HOLA amigos,
We have touched on the number one priority for desert survival - finding water - now for the next on the list, surviving the temperature extremes.
The heat in the desert summer can be a real killer. Stay out of the sun during the heat of the day - even if you have to make some kind of temporary shade out of a jacket. Rest during the heat, do what work you must do early in the mornings and late in the afternoons when the temperatures and sun are more moderate. The cold at night can be extreme - the clear night skies of desert country means that most all of the heat absorbed by the ground during the day is radiated right back out into space at night. One method of surviving a cold desert night is to dig out a shallow hole in the ground large enough to lay down in, but not much larger; in Iraq these are called "hasties" for you can scoop out such a shelter in a short time with few tools, and the heat of the earth will help to keep you warmer than if you laid on top of the ground. As this also risks sharing your "bed" with such critters as scorpions, it is not the best idea at least in summertime when scorpions are out and about. A better idea is to build a fire.
If you have matches or a lighter you have an easy way to get your fire started, but all too often it happens that the person in a desert survival situation has NO matches, no lighter or magnifying glass. Starting a fire without matches is almost an art but everyone ought to know how to do it. It is not rocket science after all, but does take patience and careful preparation of your fire materials. There are several different ways to start a fire without matches. We just mentioned the magnifying glass - perhaps your eyeglasses will do for this and is worth a try - but be sure to get your fire started before sunset! I recommend you try building a fire without matches at home and practice at it until you know you can do it.
The magnifying glass idea is to focus the rays of the Sun onto a piece of paper or dry tinder (could be grass, twigs, bark etc) and keep it focused until it starts to smoke, then blow on it gently until fire starts. A variation on this idea is to use the bottom of a soda or beer can, and a piece of chocolate or toothpaste to polish it. You rub the chocolate into the rounded bottom of the can until you get it shining like a mirror; what you have then is a makeshift parabolic mirror! By holding a scrap of paper or other easily flammable material in front of the mirror, so that the rays of the Sun are concentrated and focused onto a small spot, keeping it on the same spot until it smokes and then blowing on it gently etc as for starting a fire with a magnifying glass. It is slightly amazing but it works, I tried it myself recently. It takes quite some time to get the bottom of the can shining like a mirror, and you MUST not eat that chocolate after you have used it (it has absorbed bits of aluminum and other matter which can be toxic) but with patience it will work.
Here is an online article showing what we are talking about:
http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/cokeandchocolatebar/part2/index.html
Most everyone is familiar with the old "fire bow" or "fire drill" method taught to Boy Scouts; this too is not easy to master, and you need to practice it at home in order to be successful with it. You need two pieces of wood, a round stick for a drill and something to make a bow out of. The two pieces of wood ought to have a little hollow carved or chipped into them, so that the drill will tend to stay in place while the drill is being rotated. The bottom piece is where you will watch for smoke, then little coals of burning wood to appear, so have your tinder ready to drop the glowing little coals into close at hand.
Here is an online article which explains the bow-drill fire making method;
http://www.natureskills.com/bow_drill_fire_making.html
also with photos,
http://www.natureskills.com/bow_drill_fire.html
You can do this without a bow, simply by twirling your drill stick between the palms of your hands while pressing down, but this is a time consuming and hand-shredding way to do it. I don't recommend it unless you can't find anything to use for a bow.
A simpler friction-method of making a fire is called the "fire-plow" and is well known from the Tom Hanks movie "Castaway". This involves simply taking a stick and pushing it back and forth in a groove in another stick while pressing down hard on it; it takes time and much effort to get it to work but it WILL work.
Here is an online article with photos of the fire-plow method
http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/fireplow/fireplow1.html
Failing these methods, you can build a fire by flint and steel, or even just striking two stones together to produce sparks that you catch on your tinder. The flint and steel requires a piece of flint or other hard stone and a carbon steel, not stainless as it does not spark well. Just keep striking the flint against your steel in a glancing way, so as to cause the sparks to fly off, and do this while holding both directly over your tinder. To do it with only stones, you have to find stones that will spark. One of the best types is known as "pyrites" or "fools gold" and the name is due to the fact that you can get fire out of that type of stone. They look a bit like gold or copper like this,
...now if you find rock like this, try striking it against other hard rocks until you find one that makes good sparks. You don't have to have pyrites, any two stones that will make sparks will do.
Here is an online article on making fire with two stones;
http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/twostones/abbww/index.html
There are several other ways to make fires without matches, from using ICE (believe it or not, it can be done - you chip and melt a hunk of ice until you have it shaped like a magnifying lens, then use it like a magnifier) to making sparks from a car battery (just connect two pieces of wire to the battery terminals, and touch them together just enough to make sparks) to chemicals, such as potassium permanganate (a liquid used like mercurochrome for small cuts) and common glycerin. <Article link below> Don't give up and just suffer with the cold just use your head and be patient, keep your firewood out of the wind and rain until it gets burning good and it doesn't hurt to practice several different fire making methods at home in your free time just to build your survival skills.
Article on building fires with potassium permanganate and glycerin
http://www.ehow.com/how_5638385_make-fire-potassium-permanganate.html
Building a fire with a battery and a staple;
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/v...rvival-fire-from-a-battery-and-staple-222300/
It is even possible to make fire from WATER, as in this online article
http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/water/index.html
More to come, we need to address the matter of shelter.
Oroblanco
I don't know. Many people say dogs tend to looks like the owner. Please don't get insult, it's not my intention.
You cut me to the quick! Why compadre, I personally think my mug to be by far the most handsome, most manly, most attractive of all male faces <Or is it "pale-faces"?> - with the exceptions of a very few of our amigos here (like you, Don Jose, Gollum, Cactusjumper, Peerless, Old Dog, Springfield, hmm, now that I think about it there may be a few hundred more than just a "few" here whom are more handsome, manly, attractive and overall good-looking than myself but we digress) heck women are contantly chasing after me all the time! (They usually yell "
) On quite a few occasions, when I happen to have removed my teeth, I have been told that I could very easily be mistaken for a very famous Hollywood movie star!*** <*Gabby Hayes* 
> I only reserve from posting Hollywood-type photos of my gorgeous physiognomy <not to mention body-builder physique 
> out of my astounding level of personal modesty, and to avoid being flooded with all kinds of marriage proposals, which might irritate Mrs O a tiny bit. 
