San Antone Bone

San Antone is a very cool town. Especially if you hang out in the north side, where the walled and gated communities are, where the white people live. Houses set back from well-maintained roads, trim lawns and flower bed borders. No trash in sight. Unbroken mailboxes. Fresh paint. Solid, substantial, and in perfectly good taste. A little above our economic level, we felt, but we're happy for Tish that she lives in this beautiful upper middle class place. Kinda wishin we had what they have, but we don't.

Then today we went sightseeing. You start at the Alamo and work your way down into south San Antonio along the old MissionTrail until you are utterly lost in the poor sections of town, because that is where the missions are. I mean, even the cows are emaciated in that part of town. The people destitute, the garbage is piled up in the street and you can't help wondering if there is really anybody planning to come and pick it up. The people look like they are out of work. The cars are all beaters. The graffiti is pervasive. The buildings are in many cases falling down.

By navigating through these neighborhoods, we get to see the beautiful, serene, spiritually inspiring missions. And when we are all done looking at the missions, we happily turn around and head back to the north side...where everything is clean and neat and planned.

I have a bone to pick with San Antonio now. A bone to pick. They keep themselves separate in their walled off communities and they don't ever mix with those other people who live in the old part of town. They don't ever have to look at them or at where they live. They can focus on how nice it is in the north end.

In San Antonio I didn't see a lot of middle ground. There are the walled and gated communities with the beautiful homes on the manicured streets, and then there is the slum. downtown is between. The buffer. Hell you can pretend it doesn't even exist if you just stay in your own part of town.