TIJUANA

WOW we r in Mexico!  Crossing the border was pretty cool and quick.  Arriving in Mexico and your confronted with such poverty.  Driving from the boarder to the beach was freaky.  Ur on the main roads and your following military trucks with dudes armed with fully automatic weapons and its nothing. Not sure if I'm a fan of that.  We arrive at the beach and bang smack in your face is the boarder fence.  It's big, metal and extends into the water.  On the American side of the fence there are cameras pointing to the Mexican side everywhere.  You can imagine the Boarder Patrol would be in your arse in minutes.  The fence is covered with 100'a of crosses in memory of the people that didn't make the escape :( it's really quite sad that these people are so desperate to escape that they would risk their lives for freedom.  Tijuana beach could be amazing, the views are to die for the there is just no money and the buildings along the beach are just dero, it's amazing they are still standing and more to the point they have people living in them. Walking along the beach you could easily forget where u were. We get back up to the Main Street and walk back to the car and couldn't help but notice the awesome street art/graffiti - such talent!!  The kids are hungry and we still have no where to stay so figure we better start looking for somewhere to stay.  We drove for a while and found a place, it was clean, big and close to where we decided to have dinner.  The people in Mexico are beautiful, they have absolutely nothing but yet they give you what they can, always smiling and making the most of what they have.  Dinner was awesome and the locals there were so humble. The waitress was so worried that she didn't get our order right so she asked her boss to come out and check with us.  It was a new job to her and she didn't want to upset us.  She was beautiful. I couldn't help but give her a good tip.  Knowing that they share the tips I tipped normally but also went up to her and gave her a private tip.  I didn't realize that what I have her was almost what she would earn I'm a whole month.  She ran away and almost cried then came came as we were leaving and thanked me. So sweet.  We get back to our room, have an early night cause the kids weren't keen in watching tv cause nothing was in English lol.  The next day we drive around again and find a little market. We go looking for trinkets and I find the most amazing food stall. The kids were a little unsure about eating from here but I made them take the chance and boy did they love it.  Brought some cool Mexican souvenirs and then took off again.  It's funny these guys paint their donkeys with black stripes to look like zebras. Half of these donkeys had washed out or fading stripes. It was hilarious.  It was time for the boarder crossing back to America.  This is something I wasn't ready for!  It took hours!!!  You sit in the car in the heat and just wait in a massive que, locals coming up selling trinkets, food, junk & even just begging. To tell you the truth I couldn't get away from that part quick enough and also trying to stop 3 grumpy boys from cracking the shits was a massive feat in itself.  So as an experience I loved Tijuana but it sort if freaked the boys out.  They couldn't comprehend the poverty and I think they did realize just how bloody lucky they really are.