Okay, I have another story on my latest border crossing “mis”
adventure. Well, it was time to make the
monthly pet food run and food shop for the Thanksgiving dinner party and as
luck would have it my new friend was already planning to spend the weekend in
San Diego, so invited me to come along. Now we had just one little problem. She
has a Senti Pass, which allows her to go in a special lane and make the border
crossing in minutes instead of hours. This pass is issued by the Homeland Security
and is good only for the person and their vehicle, every person in the vehicle
must have their own Senti. So, what people do is get close the crossing and
then drop anyone who doesn’t have the pass off to walk across the border. Now
that sounds like a simple plan, doesn’t it? I’ve read about it online and it is
a standard thing to do. So, we have a plan and off we go. It is a beautiful sunshine afternoon and a joy
to be able to watch the scenery along the coastal route to the border. Within
the hour we are in Tijuana. Here is where the craziness begins. First it with cars,
buses and trucks cutting you off and people playing dodge the vehicle as the
run across the lanes of traffic. Finally, we get up to the Senti on ramp and it
is closed. The police wave us away. We need to go to the other location which
has us driving in more congestion, now
the sun has started to set. Our plan was to be well across the border before
dark and now it looks like we won’t even get to the border until dark. At long last, we are nearing the place to let
me off and it has become dark. There is
a long line of people standing in this little mall area. I decided I won’t take my purse leaving it in
the car. I said, I’ll take my cell phone and ID’s. Stuff the passport and a
$20. bill with my drivers license in my front jeans pocket, just as it is time
to jump out of the car. She stops and I jump out. I start looking for the end
of the line, I walked about a block, it is dark, I am feeling very alone and
unsure of the situation. I think I will call her, then I realize I don’t have
my cell phone. I turn and go back, but I don’t see her car at all, she has
already gone across the border. I am alone!
I turn and start walking back to find the end of the line,
it wraps down around the corner, no end in sight. Now I have different men approaching
me saying “bus $5.00”. I just shake my head no. I don’t know what they are
offering me. I continue walking a long
side the line it has been a few blocks and still I have not found the end of
the line. At this point another man asks someone walking near me also, looking
for the end of the line “bus $5.00”. I think maybe this is a good idea. I walk
back to where my friend dropped me off and the first man again says “bus $5.00”.
I get the twenty out of my pocket and offer it to him. He has a roll of US
dollars that he can almost not get his hand around, he peels off a 5 and a 10
and hand them to me. He then motions me toward the curb, as well as the other three
unsmiling skinny disheveled Mexican men, who are standing nearby. These guys
look like the type I really won’t normally come in contact with…I start wonder
what kind of bus have I just paid for…am I getting on a bus that is smuggling
people across or what….many silly and nervous thoughts like this run through my
head. Now the guy has us out in traffic walking in the same lane as the moving cars.
We stop to wait for the bus I guess. Then a policeman comes along and speaks
Spanish to the guy and he motions us to start walking. We walk tight against this
temporary wooden wall , where a curb should be as the cars move past us. Then
there is an opening past the wooden wall and he has us stop and wait. My
imagination is at this point is totally running away with me, part of me is in
fear and part of me thinks that is silly and everything is okay.
Soon a white unmarked commercial van pulls up. The guy opens
the side door and motions us to climb on in….a wave of English rushes out to
greet my ears as I start to climb up into the van, can’t really see that much
in the dark, but the voices are chatting to each other in a friendly way…..whew
this is all going to be okay! So, the van already is totally full with a dozen
people, but I mange to almost fit in a middle seat next to three other women. The women in the seat assured me that they
take this “bus” all the time. They park on the other side and walk over to shop
or go to the dentist. There are very cheap and good dentists in Tijuana.
So, after riding along for a few blocks the van stops the driver
gets out and opens the side doors, but he doesn’t want us to get out, it just
that we are now in a bus line and have to wait. He is just giving us some air
in the overcrowded vehicle. So, we all
continue to chat. Next thing we know the van starts moving and the one door is
swinging around wildly almost hitting a parked car. The women in the seat in
front of me and I grab it as it swings back toward the van. We are holding on
to it while the bus is now driving on toward the border. Then it pulls into a
bus parking lane. The driver gets out and comes back to the open door and
counts how many people are in the bus. At this point I think great it is only
going to be a few minutes and I will be walking into the border crossing
inspection station. Wrong, we continue to wait. Finally a Homeland security guard
comes around and directs us to the open side door of the building, where
another armed guard is holding the door open. So we enter the inspection area
just as they are taking a man away in hand cuffs’ from the next line. It is an unnerving
sight. We stand and wait. The line doesn’t move. There is no one in the booth
at the front of this line. We wait about a half hour and finally the line moves
and it is my turn. I am greeted by the agent , passport checked and then I am
on my way out the door. I get out the door and realize I have never seen this
area before. It is a plaza with the San Diego trolley, fast food restaurants
all around glowing neon signs in the dark. I blink and wonder what to do just
then my friend is a few yards in front of me waving and calling me with her
cell phone to her ear. I have never been so happy and relieved to see someone.
She said she had been trying to call me, she had not realized that the phone
was ringing in my purse that she now had over her shoulder. “OMG” is all I can say about this border
crossing. Anyway, off we went for our evening Art Gallery Open and other San
Diego adventures.
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