Hey Amigo! We're off to Tijuana, MEXICO!
Trip Start
Apr 18, 2008
1
6
20
Trip End
Jul 2008
Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Anyway our drive on the freeway was an experience in itself! Still trying to decide now - shakily - if American or Vietnam drivers are worse. We've now experienced the full engine rev power of a mini bus - yes they can accelerate and drive quite fast!!!!! The full steering capacities of a mini bus were proven! It could weave in and out of the tightest gaps in traffic! And its superb braking ability from fast speeds to a halt in about 5 metres flat! Quite funny to think about now, but a little freaky at time! But it seemed to be normal driving for the local Californians on the freeway! Probably conclude that Americans slightly are better than the Vietnamese - at least they have functioning traffic lights! LOL!
On the way down a mother and her teenage daughter on the bus started arguing. It turned out that the daughter had forgotten her passport! A necessity for the day! The mother was obviously very annoyed, and we did feel sorry for them as it was not going to be an exciting day sitting at the border, until it was time to leave again!!!
We finally got to Mexico border, where our tour bus and driver had to wait on the USA side. We were told strictly be back by 5 pm or the bus will leave with out you!!! We boarded a Mexican bus and went over the border. A very easy process, they didn't even stop us to check our passports or anything! Which was good, as the mother and daughter had now decided to see what happened and still cross the border with only one passport and just a student card for the daughter! Crazy!
Tijuana - what a colourful place (clothes, pictures etc all in bright colours), and probably what you imagine in your mind about a Mexican city perhaps! Dry place, sandy, relatively warm and sunny. The main street - Av Revolution - was very catered for tourists, perhaps a little over the tops in some stretches! Many shops all selling pretty much the same souvenirs, but still interesting souvenirs including very colourful blankets, ponchos, local made pottery and kitchenware in lovely bright colours, alligator, ostrich and other leather skin wallets, fancy boots, belts, legal and illegal knives! Sombreros, bright clothes, etc etc!
They call out to you 'Amigo, amigo' and compete with each other to try and get you to enter their shops, where you need to haggle the price as it starts out highly inflated and then its basically who is the smartest haggler will pay the most reasonable price. Some of the dumber tourists will just pay the first price and the Mexicans then hope you will all do that. An example being a blanket that retails for around $20 dollars if you go to a couple of shops - but the first price they offer you will be anywhere between $50 and $80, depending on how easy they think it will be to gipp you off. But saying that some of the shops are more realistic and fairer and do not try and gipp you off, and are more interested in what has brought you to visit their country. They were quite intrigued by us Aussies, being there as they are not an overly regularly visitor. Reminded us a quite a bit of Asia with the haggling and selling techniques, maybe even to the point where the Mexicans were even a little more aggressive with it.
We got photos taken on the local tourist attraction that they have one sat every couple of hundred metres! It was a 'cross between a donkey and a zebra' basically looking like a little donkey with stripes on it! The guy, who yes we had paid to have our photo taken on it - (like some attractions in Asia), told us to both sit on the saddle on the donkey. I was worried with both of us well built Aussies sitting on the donkey that we might break it, but it didn't seem to be fussed with all the weight on it. SO anyway our cute looking donkey, zebra was friendly, but we weren't convinced about its genes. Simon was even sure that he could see regrowth on the stripes! We asked the guy and a couple of shop owners whether it was really crossed with a zebra - I mean we've never heard of zebra's in Mexico!!! But they were all smiling but still serious that it was a donkey zebra! And adamant to their claim of authenticity! Finally we found another shop owner, one that wasn't so annoying LOL, and he admitted that once upon a time they had had a zebra crossed with a donkey, but that died, and now they all donkeys with stripes painted on them. Well they still looked good and pretty realistic painting!
We got a good buy from someone who didn't annoy us as much as some of the others, but annoyed a few Mexicans in the process as we wouldn't be sucked into buying some of the ridiculous stuff they were trying to see us like illegal knives, or inflated ++ price wallets - that the next shop would sell for half the price. We got an awesome, very bright and colourful Mexican blanket, and the mandatory magnet. It was very interesting in the city as one of the other very common shops that you also read about in the paper that was present was the Pharmacy! Very cheap medications sold!! Apparently very popular as well for the Americans to do a day trip over to pick up medications. A big one they were selling for cheap was Viagra!!! Lol Liquor shops also very popular and it really is very cheap over here!!!! Big litre bottle of spirits are about $10!!! Kahlua which I didn't realise was Mexican was also another cheapie and big seller! And also Corona's which I also hadn't realised was Mexican was dirt cheap compared to what we pay in Australia. It is about $0.75cents a bottle!!!
