During our 23-mile roundtrip ride to San Jose, what caught my eye in particular was the colorful mural that's called “We Are Still Here” by retired postal worker and muralist, Alphonso Salazar (2021), that dominates the wall along the Guadalupe River that flows through downtown San Jose. The mural recognizes the Muwekma Ohlone that were the first inhabitants of the region for around 10,000 years. It portrays the face of Ohlone Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh, adorned in a warrior eagle headpiece with a basket-weave pattern and a hummingbird warrior face mask, a tribute to the indigenous tribe's creation story. The river itself has been a major ancestral heritage site for approximately 2,000 year, which the tribe’s leadership has had oversight on since 2012 as part of their reclamation process.
Staying on the art theme, there has been a movement over the years to have murals commissioned by artists to paint the bland grey sides of downtown buildings. One in particular that I took a photo of is a beautiful mural that runs the entire length of the hotel’s west-facing wall of the Hotel De Anza known for its interior art deco design, featuring the image of a woman, surrounded by a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables painted by Jim Minor called “Life Abundant."
We paused at "Monopoly in the Park" to stretch a bit. Located on the California Discovery Meadow, near a children’s museum, the board is the largest permanent version of the game in the world. There’s even an immovable set of dice that you can sit on or do a yoga squat pose on—as I did.
There was a lot of activity at the FurCon Confusion, annual furry convention at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center with outside Mexican food stalls set up for the lunch crowd. What’s a furry, you might ask? These are often animal of animal-themed characters in movies, cartoons, books, or comic. Many people who attend create their own characters, and some attend in costume. Though I’m told you don’t have to be a furry to attend. Before heading back home, Bill and I ate a Chicken Banh Mi sandwich at the San Pedro Market, home to one of Spanish California’s last remaining structure from El Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe.
