Exiting Mexico to San Diego

After a great night's sleep and breakfast at the Hotel Corona (and realizing that we had to pay for two pieces of pastry that we thought were complimentary...surprise!), we hopped in a cab for a short ride to the bus depot to get to the border:

These were very nice buses despite the terminal being a bit sketchy, and watching the janitor-guy sweeping possibly raw sewage into the driveway from a malfunctioning toilet...

After making one stop a couple of blocks away to pick up some people, vendors came walking thru selling things like pancakes in a bag,  jello and other mysterious things to eat.  Then the driver played a DVD movie about some kids and supernatural powers.  Strange.

And then we got underway.  A 90-minute drive along the coastline which was both beautiful and interesting.  When we got to the city of Tijuana, I remembered what it was all about.

A true fixer-upper, real cheap.

The bus dropped us off at the border and the 90-minute line that snaked around had lots of other interesting things to see too:

Bano (toilet) with a cardboard roof.

5 pesos to pee, next to the dog houses.

The line looped around to be on both sides of the street.

Ok, how much longer now???

I wasn't worried, but I did have to pee and didn't want to use the 5 peso bano...

Tijuana dog fashion.

NOW I look worried...

or is that my "I gotta pee" face?
The gate looks like the ones they have at the Honolulu Zoo.

And once I showed Immigration Office Dollar my passport and answered a few questions, we were back in the USA!

Goodbye Mexico!

It was indeed fun and interesting but I am happy to be back in San Diego!

We caught the tram from the border in San Ysidro to the Gaslamp district, where we though it was pretty cool, so we found a nice place to get some lunch and drink while we waited for our AirBnB host to call us for our overnight stay at his home in Point Loma.

 Fresh off the tram, and happy to be in the states!

Our first stop for food and drink, Tin Fish Gaslamp.

Afterwards, we walked a few blocks and Paul talked to Josh, our AirBnB host who said he'd pick us up on his way home from work so we parked ourselves at Las Hadas for more pupus and drinks.

Paul's marguerita and my sparkling water with DOUBLE lime! 

The California-Mexico travelers.

Our host Josh is a surfer and we sat at his dining table while he ate curry and shared our surf stories.  An interesting guy and a great host, but we were tired from our journey today and said our "good night" to him.

The next morning, Paul and I walked to the local Denny's for breakfast and found a bank too.  When we got back to the house, it was time for us to catch the bus to the San Diego International Airport for Jan's flight back to Honolulu, and Paul's return to Mexico and Pink.

Checking-in for my commuter flight to LAX, then connecting on to Honolulu!

This is where my journey ends, and Paul is back with Pink working with the shipyard workers and doing some of the remodeling himself.

The next posting will be photos Paul sends to me of Pink's progress, and I'm excited to see how that comes along.  I'll continue to update as the photos come in.