We had lunch there which was an experience in its self we couldn't decide where to go (or where was less likely to give you a stomach upset LOL) - as everyone wants you to have lunch at their restaurant. We eventually choose a place on a second storey balcony - with a big sign promoting Tijuana as 'the world's most visited city'. Umm not sure about that claim to fame!!! LOL Had an interesting Mexican selection, which was ok and they were also having a two for one drink special so I became tipsy! Hehe! On 2 yummy strawberry margarita's and Simon had 2 corona's for $0.75cents (can't get over that one!). Then to top it off, they have waiters that come around for tequila shot Mexican style! That is they blow a whistle, tip a tequila bottle into your mouth and keep pouring till they run out of air to blow the whistle or your mouth's full! Then you swallow and then the waiter rubs your head, smacks the back of your head (not to hard) and taps your shoulder! Interesting! But if they think you like it to much they keep bugging you for shots - not good for me LOL and adds up quickly as they charge you ++ and want a tip for how good they pour it. But a fun experience the first time! You also have smart Mexicans in suits coming up while you're eating that keep wanting to serenade you with trumpets and accordions. (For a generous tip) great the first time but annoying after the fifth one comes and wants to play for you as well!
Anyway it was an interesting day in Mexico, and a good experience to see what one part of Mexico was about!
So it was all fine and dandy until we went to go and board the Mexico coach back to the border that left on the half hour! We thought if we got it at 4:30pm for the 10 minute drive back to the USA border side to meet our tour coach we would definitely have time to get back by 5pm! We began to feel a bit anxious when we went to the bus station and there was no one there and more importantly no one else from our tour bus there! Ahh! So we went and asked where the bus was? The 4:30 bus had left at just after 4pm because they had filled it up already! Ahh! Feeling stressed now! So when was the next bus? Not til 5pm! So now we felt panicky - I said right lets run and get a taxi we need to meet our tour bus at 5pm! And the guy started saying 'no good' at us, by which point we are really feeling shit! The guy said you get a taxi, they won't take you over the border and you will have to wait for hours probably with all the other Mexican pedestrians walking across the border! Oh gosh! We felt we were going to get stuck in Mexico and continually have to decline the serenades for a long time! Really panicking and beginning to carry on. They said just wait for the next bus, and didn't seem to get our urgency straight away.
I was annoyed the bus left early 4:10 instead of 4:30 apparently, so there fore was not reliable, which is why we were stuck now. Eventually one of the young very nice Mexican men got the drift, and thankfully said he would take a bus in now as there were more people waiting - but it was already 4:45pm by now! We jumped on the bus, up right next to the bus driver to find out the go with the border. He said depends how many other coaches are in the queue at the crossing and on the bus check being smooth and all the other passengers on the coach getting through easily, so he can take us to the border car park.
When we got to the border I understood now why the border crossing took so long. Literally 10 lanes of traffic and a massive long line of pedestrians waiting to walk through. We hadn't seen the crossing when we went through, so had no idea that it was this busy! And especially because when we went through to Mexico we weren't even checked! We asked the driver who thought it was funny he said 'everyone wants to go to the USA, who cares who comes to Mexico?' Anyway, so luckily there was only one other bus ahead of us in the bus queue who was having its engine bay and underneath bus inspected by USA officials (very thorough inspection!!!) but by this point it was 4:55pm. Totally scared we were still going to be left at the border point, which was really in the middle of whoop whoop! I rang the emergency number for our tour company - figuring being left behind in Mexico did count as an emergency for us that day! Begging the girl to ring our tour guide to let him know we were at the border and hopefully not to far off!!! She said he would wait a little bit, maybe an extra 15 minutes but then he had to go! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
We raced off the bus and into the border control formalities, and so luckily they only questioned us briefly on why we went to Mexico and then we were out! But then we had to wait for everyone else! We all got through, the Mexican knowing our urgency then did a great job earning himself a good tip in manoeuvring the big coach through heavy traffic to get a fast route to the border car park! At the car park and it was now 5:25pm, majorly thankfully our groovy tour driver 'Papi' was still waiting - boy were we grateful, he pretended to cuff us around the ears and told us to 'move along faster'. Before we had jumped off the Mexican bus, the driver told us that we were very lucky to have got through so fast, because he is normally there waiting an hour to hour and a half not 30 minutes! Very Lucky! Thank God! Anyway we made it!
We had an uneventful drive back and very generously tipped Papi for taking us back to Hollywood!!! We did notice some of the tourists on the bus did not tip the driver- yes his driving wasn't great, but his manner was friendly. They had a sign in the bus about tipping in America and how it is expected as it is what makes up to person's daily wage in some jobs and Papi had driven us there then had to wait in the bus for a number of hours in car park(how boring!) for us then drive back. We thought it was really rude of some of the older tourists - who should know better! Not to tip him anything in a country where tipping is expected! The mother and daughter we noticed also tipped generously after their own little drama that dayJ!
The mother and daughter had also made it back on the bus - surprise surprise!!! We asked what happened and they said they left very early cause they were a bit apprehensive about what would happen. Anyway they got hauled over by USA officials in a big way, and only eventually go through, because they had an expired passport of the girl on the system - but she wasn't to repeat that again without a passport! Lucky too!
Our Mexico experience was interesting and we saw a brief glimpse of another country and culture, just got a bit stressful at the end, I think that in future the tour company should warn people about needing to allow at least an hour to get through the border and warn you that Mexican coaches don't always run on their schedule!!!
That night we went to the complex across the road from our hostel, to check out sites such as the famous Graumann's Chinese Theatre, Kodak theatre - where they have the Golden Oscar awards and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
