San Antonio has a river--dammit!

I already talked about the amazing dissimilarities between San Antonio and Seattle. Now up in the Pacific Northwest, a major preoccupation of the populace is preserving the "natural state" of affairs. The recent snow debacle last year, in which Seattle came to a frozen halt because the mayor, Greg Nickels, did not want to use--ahem--salt on the roads because "it might disturb the salmon" when the city was buried in 20 feet of ice is a case in point. Nothing must disrupt the salmon, the streams, the oceans...Seattle means it. Well, mostly. Anyhow, San Antonio has a river, too. It's called the San Antonio river. In having this river, they have paved it, locked it, damned it, built hotels and margarita/salsa emporiums all around it, and used it to create entire lagoons of interesting water features that keep the water moving so moquitoes stay off their river. Heck, once a year, they drain the entire river and clean it. This is a city in control of its river!

Now, it may sound like I'm making fun, but I heartily approve. I mean if cities are going to allow rivers to run through them, then San Antonio has taken the right approach. Their river is ringed by shops, luxury hotels, spas and plenty of places to drink to alleviate the heat around here. It's also quite clean with no fish to smell up things or bother you. I was assured by two different guides of this city, that this is a real river. It has, according to one, "headwaters and everything." One might be surprised to learn that I verified what I was told these past days this morning. Yes, the San Antonio river exists outside San Antonio, but they aren't going to put up with much nonsense from it while it's inside the city proper, that's clear.

I enjoy the Riverwalk. In addition to being quite clean, it does wend its way past some truly interesting and old (by US standards anyhow) architecture, including the oldest cathedral in North America, a modestly beautiful church called San Fernando. This river has plenty of interesting things to look at even if it doesn't have fish, along with crowds of revelers mostly in a good mood, improved not by sunlamps but by mariachi bands and tequila. All the mad folks are apparently over at the Alamo and the various and numerous missions around the San Antonio suburbs. Leave it to religion to piss you off, but listen, there's too many of these missions around here to discuss them. Trust me, there's a LOT of them, if you want to look at old Spanish missions, feel free. But I prefer the river. San Antonians understand what to do with a river. They don't even allow soliciting, unless you count the mariachis. I also noticed a mosaic with a prayer for rain on it. This is a city that actually prays for rain. They pray for it. I love San Antonio!