Terlingua is as much a state of mind as it is an actual place, but it remains a legendary destination, where visitors' goals have ranged from mining quicksilver to simmering the perfect chili.
And, sometimes, visitors and natives alike just want a little shade on the front porch of the Terlingua Trading Company -- and perhaps something cool to sip. From there, things usually progress to songs, tall tales, or swapping lies.
This is urban living in Terlingua. It's hard to believe that this quiet town was once the industrial center of the Big Bend before it went bust. In the Sixties, hippies came to Terlingua because they'd heard there was no work available.
Terlingua has its own aesthetic, somewhere on a continum ranging from eclectic eccentricity to outright insanity. After all, when everyone is crazy, then crazy is normal.
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Art is in the eye of the beholder. Behold.
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Life in the Ghost Town centers around the front porch. Sunsets are arranged nightly for our guests to savor.
You never know who will show up --
-- or how they'll arrive.
Terlingua, a town with several hundred residents, hosts not one, but two raucous International Chili Cookoffs -- on the same day -- growing to a temporary population of about twenty thousand.
Hint: For the chili cookoffs, leave the kids at home. Please. The chili is hot. The nights get even hotter.
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The nightlife in downtown Terlingua offers shopping and dining (one of each), within easy walking distance.
If chili isn't to your liking, there are a few places to eat without leaving the Ghost Town...
...or you can cruise down the road a bit to one of our neighborhood eateries.
Better yet, you can stay in the Ghost Town and dine at the best restaurant in town, the Starlight Theatre.
Live music is featured nightly in what was once the miners' movie theatre.
Buenas noches.
