Road Trip To Texas - Day 6, 7 & 8

San Antonio's River Walk

With only a couple of days before we had to get Hongi to Houston airport we left New Orleans and headed to San Antonio. The city is very picturesque with the man made river walk the main attraction. With the river going through the city they have made a little canal coming off of it for little boat tours. There is also a hell of a lot of pubs and restaurants along it. With no barrier to stop you falling into the water, it must be very entertaining to sit and watch those a little worse for wear walk along at night.

The Alamo

It would be a shame to come all this way and not do something cultural so we stopped by the setting of the Alamo. Unfortunately John Wayne was not around but we made the most of it as we took a stroll around the building with hundreds of others.

Wikipedia
The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, USA). All of the Texian defenders were killed. Santa Anna's perceived cruelty during the battle inspired many Texians—both Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States—to join the Texian Army. Buoyed by a desire for revenge, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution.

Boot Shopping

What Wikipedia doesn't tell you, and neither did the museum in San Antonio, is that the Texans were adamant to remain part of America because they wanted to keep the right to own slaves. If Mexico had won then the slaves would have been freed.

Before heading back to Houston Evan and I stopped by Sheplers, a western clothes shop, to see if we could buy some hats and boots. When in Rome and all that I guess. I must say I didn't expect boots and hats to be so expensive with some pairs of boots going into the thousands as well as a couple of hats. We managed to find some cheaper boots and at first they were surprisingly comfortable (I later learnt that they needed breaking in when my feet were blistered and bruised) Evan's face was similar to that of a kid on Christmas day as he bought more clothes in this one instance than in his entire life. He only ever buys trainers for himself, the rest he waits for birthdays when family buy his wardrobe. 

All cowboyed up, our first port of call was to go and visit the biggest cowboy boots in the world. How many people can claim that they've been to the biggest cowboy boots in the world? How jealous are you?

They Should Fit Me Fine

After dropping Hongi off at the airport Evan and I were now unsupervised, so first thing on the list was to go back to New Orleans for a night on the town. Taking the back streets through Houston we came across the Mexican part of town. The houses were painted very bright colours and everyone seems to be selling things on their front garden, I've never seen so much random things for sale. Our aim before hitting New Orleans was to find some lemons and a spray bottle, the goal was to bleach our hair in the sun. It didn't take long after Hongi left for decisions to turn stupid. 

See, We Didn't Just Drink In New Orleans

For food we stopped off at the Hungry Farmer BBQ. This place was really strange as it was more like a canteen. You picked up your tray and the guys behind the counter dished out whatever meat you wanted, I must say that it was bloody good food though. I've also never seen so many pictures of John Wayne in my life.

Happy Chappy

As we reentered Louisiana we kept looking for Gator Farms but unfortunately they were all closed, apparently they all open the week after we were there. Must be a seasonal thing. Back in New Orleans we threw our things in the hotel and went out for a wander in the sun, complete with lemon juice in our hair. Once again the streets were heaving with tourists and the sun slowly turned my skin from white to red as we sat in the park with cold cans of Strongbow watching the world go by. To prevent us drinking all day we took a stroll along the pier and headed to the French Market. I'm not sure why it's called the French Market as there is nothing French about it, there are a lot of gator heads for sale though. 

Deputy North

Sheriff Babinski

After a quick shower and getting cowboyed up in our hats and boots we set off into town. The difference between the day and the night is the amount of hustlers on the streets. During the day the homeless and the tourists mix together well and there is never a sign of danger or theft. At night hustlers roam the streets for victims, tonight it was Evan and I. Walking along the street a black man peeled off from his group and began walking with us betting that he can guessed where I got my boots. As he's doing this he's shepherding us to the side of the street. Finally stopping us we realised that our backs were against the wall and over his shoulder are his group of friends not too far away. He then alerted us that we 'got our boots on our feet' and demanded money for this lesson. I was going to give him $5 and make haste but he wanted $20, Evan handed it over and upon seeing his friends and how close he was to me I did the same. Apparently it wasn't $20 per person he wanted, but per boot. Part of my brain told me to tell him to stick it and push my way past, but the safer part of my brain saw how close he was and how many of his friends were close by and paid up. I may have been $40 lighter but I managed to walk away without a limp. 

As you walk around the streets there are musicians everywhere. The streets are closed off as bands play in the middle of the road. A marching band parades around the streets but stops playing whenever they approach another musician as to not disrupt them. I'm not a fan of jazz but there is something authentic about listening to it on the streets of New Orleans. Dotted in amongst the musicians are the voodoo people with packs of cards and other gismos to help determine your future. In New Orleans the art of people watching definitely pays off.

Girl Group #1

To make up for the bad start to the night we hit the bar and began to drink away the previous event. Here we came across three girls on a road trip from Oregon heading to Florida. Two of the girls were absolutely hammered despite it still being early in the night. The other girl, Sarah, was the mother figure looking after her friends despite buying them drinks to keep them in a drunken state. It wasn't long until Sarah had to escort her friends back to the hotel before things got a little out of hand.

As we walked along the street we met an elderly lady in a wheelchair and a black man pushing her. Dotty, the lady, was telling us all about New Orleans and what it's like during Mardi Gra. The black man was telling us how he hates all the hustlers. "It gives us black people a bad name, people look at me and assume that I'm trying to rob them of something." He then would turn round and tell a group of hustlers to sod off.

Girl Group #2

In the next pub we met another group of girls we in their southern tongue asked, "Ya'll real cowboys?" When we told them our story they were just confused as to why we were dressed that way. With them were three lads who told us in no uncertain terms that they were not going home alone. Tagging along we found out that Mary-Kate was the birthday girl and that's why they were out in New Orleans. Every now and then we'd be asked again "Ya'll real cowboys?" They seemed to have a memory like a goldfish. I'd like to be able to tell you more about the night but things got a little hazy and the feeling in the morning was awful.