Wok N Roll with us...Bob and Teri Along with Atlas and Kalani: San Antonio, Texas 4/26-28/2015

We stayed in a place just outside of San Antonio known as Lake Medena Texas. While the wildlife was very abundant here, the lake, that at one time was was over 150 feet deep, is now, due to the drought, only 3 percent full. This lake was once the site of record breaking fish catches but that is when the lake covered 5,500 acres. Today the lake is around 600 acres and most of that remaining area is not deep enough to sustain fish survival. The drought is very real here and the numerous people that had lake side beautiful homes are now looking at a huge hole in the ground.

While here we did a day trip into San Antonio, Texas. The San Antonio Missions National Historic Park has preserved four of the five Spanish Frontier Missions. We set off to San Antonio to visit two of these missions, Mission San Jose and Mission Concepcion.

Founded in 1720, Mission San Jose was built to serve the Coahuiltecan Indians. A heavy outer wall was built around the perimeter of the mission grounds and guardhouses armed with cannons and guns were situated in the four corners of the perimeter walls. Jacales, or rooms, a quanity that would house 350 Indians were built into these perimeter walls. The missionaries found the Coahuiltecan Indians difficult to conform to their ways. These Indians had lived by hunting and gathering. The ideas of planting and waiting to harvest and breeding animals and waiting to later slaughter was a difficult concept for them to grasp. And while they would attend the mandatory Christian Mass, they would also sneak off to perform their ceremonial rituals to their prior Gods. These Indians did desire to stay in the Missions, however, as it provided them safety from the Apache Indians. Members of the mission community each had their own jobs and they would be given weekly allotments of provisions for their family units. When looking at the pictures below, take note of some unusual things-Joseph holding baby Jesus (seldom seen, at least in the US) and also St. Francis of Assisi holding the skull. On further research we discovered that the skull is a common thing seen with St. Francis, even if we all envision him with the sweet little birds on his hand. The skull he carried it is said was his way of stressing that our time on this earth is very temporary.

Mission Concepcion was established in 1716 in East Texas and later moved to San Antonio in 1731. The Battle of Concepcion was fought here in 1835 between Mexican troops and Texas Insurgents. It was a 30 minute engagement in which the Mexican troops retreated. At one time colorful geometric designs covered the Mission's surfaces. But these frescos have long since faded away. Remnants of these frescos, however, can be seen on some of the interior walls of the mission. This Mission stands today as the oldest unrestored stone church in America.

We finished off our interesting day with a relaxing late lunch along on the San Antonio River Walk.