Tijuana

 Tijuana

Ever-present Cathedrals appear in any Mexican Plaza 

Once again, we received dire warnings against going into Mexico but since we survived our Baja trip with our heads still attached we forged on.  This time it would be a more precise mission, secure food & drink and be in & out under the guise of daylight.  So, with the "Mission Impossible theme" in our ears we boarded the stealth trolley for the few stops south to the border.  Then I began ingesting the State Department warnings on travel to Mexico off our communication device (iPhone) and for a few brief moments it became a surveillance mission to assess the border crossing.  Upon exiting the trolley we infiltrated a squad of German agents, well perhaps family of German tourists, to cross the border with.  However, after walking amongst them for a while we realized that they hadn't received an updated pre-op briefing and had no clue where they were going, so we turned back and headed for the actual border crossing.  Fortunately, we rendezvoused for the crossing with a couple of fully briefed Californians on bicycles, a guy about our age and his son, probably in his late 20s.  Apparently they often come down for the day for a little father-son bonding in Tijuana.  About a half hour later upon gazing out from their usual first stop, a bar where they have their Sunday morning beer and stash their bikes for the day, catch the bewildered look on our faces as we decipher the map, and come running over to invite us for a beer and clarify the next phase of our mission, “relax and have a drink”.  Being from Vermont we are novelties here.  Over beers we got all kinds of directions and places to see, half of which we forget upon walking out of the open-air bar but the other half helped us.  And we were relieved to hear that there really isn’t much to worry about.

Actually, the biggest problem was the 45-minute wait to cross back into the US at the end of the day.  It was Sunday and many native Mexicans living in the US often go “home” on Sundays to visit their relatives, who of course can't enter the US.  I didn’t have high expectations for Tijuana, after all it is a good-sized city, but I’d never been - so why not.  My expectations for Tijuana, being very low, were easily exceeded during the first hour.  A successful mission.

Tequila being served out of a 5-gallon carboy at our first stop.  We don't need no stinkin worms, we got rattlesnakes.  Adding rattlesnakes apparently makes cheap Tequila better or at least more marketable.  We stuck with Corona & lime.

Example of street scene near border

Readily available, but just on a small section.  Our California advisors told us this street was worth walking down, once.

After a few hours meandering around we were ready for a meal.  Ignoring countless street-side invitations for food, we grabbed a taxi to a restaurant that Nancy found on yelp for true Mexican.  It was only a couple of miles away but outside the border tourist area.  It wasn't crowded as it was early for dinner and we were the only gringos.  We had margaritas, appetizers, entrees, and after dinner drinks and exceptional service, all for a little over $40.  They really bent over backwards explaining the menu, particularly since some of the foods didn't seem to have English names even for the matre'de who was the only one who spoke reasonable english.  The food, service, and ambience were awesome.

  

Risking life, limb, and our heads we decided to walk back to the border crossing.  However, having been fully briefed and intoxinated we weren't concerned at all and felt completely safe.  The locals that we met during the day were very friendly and gracious in responding to our locational queries.  The biggest problem was one guy who when I asked in Spanish how far away the restaurant was tried to impress us with his English and said 50 blocks away when he meant 15.  This was was easily corrected when I asked if he really meant "cinquenta", "oh no, no senor, quince" (15).  So off we go down the Paseo de los Heroes, where huge statues of heros occur within roundabouts spaced about 1/4 mile apart.  Oddly the first hero that we encountered was Abe Lincoln.  Apparently, Mexicans and the Mexican government were very much against slavery back at the time and Lincoln was/is considered a hero.  The next hero was an Aztec Chief of unknown significance to us.  There were many more that we didn't see.

Getting dark but ole honest Abe is pretty obvious. 

Paseo de los Heroes

Back to the border tourista zone, however it was mostly locals enjoying the outdoor  music and few gringos.