The drive down to the Border took about 3 hours, including drop offs to San Diego Zoo and Sea World. I was quite surprised and amused to find that you do not need a passport to enter Mexico - you can walk straight in. Actually, you can just move there with no visa or residency requests. I guess you would have to have a good reason to move there, but strange there are no controls whatsoever.
Recently, there has been quite a bit of negative media about safety in Tijuana, so our tour guide, Jose (who had the cutest combo Mexican/LA accent), advised us to stay only on the Main Street and only within a certain number of blocks. At no time did I feel even a little unsafe although I was wandering around solo. Even though Jose warned that due to the greatly reduced tourist numbers, the store owners would most likely be crazy persistent, but I found there to be fairly respectful with just a firm no. Most of the stores I visited (recommended by Jose) would sweet talk you (apparently I should be a glamorous movie star in Hollywood lol) and ply you with baby shots of Tequila.
Caesars. Wow! An old style 20s era saloon where the infamous Caesars Salad was invented. Very elegant silver service sitting right there in the middle of very evident poverty. I don't think I've enjoyed a meal so much in forever. The waiter brought a trolley right up to the table and prepared the salad to my liking. Of course I paired my lunch with an ice-cold Corona. It was amazing!!!! One thing I found in Mexico was how incredibly subtle the flavours I had the fortune to sample. Even the Tequilas I tried were so smooth and just downright delicious. When my lunch bill came, I got a bill shock of the most pleasant kind - my salad and beer came to a few cents over $US10! I was even given a little card with an original recipe for the Salad. (Mexico night at my place when I get back!!!) Needless to say, I tipped really well.
The shopping was great - very cheap prices but easy to spend a lot of money. Exquisite quality Mexican leather and Silver for amazing prices, not to mention various flavours of Tequila. It was sad to see the poor donkeys painted to look like zebras (I can only imagine the amount of Tequila that was consumed by the amigos who decided that would be a great idea). Mind you, what was even sadder were the donkeys only half painted because they ran out of paint and couldn't afford to by more. Of course I had the obligatory dodgy tourist photos with them)
I rounded off my visit with the requisite couple of Tacos (which came with some weird little garnishes) and a bag of churros that I shared with my little tour group as we waited in line to reenter the US. Whilst I was waiting for my tacos, 3 locals came in to the restaurant and serenaded me with a classical Mexican string concerto. One of they guys handed me a wad of napkins at the end, which at first was to wipe down my face from the dusty heat, but I'm thinking in hindsight that it was to dry my non-existent tears for the sad song they had played for me. I guess that was somewhat lost in translation there.
Where we were able to just walk over the border into Mexico, going back the other way saw us waiting in line for 2 hours! At this time I got to meet my fellow travellers from my group in earnest - all Aussies! And even met this great couple from Gordonvale back home.
I was so exhausted when I got back to my hotel, once I had checked in with home, I was ready for sleep. I am hoping that I have finally worked out how to post photos within Blogger...here goes.
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