** Trips/pictures taken before COVID-19 pandemic.
Mi Tierra Cafe & Panaderia San Antonio, Texas https://www.mitierracafe.com/
I have only been to Texas twice, once to San Antonio, and once to Houston. Before that, I had an idea in my mind of what these places would look like. While obviously all of Texas is not the same, I generalized. Mexican tios in their chanclas talking perfect English cheering for the football team. Yes, I had a stereotype in my head, but I wasn't prepared for the feelings I would have going to somewhere so deeply Mexican yet so typical American. When I went to Sant Antonio I visited along with Mario, my husband, for our annual birthday trip. While walking downtown near the Alamo, I saw bus route signs. San Antonio to Monterrey; Nuevo Leon, Mexico, five hours, low price. That was the closest I had been to not only Mexico, but my birth state since I was brought to the U.S. at age seven. At that time I was still DACA, and the fact of being only five hours away from where I was born and not being able to just hop on a car or bus and go, set in. I flashed back to the time we came to the U.S., getting off the bus for dinner at some below-par Tex-Mex restaurant somewhere in Texas, where I had tacos with lettuce and orange cheese for the first time and couldn't eat skirt steak because it was too tough for my baby teeth. I realized that so easily, I could get on a bus I wouldn't be able to come back. Being able to fly anywhere in the U.S. but not being able to drive five hours to where you were born. That experience gave me a further appreciation of what was initially just a birthday trip. I took in the Mariachi, the never-ending Tex-Mex food, the streets with Spanish names, and the feeling of a Mexican breeze on U.S. ground.
Historic Market Square https://www.marketsquaresa.com/
SITES + ACTIVITIES
Beginning to end: Historic Market Square, Bridge/Parking lot art, Downtown La Villita Historic Arts Village, Japanese Tea Gardens
Firsts in Sant Antonio:
First time seeing an H-E-B (Texas-based grocery store)✓
First time at a Japanese Tea Garden ✓
First time having vegan al pastor tacos ✓
First time in Texas ✓
<< San Antonio Eats >>
Alright, now Houston!
Somewhere in downtown close to where a lady was selling churros?
<< Houston Eats >>
Picasso at Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
Discovery Green downtown Houston. It was such a cute and fun park where you can skate, kayak, take a walk, and buy food from vendors. I opted to kayak and it was a fun little activity!
I was in Houston for a few days for a work conference and then stayed for a couple of days with my cousins, so I didn't get to explore too much or had a huge epiphany, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Everywhere I got to eat was delicious, but I especially loved the breakfast tacos with tortillas de harina from Doña Maria Mexican Cafe (pictured under Houston Eats). I could eat those types of tacos all day.
One of the things that I gathered from people in Houston is that they REALLY like Houston. The driver from the hotel gushed about his love for the city, how they come together in times of need like floods and hurricanes, and how great it is to call it home. I hope one day I can find a city that I love that much, but for now, gotta continue the search!
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