City Review: San Antonio

I've always wanted to go to Texas. I'm not quite sure why. I think it is something about that Texas accent twang, or the chequered shirts and cowboy hats, or the banjo music... No matter what it is, all I know is I've always wanted to go and now I've been to San Antonio, I'm quite sure I want to go again... SOON.

The drive to San Antonio was oh-so-long. Literally, me and my two pals Cara and Caroline were sat cramped on the back row of the mini-van, sweating like pigs because the air-conditioning didn't blow that far. We whiled away the time taking naps all snuggled up together, flashing USA truck-drivers so they honked their horns at us and pulling stupid faces, laughing deliriously about the stupidest things. In all it was a fantastic journey.

As we pulled into the campsite, Cara and I were mesmerized by the beautiful river, and whilst everyone else sat behaving themselves in the van, waiting for our tour guide to check in, Cara and I made a break for it, climbing madly over everyone and escaping. In seconds we had jumped fully clothed into the cool clear water. It was so heavenly that the others soon joined us!

In fact, although the San Antonio campsite didn't have private showers (as in, she showers were stalls outside with NO DOORS on them. I mean, I'm not particularly coy about my body, but even I can't get fully naked and take a shower in front of complete strangers...) it was actually my favorite. This is mostly because of the river, but also because there wasn't as many bugs as there had been at previous campsites, the ground was soft and flat and there were picnic tables and good camp-cooking facilities. Plus, the toilets were nice and clean and there was enough plugs for us all to charge our phones at the same time. Wow, you don't realize how much you value the little things in life until you spend six weeks on budget campsites... 

We didn't have much time to get ready for our night out, but this was all part of the fun really... We'd heard that we were going someplace fun and 'Texasy' so I slipped into my black bodycon skirt and robbed a chequered shirt from our tour guide. I thought it was very 'sexy cowgirl' once I'd put my brown wedges on. We grabbed some of our cheeky beverages (and poured them into Coca-Cola cans so our tour guide wouldn't have a nervous breakdown about the fact that we were drinking in his van, which is apparently a BIG deal in the States) and hopped into the van, unaware of where we were headed. I was headed to the best night out of my trip, that's where!

The Cowboys Dancehall is THE PLACE TO BE. Without a doubt. The place is HUGE like a real genuine ball room. I've never seen anything like it! There was a big huge stage, a massive dancefloor, various bars AND a bucking bronco. Yes, you heard me. A bucking bronco. Since it was 'military night' I managed to persuade a young US soldier to invest in me (which sounds MUCH worse than it is...) by making him pay the whole $5 which it cost for me to have a go on the bronco. Sadly (for him, as it was his money...) I fell off in less than five seconds. Sick. 

I found a really lovely cowboy on the side of the dancefloor too... he ended up being from Australia (but in my defence, he did have a chequered shirt on!) Spent some good times dancing with him, but sadly lost his number which he had written on a napkin :( So if anyone out there knows Sam Young from Brisbane then tell him I never meant not to call him, promise. 

The next day, the majority of the group were feeling a bit worse for wear, and as it turns out, traipsing round a red hot city in the baking sun when feeling exhausted from the night before doesn't make for a great time. In fact, what it does make for, is falling asleep in the grass in front of the Alamo and waking up covered in ant bites. So I've heard.

*Stood in front of the Alamo in my new red sweater*

San Antonio by day had a really nice yet very distinctive touristy-vibe. There was a Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum, a Madame Tussauds, a SeaWorld, a sightseeing bus tour and all the rest. I had a picture in front of the Alamo, but shamefully didn't go inside and (even more shamefully) still to this day have NO IDEA what the Alamo actually is. I think it is something to do with a war or battle, as there was a bunch of soldiers around on their day off. However, I don't know what it is. Anyone who cares to educate me, please feel free.

