Two hours south of San Diego, around sixty miles from Tijuana, sits Valle de Guadalupe inside Ensenada, the largest municipality in all of Mexico. Dozens of wineries with tasting rooms and fancy eateries sit near …
May 9, 2017
Mexico
Baja's Valle de Guadalupe on a budget
Tijuana orders cancellation of concert by Miguel Comando at Las Pulgas nightclub
Tijuana authorities abruptly ordered the cancellation of a concert by Miguel Comando, a singer of narcocorridos, that had been scheduled for the night of April 28 at the Las Pulgas nightclub on Avenida Revolución. Narcocorridos …
May 1, 2017
Tijuana’s new public bus system – not great once you leave downtown
Shattered glass. Sandstone rocks. Soiled clothing. Human feces. Exposed electrical cables hanging from ceilings. Trash strewn along the floor. These are generally not the things one imagines when newly built ‘modern transportation’ comes to mind. …
April 27, 2017
Panic at the Coca-Cola plant
More than a thousand workers at a Tijuana industrial park had to be evacuated around 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 20, after a strong odor of gas in the area created panic among employees. El …
April 21, 2017
Gunshots at Chip's Bar
“I almost had a heart attack. I just witnessed gunshots at [Bar] Chip's,” my friend Amayrani posted on Facebook at around 1 am after the incident. I caught up with Amayrani the day after the …
April 7, 2017
Baseball is different in Tijuana
Every pitch is a party at a Toros de Tijuana baseball game. At least that’s the atmosphere the team is trying to create. The Toros compete in Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, an international AAA affiliate …
April 5, 2017
San Ysidro border crossers speak out
“It’s like a multicultural limbo,” said Ken Terry, a daily border crosser. “In Mexico, I’m the gringo. In America, I’m the white Mexican. I’m stuck in the middle and seem to be a foreigner in …
March 22, 2017
The trade war that could wallop San Diego
The law of unintended consequences warns individuals, governments, and corporations that any action may backfire. The possibility of a trade war with Mexico is a classic example: the consequences could be brutal, especially for San …
March 15, 2017
47,340 oxycodone tablets seized at border
Adriana Morfin-Paniagua, an American citizen living in Tijuana, was arrested yesterday (March 8) and charged with importing 47,340 tablets of oxycodone, an opioid, worth at least $1.42 million. They have an illegal street value of …
March 9, 2017
Sip pulque, wait for wings to sprout from back
Long before Tecate roja and caguamas of Indio dominated Mexican bartops, Aztec priests, warriors, and sacrificial victims sipped a milky agave wine called pulque. Fabled among its acolytes as a wellspring of fertility and divine …
March 8, 2017
Goat Canyon spills...black tea?
Border Patrol agents were surprised Wednesday morning (March 1) to see black water pouring through the grates over a drainage tube at the southeast edge of Goat Canyon. "It was like really black tea, literally …
March 2, 2017
Because We Love You Fest fertilizes TJ’s subterranean scene
Experimental music rarely goes as planned. Often, that’s the point. Sometimes, nothing happens at all. Just ask John Cage. One thing’s for sure: it’s a gamble. It’s downright audacious first-date material. Most people find it …
Pleasant ride on Tijuana's big-boy bus system
After watching police arrest some minor drug offenders from inside the huge modern bus terminal in the Zone Norte, I headed toward a bus in Tijuana’s new rapid transit system, named SITT (Sistema Integral de …
February 27, 2017
Tijuana River flushed hard
The beach north of the Tijuana River was littered with broken trees this weekend (February 18–19), a result of an enormous flow of rainwater and sewage from Tijuana hitting some of the 140,000 trees killed …
February 21, 2017
Tip of Tijuana's garbage iceberg
“It’s been since January that the trash hasn’t been picked up,” says Geovanni Zamudio, a 35-year-old high school teacher in Tijuana. “Garbage collectors usually come on Wednesdays where I live in Porticos de la Mesa, …
February 17, 2017