This Week....

We continue to have our adventures here in Baja. We started off the week with another trip to Tecate. This trip was to get our tourist visas at the Immigration Office. A new president has come into office near in Mexico and Immigration paperwork has all been changed in the last month, cause much confusion for tourists and expats as to where to get needed papers. So, anyway, we had to go to the border to get our visa. Everyone was telling us we would have to cross the border and come back in…knowing the fun of the border crossing I thought there must be a better way that the Mexican immigration office workers don’t cross the border just to get to their office everyday as we set out to explore the situation. Now Tijuana is totally crazy with one way streets and traffic but Tecate which is a little longer of a drive is a small border town. So, Monday off we went to Tecate with a small map in hand showing the location of the immigration office by the border crossing. It was easy to locate the street, but found no parking on the narrow street. Plus we were not sure if it was the immigration office buildings for there were no signs. After driving around a bit we parked a few blocks away and walked to the side of the building we thought must be it and asked a guard. Once in the office that was pointed out to us, we found ourselves in a very small office with a small desk and a uniformed man watching a Mexican soap opera on a little tv on his desk.  He looked up without a greeting and Alma explained in Spanish what we wanted. He ask her questions and we had to give him our passports. He then tucked a numbered slip of paper into each and told her we had to go to the teller and pay. This was outside the building and around to a cage with a small window. I would not have thought it was the teller. We paid our $25.00 fee and headed back into the immigration office. The good news in all this was no lines, we were the only customers at the time.  The man took the passports with fee receipts and handed us a form to fill out. I found this form kind of odd in that it wanted to know only our name, birth date, address of current hotel and how we came into Mexico, boat, plane or land. You would think they would like to know where you are from and your permanent address.  We got our passport visa page stamped with a very loud bang and then ask about handicap parking and accessibility to bring my dad into the office. He asked how old he was and then said he didn’t need a card, at his age he was no threat! 

Finished with business we drove back to the town square and found a nice outside café table to enjoy lunch and watch the local activities. The sun was pleasant, the pigeons friendly,  and our young face pierced waitress spoke perfect English. She looked like a teen but informed us years ago when she was a child she lived in the States. We were the only customers and enjoyed good service and yummy food in a relaxing atmosphere. This was the same little town that I first drove into Mexico coming from Arizona. It now seems so different from my first impression of it when I felt overwhelmed by crazy driving and stop signs and all the color. It now feels so much more relaxed to me than the other local towns we shop in, both Ensenada and Rosarito have far more traffic, road construction and crazy drivers.  I have grown use to the stop signs on every corner of a main street. You just know to stop even if you don’t see a sign and the street is rarely marked to stop, it just the custom to stop.  

Other news we had a nice brunch celebration at Bajamar with twenty other women. We are making many new friends, which is really wonderful. I enjoyed teaching at the children's center, they made a colorful holiday banner and learned how to use pastels. We had a Santa come by the house on horse back and wish us Feliz Navidad. Of course we had a few good sunsets and almost daily beach walks, a couple of days were a bit cold and fog filled. The big news flash of the week is thanks to satellite and some friends we now have TV…after a few months without it, we felt like giddy little kids when the installer turned on our flat screen and shown us how to work the remote…we have Los Angeles stations, which does seem incongruous to watch the LA morning  traffic report while checking the waves on our peaceful little Baja beach! Let’s hear it for the wonders of technology.

Exploring, Shopping and Art

Greetings from La Mision. Well, I’ve been busy exploring Baja and haven’t found time to write about all that I have been seeing and doing.  Not sure were to begin, the Thanksgiving weekend was filled first with a Traditional American Thanksgiving meal shared with new friends at Bajamar, then a trip to Ensenada and then a very interesting drive through the wine country of Baja, which is in the Guadalupe Valley and on to Tecate with a walk around town square for a look at the local artisans wares. There was also, a group artist show in a lovely home here in La Mision. During the week it was a trip to San Diego for some shopping and a little American food. I won’t bore you with another border crossing tale of how they just closed the booths and left three lanes of cars to try and cross into the remaining 2 open lanes causing a 3 hour delay in getting across the border. It does seem these days that the US is most unwelcoming county. The good news is I am starting to learn my way around San Diego…it is a beautiful place though it is a very busy city. We really notice the contrast between our little peaceful ocean side community and the hyper energy of San Diego. But the shopping is great, so many choices for everything! 

This weekend we met more wonderful artisans and went to a few more galleries in Ensenada, did a little shopping. I bought a fine glass figure Catrina  that I had been wishing for….part of the Day of the Dead tradition. She is a skeleton all done up with a fancy dress and hat from a by gone era and most colorful. Diego Rivera popularized her in his mural of Mexico and she has become a very iconic image ever since. Catrina has to do with even all the riches will not  keep you from dying someday….take each day as it comes and many other similar sentiments are expressed in this image, as well as the idea of being very vane and dressed to the nines. 

