Mexico

On Wednesday of my week in San Diego, I boarded a tour van for a day in Mexico.

The trip was a day tour through the Five Star tour company. The day began in the Santa Fe train depot. Four people from Thailand, two guys from the Netherlands, our guide Anna, and myself loaded into an eight passenger van and headed to the border.

The first stop was to get through border security, which with our experienced guide was fairly quick and painless. Suddenly, we were in Tijuana! It's a busy place, people and cars and bikes all over the place, getting to work or school. We took  a moment to get out and walk around a bit in one of the merchant streets. I tested my haggling skills and picked up a couple cheap souvenirs, including 2 postcards. One of the postcards I mailed from the hotel in Rosarito (where we stopped later in the afternoon). That postcard will reach its destination in a week or six months or maybe never. Who knows!

We made another small detour in an old mission turned restaurant called Califa. What a lovely building with an amazing view of the ocean!

After the photo ops, we got back in the van and drove further South to Puerto Nuevo. Here we had an amazing lobster lunch at Angel del Mer. It was a lot of food, including a margarita, and it was all delicious! We had a great view of the ocean from our tables.

 

When we'd stuffed ourselves with tasty lobster and tortillas, we had some time to explore or shop the stalls or walk around the small town. I bought a blue and yellow scarf, did my best to get through the gauntlet of medium-pressure sales people in their stalls, and bought some tequila ice cream from an ice cream shop.

Back in the van, we headed back up the coast for a stop at Rosarito Beach Hotel. An older hotel, popular with the rich and famous during Prohibition, it led straight out to an open beach, where I spent most of my time. I sipped margaritas, waded in the ocean waves, dug my toes in the sand, people-watched the kids there on spring break, and bought some cheap shirts from one of the shops.

When it was time to say goodbye to the beach, it was back into the van to head back into the States.