1998/9 Baja, Mexico / California Trip

We ate breakfast around 7:30 in Chilla Vista and then started looking for the AAA office on Telegraph Canyon Rd. This is right off the highway in a strip mall. While we waited for AAA to open we stopped at a Rite Aid and a bank for money for last minute necessities. AAA opened at 9:00 and we went in to pay for insurance and get some more maps. After deciding how much insurance we needed the agent gave us a daily rate of $13. She needed to know the exact time we would be crossing the border, which was only about 10 minutes away, and what date we planned to return to the states. This kind of insurance is sold in 24 hour increments. We planned on being in Mexico for 9 or 10 days. We paid $130 dollars for 10 days of insurance. with the Grupo Nacional Provincial, which seemed rather expensive but was worth it considering US auto insurance is not valid in Mexico. I suggest you look into insurance for one full year if you will be down there for two weeks or longer. The AAA agent said their office did not sell insurance on a yearly basis, but when we got past the border we might check with Lloyds of London about yearly rates. They were also out of tourist cards which was the other thing we needed. Now we would have to stop at either Ensenada or Tijuana to fill out the paper work.

The weather seemed cold for down here but it was still clear sky. We crossed the Mexican/US border at 9:50 am without any problems as they don't even stop you. Tijuana, founded in the late 1800's, is a relatively young town in comparison to most of Baja. The land around Tijuana was originally a cattle ranch. A customs house was placed on the outskirts of the ranch, beings it was so close to the border and this is how the town got started. Downtown Tijuana was not as busy today as it was last time we were here a couple months ago. It may have just been the difference between a Monday and a Saturday as all the families come shopping on the weekends. It seems like every corner has a car repair shop and a doctor or dentist 'who speaks English' as their signs will tell you. This is a city of contrasts; skyscrapers and small one story homes, department stores and street vendors, paved streets and dirt streets.

Our first stop was a park by the name of 'Parque Teniente Vicente Guerrero' to let the kids play on the swings and slides with the Mexican kids and get used to the different culture. They didn't seem to have a problem and we explained that little Mexican kids would be looking at them out of curiosity and for no other reason. We then drove by the large cemetery in town and explained to the kids about how they celebrate death down here. We took some streets and showed the kids how they lived in Tijuana and that they also played stick ball in streets as there were no fields to play in. We explained that some houses did not have roofs and some refrigerators would be outside rather than in the house. At one point we expressed to the kids that there didn't seem to be any fighting in the streets. We explained that Mexicans were content with their life style and did not need materialistic items and family was most important to them. We parked and walked around town for some time as we needed to exchange $ into Pesos and went into the stores and bought some candy for the kids. We got smart this time and exchanged our money at a 'Casa de Cambio.' which is much faster than a bank. The exchange rate is 10 Pesos to 1 US Dollar. The kids are used to the big city (i.e. Seattle) back home, but had never been in a city where stop lights are not necessarily adhered to. They learned real quick to stay close to mom and dad. We went into a shopping mall where 90% of what they sold were shoes. I mean this was two floors of many small stores selling only shoes. After finally looking at some other small shops in town we decided to get going south

We left Tijuana at 12:00 and it was now overcast. We took Highway 1d?? and paid the 16 Pesos toll fee to use their new highway. We didn't stay on it long as we wanted to use the old highway that went past the small towns and resorts. We drove through Rosarito where they filmed the movie 'Titanic'. This town has become very touristy since then as it is one big strip that comes to the end at the shore with two large hotels overlooking the water. It's clean and nice but just too touristy for us. We drove the strip and then went back to the old highway. We continued to drive through past several resort areas and small village of Popotla that had many small stores selling pottery. We did stop at Hotel Calafia which was a nice resort hotel with buildings dating back to 1773, gardens, restaurant, cafe and wedding gazebo. It was well kept up and had a nice view of the ocean from the outside deck of either the restaurant or rooms. It is located right next to the new Century Fox Studios.

Ensenada would be our next stop around 2:00. The first place we wanted to find was the Immigration Office. They informed us at the tourist office that the Immigration Office closed for the holidays and we will have to go back to Tijuana for tourist cards. We told them that AAA informed us we could come here, but they said that there was nothing they could do. They usually don't ask for the tourist card unless you have been in a accident or go to southern Baja. I was pissed because I knew we would have to go back. We ate lunch first at a taco bar right off the fishing docks at the market. It reminded me of Pike Place back in Seattle. One side of this alley was a fish market and the other side had about seven restaurants that all appeared to serve the same specialty: seafood tacos. The only thing that set each apart was their presentation (each had different shaped bowls of condiments for the tacos and different colored tablecloths, etc.). The tacos were quite good and the condiments included: limes, fresh cabbage, sour cream, and several kinds of salsas. The waitress didn't speak English and we didn't speak Spanish. It was difficult to order with such a language barrier and no menu to point to. We tried to get two spoons for Dale's Seven Seas Soup, but we accidentally ordered an extra soup which the waitress gladly took back. The bill came to $11 for all of us which was very cheap. Shawna wouldn't eat her fish tacos and needed to use the bathroom. We had a terrible time finding a public bathroom in the area.

We drove back to Tijuana, leaving around 3:00. We got into Tijuana around 4:30, just before sunset. We waited almost an hour to get through the custom's traffic, then we had to turn around and pull into a parking spot. We had to ask people where we had to go to a tourist card. The Immigration Office was though a swivel door and into a small office where we found two men. One man who was blowing smoke into our face took down the information. He asked for our birth certificates but did not look at them. He issued a card for each person and said that they were good for 180 days. Always get your tourist card in Tijuana so you won't have to drive back. We got back to Ensenada around 7:00 and found a room at the Pancho Motel for $20. No heat or hot water, but that was OK with me. We ate dinner at a Mexican seafood restaurant where they had good food and service. We went back to the hotel and went to sleep around 9:00.

Drove 250 miles today. 1550 total