I started to get heatstroke towards the end of the day in San Antonio. It was just too hot and I was run down from getting next to no sleep the night before, I hadn't drank enough water and my head was spinning. We went searching for a restaurant along the river with good air conditioning, but we walked in and out of so many places and I literally felt like I would faint. Finally, we chose a restaurant called Dick's Last Resort. What is the selling point of this restaurant, I hear you ask? Well, let me tell you. At Dick's Last Resort, you can eat mediocre food which is over priced AND get insulted throughout your meal by the staff. When I say insulted, I mean it. They are all 'actors' and they literally will scream in your face that you are a 'Miserable b*tch'. Of course, they don't care that you have tears streaming down your face because the horrible greeter made you throw your water bottle away when you are dying of head exhaustion. Theoretically, this place is a good laugh. In practice, the waiters and waitresses aren't just having banter with you, they are genuinely horrible people who have found a job where they can get away with being themselves at work.

Actually, that rant is totally unfair. Our actual waiter was very nice. And there was another waiter who asked if I was ok as my eyes rolled into the back of my head. However, the greeter was evil and the barman argued with me for ten minutes stating, "Get your own glass of f**king water, Princess." I'm sure that if I'd been in good health I wouldn't have minded this as much, but being so ill (and hence a tad homesick) I just felt like I wanted to burst into tears!

Before I knew it, our time in San Antonio was over and I was ever so sad, purely because the weather was so brilliant and I'd wanted to stay in the Cowboys Dancehall all night. Plus, I bought a nice red sweater in the American Eagle in their shopping mall (which was fantastic by the way) so that mini bit of retail therapy put me in a right good mood :)

Have you ever wanted to go to Texas? Have you ever been out on such a different sort of night out and had such a good time? Would you have gotten your boot-skootin'-groove on?

Love and snuggles

GabriellaSofia x

City Review: Santa Fe

Hello there! 

Now for the next city in my City Review segment... Santa Fe!

Once again, I had no idea what to expect of Santa Fe. I didn't know a lot about New Mexico at all. I never have really, apart from the fact that Gabriella from High School Musical was from Albuquerque which is New Mexico's largest city. Does New Mexico have anything to do with actual Mexico? Would I find myself smack-bang in the middle of a US version of Latin America? Would everyone be speaking Spanish and wearing sombreros and dancing to mariachi music? I was soon to find out...

Upon arriving to Santa Fe, I thought I was in hell. Seriously, the camp-site was one of THE WORST on our trip. The ground was neither flat nor smooth and it was rock solid too so it was really very hard to put our tent pegs in. Then the nearest rest-room didn't have plumbing so there was a very basic hole-in-the-ground style toilet which reeked of faeces. There were two big huge dogs roaming around, the type that maul babies. Literally, they were all over the place, trying to eat our food, sniffing our nether regions, slobbering away. Plus, this was one of THE MOST bug infested camp-sites we had experienced so I got bitten a lot. I wasn't happy at all, especially as this was one of the only camp-sites where we were to spend two nights rather than one. However, we decided to make the best of a bad situation and play a handful of drinking games.

The next morning I decided to give Santa Fe a chance... perhaps there would be tons of things I would be interested in seeing... 

The above photo is one of the only tourist type photos I took in Santa Fe because there was literally nothing in that city which I would enjoy doing. I was quite eager to find a farmers' market which I'd spotted on my map. However, it seemed that because it was a Sunday afternoon, the farmers' market wasn't running. There went my hope for grabbing some fresh fruit.

Santa Fe is home to North America's oldest church and oldest house. Apparently. I wouldn't know because I just figured, the UK has super-duper old churches and houses which were built hundreds of years before the USA was even born, so I didn't think it was important or interesting. I know that might make me seem really closed minded, but I was tired, hacked off about the campsite where I'd endured a terrible night's sleep and was sure to endure another AND I was starving hungry! So instead, I popped into this church to say a prayer and light a candle for my mom's parents because it reminded me of Dominican churches (my mom is from the Dominican Republic and my grandparents were religious). This church was beautiful, and reminded me a lot of Latin American Catholicism...

