Roswell: Cozy Cowboy Cottage

I will be working in Roswell, NM for the next month. It may sound bad, but when you get a paid stay at Cozy Cowboy Cottage, it’s not too shabby at all.

There are six of us in this house, ages ranging 27-57, 6 beds, 2 floors, and 3 TVs with every channel. Half of us speak Spanish by default, while 83.3% of us like to spend the evening watching football, and 16.7% of us brought our guitar and computer to pass the time.

I’m glad Cozy Cowboy Cottage has free Wi-Fi. That way I can continue to knead ibelieveinhumans.com with my sweet, sweet words.

During lunch today, I joined my fellow Spanish-speaking workers (P.C.) and was offered chicharrones with homemade red-chile-del-árbol along with a delicious bean burrito with a chile relleno in the center. They warned me that it might be hot, and our other white worker (non-P.C.) said:

What, you don’t think he can handle it because he’s a white boy?

Laughter broke out. But I ate the burrito and insisted on talking about how good it was so they knew I could handle it. Then I pulled out something from my lunch bag:

Worker: What is that, a tortilla burger?

Me: It’s a quesadilla.

(Groans of approval)

Then I proceeded to offer some sugar-coated almonds. The results were less than satisfactory.

After work I went shopping to stock up on groceries for the week. Then, as I was unloading my bags at Cozy Cowboy Cottage…

“You’re really into that healthy shit, huh.”

Then I turned around, clutched my rice to my chest, and hid my Whole Foods bag as a tear rolled down my cheek.