Photo Nur

Tijuana Mexico

Dress lightly and do not forget a hat, if you travel Tijuana in summer. Be ready to walk around, so you better wear your most comfortable shoes. I got on the trolley from San Diego to Tijuana; it was a short and pleasant trip. Do not bury your head into your book, look at around inside the train, windows are big enough to see the road. It is clean, cheap (it was only $5) and safe to take trolley, if you plan not to shop so much there. You will be at the border within 45 minutes. When you get close to the border you should pay attention to how the environment changes dramatically. San Diego is hot in July. California is a warm climate , it seems like the Aegean coast of Turkey, including the food, taste, plants, beautiful orange gardens etc. As the wagons pass neighborhoods , realization of the facade of the money is removed. USA is rich, climate is same climate, sun is the same sun, soil is the same soil, how much it can be different you think, well dear a lot!

Well planned San Diego, which you will fall in love within a couple minutes, since you are getting away from downtown, you will see economic change how suddenly dropped. The suburbs of the city are still clean but rather poor looking houses, then getting less and less green. Near to the border there are almost no trees around. After seeing so many beautiful trees well planned in every inch of the city, suddenly you notices; you are entering a poor neighborhood. Dust, the smell of spices, smokes, food, hot sun and warm culture are ahead of you.

I had to admit that Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter's concierge did the best to inform me about Tijuana . Even though I checked some web sites about Tijuana in my wireless hotel room, it is always best to ask locals around what you should be prepared for. For future reference before you hit the road, if you are an American you will need your military ID card or passport only for daily trip to the city, for longer stay you should get visa. If you are Turkish, you have to have visa before you enter the city. Getting visa sometime takes 3 weeks after you apply, so plan accordingly.

When I arrived to the city, I wanted to get a taxi to the downtown. First, I took a free map of the town from information office. It is always useful to carry map wherever you go. When you cross the border first thing you will see a sign saying "a terminal de autobuses"! Where you can travel anywhere easily. Well, I did find many words in Spanish were similar to Turkish. For instance; banyo, lavabo, terminal de autobuses, listo, damas for women, I wonder now where we get "damsiz girilmez" saying.

Buses are old and often crowded. Taxis are everywhere. But always ask the taxi driver how much your trip will cost. It cost from bus terminal to downtown average $10.

Many Americans cross the border every day, so you will be waiting in line quite a long time, be ready for that. Since San Diego has the largest navy base, sailors go to Tijuana for shopping. It makes sense when you see the price differences. Ordinary plain t-shirt will cost you in downtown San Diego easily $40 and up, if you shop in Tijuana often you will see shirt prices start from $5.

I found so many similarities within Mexican life style to Turkish. Streets are fine in main areas, wide boulevards, but as soon as you leave tourist zone you will see dust, dirt, broken highways, god knows how many times patched asphalts, holes on the grounds. Electric poles, all wires hanging everywhere, you will not find any aesthetic value in there, it almost kills whole atmosphere of the city. Tijuana was build in 1900, there are beautiful buildings around like The Cathedral of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe build in 1902. Beyond the shopping, even dust, dirt, poorness of its economy, this city does carry cultural richness. Hospitality of the people is great.

Do not afraid bargain. I bought my beautiful black leather hat $15, price tag was $30! Future reference for Turks, Mexicans do know Turkey with soccer and leather clothing's. They were extremely nice to me when I asked them pose for me, after I said I was Turkish! Since I was more interested in taking photos in the streets, I skipped bull fights and cock fights.

You can find the exciting greyhound races every day. I just felt bad having not to visit Real del Mar Wax museums- contains 80 fascinating wax replicas of famous Mexican and foreign personalities! On the other hand I walked everywhere, saw crowded streets, full of shops and drug stores. I never saw in my entire that many big drug stores on one street. It did not hit me at that time why they were many and almost all of them full of customers. After my trip I did learn drug companies tax the medicines according to counties economy. So do not be surprise when you see many American buying a lot of prescription medicine there. It is cheap there that's all!

For shoppers, go to Tijuana. Buy exotic handcrafted tiles, (pay close attention to sun tiles , they are incredibly beautiful), copper, silver jewelry, leather, colorful blankets, hats, clothing anything hand made, they are all affordable prices.

If you are keen on taking photos, colors will drive you crazy. So many colors and everywhere, bright red, yellow, blue, green, orange, those colors on the walls, houses, bars, shopping centers, clothing even painted animals. I was in love variety of the colors. Do not hesitate to take photos, they love it, they pose it for you. They smile, their faces, burnt from sun, hard working life aging on the skin, strong characters, and eyes. It may be all look a like at first, short, dark skin, black hair, but faces, they all have histories behind it.

Nur July 2003