Our first son stays in San Diego California, U.S.A and despite multiple trips to San Diego we were not able to go to Mexico whose border was within a stone's throw.
Finally, in September 2023 we could make a trip to Tijuana, a city in Mexico less than 20 miles from San Diego
Tijuana is the gateway to the tourist corridor of Baja California spelled Bah hah California. Recognized as one of the world's most visited cities, with more than 40 million border crossings each year, Tijuana is an energetic hub of activity day and night.
For a day tour to Tijuana from San Diego, May through September is the most popular time to visit. The weather is warm and there is a minimal chance of rain.
We chose to take a day tour conducted by West, we were asked to get our passports, wear comfortable shoes and a hat and bring along a good appetite too! as we would be fed the whole day yummy Mexican food.
We were taken to the border area where we filled the forms for Mexico visitor’s permit, our handbags and passports screened and pronto we had crossed the border and entered Mexico
We had a glimpse of the dome shaped Tijuana Cultural Center, which is the city icon, with its striking architecture standing out among the other Tijuana buildings. Inside an exhibition about Baja California, an aquarium and a botanical garden can be seen. There are also several international art exhibitions held each year.
We also saw from a distance the scissors like structure A La Raza monument erected in honor of freedom fighters
We were first taken by West to Mercado Hidalgo local market, it is a wonderful destination if one wants a taste of local shopping, I was reminded of our Begum Bazaar and General Bazaar in Hyderabad, India, it was filled with exotic fresh and packaged goods, a wide assortment of pottery, chalk ware, pinatas and candies.
We had breakfast comprising of Tamales a traditional Mexican dish made with a corn- based dough mixture filled with various meats or beans and cheese, West asked our preference of meat which was chicken.
Our tamales were wrapped and cooked in corn husks and banana leaves, but they were removed from the husks before being served.
We got them served with pico de gallo a popular Mexican salsa traditionally made with tomato and onion, with fresh cilantro and a generous squeeze of lime juice on top along with guacamole and rice, Guacamole is an avocado-based dip, spread, or salad first developed in Mexico. In addition to its use in modern Mexican cuisine, it has become part of international cuisine as a dip, condiment and salad ingredient.
We strolled through all the stalls, I was astounded at the wide variety of chillies of various sizes and colors, vegetables and fruits were also very varied, as it was hot we had coconut water which was deliciously sweet and across the stall we saw a woman skillfully remove the thorns from a prickly cactus - a local delicacy.
The restrooms were clean, we had to pay 3 pesos to use them, we had changed a small currency to pesos luckily, however dollars are accepted in the shops.
There were very attractive Cartoneria or papier-mache three dimensional sculptures a traditional handcraft in Mexico.
The paper and cardboard used is mostly wastepaper, such as old newspapers and boxes, with decorative elements. Most shapes are created with molds, then painted with acrylics.
Most of the production since colonial times has followed the annual calendar of religious and civic events, like figures of horses with wheels for Epiphany, figures of Judas to burn for Holy Saturday, parrots for May and clowns for June, traditional figures include ponies, clowns and dolls with movable legs and arms.
The shops had many colorful pinata containers, mostly made of papier-mâché, pottery, or cloth, these are decorated, filled with candy and then broken as part of a celebration and are commonly associated with Mexico.
They are most traditional for the Christmas season, pinata came to Mexico from Europe during the colonial period, although the practice of breaking a container with treats inside originated in Asia.
We saw everywhere tissue paper streamers hung over in the streets called Papel Picaldo giving a very festive look
West led us to a candy shop and treated us to tasty cheese and colorful candy which was blended with chilli , the taste was good though different , most Mexicans like their candy blended with chilli, tamarind or lime
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Our next stop was Playas de Tijuana, where we saw the border wall, it was very touching to see the wall and its impact on lives of people in Mexico and the U.S.
The border was called the Tortilla wall, a term given to a 14-mile section of United States border fence between the Otay Mesa Border crossing in San Diego, California and the Pacific Ocean. This "San Diego wall" was completed in the early 1990s.
While there are other walls at various points along the border, the Tortilla Wall is the longest to date. As no other wall sections have any distinct names, Tortilla Wall is often used to describe the entire set of walled defensive structures.
The Tortilla Wall was marked with graffiti, crosses, photos, pictures and remembrances of migrants who died trying to illegally enter the United States.
The building of the Tortilla Wall is considered by Mexicans to be an unfriendly gesture by US government and a symbol of the controversial immigration issue. It is generally felt that the wall forces illegal border crossings to be moved to the more dangerous area of the Arizona desert. I took a snap standing on the border of USA and Mexico
There was a friendship park with few statues of dolphins and flags, there were rest rooms and access to the beach, the wall looked very easy to cross provided one knew swimming, but our guide told us that many Mexicans attempt it regularly but are detected by the police manning the watch towers and the patrolling forces and sent back .
Until 1994, there was only a simple barbed wire fence, and Americans and Mexicans could meet on the border under the supervision of the U.S. Border Patrol. Various social events would take place in this park, like yoga classes, religious services, weddings, dances and baptisms, but this was stopped.
Tunnels under the wall are still a common way for Mexicans to illegally cross the border. Some tunnels are quite sophisticated, one was a half mile long and included a concrete floor and had electricity. Other tunnels had steel rails, while some tunnels were simply dirt passageways or connect to sewer or drain systems.