We went to La Bufadora to see the waves. We have been having really super high tides this past week. They have washed all the way up on our beach past the palapas, ( the beach tables with the palm umbrellas). It has been awesome to watch from our house, not as much fun to try and walk on the beach which I did with Patch, then decided to wait until the low tide which also, has been super low. La Bufadora is a place where the cliff side has created a blow hole and the water shoots up like a natural geyser nearly 100 feet in the air. The crowd was small when we got there bright and early Sunday morning at high tide. I enjoyed trying to get the perfect photo…got a couple pretty good ones. After watching for awhile and enjoying the beautiful visas of the coast line we picked one of the restaurants to have brunch in which also, had a wonderful view of the cliffs and blue ocean.  It is a joy to have such mild temps and lots of sunshine…a great place to winter if you enjoy a little fog and sea breezes with high temps in the 70s. Dad is ready for the topical weather of Florida, but for me this is just a perfect winter. I’m still really enjoying volunteering weekly after school art program at the children’s center. The children have been creating some really fun art. We are hoping to have a show soon. There is so much more around here to explore and new art projects to start. Adios mi amigos.

OMG…..Another Border Crossing

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.

The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful

Well our first month has pasted ever so quickly here in La Mision. I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the time to set down and write this blog or ponder all that I have seen and done. That’s the good news, so busy meeting new friends and seeing new things; everyday is like a vacation and seems to pass quickly. Just the way retirement is suppose to be….how cool is that. I’m so lucky not to be facing a cold winter, but enjoying this very mild cool nights and warm days. The one thing that just doesn’t seem right, once we went off daylight savings the sunsets at 5:00, which means that if you go out to dinner like we did last night it is driving in the dark….much harder to see the potholes in the road. Last night we had dinner at the La Fonda Hotel; this is a famous landmark place, built in 1962. It is a very short drive down the road from us. The La Fonda sets on a bluff overlooking the ocean with an old tile patio where tables half-hidden behind dense potted palms and flowering magenta bougainvillea are shaded with thatch umbrellas for cozy dining, the evening menu written on a very long chalk board that the waiter sets by your table along with a tall candle to shed light on it. Then he sets other tall candles on your cloth covered table as well. The candle holders we found very amusing, that are like so many things around here, very inventive. A long tapered white candle put in a wine bottle then a clear plastic drinking glass cut at the bottom so it could slip over the candle and rest on the lip of the wine bottle…thus making a candle holder that a laminates  the flame. The lighting all around is from the candle holders making it very warm and inviting ambience. As we focus our eyes in the dim candle light we realize the music is being performed by a musician with his guitar and fine voice. He is performing the Spanish Oldies from the sixties, this is what my friend said about the music when I ask her. Looking around the patio I see it is filled with expats all speaking English to each other. There was the retired group who looked like they may have been drinking quite a few margaritas since happy hour and then the biker couple all black leather; we parked next to their motorcycle and right across from us very large group who seem to be celebrating something. I enjoyed the mix  of language and culture as the stars came out, and the breeze off the ocean cooled the night air, so I wrapped myself in serape blanket that had been placed on the back of my wicker chair and the streaming hot food was set in front of me,  Ah, welcome to Baja.

What’s a challenge or the “bad” here of course is my in ability to speak Spanish, next comes driving with the way the locals drive cutting in and out were there isn’t space to do so,  then there is the potholes that all roads seem to have, even the paid road. Finally, I guess on that list how odd it is to go through Mexican Army check points all the time, which you have to do to go to either of our local cities north or south, Rosarito or Ensenada. They always just wave us through, they mostly check any kind of truck and when we were at the Ensenada one time, they pulled the car in front of us over  it was a group of young Americans with surf boards and long hair. The soldiers started totally go through their vehicle as we were waved on. I have always thought it would be fun to photograph these young soldiers with automatic rifles hung on their shoulders, but know it may not be a good idea. Their weapons are almost bigger than they are…for me it reminds me of some kind of silly cartoon, but I do know it is very much for real.

As they say, “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” I am coming to see more beauty around me than I first noticed. Of course, the beach and magnificence sunsets are still at the top of my list…have been right from the start by now it is the smaller things that I am noticing….the giant flower starting to bloom on the cactus in front of the house… the child riding by on their horse…the mountains around us and then of course all the wonderful, generous people we are meeting and the gentle energy that you can feel all around you. There is something very magical about being here that is hard to write about or explain, yet be here awhile and you can feel it.

Ah, Baja

Last weekend I went to an art show and met some local expat artists. It was fun to meet them and I enjoyed the show. I made a wonderful connection with one of the artist who has a weekly after school art club at the local children's shelter. She invited me to join her and help with the art creations of the children. so on wednesday afternoon, I shifted from beach bum to art teacher. I found out just how common a language art expression can be....the children and I got on just fine even though they spoke only Spanish and I only English. We could still understand each other....interesting how that works. I will continue weekly visiting and helping with the art club...what fun!

Friday, went to a wonderful event of mostly expats at a very nice seaside community near by called BajaMar. After I went through the guarded gates and into the community I felt  transported into another time and place ....it was so reminiscent of a Southern California Community. Very beautiful with lawns, club house, swimming pool, mature palm tree line drives and tons of flowers everywhere. We had a lovely garden party in honor of Dia de los Muertos, with music, altar building or making an Ofrenda, we shared remembrances of family members who have pasted. Then heard stories of the tradition of Dia de los Muertos and the parts of the traditional Ofrenda and Celebrations. Followed by making of some traditional crafts. I made a corn husk flower that came out well. In the late afternoon sun we enjoyed some really yummy traditional foods and interesting conversation. Ah, Baja!