served by a guy who would have looked very comfortable in a cowboy hat and chaps, so I was happy. The food was amazing too! Sweet tea, beans baked in loads of grease and fat, cole slaw and potato salad to go along with the loads of moist brisket, succulent ribs and some amazing pork, all smothered with bbq sauce served from water bottles on the table. It topped off my experience of central Texas very nicely indeed, and I was home by 12:30 to take a 3 hour nap and get some laundry done before going to see Slumdog Millionaire with my aunt to celebrate the Valentine's holiday. The only thing I didn't get around to doing while in Austin was to go down to San Antonio for a rodeo. Maybe next time, I suppose. I did watch a bit of bull-riding on TV though, so I guess that counts....

By Monday morning I definitely felt the road calling me once again, and so I packed my bags and headed west. As I drove I became progressively more and more excited as the landscape around me became drier and less vegetated. Rolling hills turned to craggy rocks. Woods and forests gave way to arid arrays of bushes and occasional trees. By the time I hit I-10, the roads were flat and straight, the speed limits increased, and I could safely say I was in West Texas proper. I could feel my heart growing larger as I could see farther and farther into the distance. It was quite the amazing experience.

I decided to stop on Marfa on the way to Terlingua, since I had heard that it was a pretty neat place with a vibrant artist community and some interesting sights, including Marfa's Lights, strange lights on the horizon that can be seen at night. Unfortunately, when I got there I found out that most restaurants were closed on Mondays, and the fact that it was President's Day pretty much cemented that bet. After asking at the tourist info center and talking on the phone with my host in Terlingua, I decided to just head over to the local laundromat, which had a relatively new, completely unmarked ice cream/coffee shop attached to the side for some Bluebell Ice Cream and Big Bend Coffee. I then headed out to Terlingua at a quick pace, since Cynta (my host) and the other couchsurfers staying at her place were meeting for dinner at the local Starlight Theater, 2-for-1 burgers!

Driving into Terlingua was a trip. Being a "ghost town," I expected very little in the way of modern establishments such as restaurants, hotels, gas stations and the like. I was quite surprised, then, to find, after a 2 hour drive through arid desert and maybe one farmhouse every 10 miles, a very vibrant culture stretching from Study Butte all the way to the Terlingua ghost town. Many eclectic eating establishments, a new "camping hostel" with tents and a school bus on the side, possibly converted into restrooms or something, and a diverse array of housing accomodations ranging from trailers and RVs, to reconstructed ruins. It became clear to me very quickly that this ghost town was ghostly no longer. Many aging hippies and flower children had discovered this beautiful spot and decided to come out here and live on the land. Cynta was one of these.

Back in the day, Cynta was a serious athlete. River guide, surfer, hiker, the real outdoorsy type. Tough as nails, strong as a bull, skinny as a rail, she was at the top of her game. But maybe 15 years ago, it all came crashing down when her joints started seizing up and she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Needless to say, her career was ruined. You cant exactly be a hiking or boating guide when you can't do any sort of heavy lifting, let alone walk far without dealing with serious pain. But that didn't stop Cynta. She packed her bags, sold her stuff, came out here to Terlingua and bought an old ruin and the land surrounding it. Following that, she set to work restoring the building using her bare hands and the help of some illegal mexicans from across the river. It took 10 long years of hard work, but it has really paid off. She retained the original layout of the house, but added many modern additions, such as a composting toilet, a rain barrel collection system, even high-speed internet. Meanwhile, she cemented her place in the community and got to know her neighbors, to the point that now when I meet anyone in the area and mention that I'm staying with Cynta, they immediately respond with warm messages and hugs for me to deliver to her. Despite her disability, Cynta's heart has only grown larger while she has lived down here. She loves everyone and everyone loves her.

