The strange 'zebras' and 'breast-mugs' of Tijuana...!
Written: Nov 28 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: good fresh bread! bargains to be had
Cons: umm...poverty.
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| kevlog's Full Review: Tijuana |
One of the obvious temptations of being in San Diego, so close to the Mexican border, is a trip to legendary Tijuana. My brother had warned ahead of time, saying things like “don’t bother”, and “you’ll leave there depressed,” but I wanted to see it for myself. Heck, I’d never been to Mexico! Tijuana has apparently catered to the the Southern California ‘under 21’ crowd for many years, since there is supposedly no drinking age to speak of , and some of my coworkers who visited at night confirmed this. Lots of 4 for 1 margarita specials, many ‘discos’ with many tipsy underage (well, not in Mexico) kids gyrating wildly on dance floors.
My only chance to see Tijuana came one afternoon when four women from my office (also attending the conference I was at) informed me that they had room in their rental car for one more after our meetings were through. There was the brass ring, dangling in front of me, screaming “Check it out, Check it out,” like a Tijuana street vendor trying to usher me into his store, so I grabbed it. Off we went!
We drove to San Ysidro, at the border, and parked in one of the many lots provided for those who don’t dare to drive their own cars across. Rumor has it that you might get rear-ended ‘by accident’ and end up getting tossed in jail for strange violations of bizarre Mexican laws. I’m sure these rumors are greatly exaggerated, but we opted for the shuttle bus. You pay seven dollars to park for the day, and $2.50 per person to take the bus to Avenida Revolucion, the hot tourist street in Tijuana.
One woman in our group, upon first seeing Tijuana, said “ it looks like the south side of Los Angeles”. I was personally reminded of my time living in Chile, as I looked at long dusty roads leading up into the mountains crowded with tin roofed shacks. Clearly poverty was rampant. Upon getting off the bus one is immediately accosted by children holding out hands, either selling ‘chicle’ (gum), necklaces, or nothing at all. I had planned ahead, filling my pocket with quarters, and couldn’t resist handing out every last one. One beautiful little girl was about my daughter’s age and I couldn’t resist giving her some change. A cab driver later told me that I was basically a sucker for doing this since the girl probably makes a bundle every day, but I found this hard to believe. There doesn’t appear to be a whole lot of industry in the city.
Some questions that popped into my head while in Tijuana:
Does that pony mind being painted to look like a zebra, and does he like all these silly tourists sitting on his/her back to have their pictures taken?
Do any of these cars have license plates, and if not , why?
How on earth can they fit THAT many people in one broken down, dented, cab, and why aren’t those Police pulling him over for driving like that? (Then I realized the Police were driving like that too!)
Is the Jai Alai building really the prettiest building in town? (I guess it is…and that’s not saying much! No offense to native Tijuanans but it’s just not a very pretty place!)
Why aren’t they carding people at these topless dancer shows? Oh, yeah, no rules. I’ll skip Anna Bananas thank you very much.
Is that ‘Herbie the Love Bug’ driving down the road? (lots of old VW Beetles!)
Is it really legal to sell gobs of Amoxicillin at all these 'farmacias' without prescriptions?
LUNCH
OK, maybe this wasn’t the swiftest move, but we went out for lunch in Tijuana and I ordered a steak sandwich. WE found a quaint little Mexican (of course) restaurant a couple blocks from our bus stop and went in, avoiding a ‘zebra’ as we walked in. The place was crowded with locals AND tourists so we figured it was a good sign. We had wonderful, hot, fresh bread (the best thing I experienced in Tijuana was this yummy bread) and I ordered a Dos Equis, wanting to avoid water at all costs. Then I ordered a steak sandwich. What am I nuts? It turned out to be quite tasty actually with a fancy horseradish sauce and minimal mystery gristle! We paid around 80 pesos for our sandwiches (four or five bucks if memory serves me) and brewskies, and thoroughly enjoyed the loud Mexican tunes blaring and the view of the tourists mounting the ‘zebra’ to have their pictures taken with huge sombreros. What a silly world we live in.
Another reason we had gone to Tijuana was to shop. This is the place for bargains galore, and I was able to use my dusty Spanish language skills AND my bartering skills (everyone barters in Tijuana for everything!) at the same time.
The fun things we bought in Tijuana and how much it all cost:
One woman in our group bought a nice silver ring for around five dollars, bartered down from fifteen. The man that sold it to her found out we were from Boston and happily chanted ‘Celtics, Celtics’ over and over again. Another woman bought a poncho for around five dollars. I bought a huge colorful tissue paper flower bouquet for my wife from an Indian woman for two dollars. This was especially fun to carry on the plane all the way back to Boston! But she’s worth it. I also bought a straw Western hat with a colorful Tijuana bandana on it (and the Corona trademark) for around six dollars. They threw in a tacky Tijuana coffee mug when I bought the hat! I managed to limbo under a surfboard that evening on the beach wearing this hat, but I’ll save that story for another time. I also bought my daughter some cute little Mexican dolls for around two dollars each. This would have been an especially nice Tijuana moment if the woman selling these dolls hadn’t decided to also try to sell me a beer mug shaped like a large woman’s breast. I opted not to get the anatomically correct mug in spite of her asking me “YOU LIKE?” as she waved it in my face. I stuck with the dolls.
In two hours in Tijuana I faced at least 100 very vocal salespeople, trying with all their might to get me to go into their shop, which oddly looked like the shop right before it and right after it….and the next four or five shops in fact! I found this all quite fascinating. How many irregular ‘Hard Rock Café, Tijuana’ T-shirts can you sell in a given day?
Well, after two and half hours we’d had enough. Our shopping bags were full of trinkets (oh, I also got a fine Tecate beer can refrigerator magnet for my beer can museum-see my website for more on the museum!- for around a dollar) We piled onto the bus and headed for the border. During an especially long and disconcerting wait at the border (they wouldn’t open the gate and our bus driver just shrugged and chuckled at our questions) we made it back to U.S. soil. We made a quick call via cell phone to our boss to tell him we were trapped in a Mexican prison but he didn’t fall for it. I stopped in the Duty Free Shop and bought my son a great tax-free Lego gift since I didn’t find him anything in Tijuana (he’s not old enough for the breast mug yet) and then we hit the freeway for the fifteen minute ride back to San Diego. I had a very different view of Tijuana that night from the beach at Coronado; beautiful mountains covered with a million twinkling lights, both the night and the distance hiding the city’s poverty. Strange contrast.
Thanks for reading! I suggest seeing Tijuana at least once if you have the chance. If you don’t go for the three-for-one margarita specials in the ‘discos’, then go for the bargains you’ll find in the shops along Revolution Avenue! You will see your share of things authentically Mexican! Or you can just go to see the zebras. You just don’t see zebras like this at the San Diego Zoo. ;-)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kevlog
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Member: Kevin
Location: Southeastern Massachusetts
Reviews written: 233
Trusted by: 284 members
About Me:
I am constantly overwhelmed with the richness of life.
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