As I was downloading holiday photos from the camera, I realized our external hard drive wasn't working. I had a computer guy try to restore the hard drive to the tune of $50, but it will cost 10 to 40 times that to recover the data. I think I have enough copies of photos stored on the internet to forego that expense at this time. Good-bye also to a lot of my teaching notes that were in disarray also. Those can be recreated again, if ever needed.
But get ready for more photos on this blog...
Just before the boys went back to school, we visited Tijuana, Mexico. Since we are just 20 minutes from the border and our passports expire in a few months, we decided to make a quick jaunt. There is a pedestrian bridge available to walk from San Ysidro, CA, to Tijuana, Mexico. This allows you to visit without obtaining Mexican car insurance.
I had done a little research online about visiting, but not enough. Neither had the two boys. We blindly walked into a foreign country, assuming that we'd be able to figure our way around, but even right at the beginning of our journey we were turned around by an armed security guard. (We tried to go in the out tunnel.)
We were not prepared for the poverty we encountered on the other side, even though we had been warned that it is "dangerous" to visit. In fact, active duty service members have to obtain permission from their superiors in order to cross the border. I thought that the Tijuana side would be similar to San Ysidro, which is no model of affluence. We thought we might walk the mile from the border to downtown, but quickly realized that it wasn't safe to wander. We instead jumped into one of the cabs lined up for other pedestrians to take us downtown. The cab had no seatbelts, and the driver apparently thought road signs and the lines on the street were suggestions. I again wished I had spent some time in a Spanish class - and had made my boys practice their language skills more.
Downtown was only a slight bit less intimidating to navigate. I'm not sure why we didn't think to consult a map before leaving. Or to figure out the exchange rate. I assumed I could use a credit card for lunch, but quickly realized we'd need cash, so my son exchanged a $20, which got us through lunch and bought some sweets, a little pottery salsa dish, and an ornament of the Sacred Heart with a 100 pesos note left over. I contemplated buying a baby Jesus with eyelashes and babydoll eyes, but the boys thought they were scary. I also could have spent more time at the gaudy religious shops outside the church, but none of us felt like lingering long.
Our two tourist stops were at a small historical museum, which primarily featured pictures and the history of one individual who helped found Tijuana. I can't remember his name. It was free, but we were the only people there. We strolled through a market where we bought the sweets, and then we visited the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. We did not stop for a massage being offered on the front step. Nor, to my regret, did we stay for the noon Mass which was starting in 15 minutes, primarily because we were all a little anxious about getting back home before the kids got out of school. (I had left the baby with the high schoolers who had the day off for a teacher grading day after finals.)
Instead, after a quick prayer, we found a little taqueria for lunch, where we all had horchata. I had a big tortas, one son had a big multi-layer quesadilla con carne, and the other had 3 tacos. Additionally, he bought two tacos for a guy who told us his story about being deported. He did have good English, but I was worried that he would not move on. All of that food was less than $8 dollars. And although the meat was greasy, the food was flavorful and filling.
We had no trouble catching another cab and getting through customs on the way home, although I had heard that re-entry could take some time. There was a long line of people lined up at the guard's shack to cross over the bridge, but they were being detained by more security with guns. Later, I read that a lot of Haitians have been trying to cross into America via this border, and I wondered if this group might have been a group of refugees from Haiti.
The money I could have spent on data recovery services would buy many much needed meals for across the border.
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| The pedestrian gateway |
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| Brothers in Tijuana |
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| Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tijuana |
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| Roaming the streets |
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| Lunch |
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| Creative transport on this side of the border. |