Over the past year or two, Cynta was recently turned on to Couchsurfing, and boy am I grateful! Her house is absolutely perfect for surfers, with no less than 7 sleeping areas aside from her own, a beautiful front patio to watch the sunrise every morning, a fire pit to hang around and make smores on at night, and the most gorgeous view of the Park (which I am staring at as I write this). On top of this great house, Cynta already had 5 other couchsurfers staying here when I arrived, so it just turned into one great big party! So awesome!

Just being here makes me want to buy a ruin myself and just stay forever. It's too bad so many people have gotten here already, there's very little land left for sale, and when there is it's like a fire sale at salvation army. I don't think people around here have really noticed any of this economic crisis that everyone else is freaking out about. They're just too far off the grid, they've created their own little cosmos very much independent from the rest of the world. Even the border patrol guys around here are chill! Now how hard is that to imagine?

Yesterday (Tuesday) was my first full day in the area, and I milked it like no other. In the morning, after our sunrise maté and coconut rice breakfast, we all went on a nice little trek around the ghost town with the dogs, checking out fossils, taking pictures and throwing the frisbee around. After that, Cynta, Taylor, Julietta and I went geo-caching (something I've been wanting to do since I first heard about it), and managed to find 4 caches on top of the 3 they found the other day, all within 4 miles of Cynta's house. It was awesome! I gotta get myself one of those GPS thingies so I can do some geo-caching of my own. 21-st century treasure hunt ftw!!

After geo-caching we went to lunch and I got a tasty Reuben. Then we headed back to la casa and I got myself together and headed off to the Park. Big Bend National Park is some of the most gorgeous land I have ever seen. I think I stopped at almost every turnoff on the road to take pictures of the scenery around me (being in a convertible made that really easy). I hiked around the Chisos basin for a while, all the time half-fearing half-hoping that a mountain lion was close on my tail, ready to pounce when I least expected it. It made the hike more exciting. :P

After the hike I was pooped, so I drove all the way down to the other end of the park and then 1.8 miles down a very rocky dirt road to the Hot Springs to get some healthy soaking in. At one time there was a bathhouse built around the spring, but today all that remains is the foundation. The spring is right on the Rio Grande, and I was advised by Cynta to get in the hot spring for a while, then jump into the Rio Grande and let the current take you down a little ways to some rocks where you can climb out and walk back. At first I was a little apprehensive, but after the initial hot-to-cold shock I was hooked, and did it not once but twice more before heading back. This morning I woke up and all my aches and pains from traveling disappeared, my body feels totally rejuvenated. It's so great, I just might have to do it again!

While I was down at the Hot Springs I ran into a couple my age (a rare sight 'round these parts). After talking for a few minutes I soon found out that they were couchsurfers as well, who were camping out in the park while they were here. Jeremy was from Chicago and Kathrine was from England. On top of this, I found out that we were both going to El Paso on Thursday for a night, so I thought to myself what a strange and fortuitous meeting! I told them about Cynta and how she was going to have some beds available the following night if they wanted to come surf here instead of camping again, and then maybe we could either travel to El Paso together and/or meet up while there for drinks or whatever. How crazy to finally find some fellow travelers who were more-or-less on the same path as me at the same time! We exchanged phone numbers and parted ways for the night, but I hope they end up staying here tonight, it would make for a much more interesting evening. Taylor and Julietta left today to return to Austin and the other three kids (Chirstopher, Andrew and Lauri) all went on an overnight hike in the Park, so it's just Cynta, her dogs and I. And while traveling alone is all fun and games, it does get a bit lonely at times. It would be awesome to have some companions, if only for a day or two.

So now I am here, just chilling out and basking in the dry desert air and the warm desert sun. I'm staying a day longer than originally planned because this place is just so much more beautiful, open and comfortable than what awaits in El Paso. Who knows what really awaits there, but I am not ready to leave yet.

I've swam the Rio Grande, climbed the Chisos mountains, almost ran over some Mexican warthogs (apparently half-rat-half-pigs that eat prickly pears), met many awesome desert people, and I haven't even gotten sunburned yet! This is the life. I am in love.