If you get the opportunity to go to Tijuana, don’t. Well, not unless you know what you want and you know you can get it in TJ. Tijuana is one of those very odd creations of our modern world, the product of the juxtaposition of one of the wealthiest nations on earth (that loves to restrict civil liberties unnecessarily) and well, México. The Mexicans I’ve mentioned TJ to always respond with ‘No es México’. All right, so if you’re not going to take responsibility for it, who will?
But in any case, you can take the light rail from downtown SD to the border, and walk across the border. To cross the border, you literally walk through some gates. There’s a button you can press if you want to. It makes a light turn green. The light is unrelated to the gates. Welcome to México.
Update: You’re supposed to get a ‘Tourist Card‘ if you’re going farther than the border towns. Whoops.
Update 2: Leaving México without a ‘tourist card’… they hand you a document saying you lost it, you sign it (asking unnecessary questions is not recommended), they stamp it, then let you go. It appears it’s a relatively common occurrence.
Immediately upon crossing the border, there’s an army of taxicabs looking for gringos. I managed to doge them all and busted out the 15 min walk to the Avenida Revoluncíon, saying ‘No gracias’ every 10-12 paces. Then it gets worse. Every second guy on street is trying to get you to buy Viagra, pour tequila down your throat, get a girl (or two), and he’s definitely got your drug of choice. They’ve got the one-two punch method down, where the first guy tries to get you to buy a watch, or a beer, and before he’s done, the second guy will join in – but he one-ups the deal – he’s got girls and cocaine. Anyway, I found a good bar up above the street where I got some really, really bad tacos, some coronas and a shot of bad tequila (the bad tequila is free with your order of bad tacos). And I snapped some pictures of the street…. the burnt out disco in the second one, with the ‘Se Renta’ sign on it, captures the essence of TJ nicely.
I didn’t stay in Tijuana, I got a cab over to the central bus station and started the 24-hour adventure that is the Mexican bus….