Terlingua Woman Pt. 2: Grandmother's Wisdom

Not much grows around Terlingua and nothing much happens. "If you want to get arrested," she says, "You're gonna have to try. Because the sheriff doesn't want to drive all the way to the jail any more than you do."

The only excitement is the annual Texas Chili Cook-off finals, and it's huge. A town of maybe two hundred people swells with thousands of chili makers, tasters and fans. A few years ago the winner cheated and snuck out the back before anyone realized it. "Good thing," she admits. "They'd a killed him."

She warns us, "If you don't like drinkin', cussin' and sex, don't come."

"And if you do come, whatever you do, do not start drinkin' with the little old grandmothers. They been drinkin' since before there were grandmothers on this earth, and they will drink you under the table!" She laughs but doesn't tell us about her grandkids.

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