When I think back on our recent trip to southern Texas, the images do not come in chronological order. Today I am thinking of San Antonio. The English translation of that name is Saint Anthony, the Catholic saint, but I will write more about the Spanish influence on that region's proper and common nouns another day.
We reached San Antonio late on the third day. An interesting stop in Fort Worth at the historic stockyards took up part of the day, and slow-moving evening rush-hour traffic through Austin ate up another hour. Heavy traffic does not seem to bother the bus driver for these Farmer's Union tours we take, a fact I can verify after riding with him in cities like New York, Boston, Seattle, etc. during other tours.
A city guide joined us in the morning. We learned from her that San Antonio is the nation's seventh largest city as we made our way to the SAS footwear factory. Who knew that SAS stood for San Antonio Shoes? It looked like 100% of the workers were Hispanics and most of them women. When we watched them work, it became obvious that the SAS brand is a high-quality product. A factory outlet store just happened to be located on the premises, and our group bought quite a few pairs. I asked the plant guide if there was any danger of this plant moving to the cheap-labor of China and was told that the owners were very adamant about staying right where they were. The last major activity of the day was a leisurely cruise on the San Antonio River that wound between the shops, restaurants, hotels, and condos that have developed along the water's edge.
The original development of this area can be traced to the establishment of missions by the Spanish priests. Our first stop on the following morning was the San Fernando Cathedral where the large back altar gleamed from the genuine gold used in its construction. Next, we walked through the Spanish Governor's Palace, a low, rambling limestone structure built in 1722. Rather primitive, it served as suitable shelter for the time. An IMAX film, "Thirteen Fateful Days in 1836" prepared us for the tour of the Alamo. That site is primitive and weathered, too, and still shows the cannon ball and musket ball holes in its sides. Its walls hold a wealth of history, myths, and legends.
A Tex-Mex dinner at the Mi Tierra cafe satisfied our appetites with an abundance of good food. A roving trio of musicians sang their songs and strummed their guitars, for a fee, under the extravagantly tinseled-ceiling that sparkled and danced in the low light. A last stop for the day's schedule was the San Jose Mission built in 1720. The several missions in this area were built in a line, each about one day's journey from the last. Shelter could be found in them for any weary travelers from the nighttime dangers that lurked outside the mission walls. The San Jose Mission exists yet as it looked then with its four walls still standing and enclosing a large area for livestock to be herded into. The cathedral needs lots of restoration work but remains an active parish and a very popular wedding site.
