Yesterday I had to wake up really early to meet Ed at his place in time to get to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk-a-thon in Balboa Park. I volunteered to work the registration tables. Ed has diabetes and has been voluneering a few days a week at the foundation. He asked me if I would be willing to help out so I said, "Sure!"



After it was over (about 10 AM) we called Jerry, his roommate and said, "Let's go have breakfast!" At breakfast we decided what we were doing the rest of the dy; I was going home to take a nap and run some errands and then I'd be back at Ed and Jerry's at 6:15 PM. Jerry wanted to go to Tijuana for dinner, since none of us had ever been to that city. I've only been to Tecate and Ensenada, and that was 16 years ago.



So, we drove down to the parking lot and walked across. It was an eerie feeling; I related my experience crossing into East Germany in 1988. It wasn't that oppressive but we all knew we were leaving the US, that's for sure. We walked through the turnstiles and then were accosted non-stop for the next 4 or 5 hours. We walked over to Avenue Revolucion, which is the downtown district and is where everyone goes. Constant "Cuban cigars, T-shirts!" and "Titty bar! Come on! No cover. You want to see girls?"



It seemed as though every "family restaurant" had a 2000 watt stereo system blasting rap and dance music (and this was only 7:30 or 8 PM). We found a quiet place down a set of stairs that turned out to be a Tijuana tradition. La Cafe Especial has been there for 50 years. Quiet, competent and the food was decent (not great, but there are no "great" restaurants in Tijuana, of that I am sure).



We walked along Avenue Revolucion from one end to the other and then headed back to the border. We were there at the "in between" time - there was no line to speak of. As we were walking across the street to get back to the car a group of kids passed us the other way. The snatch of conversation we heard went something like this: "(girl's name)!! You mean you have NO ID on you at ALL???" Ed, Jerry and I all stopped and looked at each other.



I said, "I vote we follow those girls all night and see what happenes when they try to get back across the border."



Ed said, "It would almost be worth it to put up that (stuff) again."



We all laughed, commented on how stupid some people are and decided to go back to the car anyway.