Terlingua

The Rio Grande valley around Terlingua was long used by Native peoples, and later by Mexican ranchers and traders. The name may be a corruption of the Spanish Tres Lenguas, 'three tongues'. The place changed in the mid-1880s, when cinnabar, the ore of mercury, was found in the hills. In 1903 Howard Perry, a businessman based in Chicago, founded the Chisos Mining Company here, and Terlingua grew into a company town with a company store, a school and a theatre.

For several decades the district was one of the leading sources of mercury in the United States. Most of the miners were Mexican workers who lived in small houses of stacked stone and adobe, and the work was dangerous, both underground and from mercury vapour in the furnaces. Production fell as the deposits ran out and prices changed, and the Chisos company went bankrupt in 1942; falling prices closed all the district's mines by 1947. The village was abandoned, the company's buildings were scrapped, and the camp became a ghost town.

The creation of Big Bend National Park in 1944 slowly gave the area a new life. In 1967 a chili cook-off held here began an annual tradition. Newcomers later built homes among the ruins, and Terlingua became mostly a destination for visitors to the national park.

Terlingua's identity is that of an outpost. The community is small and spread out, and it mixes people with roots on both sides of the border, ranchers, park and river guides, artists and newcomers who arrived for a holiday and stayed. Houses range from restored stone ruins to self-built structures of salvaged materials, and an independent, do-it-yourself attitude runs through local life.

The porch in the ghost town is the closest thing to a town square, where people gather for music and conversation in the evening. Live music is played in the few bars. The old cemetery, still in use, is decorated with candles and offerings for the Day of the Dead, reflecting the Mexican heritage of many of the families buried there.

Chili is part of the local legend. The two cook-offs held near town each November bring thousands of competitors and spectators, and are the best-known events in the calendar. The other great draw is the night sky: the Big Bend area has some of the darkest skies in the continental United States, and many visitors come for stargazing as much as for the landscape.

Only a few hundred people live year-round across Terlingua, Study Butte and the surrounding desert, and the census counts the area in small pieces. The economy depends almost entirely on visitors to the national and state parks: lodging, restaurants, fuel, river and jeep tours, and work for the parks themselves. Business swings with the seasons, busy from autumn to spring and quiet in the summer heat.

Life is shaped by distance. The nearest supermarket and hospital of any size are in Alpine, about 80 miles away, and many residents drive there regularly for supplies. Water is scarce and often hauled or collected, power and internet can be unreliable, and housing is limited, which makes it hard for seasonal workers to find somewhere to live.

The pace is slow and the hours short. People rise early in summer to work before the heat and gather in the evenings. Neighbours rely on one another in an emergency, and the community holds its own fundraisers and gatherings in place of the services that larger towns take for granted.

Chili con carne is the dish most linked with Terlingua. Chili is a spicy stew of chili peppers and meat, usually beef, and purists insist the real thing contains no beans. Local kitchens serve it alongside the Tex-Mex staples of the borderlands: enchiladas, tamales, burritos, fajitas and chile rellenos, with tortillas and salsa on every table.

The border shapes much of the menu. Dishes from northern Mexico such as machaca, dried shredded beef cooked with eggs, appear at breakfast, and Mexican beer and mezcal-based drinks are common in the bars. Barbecue and burgers fill the rest of the menus, often served from food trucks and small cafés around Study Butte.

There are only a few places to eat, and supplies arrive from far away, so menus are short and opening times can vary with the seasons. Many visitors cook at their campsites or casitas, buying groceries in Alpine on the way in.