I Dared to Drink the Water

There were actually two trips to Mexico. The plan was to park on the border and then cross over by foot but we missed the last exit and went right in to Mexico. We were never stopped or acknowledged. Heck, we probably weren’t even monitored. And I thought Canada was easy to cross into! I doubt any of us really wanted to drive around in Mexico, much less park so we got ourselves turned around and got in line to get back into the states. And what fraking long line it was. I think our time was over an hour and a half in line. After some uneasy answering we were pretty much done with Mexico but vowed come back the next day.

The next day went a lot smoother. We actually were able to park and walk over just like we intended before. Still it was easy as hell getting into Mexico. Still no waiting or checks. I know where I’m going if I murder someone! We spent some time on Avenida Revolucion before heading to the Cultural Center where we toured the Museo de las Californias. We were having trouble trying to get into the museum. We didn’t know where it was exactly, where we could enter, or where we could get tickets. With Stacey acting as our interpreter, we got sorted out and toured a rather neat museum that chronicles the area’s history from prehistoric times to recent. We learned quite a few interesting, if not horrific, things about the original natives. Kraig and I were also looking for errors on the English translations of the exhibits.

After the museum we headed back to the tourist trap that is Avenida Revolucion where we were “encouraged” by the locals to visit their shops and buy stuff. We did stop though to have lunch at one of the restaurants. The food was great and the chicken tacos were out of this world. The prices for lunch were decent by American standards but the drinks weren’t. And that’s where they got us. $2.00 for a can of coke. Ridiculous! We did have some street food. You know those churros that you can get at Disneyland for $3.00 a stick, well down there you can get a whole bag of them for $1.00 and they taste a helluva lot better too.

I’m sad to say it but I got tired of Mexico really fast. It probably would have been different if we were somewhere else and doing things like walking in a jungle or climbing a pyramid rather than slashing our way through cheap knick knacks and avoiding shop keeper calls but before we left, Stacey gave haggling a try. At first I thought she was doing pretty well but in the end I think that the shop keeper came out ahead. Oh well, she got some nice “machine washable” blankets.

I’d like to go to Mexico again, but Tijuana I can skip over. Well maybe I’d stop to get some churros. Oh… and I’d remember to bring a camera too.