the storytelling brushes

If you choose to take a Muni (bus) to explore San Francisco, then you'll get a free talk with some locals. That's a rule that has never been neglected during my visit, and I'm sure it won't be during your stay either. One day I met this elegant Chinese lady who heartily recommend me to go to El Farolito, the only place in town where one could taste the real-original-authentic burrito. Of course, after such an enthusiast description, I couldn't avoid googling it, and that's how I ended up in Mission District. When I got on the bus I was still communicating in English, but once arrived the skip to español was completely compulsory. The burrito was as delicious as giant and there an old lady from El Salvador imperatively told me to go to Balmy Alley. So I landed in this astonishing pedestrian narrow street followed by a persistent chilly and cilantro yummy smell and a surprisingly shining sun, Mission is said to be the “ever sunny neighborhood of the city”. Since the 80's the walls on both sides of this alley are painted by wise brushes with protest messages of the Latino population.What stroke me even before seeing the content of these depictions, was the bright, vibrant and garish coulour. But these colours were speaking ones and they whispered so many different tales to my ear. I listen to the voice of people who had crossed plenty of lands before reaching this very spot. There were two women dressed in black, their face dark, their eyes sad and in their hands they were showing me the pictures of their disappered children. Other graffiti were denouncing with caustic irony the negative changes Mission is undergoing. The last image I stopped looking at was that of a deep blue sky and a rough see, on a sail boat a message reminded not to waste water and keep it clean because “across water is where we find the wild things”.
My experience of this special place was already extraordinary, but if you want to deepen it, you can make one of the tours Precita Eyes offers almost everyday! Once you are in Mission, you are almost obliged to see the Clarion Alley's graffiti too, eat in one of the many delicious taquerias and visit the Dog Eared Books, a small, indipendent and unexpensive bookshop (900, Valencia St). Then, if you are lucky enough to be in San Francisco on November the 2nd you can't miss the parade that ends just at the 25th Street end of Balmy Alley. You'll have the chance to see amazing skeleton costumes. I can promise you will have a great time!