Lunch in Mexico
Trip Start
Jun 16, 2010
1
15
30
Trip End
Aug 23, 2010
Where I stayed
Yuma, Arizona
Monday, June 28, 2010
Hotel staff suggested I breakfast at a place called the Cottage. Its the kind of place my ex wife would have loved, I enjoyed my meal immensely, but it was a bit of a girly place for a lone guy to be eating. For the record ate chilaquiles, drank organic coffee. One of the best early meals of the trip so far. Spent a little more time exploring La Jolla. Found a church: Mary Star of the Sea and asked for safe passage today.
All up I am very impressed with La Jolla. Would love to come back, although its a very vanilla country club kind of town and might get boring after two days, that doesnt bother me at all. Its so beautiful, peaceful, just has a great vibe.
Checked out before 10, had a quick drive around San Diego. Went into downtown, parked up at a beach side area. Grabbed an ice cream and made plans for todays journey. Keen to make it to Arizona by days end with a visit to a Mexico for a couple of hours.
Tijuana out of the question. Not interested. Tecate was a possibility but maybe too small. Decided Mexicali would be the place. No problems getting out of town, traffic flowing smoothly. A hilly drive on the I-8 which pretty much ran parallel to the Mexican border. Now this is what I expected; dry, dusty, hot. And yet still so close to the ocean too.
About two hours out of San Diego and I was in Calexico. Small town on the border. I parked the car just off the main street, triple checked it was locked, and with my passport safely tucked away on my person walked the couple blocks up to the border crossing. Calexico seemed nice enough, but dull, I started to think maybe best to stay here instead, seeing Mexico looming ahead I was beginning to doubt if it was a smart idea to go. Sure, Mexicalis got a reputation, Americans are advised not to go to the border towns. But come one, little old ladies from Phoenix come here to get cheap dental work, if they have the guts I should be fine.
And you know what? I was fine. Lets me say though, Mexicali will not win any beautiful city awards. I have no idea the population but it was busy. People cars everywhere, it was dirty, it was industrial, real noisy and yep it pretty damn warm. I had a city map imprinted in my mind but as soon as I hit the town I was so assaulted by what I was seeing and hearing I couldnt figure out where I had planned to go. Theres plenty of definate no go areas here so you gotta be careful. Decided to stay real to the border, thought it ok to walk along a busy street for a few blocks and see what I find.
Literally two blocks from the border I found myself in a real interesting place. Part Chinatown/part red light district, there were a few gringos around so that made me feel more at ease. All the same I walked like I knew where I was going, looked at everything like I'd seen it a million times before. The reality was I was fascinated by my new surrounds and really wanted to stop and check it out. Went into a cafe, Petunia2 and had a great lunch. I ordered, en Espanol, I think I had tostada. Took the time to take the map out of my pocket and brush up on it again. Did a stupid thing when it came to paying, I didnt have any Pesos. Soon found out though that was no problem, Dollars are just fine thank you.
Leaving there I made my way to a big mall. The air conditioning was great. Here I just browsed through a book shop, got another bite to eat, lots of people watching. I know its strange to visit a new country for the first time and head to the mall, just not knowing the lay of the land in a city where gun battles are not uncommon I was happy to do something safe and easy.
Walked the handful of blocks back to the US. Stopped in at a bakery along the way for a great little treat. Eaten plenty today. Its great to use my very basic Spanish again, people seemed to understand me even with my apparently heavily accented Venezuelan twang. Long story, taught by a girl from Caracas.
Im not sure why, maybe heat, sun, dehydration, smog, travel, Mexican overload but I was getting a headache and starting to feel nauseus. Time to head back to the States. Got questioned a bit at the border, maybe I looked like I had taken some drugs? Was feeling like I had. They looked through my paperwork and I was happily let back in Calexico. Even happier to find my car where I left it.
Didnt muck around. Jumped in and started driving. Left the relative green of the farms and hit desert again. Sign said, Yuma, Arizona 20 miles. Being aware there was nothing past that town, decided that was where I was going stay the night. There is a river that divides California and Arizona. As soon as you cross it you are in Yuma. Very small town, once again not the most attractive place. Drove a few blocks, found a cheap clean motel and decided this was as good as anything.
I was shattered. Was so great though to get my room kick off the shoes and turn on the tv. Lay on the bed, made a cup of tea and I was set like that for the next 3 hours. It was a bit cooler when I went out to explore. Very Latino town, the Mexican border is on the outskirts of town so you can expect that. All up though most people I dealt with where Latino, heard very little English spoken. It seemed a working agricultural town, but I dont think there was much money flowing around. Not many people on the streets, downtown wasnt exactly vibrant with its vacant lots as well.
Tonight I went for a drive around the neighbourhoods, not big enough to get lost. There were a few places I thought maybe I shouldnt be driving around. Found a Domino's and that was dinner. Funnily enough I drove back across the river, wasnt quite ready to leave California behind. I found a big vacant parking area that overlooked the river, sat and ate my pizza there, listening to local Spanish radio. At one point I thought to myself, 'dusk in a secluded car park, im alone, no one knows Im even here, I could really find myself in a dangerous situation should the wrong person come by'. Thought better of it, enjoyed the rest of my meal, had a last walk on CA soil down to the rivers edge to skim rocks. Reflected on all id seen today, started off in the seaside luxury of La Jolla and now in desert on the very edge of the US. Back to the car and short drive back to Arizona and the motel.
Once again, damn good sleep.
