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greenbagjosh · 2 years

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March 2002 Weekend in San Diego + Tijuana

Hi everyone, welcome to my late March 2002 weekend at San Diego and Tijuana, Baja California.

It has been twenty years since visiting Baja California and San Diego. My previous visit since March 2002 was in November 1999 when I first visited. I drove all the way from Los Altos, California, to La Mesa, California on 5th November 1999 and returned on 7th November very late. This time however, I took a flight from San Francisco Airport to Los Angeles and farther along to San Diego, and back.

Bear in mind, I still had the old black suitcase with a shoulder strap, not the new wheeled green bag that I would buy in late June / early July 2002.

On the afternoon of Friday the 22nd March 2002, I took a bus to the San Francisco International Airport and Terminal 3 at the time. I was booked on a flight from San Francisco to San Diego, making a layover at Los Angeles (LAX) Tom Bradley airport. I flew on a Boeing 757 from San Francisco to Los Angeles, about 5 PM to PM, and from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM on a single-class Embraer E-120 turboprop plane. Getting into the San Diego Lindbergh field was very fast but there were few services open when I arrived, other than a bus to central San Diego close to the downtown youth hostel on 521 Market Street near 5th Street in the Gaslamp district. I paid for a three-day pass that included trolley rides to the Mexican border.

When I arrived at the youth hostel, I checked in, made my payment for a single room (actually a double with bath). It was kind of like the one I had at the Sacramento youth hostel in April 1999. I went out for just a simple taco snack and came back. I had worked that day and it was a long flight so I went to bed so that I could be ready in the morning to go to Tijuana.

Saturday the 23rd March 2002 I woke up about 7 AM and walked to the closest Ralph's grocery store for a little food and coffee. It was three blocks away. I came back and prepared my food, when suddenly someone from the staff started to make pancakes, and invited everyone who was hungry, to have some pancakes and orange juice. The pancakes were good. I went to take a shower and then I headed for the Park and Market Trolley stop for the blue line to San Ysidro.

The ride on the trolley took about 45 minutes. At the time, San Diego Trolley was still using the older Siemens trolleys, similar to those also used in Sacramento, the state capitol. The trolleys for the most part were only high floor and there were wheelchair lifts only at the extreme ends. I can still remember from November 1999 when there was this man in a wheelchair singing lyrics to the 1980s song "Like Candy" by Cameo, who rode from La Mesa to 12th and Imperial on the Sunday that I was there. On the Blue Line, the stations were announced at the time by two male voices, one in English and the other in Spanish. The trolley passed under state route CA-75 which was the Coronado Bridge before it reached Barrio Logan. The train went on to Beyer Boulevard where it branched off from the mainline trains and terminated at the San Ysidro station. That is the farthest that the trolley would go. It is highly unlikely that at any time the trolley would be extended into Mexico. That is just the way things are for now.

In order to get from the San Ysidro station to Tijuana, I would have to either walk across the international border and cross into the site of Plaza Viva Tijuana by pedestrian bridge, or take a bus into downtown for about $1.00 US one-way. Since the 2010s that pedestrian bridge has been demolished. I chose to take the bus. It went from the trolley stop across the border across Puente Mexico to Frikiplaza on Carrilo Puerto (3rd Street). At Frikiplaza there was a clothing salesman who wanted to sell me a shirt or something similar. He wanted $30 but I managed to talk him into accepting $24.00. I received a pastel yellow mariachi shirt that was meant to not be tucked in. It was a real nice shirt. I walked to the Reloj Monument / Tijuana Arch, which has an archway supported by heavy wires. It has a message of "Hello Amigos".

I walked north towards the border and walked westward along Coahuila to Avenida C Ninos Heroes, and back on Calle Primera, to a record shop that I remember seeing a Shakira poster from her "piezas descalzadas" days when she had dark hair. That part of Tijuana is not exactly very safe to walk. I am glad to have survived it.

I was hungry and was able to find a street vendor that served fish tacos. Fish tacos are usually served with chopped cabbage and a mayonnaise remoulade similar to tartar sauce in the USA. I had the tacos with a Corona light beer. I think it cost no more than $5.00 US. Unfortunately I had an allergy attack that would not stop, so the next half hour I had to find a place that sold panuelitos, and the best place I could think of was Dax, on the corner of Avenida Constitucion and Calle Tercera. I bought a box of tissues for less than $1.50. I was able then to safely walk to Parque La Ocho and back by Jai Alai Fronton Palacio. I did much browsing as well, trying to find a good copy of Kabah on CD, the band who sang the theme song for the telenovela "Amigas y Rivales". As for treats to bring back to my family and work colleagues, I bought coconut candies and many things related to dulce de leche, particularly using goat's milk, some with cow's milk too. Somehow while shopping, I lost track of time, and suddenly it turned about 6 PM.

