I wrote lovingly about El Paso, and not so lovingly about San Antonio. That isn’t really fair to either. Each city, as the say, holds multitudes. Even the most unappealing places have plenty of great things in them, and even the most appealing have lots to dislike.
Below is a list of some small things I liked about San Antonio and El Paso, food, bars, buses, etc, as well as some thoughts about the logistics of not having a car in either.
Again, my usual caveat. I’m not into fancy dining, or really fancy living. Fancy living is fine, but it’s usually a rare treat for most residents, and not reflective of how they live.
I don’t expect everyone to share my tastes. Still, I hope in aggregate these lists do give a small feel for what’s available in both cities.
La Ruleta Sports Bar (700 Ruiz St, San Antonio)
I arrived in San Antonio late on a Saturday night and was met by a friend who I convinced to go to “La Ruleta Sports Bar” in West San Antonio. I’d been to similar bars before and knew what I would find — a Tejano band playing to working class Mexican-Americans looking to blow off steam.
Parked outside were work trucks and vans (lawn care, plumbing supplies, construction) and a few souped-up low-cost sports cars (tricked out Civics, Mustangs, etc). Inside were the drivers and their wives and friends partying.
It was a diverse crowd in age, with more couples in their 40s and 50s than in their 20s, but I was the only non Latino inside. While plenty of alcohol was flowing, the drunkenness was being channeled into dancing, not belligerence.
I’m used to being an outsider in places, so I’m used to getting a few odd looks, which I ignore or address directly — coming up to someone and smiling while clinking plastic cups, or giving a big thumbs up.