Luna's Jacal

Located in Big Bend National Park along the unpaved and rough Old Maverick Road is an interesting site known as Luna' Jacal (Pronounced Ha-Kahl). This was the home of a farm family for many years.

Gilberto Luna built the Jacal (a name for a goatherd house) when he got married and he lived there until he died at age 108 in 1947.

This view of the home will give a perspective of the size. There is a large rock at the rear which has been incorporated into the construction. The home was built in the "waddle and daub" method which uses the sticks, stones, and local mud.




The story is that Luna farmed in the dry wash in front of his home and raised beans and children. From the short research that I was able to do there were somewhere around 30 children sired and he had as few wives as 3 and as many as 11. This would lead us to the conclusion that the house was hard on the wives but it was good for him as he lead a very long life for the times!

It is hard to imagine life in this home. It is very low and there does not appear to be a chimeny for a fire. The stones around the bottom would help keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I suspect most of their days were spent outside working the fields, grinding grain for meals, cooking meals, etc.

We were very taken by this house and when you consider the habitat that it is in you gain a great deal of respect for these people and the hardships that they endured as a matter of course. Summers here can see temperatures in the 120 degree range. How many of us would last any appreciable time trying to duplicate their feat.