Gwangju Sister City: San Antonio

San Antonio is located in the south-central region of the state of Texas, U.S.A, which has a desert landscape and climate. The land is very flat, the summers are hot and the vegetation does not grow tall; what people in San Antonio would call trees, most other Americans would call shrubs.

San Antonio is around 200 kilometers north of Mexico. For this reason, San Antonio can sometimes feel more like its neighbor to the south than the United States. Many of the things that make San Antonio unique and interesting come from its past, including the Mexican influence and from the growing Hispanic population that resides within the city.

One of the many things that is great about San Antonio is the food, more specifically the Mexican food. In San Antonio, Mexican restaurants abound, from corner taco shacks to fancy upscale Mexican establishments. Two restaurants that are widely known in San Antonio are called Mi Tierra and Taco Cabana. Mi Tierra is situated in beautiful downtown San Antonio, just a couple blocks from the Riverwalk, a tourist destination. This place has traditional Mexican dishes as well as a bakery with many Mexican sweets. Taco Cabana is a fast food-styled Mexican restaurant that has delicious classic Mexican dishes, as well as a San Antonio staple – the breakfast taco. Some famous and delicious breakfast taco combinations include: bacon, egg and cheese; chorizo (spicy Mexican sausage) and egg; and beans and cheese.

While the food is influenced by the flavors of Mexico, Fiesta – a major celebration in San Antonio – is linked to Texas’s past with Mexico. Fiesta started in 1891 with the Battle of Flowers Parade, which was held to remember and honor the soldiers who fought in two of the major battles against Mexico: the Battle of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. This mid-April celebration has now grown to include many other events and it currently lasts for 10 days.

One event in particular that is a favorite for many people in San Antonio is NIOSA, a Night in Old San Antonio, which is a four-night festival. Streets are closed off to vehicles, so 240 food and drink stands representing the diversity in San Antonio can be set up. In addition, NIOSA has over 15 stages for live entertainment, featuring music and dancing. San Antonians also partake in the Mexican tradition of making cascarones during Fiesta. Cascarones are the whole shells of drained chicken eggs filled with confetti, and the tops of the shells are sealed with  light tissues of paper. At the Fiesta festivities, you can buy cascarones to crack on the heads of friends and family. Children also make them and bring them to school during Fiesta to crack them open on their schoolmates’ heads.

San Antonio is a vibrant city with an interesting past and a unique cultural identity. Its people are warm and know how to have a good time. Its food is full of flavor and unlike what you will find anywhere in the U.S. Its traditions have roots that date back centuries and have ties to another nation. Being so close to Mexico, and actually a part of the history of Mexico, San Antonio is unlike any other city in America.