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Published: December 18th 2008
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We were tired this morning from all that walking yesterday! We changed our minds about boarding Daisy, and decided she could come with us. The kennel was going to be closed on Sunday so we couldn't pick her up until Monday! No way! Rich filled our propane tanks and we took showers. Then we went off to the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. The first one was the Espada Mission San Francisco of the Sword. It was first built in 1690 in east Texas and was closed and started anew several times before being built in 1731 on the San Antonio River. We entered the grounds and passed several remnants of Indian quarters along the wall. In the corner of the walls were the colonial workshops where the Indians were taught carpentry, blacksmithing, brick making, weaving, tile making, spinning, and masonry. The blacksmith shop was re-enacted so of course we wandered over there. A woman was the smith, which annoyed Rich. She explained that all the iron used in the missions had to come from Spain, so it was very carefully used. The type of hinge for the doors and windows was interesting. It was like a giant staple poked
through the wood and spread out. Two joined together made the hinge. We asked if mortar was used on the stone walls, and the surprising answer was yes. The stones were all dug from right under the mission because this area of Texas is all a limestone base. Some of the stones were cooked and then mixed with water and used for mortar which then hardened back into rock. The walls that are still standing still have the original mortar. Then we went over to the church. It's doors are famous because the doorway is quite elaborate, so the doors open inward as regular rectangle doors. Franciscan friars, wearing brown robes and rope belts, moved back to the mission in the 1960's and still live there. One brother makes beautiful glass jewelry and sells it for the mission in a little shop there. Next we drove to the site of an irrigation canal which still comes out from the original dam from the 1700's. At the site was a stone aqueduct to take the canal over a creek and then on to irrigate the fields of corn, squash, sweet potatoes, melons, pumpkins, grapes, peppers, and sugar cane, as well as
peach and pecan orchards. It was quite a system! Sheep, goats, and cattle were raised and free-roaming and sold as far away as Louisiana and present-day Mexico. When the missions were turned over to the Indians, a lot of unbranded cattle were loose and wild, which was the beginning of the Texas cattle industry! We drove past the Mission San Juan Capistrano. The next mission was the best preserved and the best restored (by the CCC), Mission San Jose. It was a large quadrangle with Indian quarters all along the outsides of three walls. The church was large. It had a window with Spanish carving around it. The front of the church had statues and decorations. We didn't know that these church decorations were used to teach the Indians about the faith, since language was a barrier. They even had a flyer (for us!) explaining all the symbolism. The statues and stained glass windows in the churches of Europe must have had the same purpose! It was fascinating! The granary was huge and must have stored a lot of food! Another interesting part of this mission was the grist mill. A ditch ran water over to the mill and filled
Mission San Jose
from a gunport in the bastion a pool. Then the water fell into another pool to turn the HORIZONTAL mill wheel, UNDER the mill house. It could grind 90 pounds of wheat in an hour! The weather was in the 70's and very windy. Driving on the Mission Trail between the missions was through run-down neighborhoods with lots of litter everywhere - not a good advertisement for the Chamber of Commerce. We keep reading that this is the Texas Hill Country, but we haven't seen any hills yet.
After all the walking, we went back to the River Walk to the same parking lot. We went down to the River Walk and rode on the boat tour. (Daisy had to sleep in the truck.) It was fun and interesting. It was also beautiful. Then we had dinner at a Texas steak place. The meat was delicious, back to Western beef, which made Rich happy. Rich doesn't care for the taste of Eastern corn-fed beef. Dinner was up on a balcony overlooking the River Walk with the Christmas lights on. The tops of some of the buildings were lit red and green, including the Tower of the Americas that was built for the 1968 World's Fair. We
thought we might ride the boats again in the dark to see the lights, but the line was very long. Instead, we went back to the truck, walked Daisy, and headed back. It was 76 degrees, according to our truck! Back at the camper, we kept the door open until we went to bed!
We slept, with visions of friars trying to introduce a new way of life to people in another land.
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Seth
non-member comment
Cool
Wow! What a cool place! Love the carvings.