At some point I bought a full liter bottle of Kahlua, and I think it was from a Mercado El Popo store. It is hard to find full liter bottles of Kahlua. I also bought a full liter of tequila. I planned only to share this with my family back home. Before crossing the Puente El Chaparral, I went to the Mercados Artesanias to see what else I could find. Many things looked nice but I did not really see anything that I should actually buy. I passed by the Plaza Viva Tijuana and crossed the footbridge to join the long line of pedestrians waiting to enter the USA. I must have waited an hour and a half. The sun went down about 8 PM, and I had not yet crossed the border into the USA. Finally about 8:15 PM I crossed the actual line and it would be a matter of minutes before I would enter the customs building. It was a good thing that I had my passport with me. I was able to cross the border with my two liquor bottles without having to pay extra duty, and I took the trolley back to the hostel. I went to Park and Market and walked the rest of the way to the hostel. I put away the things I bought in the room, and went to the closest Rubio's for a tasty fish taco dinner. I did not have beer with it though, just Sprite. Then about 10:30 PM I went to bed.

Sunday the 24th March, I had considered going back to Mexico, but I had to catch a plane about 5 PM that day, so I skipped it, and instead decided to visit Old Town, actually to the north and along the way to the Chargers Stadium to Mission San Diego. Before checking out, I had breakfast at the hostel. I took a shower and packed up. At the closest Greyhound station at 12th and Imperial, there were lockers. I took my luggage there, paid the $10.00 fee and took the trolley to Old Town. Old Town is a historic park which was built in the early 1800s before California became part of Mexico, and eventually became admitted to the Union. Most of the buildings were built in the Spanish colonial style. There have to be at least four or five Mexican restaurants there, serving high quality authentic food. Over the years I came to like the Rockin' Baja Lobster restaurant but that would not be until 2014 when I would live in La Jolla from June to September of that year.

I went on to the then-terminus of Mission San Diego. But first I wanted to walk through Fashion Valley and Mission Valley malls. I spent about two hours before ending up at Mission San Diego. It was obvious at the time that Mission San Diego was the terminus stop. I had to walk a quarter mile to see the mission. California had a grand total of 21 Catholic missions established, from Mission San Diego to Sonoma. I remember visiting the ones in Carmel, San Juan Bautista, Santa Clara and Sonoma. San Diego would be the southernmost mission that I would visit.

I took the trolley back to downtown, so that I could have lunch, fetch my belongings and make it to the airport by 3 PM to catch my evening flight to San Francisco. I went to Horton Plaza and explored the then-mall. After that, I went to the Rubio's on Fourth Avenue and F Street, and had a lobster taco before heading back to the Greyhound station to pick up my luggage. I took the trolley to 5th Avenue station where I transferred to a bus to the airport. I arrived about 2:55 PM, enough time to check in.

Since I had a 500 mile upgrade, I used that for the flight to San Francisco. The flight was on a Boeing B-757 which had a good first class seating arrangement. About 4:30 PM I boarded the flight and then around 5:15 PM the flight took off for San Francisco. I had a screwdriver during the flight. There was no movie as the flight was very short, but there were short news stories being shown on the inflight entertainment - note, at the time, they were using CRT monitors, and Jill Hennesey, as in Crossing Jordan, was presenting the short clips.

The flight touched down about 7:30 PM in San Francisco, with the sun about to set within that hour. I picked up my suitcase and took the 292 bus to Hillsdale and changed to a 250 bus that stopped a block away from my apartment in Foster City. I made it back to work the next day, kind of medicated to help me not suffer allergy attacks, and it was a bit of a challenge to stay alert during the Openmake training sessions that week. But everyone liked my Mexican candies. So it was okay.

In April 2002, it would be my first visit to Canada, and also on an Embraer E-120 for part of the distance. I might not be able to write about it until at least the 20th April this year, so I hope you will stay tuned until then! Goodbye for now.

#San Diego #LAX #SAN #United #Youth Hostel #Gaslamp #Tijuana #Baja California #Mexico #fish taco #Constitucion #Panuelitos #hay fever #San Ysidro #Trolley #Lindbergh #Openmake #CCC Harvest

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