The Easter Bunny Packs a Wallop!

    My brother Rob was right: west Texas is pretty desolate.  There aren't even interesting rocks to photograph. The only positive thing was the speed limit: 85 mph (130 kmh). 

    This was a long leg for us, from Las Cruces to San Antonio. It wasn't until we began get close to San Antonio that we finally saw green vegetation, including fields of beautiful spring wildflowers: Texas Bluebells, purple flox and yellow poppies.         

    We had started out early in the morning, and got in after six in the evening, but our host David Salinas immediately took us out to supper at the Mi Tierra restaurant, where you can eat the most authentic Tex-Mex.  Enchiladas with mole sauce were my choice. The restaurant was huge, family owned, and festively decorated, as you'll see in my photo album. 

    A mariachi trio sang Las Mañanitas for us and the six string bass guitar player reminisced with me about his visit to Niagara Falls, and demonstrated the tuning and his playing technique.  He gave me an impromptu lesson, in fact, sending his partners off for a little break for a few minutes. 

    After supper, David took us downtown at night, and in the morning we returned to have a "barge" ride on the San Antonio river, followed by a walk around inside the Alamo. The famous battle that took place there was the birth of the State of Texas and the reason it become the 28th State ten years later, instead of being part of Mexico. The battle is a tale of heroism and defeat against a somewhat heartless dictator, but one that shows how ultimate victory can come from out of defeat and martyrdom. 

    With David guiding us, we had no trouble finding our way around the street layout of San Antonio, which the guide book says is like "a skillet of snakes" - designed circa 1850 for carts and horses, around a U-shaped river course. 

    The afternoon was equally special: David, whose own home is barely standing - a renovation in progress - took us to his sister's house a little out in the country for a Texas Easter family meal. It was a delicious feast, and it was delightful to meet two of his sisters Annie and Lara, brothers-in-law Javier and Kim, and some of his nieces and nephews. We bought "cascarones" from a street vendor: chicken eggs that have been hollowed, dried, and filled with confetti. The tradition, especially enjoyed by children, is to chase each other and break them on each others' heads, so that we all had hair full of coloured confetti.

Photos are here.

  From left to right: me, David, Jacob, I forget (Jacob's girlfriend - Annie, please remind me), Annie, Katherine, Javier, Deb, Lara, Kim and Luke - if I misspelled anyone's name, Annie has to let me know... 

    Deborah has a new favourite CouchSurfing motto, a la Forrest Gump: "couchsurfing hosts are like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get"...and she's right, it's always an adventure, but no matter what you get, it's always sweet. 

Next stop: Galveston