But it takes hours to get out.
When you're this close to the infamous Tijuana (about 30 minutes from the border), you need to see what all the hype is about.
San Ysidro is the most frequently crossed border in the world with about 200,000 people crossing daily between San Diego and Tijuana, approximately 25% go on foot, which is what we did because while crossing on foot can be time consuming crossing in a vehicle is devoting too much of one's life to move a short distance.
Saturday morning we parked close to the crossing, making our way to the Mexican Border Control. The line was short, moving quickly as those of us with purses / bags dropped them on to the conveyor belt for screening, picking them up only moments later. It took less then 10 minutes. We had started our day so early, only a couple of the street vendors were set up along the concrete funnel leading us into us into Mexico.
Waiting for the tourists was a line of taxis stretched far beyond what the eye could see. Not worried about wearing ourselves out too early, we bypassed the line heading in the direction we thought we needed to go. Due to Google being a little lost itself, it took us an hour to reach Avenida Revolucion, the primary tourist street for the city.
Now, I could have said "unfortunately it took us an hour" but honestly we saw parts of the city most tourist do not and none of it was sketchy. The wandering reminded us that big cities share many similarities no matter what country they're in.
One of the differences though, is how stacked on top of each other the houses in the distance seem to be.
Strolling through the tourist district is an interesting experience.
We learned that Batman spent time as a Luchador. Who knew? I bet that's the real reason for his mask.
A number of statues along the street give a nod to Mexico's native heritage.
Some of the signs are just amusing like this one for the Black Magic Espresso Store and this one for tequila.
There is a lovely alleyway covered in murals and lined with vendors. The trinkets were okay, but the murals were fun to see.
Yes, most of the vendors along the Avenida Revolucion speak English well enough to sell items by constantly calling out to passerby's in an effort to engage them in conversation, leading into an almost guilt trip exchange to buy wares. You get such a sad look when you don't purchase something.
Step off that street a block or so and the retailers are not trying so hard, in fact they almost don't care about you.
In leaving the other Americans behind, we found a beautiful church
and a street food fair where we enjoyed an order of flautas which turned out to be more food than we were expecting.
Gifts for kids bought, sights seen, we made it to pedestrian line for re-entry into the U.S. where we waited...and waited...and waited. The U.S. is much more serious about the crossing than Mexico is. After two hours, we were finally on home soil.
It was a fun yet exhausting day.
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