The church was beautiful and I actually started feeling quite emotional. I didn't know that Santa Fe is so well known for its Catholic community and as a Catholic myself (although not practising) I found it to be quite a friendly town which took me back to the things I used to enjoy about going to church. Having said that, Santa Fe also reminded me of some of the things I hate about Catholicism. I spotted some ladies with clipboards in the town and people were being very rude to them. All they were asking was, 'Are you pro gay rights?' I even heard one man hiss, 'No, you make me sick' as he stalked into the church. How can someone who is part of a religion which is all about loving your neighbour be so rude to someone just because of who they do and don't choose to love. I was disgusted with his reaction so went and chatted to the ladies for a little while. They told me that Santa Fe is one of the biggest anti-gay cities in North America.

After chatting with these ladies, I decided it was time for lunch, so headed to a creperie that I'd spotted earlier in the day...

My crepe had cheese, chorizo, chicken and spinache in it and to be honest I didn't enjoy it at all. I'm not sure if this was purely due to the fact that I had been drinking the night before (although having said that I've never had a hangover before and don't think what I felt would constitute one...) but the crepe totally over-faced me and was so creamy that I began to feel slightly queasy. Not that that stopped me from ordering a Nutella one for dessert though...

This crepe made me MUCH happier and really hit the spot. I actually wanted to order another, but I was watching my pennies in this city so I left it... 

I really felt like I'd seen the best of Santa Fe. I know that sounds bad because I almost didn't give the city a chance, but it was too hot, not really my kind of place, occupied mostly by elderly people with different interests to me, so I headed to the library for a little while. Funnily enough, I found my Norton Anthology of English Literature in the library which was my university degree coursebook! What a small world eh? 

A couple of my friends wanted to head to do Bikram Yoga but I didn't want to because exercising in a sauna sounds like my idea of hell. Instead, me and another of the girls took a nap in the van. We really were exhausted! 

Dinner was probably my favourite part of Santa Fe because we headed to this restaurant called the Cowgirl Hall of Fame where there was a couple of live performers along with lovely food and delicious margaritas. 

After my pig out at lunch, I decided to order something from the kid's menu. I was happy actually because the main menu was mostly full of burgers and ribs and hot dogs (most of which I'd eaten at least three times already each in the States by this point) whereas the kiddie menu had barbecued fish on it which I ended up choosing.

The waiter looked at me very oddly when I politely said, 'Can I please have a children's menu and a margarita cocktail?' He asked me for my ID and everything. Haha, weirdo.   

Here is my delicious barbecued fish with asparagus and mashed potato on the side. The fish was mildly spicy with tabasco sauce (which I LOVE) so I sprinkled a little more sauce over the top to add to the effect. It was so good! Also, I love how the American's make their mashed potato with garlic, onion AND the skin of the potato. Makes it so much yummier. I might try making my mash like this from now on... 

The best thing about Santa Fe was the slightly Latin America vibe which meant I spotted elements which reminded me of my mom's country all over the place. The best thing was seeing 'Dulce Tres Leches' on the dessert menu. This is one of my favourite types of cake... It is a sponge which is the soaked in evaporated milk, condensed milk and pouring cream. It is the fluffiest, moistest, sweetest cake ever. The Santa Fe version was not a patch on a genuine Dominican version. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the friends which I recommended it to. Nom gobble. This cake is definitely on my 'To Cook' list at the moment.

Santa Fe is a great city to grab some lunch in and stroll around for an hour or two. Everything is so calm and relaxed there as many American's retire to this city. It was refreshing in comparison to LA, Vegas and New York. That said, although I thought Santa Fe was a nice enough city, it definitely isn't one of my highlights. 

Have you ever been to Santa Fe? How would you imagine it being? Do you have any desserts which remind you of a certain place?

Love and kisses
GabriellaSofia

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