Tijuana, Mexico

We didn’t catch a donkey show, but we were in Tijuana, Mexico and did see a Zedonk (photographic evidence below). That’s right, we drove across the border into Mexico. It was fun. My Spanish sucks. We went to some crappy mall initially, of course, don’t take my word on this because I think all malls are crappy. My mother asked some clerk, who barely spoke English, "where do the locals shop". The woman seemed confused and surprised. I know enough Spanish to know the woman was trying to figure out why my mother was asking: "where do the crazies shop" (locals sounds like locos and locos could mean crazies) and I helped clarify the question. She directed us to Via Revolucion, which definitely is not a shopping center frequented by locals and is definitely commonly trafficked by tourists, but it is a colorful strip to walk and shop. And I suspect one could get raging drunk at discos or one of the many strip clubs that line the road were they inclined.

I was unclear how to get to Via Revolucion from the mall. While on the way I asked some police officers I had pulled up next to at a stop light for directions. All the windows of the squad car were rolled down. There were three officers (two men and one woman) in the front seat and three very hip looking criminals in the back seat that had long hair and one wore funky sun glasses. The three cops were super friendly. They conferred amongst themselves and directed me to the next circle, down the road to the left for four or five blocks a right, a left, and another right onto Via Revolucion. I asked for clarification on one of the street’s names (we were speaking Spanish and I didn’t catch the name) and they insisted I follow them instead. I couldn’t believe it. these three cops where going to lead me to the road while transporting criminals! I love Mexico. Anyway, it gets better. In Tijuana they have these crazy traffic circles. it reminds me of Napoli, Itallia. It’s total chaos. While we were navigating the circle our police friends used their sirens to break up the traffic so we could follow them more easily! Unbelievable. Mexico rules. The color. The noise. The people. It’s wonderful.

On Via Revolucion we bought a couple bottles of great tequila: El Jimador Anejo and Centenario Anejo. Both are 100% agave and, in case you didn’t know, anejo (old) means it’s been aged for three years. Also, we bought some bracelets and a couple rings. It’s Tara’s birthday on Sunday, February 11th. If you’re shopping for jewelery in Tijuana and you’re frequenting the touristy sections of town you’ll want to go to El Dorado on Via Revolucion. They actually even have an, albeit crappy, website. Tell them Aaron sent you. 😉 Romulo and Ricardo are the proprietors. Romulo is the silver smith. He’s been making jewelry for 28 years. These guys were great. They were [seemed to be] sincere. They also had the best quality jewelry that we saw and as it turns out many other vendors carry Romulo’s work in their stalls. Some vendors had low quality silver, what I was later told, by Romulo, fake gold, and plastic beads they were passing off as stone. Not that I’m into gold, but I do like stone beads.

Coming back into the United States only took us an hour. Ricardo from El Dorado gave me the advice to always stay in the far right lane when exiting Mexico. I followed this advice and it saved us probably 45 mintues.The trip was loads of fun and I look forward to returning.

Photo set