Wrap up 1 - Missions

Funny: "acequia", in puertorrican Spanish, means "drought"

Now that we were in San Antonio again, it was time to get all the National Park stamps we needed. We began with the furthest one, Espada, which also has a nearby acequia (aqueduct) that was built to irrigate the mission's crops. Imagine the time and effort it took to build this long, at times elevated, stone aqueduct without modern tools or transportation. It's amazing to see the 500-year (and counting!) staying power of such low-tech workmanship. In our high-tech "disposable" society, this acequia is a sobering sight.


We also ended up "breaking in" at the Visitor Center of the Espada

Mission. Actually, the Visitor Center's door was open but the lights were out and no one was around to ask, so... we used our flashlights to find the stamp and ink pad, stamped our passports and took off, giggling the whole time. Yeah, we are some kind of reckless criminals, aren't we. I think the old lady that went in just before us thought we were insane, especially when we started acting like we were in some "Mission Impossible" movie. "Mission"... hehe. At least we didn't hum the theme song....

The second mission, San Juan yielded no passport stamps since this one's Visitor Center was closed - locked this time - so we headed to the San Jose Mission. There we found out why all but San Jose's Visitor Centers were closed: a park ranger's meeting. Oops... And, knowing they would be closed, this one had stamps for all the other ones. Well, we got our stamps there, too. And an extra one from the Espada Mission. The lady didn't know we had gotten it and we saw no need to tell her.

And so ends our San Antonio stop. Yes, we remembered the Alamo. We decided not to stop this time. It just so happens that, although it is a National Historic Landmark, the Alamo is not part of the National Park Service. It is owned by the State of Texas. Hence, it doesn't have a stamp. Who woulda thunk it?!