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What is Tijuana?Why do you live in Tijuana if you're an American citizen? What is the expense? What is the Language? What is the Culture? Would you care to Elaborate? Well... NARRATIVE BLAbel from Michael and Danial:
All our life, Mexico has been calling us south into wonder, fear, and delight. This stepsister city, Tijuana Cinderella, forms the tip of a tropical iceberg, her head lifted up into the American desert. Michael: In 1999 I answered an old dream, and moved here. Daniel: And I soon followed. At first it was 1) to improve our grasp of Spanish by constant immersion in a cultural milieu where that language is the dominant, not subordinate, tongue; and 2) to learn and participate in Mexican culture on our coastal frontier. Or, at least, so we believed. Then we began to make friends. Like Frost's road less traveled, that emotional attachment has made all the difference. It doesn't hurt that all our parents and family (except for each other) are only thirty some kilometers away in San Diego. It helps. The value of family is one VERY Important Thing we have learned from Mexico. Now (2000-2003) we wish to share some of what we have learned. So we have written these pages to help other people see, understand, and hopefully VISIT, this fascinating, curious, and intense city. |
¿Hola Isabel, como estás?Estoy bien, gracias. | Hello, Lizbeth, how are you?I am well, thank you. |
¿Hola Isabel, como está tu tesis?Está bien, gracias, pero falta un poco de analisis sobre el papel de la mujer de Argentina en sociedad posmoderna. | Hello, Lizbeth, how is your thesis?It is well, thank you, but needs some more analysis on the role of Argentine women in postmodern society. |
¿Q'hubole Isabel, agarraste la honda?Sí, buey, bien arreglada. Oye, mire nada mas esta nueva pulsera que mi compa me compro. ¿Está bien padre, no? | Wha's up, Lizbeth, you caught the vibe?Yeah, dude, totally trippin'. Like just check out this new bracelet my best girl got me. It's totally cool, no? |
Well, they were wrong... except in one sense. Tijuana is definitely NOT Mexico City! (Thank God for that, at least! -- say most Tijuanenses.) But in spite of being flush up against the U.S. border, it is also NOT at all a U.S. city. No, no, no! It may have a lot of billboards and store signs written in English to help the tourists, but it's a Mexican city, from its bones to its flesh, from the tip of its toes to the crown of its head.
While trying to be honest, and analytical, and yet not too-long-winded, let us try to answer the question: what is the nature of Tijuana's culture in a nutshell?
Tijuana tiene un núcleo original de habitantes asentados aquí desde fines del siglo XIX, al que vienen sumando múltiples corrientes migratorias de compatriotas, procediendes de todas las regiones del país, sin faltar la presencia de pequeños grupos de extranjeros de diversas nacionalidades y algo muy importante, la vecindad con California E.U.A. Todo ello dando por resultado un peculiar y firme sentido de mexicanidad, que só es puesto en tela de duda por quienes nunca han estado aquí. | Tijuana has a nucleus of original inhabitants who settled here in the end of the 19th century, to which has been added multiple immigrating streams of fellow countrymen coming from all the other parts of the country (Mexico), as well as the presence of a few groups of foreigners of various nationalities, and something very important, the proximity with California, U.S.A. All of this has resulted in a unique and strong Mexican feeling, which is only put in doubt by people who have never been here. |
FROM: History of Tijuana, published by the Autonomous |
The official motto of the City of Tijuana is: Aquí empiece la patria -- Here Begins the Fatherland -- and Tijuana is a very, VERY Mexican city, in spite of being so close to monstrous Los Angeles and little San Diego. Although exposed to the influence of the U.S. -- and what part of the world ISN'T Exposed to U.S. Culture? -- Tijuana has continually refreshed its strong Mexican character by massive transfusions of people from the south, waves of immigration which for the past fifty years have brought almost two million people north to the border from every state in the country.
Pensamos que a pesar de su crecimiento anárquico y de todos los efectos de la explosió demográfica que viene sufriendo Tijuana, colocada en el contexto de la franja fronteriza, es una de las poblaciones con mayor actividad cultural y con un promisorio futuro en el campo de las manisfestaciones del espiritu. | We think that in spite of its uncontroled growth and all the effects of the population explosion which Tijuana has suffered, located in the context of the frontier zone, it is one of the populations with more cultural activity and future promise in the field of the manisfestations of the spirit. |
-- Ibid. |
"Culture" is, of course, a word with several different meanings and interpretations. Most people think of museums, theater, art galleries. But a "culture" is also something scientists grow in petri dishes in the laboratories. Heh heh heh. In truth, according to anthropologists (a very cultured group themselves, no?), "culture" is all the manisfestations of social activity.
You want to see Mexican culture? Go to the market. Or go for coffee at Sanborns. Or ride the bus or route taxis. Or -- God help us for recommending this -- go to the Tijuana Wax Museum. Or for a more orthodox Baja California history experience, go to the new Museum of the Californias (at CECUT -- the Cultural Center of Tijuana).
Or go to the beach or the park on Sunday and watch the families and couples all having fun. Or go to the mall -- although this is a more elitist experience here than in the U.S. Or walk the downtown sidewalks away from Revolution Avenue, check out the shops on Constitución and Niños Heroes or the Popo market at 2nd & Niños, the true business streets of downtown.
Or go ahead, walk the sidewalks OF Revolución -- for that strange and wonderful street of madness is also a certain kind of culture... or subculture... a disneylandia type of screaming commercial tourist-vision of "Olde Mexico" which we gringos (from Europe and Asia and South America, too) all seem to enjoy.
