a fire by the cabin

it's christmas! we tried to find food before we headed up to terrero to stay in a cabin. we found a mexican supermarket. i'd never stepped foot in one before. there were piñatas hanging from the ceiling, statues of catholic jesus, 7 different salsa and tortilla brands, and food like fried pork skin, mexican food to order, and chilis. we were the only chinese people in that supermarket. luckily we had the help of one cashier who could speak english, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to order food.

we drove up to pecos, staying in terrero. the host was kind, taught us how to start a fire. first you have a lighting stick, a lighter, and lighter fluid. you find pine needles, pinecones, and twigs and put them in a triangular position standing up, and start burning, then put the firewood on. once we started the fire, his two big white fluffy dogs (bigger than me fyi) came over as if to greet us and to get warm. one of them would ask for belly rubs, and if you stopped he would look at you like you'd committed a grave sin. i swear at one point he was trying to communicate something with me. he looked right into my eyes.

it was freezing for me. i lived in iowa and now i can barely handle the cold after living in sf and texas. i'm losing my cold tolerance and going back to my malaysian warmth-adapted self.