As a stunt, a circus cannon was placed on the south side of the wall and an acrobat blasted over the wall into the Border Field State Park in the U.S luckily, he had his passport and was promptly sent back to Mexico.
Mexico’s gastronomy is famous, cuisine includes traditional ingredients, from corn, beans, peppers and tomato to more exotic components such as crickets. We were strolling around when we happened to see a man holding some food items in 2 wicker baskets, we were wondering what they could be when West came to us and asked us if we wanted to try the local delicacies, our friends from Poland sportively tried them and found that they were eating the crickets, they said they were crunchy, other stuff were fried cockroaches.
We made our way south to Rosarito for lunch at EL Nido restaurant, it was a beautiful and exotic place of stone, decorated with rusted farm and musical instruments
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Background had a small gentle waterfall with tropical plants and folk art all blended in an eclectic delightful mix, it was opened in 1971 and is family owned.
We had a leisurely Mexican feast, the Mexicans who were serving us were very friendly and young, a middle-aged woman stood to one side making fresh tortillas, we tried making them too, it was very much like making a chapati.
.Right next to the restaurant was a crafts market with stalls having Mexican crafts and gift items and souvenirs, we spent some time doing window shopping, bargaining was allowed and it was a delight to watch the pretty children helping their parents with the shops
We then continued our journey further south along the coast of Baja California to Puerto Nuevo. Here, West took us to a place where artists created beautiful art with straws of different colors and bees wax, a historical technique, and they also prepared us a special coffee
A boy there frosted rims of 2 cups with sugar, passed it through the fire, gilding the edge little by little, then the tequila and the coffee liqueur were added tilting the cup a little towards the fire so that the liqueur began to flame, finally he dusted with cinnamon ,the end product was very tasty but tepid ,my hubby was amused as he knew I like to drink my coffee piping hot
We then were taken to a Tequila shop where we had a taste of the Tequila the well-known Mexican spirit made from agave. In 1974 “Tequila” became the Intellectual Property of Mexico, Tequila distillers have a stringent set of rules they must abide by. Those include ensuring that each bottle is made in the proper location, from the correct ingredients and aged for just the right amount of time.
From there we stopped at a beach which had many restaurants famous for fresh lobsters, usually served with shrimp and fish, rice, beans, and tortillas.
Above the town of El Morro, six miles south of the city of Rosarito , we saw a statue situated directly across the highway, it was a massive 75 feet high figure of the Christ of the Sacred Heart
The statue weighed 40 tons and was commissioned by Antonio Pequeno Guerrero. The head, chest and arms are made of steel and the lower body of fiberglass. The summit on which it sits used to feature a small cross at which locals used to place flowers on holy days.
From the summit we had awesome views of the coastline of Puerto Nuevo, the wind was so fierce that we had to take care not to blown away down the cliff side.
Our last stop was in the old town, Avenida Revolucion which mainly rose to fame during the prohibition years in the United States when people flocked there to drink freely. It is a popular haunt for tourists, with restaurants, food stalls, and craft shops vying with one another for attention of tourists.
It is a main thoroughfare of the historic downtown of Tijuana and is officially called the Zona Centro
Avenida Revolucion is known as the business card of Tijuana and presumably "The most visited city in the world". It is known for its famous cantinas, including "La Ballena", the largest bar in the world.
There we saw the Caesar hotel which stands out for the famous Caesar salad invented by Caesar Cardini, the Italian-American proprietor of the Hotel Caesar
We strolled down the long avenue and learnt that it had table dance bars to numerous dance clubs and art galleries. A popular tourist attraction there is taking a picture with a zonkey, a donkey painted to look like a zebra.
We also saw the famous Hotel Nelson where guitarist/Singer Santana began his early roots in music. We saw the Sodoma night club from outside, it is a gay night club with drag shows, go-go boys and dance floors.
A tall shining metallic arch rose above the busy streets and rolling hills of Tijuana, Baja California, we were in fact shown it from San Diego itself, it was Mexico’s westernmost city icon to welcome visitors and to symbolize its modernity.
Officially the arch is known as the Reloj Monumental de Tijuana (Tijuana Monumental Clock). The arch has been controversial since its construction but has also become one of the city’s most important symbols of the 21st Century.
We then had tasty tacos a Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn and wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling, we were sitting right in the kitchen, the busy kitchen workers were churning out the tacos at jet speed, again I was reminded of our popular Gokul chat in Koti.
West told us that Tijuana is in recent years fully equipped with the latest in medical technology and many people recognize it as a reputable place for things like bariatric surgery and dental procedures. In fact, it's currently the top spot for medical tourism in North America.
Our tour guide, West was able to tell us something about everything. Everywhere we went he seemed to know some local person by name making it very convenient for us like snack and tequila tastings in the local markets etc. He was very friendly and knowledgeable, he never tired the whole day, he took and provided us with plenty of photos and videos from our tour, he treated the locals with compassion and care, even animals got his love, I observed him giving water to a thirsty dog
We finally drove back to San Diego across the border, we expected a long waiting period but we could clear in an hour and were safely at home, we loved this one-day tour to Mexico though it was quite tiring.