But, seriously, folks:
Como se sabe, la cultura no es un hecho aislado, sino que condicionada por la historia y la realidad social, responda a una interpretación del mundo y de la vida. Se concibe también como un proceso social y en ese sentido no es un sistema universal y estático, sino que por el contrario es un concepto esencialmente dinámico y distinte en cada pueblo... | As it is known, culture is not an isolated event, but rather conditioned by history and social reality, it responds to an interpretation of the world and of life. It is conceived of also as a social process and in this sense is not a universal, static system, but rather on the contrary it is a concept essentially dynamic and distinct in each people... |
-- Ibid, but with principal authorship for this passage attributed to Maria Guadelupe Kinaste. [Translated by the gringo] |
Here we come at last to the nub of the matter: the culture of the frontier, of the border zone, is a regional culture. Tijuana, in this context, participates in "norteño" culture, of the north of Mexico, especially the "fundadores" -- the founding families of a century ago -- many of whom emigrated north from states like Sonora and Sinaloa and Jalisco, and maintain many family ties and traditions with and from those norteño states. (One small example of such a tradtion: like most norteños, many fundadores prefer tortillas made of flour [tortillas de harina] while most central and southerners prefer tortillas de maiz [corn]. But that is a generalization made here by a gringo, so be careful in accepting it.)
Remember, culture is NOT static. It is not a "thing" you can put on a shelf and never change. Culture is a process, always changing even as it reaffirms and maintains its traditions. To speak of the "culture" of Tijuana in the last two or three generations is to come to grips with the monstrous demographic fact that hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have come north to Tijuana from ALL of the Mexican states, the north, the south, and the center, resuelto que resulting that in many respects, Tijuana is more "universally" Mexican than many other northern Mexican states -- including a higher and more varied population of the many different types of Indians -- indigenas -- who have come here.
If you can put a name to any regional or subcultural group in all of Mexico, the odds are you will find some member or members of the group here in Tijuana.
Sorry, Dano, but... .
Yes, now we DO seem to be cynical. So let's get personal about it.
Michael grew up in the provinces of this frontier, where the human border (social creation) meets the ocean (actual natural border). Here, far from the bipolar cultural tyranny of New York or Mexico City, he has dreamt for years of his own personal landscape-axis: either returning north to San Francisco where he was born, or traveling south across a back-country landscape of canyons and hills, toward a nearby transformation of language and cuisine.
Not only is this personal, between his ears and in his heart, but shines into his mind from larger social reflections. Michael needed to cross the human-made line line to find his answer to the postmodern future where medieval Spanish and Indian customs merge with technobabylon. Art is only work. The border is only an illusion of change. Bla bla bla bla bla. Hey Mister come on in -- got a special cuban cigar for you.
You want to learn more about life on the Mexican frontier? He asked himself. Stop looking at it and go live across it. He told himself. Here, in Tijuana, begins Mexico. Begins the power of Spanish as number one language. El patron. The rule. The custom.
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Same thing's true of tacos -- except in the opposite direction. The tacos are MUCH better in Mexico. Forget your stupid groundup-burgerbeef at Taco bell. Forget even the good shredded-beef tacos at your Mexican-American taco shops. Here you got an entire palette of tacos: just in beef alone you have your carne asada, your cabeza, your tripa, your pastor, your vapor, and mmmm-mmmm nam-nam, you got your chile relleno taco, oh yes! Prices are creeping up toward a dollar a taco for a good one. But there are cheapies at seventy-five to eighty cents, or little bitty bites at three-to-a-dollar.
The only taco Michael has found in the U.S./California which comes close to Mexican quality is the fish taco, and that's because the "famous" makers of fish tacos (R-you-know-whobio's) confesses to having taken an authentic Baja California recipe and used it! Michael is still on a quest to find the best fish tacos in Baja California.
But beef? Just about anywhere here is good. Way better than in the states. But two special mentions in Tijuana:
Tacos y algo mas "http://skynarytacosyalgomas" says their big letrero (sign) downtown at the corner of 2nd & Negrete (two blocks downhill toward the river from Revo). They serve up seven or eight different varieties and cuts of meat around four sides of an open stand, with multiple chefs sizzling and chopping away, and their counters are full of big bowls of condiments and radishes and peppers and guacamole and salsa for you to serve yourself. Unfortunately, there are at present no tables and chairs to sit down and eat at. Boo-hoo.
Tacos Frances on Paseo Playas de Tijuana shortly before you get to the "Y" intersection. Equally sublime selection of varieties of tacos, but with a squadron of little ladies making fresh tortillas by hand. This place does have seating and waiters and waitresses. Well thought of, Tacos Frances is almost a place to see and be seen as much as to get a good taco. Michael has seen Friday night diners in opera gowns and tuxes scarffing down the spicy treats, leaning carefully forward to avoid spilling juicy drops on their formal wear....
There are other taquerias all over town. Little stands and open-air restaurants with or without tables. There's a well-known row of them -- the "island of tacos" right next to the "sea of taxis," as Michael calls them, just inside the border gate passageway. He's eaten at all of them and seen the prices rise from seven pesos to eight and nine. Some of these little shacks give you ten-to-one exchange for the peso/dollar, which means on every dollar you can save almost a dime, if you pay in dollars instead of pesos. But this can change overnight.
Then there are the "Tacos Varios" (various tacos) carts right on the sidewalk and street -- and you can only trust in the basic law of health: the taco cart vendors DON'T want to make you sick, it's very bad for business! EXCEPT -- ALWAYS Trust Your Nose. If your nose says NO WAY, then don't. If your nose says "MMM-mmm" then okay.
VEGETARIAN? Consider a chile rellano or a potato (papa) taco. But check to make sure there's "no manteca" (no lard) involved. Cheese & egg (what DID you think chile rellano is battered with anyhow?) is your problem, okay? 'Nuff'sed.