WE’RE TALKING SOUTH OF THE BORDER

February, 2019

We had wanted to spend some time in Baja California, either out in the desert or in the Baja wine country.  Time and what appears to have been the rainiest January-February in SoCal and The Baja had a way of keeping us away from an extended trip – or maybe it was all of the cautions about traveling unescorted in The Baja that kept us from an extended trip south of the border.  But a trip to Tijuana was not out of the question – and formally Tijuana is located in Baja California!  We could park on the US side, and with passports in hand walk across the border!

After cruising easily through customs and having our passports stamped we arrived in Mexico on a bright but chilly cloudy day.  There has been such controversary about citizens of Mexico and Central American countries illegally crossing into America, “throngs” of adults, children and families wanting to cross the border, internment camps, and “The Wall” that we weren’t sure what to expect or what we would see on the Mexican side of the border.  We didn’t see any throngs of people, there were no visible internment camps, and no one we talked to had any issue with what wall there was already in place.  What we did see was an orderly traffic jam and vehicle back-up of a “few miles” waiting to cross into the US.

What we found were wonderfully warm and inviting Mexican people ready and willing to help these tourists in any way possible; no hassles from anyone as we walked almost 6 miles all around town through touristy areas, residential/business areas that looked like anything you might find in any major US cities, and smiles from vendors while window shopping in a glorious outdoor dry goods/grocery/food stall marketplace.  Come to find out that most of the daylight hours are slow times in this thriving city; nighttime and particularly when any part of the US Pacific Fleet is docked kicks things up substantially. Tijuana becomes a happening place.

Once crossing into Mexico we had the good insight to stop at a tourist information stand and had a terrific conversation with Leon, who gave us the low down on his philosophy of life as well as how to reach the Avenida Revolución (Revolution Avenue). Avenida Revolución is the tourist center, and the main thoroughfare of the historic downtown, officially called the Zona Centro, which forms part of the Delegación Centro or Central Borough of Tijuana.  “Walk about a mile, across 2 bridges, make a right, find the Arch and you’ll be there.”  We forgot the 2 bridges part, and after fumbling around for a few minutes shared a taxi with a delightful and pleasant local woman and her son to our destination.

The Monumental Arch designates the beginning of the Avenida Revolución.  As we strolled down the Avenida the vendors were more than quick to comment on Brian’s University of Michigan windbreaker, calling us “Wolverines” over to their storefront, and trying to engage us to make a sale; one vendor hawked to us: “make my day and buy something!”  Brian enjoyed the masks representing Lucha Libre, Mexico’s equivalent of our WWE – world wresting entertainment.

As has happened in so many other cities we enjoyed the murals painted on storefronts and buildings.

We stopped along the Avenida Revolución at one of the pharmacies to check on the availability and cost of Barbara’s medication.  We showed the merchant her prescription, and to our delight he was aware of what the medication was for and what doses were available.  He pulled the medications off of the shelf and after we checked the expiration dates on what we were shown, we were able to make a purchase at about 1/3 the usual US cost – same medication, same manufacturer (hmmmm?).

We stopped and had a really wonderful lunch – Barbara ordered spicy shrimp tacos and a burrito for lunch; Brian breakfast.  Brian’s a fan of migas and chilaquiles, but had never tried machaca with egg before.  Machaca is beef jerky, which is softened, fried and then folded together with scrambled eggs for something wonderful and is served with beans, tortillas, and a  variety of toppings like radish, avocado and lettuce and sauces/salsa.  Our waiter spoke little English and our Spanish was lacking as well.  But no language barrier existed as we found a way to talk about soccer, boxing, Pennsylvania/Baja California, and where to find great tortillas.

Brian had forgotten that jai alai is big time in Mexico, and the very beautiful fronton, conference and concert center is right in the heart of  Tijuana. It’s the El Foro Antiguo Palacio Jai Alai – Centro De Espectaculos.

Mercado M Hidalgo is a traditional market located within downtown Tijuana.  You can pull your car into the marketplace and park in a central courtyard.  The merchants’ stalls are contiguous around the perimeter.  Here you can buy fruits, vegetables, cheese, herbs, spices, piñatas, prayer candles, and anything else you might desire.  Many merchants did try to engage us in order to make a sale, but politely smiled when they realized we spoke such little Spanish.

We continued our walk around town finding two other “must sees” from the tourist guides.  The first is the Centro Cultural Tijuana; Tijuana Cultural Museum.

The other iconic tourist photo must is the Glorieta Independencia, a monument to Tijuana’s steel industry, commonly referred to as the scissors.

…a couple of other street scenes we appreciated…

While walking through the Tijuana Cultural Center we found a sculpture and botanical garden dedicated to the native peoples of Mexico.

Exhausted it was time to take a taxi back to the border crossing and call it a day.  Crossing back into the US took a little longer than our crossing into Mexico had been earlier in the day, but with passports in hand it was still an easy process helped along by Barbara cleverly following a woman who looked like she had gone through US customs many times and knew how to maneuver her way to the shortest and quickest line.

We left Mexico with a smile on our faces – what a great day we had.  We also found ourselves thinking it might be interesting to return in the evening for a Jai Alai or Lucha Libre match, to nightclub hop, or just check out the nightlife.

Barbara and Brian