Monday Sep 4, 2023 - Goodbye Tijuana, Hello Palm Springs

Light breakfast at J and N’s then we hit the street market right in their neighborhood. It seems the “market” arrives here once a week and then rotates to other Tijuana neighborhoods other days. At first I though it was just a dozen or so vendors on their street but it must be a couple of hundred booths and it stretches for block after block. You can buy anything you might need. Clothes, shoes, fishing supplies, dishes, appliances (yup, even refrigerators and washing machines), toys, meat, vegetables, fans, plumbing supplies, tools, you name it. The streets get taken over and a couple of streets still let cars through, but very slowly and carefully. Lots of families out with their kids and grandparents. It’s kind of a weekly social gathering with coffee and baked goods in there somewhere.

We feel like we got a well rounded tour and introduction to Mexico and especially Tijuana. It seems very safe. The car traffic acts very differently than in the states. Everything moves very slowly because everyone lets others into traffic, and everyone lets pedestrians cross. Jake described it as chaos, but in a good way. I don’t think Mexicans are as angry as people are here in the U.S. and it shows in the driving culture. Sure, things are in rough shape like roads and septic systems, but people work around it.

After the market we loaded all 5 of us (Tyler came too) in the car to drive us back to the border crossing. More traffic today so it took 45 minutes  to get to the pedestrian crossing. Jake found a place to park (miracle) and all 5 of us walked to the pedestrian crossing so they could show us where the Global Entry line was. Global Entry means we paid $100 (good for 5 years) and they finger print you and do a background check and give you a credit card looking thing that you present. If we had not had these passes it would have been and hour and a half to cross. With these passes it took about 5 minutes. Wow!!

We said goodbyes and 5 minutes later we walked out on the U.S. side and then walked the 10 minutes to our van in the parking lot. It cost $160 for 3 days parking, yikes!

Then Google Maps took us the 2.5 hours to Palm Springs and it took us through the coolest and twistiest mountain roads. Beautiful. We arrived in Palm Springs around 4:30 and checked into our room (The Lucy and Desi Getaway room) in The Hideaway motel here. Staying here is a little time travel back to the 60’s. Quick dip in the pool, chatted up some nice Canadians, and then walked downtown to see what we could find to eat. We went to LuLu’s American Bistro and sat at the bar. Deb chatted up a local couple who gave us some tips on the town and then two other couples from Portland joined us. Nice big salads, beer, wine, fries, and then a long walk down the strip. Lots of people on the street since it was a warm night and lots of chi-chi stores open. Then back to the room for a good night's sleep.

Odometer = 15845