Mexico's Stark Contrasts

Our day didn’t start off too great. The receptionist came early in the morning and, with very poor English, told us that if we didn’t move our car immediately, it would be towed. The hotel had no parking spaces, which was different from the day before. Apparently, it was a cheap trick to get us to stay longer. All the other parking options in San Diego cost money. On top of that, the room rate would triple, so we decided to hit the road instead. Leaving San Diego after just one night wasn’t really part of the plan, especially since we also wanted to go to Mexico, where the easiest way to get there is by train. However, it’s also possible to park the car just before the border and walk across, which is what we ended up doing. Navigating in the U.S. isn’t always easy, as the road signs can be pretty sparse. So, we missed the exit for the last parking lot before Mexico, which resulted in us rolling right over the border into Tijuana. This is absolutely forbidden in a rental car since the insurance doesn’t cover anything outside the U.S. border. But there was nothing we could do; we had to drive all the way into Mexico to find our way back. It’s not just a simple U-turn. We had to navigate through downtown Tijuana before we could find an exit. The downtown area is quite poor, and the traffic follows its own made-up rules. That means there were no cars without dents, as everyone just stuck their arm out of the window when they wanted to turn. Perhaps that’s because everyone had smashed their headlights in the chaotic traffic. It was definitely not fun driving around the streets of Tijuana before we finally found our way back. Thankfully, we crossed back into the U.S. without any more issues, parked the car, and took the bus over the border, which was our original plan all along. Tijuana is a border town so close to San Diego that it’s really just the border that separates them. However, there are huge differences between the two cities. Tijuana is poor, dirty, and everyone is trying to scam or squeeze money out of tourists. It’s very cheap to party and drink in Tijuana, but it’s also quite dangerous. Many tourists get rolled when they lose their common sense as the tequila flows. We only stayed in Tijuana for a couple of hours because it was incredibly exhausting with everyone constantly pulling at us to sell things. We bought a couple of T-shirts and had lunch, then headed back to the bus because we couldn’t stand hearing “Special price for you…” any longer. The Mexico we experienced isn’t a prototype of the rest of the country, thankfully. You have to go further down into the country to find a less desperate Mexico. Tijuana is a border town where it’s all about getting money from tourists. After a long and adrenaline-pumping day, we drove to Banning, where we stayed overnight at Motel 8. Before dinner, we took a dip in the lovely refreshing pool to wash off the rest of the Mexico dust. The motel recommended a restaurant to us, Sizzler’s. The food was really good, and we enjoyed a buffet along with a main course. We stuffed ourselves silly, but it tasted absolutely amazing. There were all kinds of salads, fruits, appetizers, and desserts.