Saturday, Feb 3 Tijuana

Deb here again. We had a nice leisurely morning including coffee, tea, and baked goods. Jake and I took Tyler out on a neighborhood walk and wow, there are so many dogs around. It’s common in their area to keep dogs behind gated areas, and everywhere we walked dogs started barking. In addition there are lots of random street dogs who patrol the streets of Tijuana. Jake and Nath both commented later that if they could change one thing about living in Tijuana it would be to possess a remote control with a “mute” button that could be used on barking dogs. I felt as though I was in a scene from 101 Dalmatians, when the dogs start a dog communication distress network. It’s really nonstop!

Late morning we made a plan to go to the museum downtown in the cultural center, with a first stop for birria at their favorite taco place. We arrived to a packed restaurant with a simple menu. Birria is a slow cooked meat (beef in this case) that has the texture of a pulled pork. We each had a couple of tacos that were simply packed with meat and topped with cilantro and onions. Delicious, even enjoyed by Jacob the vegetarian. 
We continued downtown and found a spot to park at Tijuana’s outdoor shopping mall across from the cultural center. It was time for coffee and chai lattes at this point, so after a stop for drinks we walked around the mall for awhile. It was a lovely sunny Saturday, so lots of people out and about.

The museum at the cultural center ended up being a winner. There was a 20 pesos (about $1.25) admission and it was packed with all kinds of historical info presented in both English and Spanish. We toured the museum until we reached saturation point, then made our way through the garden area and back to the car.
Jacob drove us on a different route back to their home, taking us through the high rent district (a distinct lack of street side trash there) and approaching La Playas section from the south through a tunnel. Once back we took Tyler out for a beach walk, and then Jacob made us all a delicious tortellini and veggie dinner. 
Later Jake and Nath put on an episode of a Barascorian, a Mexican Netflix series set in Mexico City in the ’70’s with subtitles and it was a fun one. Off to bed after a full day.