February 12, 2013

• Report # 971

  I’m in San Antonio ! It’s exciting to be here and to see a new city and a new state and to have my first real trip to the US since I was here in July of 2010 when I visited eastern Washington State and parts of Idaho. My last couple of days in Monterrey were pretty relaxing. After typing my last entry up at Starbucks, I made an order from Super Salads and picked it up and walked home.

  On Sunday I ran at Fundidora Park for the last time in a while and came home and washed up. In the afternoon I headed downtown and went to VIPS and read the paper for a couple of hours and had a great lunch. It was a super hot day, around 32 C (90 F) but it felt really nice ! On the way home I stopped at Interplaza and printed off my bus and plane tickets and took the metro and headed home and gave my grandmother a call as I hadn’t talked to her for almost a month.

  I talked to my parents a few days ago as well so I’ve talked to basically all of my family members in the last 10 days. I got up at 9:00 am yesterday morning and had a shower, packed my bags, and looked up some places to see in Dallas. It will be a challenge trying to see everything using public transit, but a lot of places are close together downtown, so I’m sure I’ll get to see quite a bit. I’ll get to spend today with my friend from Ecuador, while tomorrow I’ll have the whole day alone.

  I got out of the house just after 10:30 am and walked up to the Metro station with my bag and took the station to the end of the line so I would be a little closer to the airport, not having to pay the taxi driver so much. I still had to pay him 180 pesos (over 14 dollars) but better than having to pay 250 pesos like I did in previous years. Maybe when I fly back to Monterrey I will see if my friend Arturo can pick me up, but he might have classes so I’m not too sure.

  The line-up at the airline bag check was next to nothing, though the employees really were on my visa to see if I had over-stayed my 180 days. I told them I had already calculated my stay, but one guy said that not all months have 30 days… which I obviously knew ! The other employee at the counter took out his cell phone and wrote down each month of days on a paper and did the math.

  He didn’t count the first day I arrived, so he got 175 days, and I had calculated earlier 176 days, so either way giving me a few extra days. It was kind of frustrating seeing them go so in detail to see if I had over-stayed my time, but I guess it’s their job and if someone overstays, they have to pay a fine, so it would be their job to catch those people. I had lots of extra time so I had lunch at Carls Jr. before heading through the security dates.

  I used the internet for a while to pass the time and boarded the plane sometime after 2:30 pm. I wanted to quickly grab a frappuichino but the guy at the gate told me I couldn’t bring them on the plane, so that idea went out the window. It was just an hour flight to San Antonio, Texas, though it took quite a while to get off the plane, as the lady driving the walkway to connect to the plane to get off had trouble lining it up.

  It didn’t take too long to get my bag and get through customs, in fact the guy just asked me what was inside my bag and that was it. I have to say it was clearly evident that I got treated differently than the Mexicans entering the country. The Mexicans had to scan their fingers and have their pictures taken and I didn’t have to do any of that. I guess being Canadian helps sometimes, though personally I think everyone should be treated the same no matter where they are from.

  Afterwards I took out some money from an ATM, bought a pack of M&Ms to get some change and then took the bus outside of the airport all of the way downtown to the Greyhound Station. It was great that I had done the research the day before and finding out about the bus, paying only $ 1.10… a taxi would have been sooooo expensive.

  After arriving at the Greyhound station I was able to check-in my bag and leave it at the station so I wouldn’t have to lug it around all day. It was after 5:30 pm so it was starting to get dark, but I decided to go on a picture taking spree. I was amazed how much cooler it was in San Antonio than in Monterrey. When I left Monterrey it was sunny and around 28 C (82 F), though San Antonio was having a cool and cloudy day, and it was only around 14 C (58 F).

  It was nice to have a cool and cloudy evening to walk around and take pictures. I actually walked around the downtown area pretty well, walking for over three hours, and taking hundreds of pictures. San Antonio is a very beautiful city and my first impression is that it’s a great place with a nice Mexican flavour to it.Downtown there are churchs that look like some of the churches in Mexico, many Spanish names, Mexican restaurants, and even a branch of the Mexican university UNAM and a Mexican cultural centre.

  So while the downtown has the Mexican influence, the neighbourhoods and streets, houses and lawns seem to be a lot more like the places in Canada than Mexico. I saw a bit of the San Antonio riverwalk, and I really wanted to see this because I have spent so many days running along the riverwalk in Monterrey, which was based off the one in San Antonio. The riverwalk in San Antonio is larger, and goes in more directions than the one in Monterrey, and the trees along the riverwalk are definitely larger in San Antonio, though the big difference I saw was the colour of the water.

  In Monterrey the water is crystal clear blue, though in San Antonio it has the dark green colour. Maybe they dont’ put chlorine in it like they do in Monterrey, or maybe the difference in the climate, but the colours are certainly way different. That being said, both riverwalks are beautiful in their own ways.

  I was really impressed with how many photos I was able to take, and getting lots of walking exercise, especially as I won’t be running at all this week. And it was great to see so much of downtown San Antonio just on this one evening that I was here and getting lots of night pictures. One guy in a plaza said to me “Sir, can I ask you a question ? Why are you taking pictures of statues ? Do you even know what that statue is for ?

  I told him I was going to read, and then he said “Well is that what you do ? Go around taking pictures of statues ? I don’t really like people like that so I headed in the opposite direction… there are always weird people in downtown areas. I will have a full day here in the city before I return to Monterrey, so I will definitely get to see more.

  I stopped in at Starbucks and had a Mocha Frappuichino and an over-priced sandwich and used the internet for a while, though now there is internet in the Greyhound station. Greyhound has definitely improved since the last time I used them in 2009. So now I’m basically just relaxing and waiting for the bus to Dallas which leaves at 2:30 am. I purposely booked my bus super late so I could sleep on the bus and not have to pay for a hotel.

  I will get in to Dallas just before 8:00 am and quickly head to a hotel, have a shower, and head to IHOP to meet my Ecuadorian friend. It will be an exciting day. It was great to be able to have internet access at Starbucks and in the Greyhound station. I’ve got all of my 233 San Antonio photos uploaded to Facebook and I’ve got this typed so it’s time to get going as the bus will be leaving in less than 30 minutes and I’ll have to get to sleep. Anyways, for the next question:
  
  When was your last trip ? Where did you go ?

  I will leave you all with some of the pictures that I took from San Antonio. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 3:03 am
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