Following the Mission Trail in San Antonio

     The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park was created in 1978 in a cooperative agreement with Archdiocese of San Antonio.  In July (2015) the five missions along a 10 mile stretch of the San Antonio River became a UNESCO World Heritage site.  We visited four of these missions today.  The Mission San Antonio de Valero which is also called "The Alamo" is in downtown San Antonio - we will visit there tomorrow.
    The missions were built between 1690 and 1731 by mission Indians directed by Spanish artisans.  The walled communities had gardens and livestock, homes for the missionaries and the Indians, a church, granary, workshops and soldiers barracks.  The Spanish were trying to extend north from their settlements in Mexico in search of riches and the desire to spread the Catholic faith.  The movie at the Visitor Center did a great job of presenting the history and describing the impact of the Spanish on the lives of the Indians.  Bottom line is that almost 70% of the Indians living within the mission walls died and more Indians had to be recruited to continue the farming and cattle raising.
    Speaking of cattle - I thought that we would see endless plains of grazing land when we drove through this part of Texas, but it was mostly cactus and scrub bush.  During the times of the Spaniards the plains were rich grasslands.  It was a time of the cowboy - vaquero - with huge herds of cattle, but the area became hugely overgrazed and has since changed to cactus and scrub.  However, the tradition of the Texas cowboy is still going strong.
   The missions are in various states of ruin, but each one has a church that still serves the surrounding community congregation and offers Mass in Spanish.  The San Jose Mission, which has the Visitor Center, has had a lot of restoration so it is easy to imagine a large Indian and Spanish community living within the walls.  The other missions are in various states of ruin/restoration.  Money is being raised to continue working on these sites.  San Antonio has developed a green space along the river which follows the original Mission trail.  Many folks bike or walk this trail to view each mission.  We drove, and are still tired from walking around these big areas.  It was a wonderful view of life in early San Antonio.