Day 4: Down Mexico way

We stayed a little north of San Diego last night, and then drove down and parked in one of the many car parks right by the border ($6/day). The was the option of a bus, but we didn’t have the correct change, so we walked the 50 feet instead. You wouldn’t even know you’d crossed an international border on the way into Tijuana, Mexico. The only was you knew you’d arrived was the fact that, almost instantly, one is hustled for taxis and bars and watches. We were warned about the street-kids, and although we were told that most of them were collecting money for drugs or similar, when one bare-foot urchin of about 5 years old approached us, holding a cup and staring with the biggest brownest most innocent eyes we’d ever seen, we just wanted to pick her up, adopt her there and then, and take her home with us. However, we found ourselves actually saying “no thanks” and walking on. You then cross a bridge over what must be the worlds largest open sewer, cunningly disguised as a flood channel. Past more hustlers and roaming dogs, and then it all gets quite nice. Even though I kept a decidedly firm grip on my camera and Tracy, I didn’t really feel unsafe. Amusingly, from every shop we heard shouts of “Hey! Honeymooners! Come inside - everything 100% off for you”. Not sure that they really meant 100% off, we kept walking. As we walked through what must have been a town square, all the sleazy gringos started whistling at Tracy - “Hey Hey! Sexy sexy SEXY!” they shouted. Tracy didn’t mind at all, and I had to admit, she’d dressed for the occasion! We continued, and found an export shop selling at quite agreeable prices (for example, 1 litre of Bombay Sapphire Gin for £7) and took two litres each. In the shop, we got chatting to an American couple, Clarke and Gayle, who seemed to do this on a regular basis, as do 20 million other Americans each year, and eventually ending up eating fajitas and drinking beer with them in a small, reasonably authentic bar in a sidestreet. It turned out that they knew of some accommodation that night where they were staying; an ‘RV park’, which is basically like a timeshare for caravans, except they are fixed to the ground, can be rented night by night, and are based in a club with loads of facilities like pool, sauna, showers, courts etc. A bit like a camp-ground on speed. And so we left them and went exploring a little more of Tijuana. I have to be honest, Tijuana is an experience, but not one I’d really go too far out of my way for unless I was in the area again.

Day 5: A little R&R

The only non-hectic day of the vacation, and we decided to have a bit of a holiday. Pretty much the whole of the day was consumed with relaxing by the pool, swimming, and topping up of tans. In the evening, we met up with our new-found friends, who were unbelievably hospitable, and provided for us a splendid barbeque. We took along a crate of Budweisser (wassup?!) and had a thoroughly good evening as the sun set into the surrounding hills.

Tags: america,travelogue,usa
Categories: america, travelogue