Alex and I made it to San Antonio with our hitchhiker, Benjamin. It’s running in the mid 90s here and sunny as sunny can be. If you haven’t experienced the full sun of Texas, San Antonio will give it to you. There is a lot of dun-brown adobe around and lots of sand. So it isn’t the type of sunny you get in Florida, which is more of a jungle sunny. A jungle sunny is rather more moist and you get the feeling there might be a fungus growing on you. The sun here is more of a sterile, cooking in the glaring lights of a photo-shoot.
From http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/
We’ve decided to stay a few nights here and take in the sights. Plus, we were interested in seeing Benjamin work. Apparently, there is some risk for him to busk here in San Antonio, because, as he puts it, “It is tourist town, but not busker-friendly.” What that means in practice is street performers are supposed to have a license to set up and solicit tips in many areas of the city. And many of what they would think of as the best areas (the Alamo and the Riverwalk) are off limits. But Benjamin is an intrepid soul and as he says, quick to shuffle along when he senses any attention from the authorities.
He set up in Market Square and we left to wander the Riverwalk without him. There was a Mariachi band (is two players a band?) already going sporadically and a little stage area with some benches. Ben told us benches were great for busking in the heat because people are more likely to sit and watch a performance just to get off their feet. As we were leaving, he already had his glass ball out and was contact juggling to draw eyes. The plan was to meet up later near the Alamo — Ben told us he was going to start at the Market Square and then move to Travis park which is near a children’s museum and a baseball museum.
We haven’t seen Ben since we left him, but he’s the sort of fellow who wouldn’t have a problem fending for himself.
The Riverwalk was nice although a bit of a commercial tourist trap. The real attraction is escaping the heat while you wander next to the river and window shop. To be honest, the river is a bit slow and muddy looking, but even then there was a temptation to just jump in for a cool down. My dad used to call it poor man’s air conditioning. You jump in a pond and walk around wet.
That’s strange. I haven’t thought about dad much in the year since he passed away. Well, manana we’ll be seeing sights in the morning and then it’s off to Mexico.
