This is a bit of an epic post, but Tijuana is a bit of an epic place. It is all so big and heavy. I have just barely scratched the surface. Our friend that we stayed with has a blog about living there.
We traveled up Baja through miles and mile of this type of landscape .
This is the first of 6 military checkpoints that we had to stop at. They just chose a few random suitcases to go through, then showed the crowd pictures of things: drugs weapons etc. that they have gotten at that particular checkpoint. I got reprimanded for taking this picture, but he didn’t make me erase it.
At about 2 in the morning they made a bunch of people, including Matthew get off and frisked them. Mikko and I were sleeping like babies, so missed the whole thing.
When we woke up the ocean was right outside and the hillsides were covered with wild flowers.
Jesus was there to welcome us at some point. He’s such a nice guy.
I was very attracted to the dashboard of our bus.
It was much colder, so far north, than we were used to. (Mikko was still a little sick too.)
We were greeted, at our friends’ house by their nine month old Chihuahua, Xoloitzcuintle, Xolito for short. He was a sweet companion, when he wasn’t humping your arm.
Our friends live less then a block from the beach, about 5 or 6 blocks from the border.
This fence runs all the way along the border, so basically is the northern border of Tijuana.
This was a park that represented the friendship between Mexico and the US. They started building the fence just before NAFTA, long before 9/11. The powers that be knew how NAFTA would trash the Mexican economy and that people would be coming north to look for work - so we had to be sure to lock them out.
Families used to picnic on either side of the fence. There were always vendors on the Mexican side selling delicious things, so people would pass food through this hole to the US side where they were miles from a McDonalds. La Migra closed the hole though. There is no one on the US side anymore, except immigration police watching the fence.
The wall has become a site for a lot of art. This shows how once the wall was built and the doors were locked it forced people to risk their lives crossing the desert.
On a lighter note- we went to a soccer game on Sunday. The Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente. (Xoloitzcuintle, is that crazy looking Aztec, hairless dog, BTW.) This is a shot of their fans. They were as loud and rowdy as the Timbers Army in Portland.
And one crazy Mexican hotdog. The Xoloitzcuintle colors are red and black which is why the hotdog comes in a red tortilla, of course.
Unfortunately, they lost. Which was a big deal - I blame myself. Generally when I go to a Timbers game their winning streaks come to a halt too. Sorry.
Another picture I wasn’t supposed to take - so I’m posting it even though it doesn’t really show anything. According to Lynn, the new soccer stadium and everything around is owned by the ex mayor of Tijuana. Including his own private zoo, pictured here. (We could hear lions getting intimate, I believe.)
On Monday we planned to go to some museums to see some artwork of a friend and just generally do some touristy things. Little did we know it was the official holiday celebrating the nationalization of oil, so everything was closed. We saw some pretty park benches though.
The next day we ventured across the border to do a little shopping. I guess I wasn’t supposed to get this picture either.
Ah the beautiful US of A.
And a good ol’ American hotdog.
We found good sushi in Tijuana the next day.
And dropped by a workers’ rights office.
So nice to be around some radical politics, after the ultra conservative GTO.
Though why peace, workers rights and the environment are radical is a mystery to me. (Actually, unfortunately it isn’t a mystery, just a travesty.)
Then on Wednesday we got a ride to the airport, past our last glimpse of the wall, and the art on it. Each cross represents someone who has died making the crossing. At this point more people have died than in 9/11 or US casualties in the Iraq war, since the wall was built.
