Smugglersville “The cops mess with us. The thieves mess with us. Everybody messes with us.” I was hobbling back from the store with a liter of milk, when I saw three young men sitting on …
July 12, 2020
Mexico
Mexico after the millenium
Praga: Italian at a Czech restaurant in Mexico
Tijuana! It feels like a lifetime. I’m down here checking on when Caesar Hotel’s opening. (They say they’re looking at mid-July.) And, hey hey! There’s my fave cafe, Praga, right across Revolución. It’s not hard …
How Baja's new Prohibition is working
On July 2, approximately 10,000 containers of beer in a delivery truck were seized by the city council of Mexicali — according to Mexican news outlets. There’s no mention of the location where the smuggled …
July 7, 2020
Mexico's Green Angels cut back
Michelle Cardenas from San Diego became worried to hear that Angeles Verdes (Green Angels), a free of charge and national road service, might be discontinued in certain parts of Mexico. “The Green Angels towed our …
June 30, 2020
79 days of Tijuana quarantine
“I don’t think we’ll be opening the bar until September or until there is a vaccine,” says Dany aka ‘Drago,’ founder of Dragon Rojo Rockbar and a hospital worker by trade. “I keep the bar …
June 19, 2020
Beer bought in San Diego flows into tapped-out Tijuana
Because major-brand beer has become almost impossible to find in Tijuana, some crossborder locals have taken advantage of their essential trips to San Diego to take some cerveza back home. “I pick up a little …
May 26, 2020
22 surfers nabbed at Rosarito Saturday
22 surfers were arrested and detained on Saturday, May 16 for surfing at Cantiles Dorados in Rosarito — about 28 miles south of the border. The El Imparcial news outlet from Tijuana posted a photo …
May 18, 2020
South of Ensenada there are 'crazy, tough' covid restrictions
In the next few days, Ann Reid and her husband will trek from their Ensenada home to San Diego to pick up their mail and shop for essentials not available in Ensenada. The transplants are …
April 27, 2020
118 deaths in Baja due to the virus
“You know my brother and I got it, right?” My friend Mariana texted me a few weeks ago after I posted the story about the coronavirus piñatas. Mariana’s brother, Juan, is my private doctor in …
April 27, 2020
What to do when they stop making Heineken and Modelo
As soon as the news hit, we received ten orders,” says Carlos Macklis owner of Norte Brewing Co. “We stopped producing but we are still selling our beer. I’m acting as the delivery boy driving …
April 3, 2020
Some Mexican border travelers are undaunted
“Please stay in the U.S. whether they let you cross or not,” Cathy G. pleaded to her fellow-expats on Facebook. “It’s your choice to make, knowing the consequences — you could be a carrier with …
March 30, 2020
Tijuana tangos with corona
“It’s a huge mess of disinformation,” says the co-owner of one of the new trendy restaurants in downtown Tijuana (we talked online, she prefers to remain anonymous). “My dad is over at city hall right …
March 27, 2020
Panic shopping spreads to Tijuana
“You look like a meme,” I told my friend Beto when I spotted him at the checkout line of my local Calimax with a cart full of toilet paper and paper towels on Friday the …
March 18, 2020
Behind T.J's black market for cars
When Lando Martinez returned to his south San Diego home on January 20, his 1995 Honda Del Sol was missing. “I parked the car in front of our new house on the 16th,” he said, …
March 4, 2020
Tijuana Chinese restaurants under the gun
On February 22, Van S. passed by Kim Long, a Chinese restaurant in Playas de Tijuana; the restaurant reportedly contained a rat cage and insects inside the kitchen about a week before. "It was empty, …
February 25, 2020