Tijuana 2016 Photo Album

TJ Nueve 

The last time I was in Tijuana, it was the late eighties and I was in college. In a fraternity. Tijuana and I were both living out our respective cliches of unabashed hedonism. Since then we’ve both had our troubles. TJ’s more serious than mine.

However, I am happy to report that both Tijuana and I are growing up, moving past the cliche and forming new identities.

As someone who loves travel and food, travel and food writers, and travel and food tv shows, I am seeing and hearing TJ mentioned a lot. So one of my goals this summer was to make it down there. When I got back from Bali, I earnestly started my research. In Tripadvisor, I stumbled upon Tijuana Walking Tours. After a couple of email exchanges with its owner Martha, my buddy D and I drove down to the San Ysidro border one Friday for the Taco and Beer tour. 

We met Martha at the border in San Ysidro. She was with a group of twenty somethings. Martha advertises and has relationships with some local hostels in San Diego. Two sisters from Canada. Two female friends, one from the Pacific Northwest and the other from the Netherlands, met while studying abroad in Australia. Finally three guys, quintessential bros really, from Barcelona.  

Before we crossed, Martha suggested we exchange money. I exchanged $40 which turned out to be about $20 more than I needed. Then we entered the border pedestrian border crossing, which isn’t well signed where to go. You have to pay attention and follow the crowds. However, once inside, crossing was a breeze.

Once I found the entrance, the process went smoothly. Photo by the author.

Martha, a traveler herself, along with her boyfriend started the tour company a year ago. It sounded like they are doing well. We would walk for a bit, and she would point out various things. We’d stop, and she’d go into more detail about TJ or her company. She was passionate about giving back. She was a border kid who constantly switched back and forth. She lived in TJ, but went to school in the States. She attended community college, and then transferred to CSU San Jose. She has a BS in linguistics and is almost finished with her Masters. 

Apparently, one of the busiest times for the border crossing, is in the early morning when children have to go to school. She said by the time many of the kids are sitting in a classroom they have been up for hours just to get to school. This was something I never thought about. Get your green card and residency, but then choose to live in TJ because it is affordable. 

She also told us that TJ is unique because it was a city created by foreigners for foreigners. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tijuana

It formed its identity during prohibition when Americans came to escape and to drink. However once they voted the 21st Amendment in, it lost some of its popularity. Since then, its popularity has ebbed and flowed. It’s now climbing out of a very dark ebb. Now Martha and her contemporaries are trying to reclaim TJ as their own. 

Once everyone was safely in Mexico, we first went to a market of artisans. It reminded me of one of those storage places. But each unit had a different artisan working on their crafts. It is here where they made it to sell