South of the Border

Situated on the United States-Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, Tijuana is the largest city of the Mexican state of Baja California. Over forty-million people cross the border each year between Tijuana and San Ysidro, California, making it the busiest land-border crossing in the world.

A walk to the town center (where the infamous Tijuana Arch is located) is about 20 minutes. You can see the Tijuana arch from almost anywhere in town, and it's the landmark to head back to if you get lost. I thought I would see drunken rowdy Americans, and illegal street activities in broad daylight, but nothing came close.

Tijuana is a pretty quiet town, with lots of places selling cheap tacos (one for $1) and beers (draft beer for 0.99 cents). Souvenir shops are everywhere. The town offers goods from all over Mexico on sale prices. However, like any other places, the best deals are found on the goods made locally. In this case, the best deals in Tijuana are on leather goods. If you need anything in leather from purses to pants or motorcycle jackets to back packs , this is the place.

For many visitors, Avenida Revolución has been a mecca for tourists visiting Tijuana. In the early days it was known as a bawdy center for illicit fun. But now, some of the original attractions are prohibited: Gambling was outlawed in the 1930s, back-alley cockfights are also illegal, and the girlie shows whose barkers once accosted passersby are slowly diminishing. Don't expect staid and sedentary, however. Drinking and shopping are the main order of business these days; while revelers from across the border knock back tequila shooters and dangle precariously from the upstairs railings of glaring bars, bargain hunters peruse the never-ending array of goods (and not-so-goods) for sale.

If you're looking to see a different side of Tijuana, the best place to start is the Centro Cultural Tijuana (Tijuana Cultural Center). You can easily spot the ultramodern complex, designed by irrepressible modern architect Pedro Ramírez Vásquez, by its centerpiece gigantic sand-colored dome. The center also holds the Museo de las Californias (Museum of the Californias), with exhibits that trace the history of the Californias, dating back to prehistoric times. While you are there, stop to admire the wide, European-style Paseo de los Héroes. The boulevard's intersections are gigantic glorietas (traffic circles), at the center of which stand statuesque monuments to leaders ranging from Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc to Abraham Lincoln.

Many foreigners travel to Tijuana to drink and dance, buy prescription drugs, illegal drugs (especially in and around dance clubs), purchase bootleg brand-name clothing, timepieces, and other personal accessories found globally, as well as manufactured and hand-crafted local curiosities. While still an entertaining town with an enjoyable atmosphere, locals and tourists alike would agree that it has lost its "anything goes" mentality which it had once acquired, a mindset that was dangerous to tourists, locals, and the tourism industry as a whole.

Next day later, I went to General Abelardo L Rodriguez International Airport for my flight to Merida in the Yucatan Peninsula (cost $6).