“Buddy! Over here! Buy something, amigo! It’s all cheap! Free tequila shot!” Street salesmen in Tijuana usually try to shove things down your throat, whether you want them or not. They yell at you in …
February 15, 2017
Mexico
The legs get stuck in your teeth
Say something
The story of Coyote begins with a horse. A Trojan horse. The year is 1997. A ten-year-old Daniel Espinosa weaves through traffic at the San Ysidro Port of Entry to get a closer look at …
February 8, 2017
Trump border-wall project begins on beach
The morning after Trump signed the executive order to build a wall (January 25), a couple of workers in a white van installed a 60-yard section section of chain-link fence on the existing barrier that …
January 28, 2017
Whoa, Mexico, that water clean?
Four South Bay cities have signed off on a letter that calls on the North American Development Bank to pay attention to the sewage-tainted seawater that may go into the Rosarito desalination plant the bank …
January 19, 2017
Korean tacos?
A Caucasian American and a Korean opened a taco shop in Tijuana in late November. It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but there is no punchline. KoMe is situated downtown on 7th Street …
January 12, 2017
Rob's ride
“I’ve been going out to Otay Lakes to train,” says local jazz bassist and bicycle aficionado Rob Thorsen. “Just riding up and down the trails, getting muddy and testing the limits of my bike.” On …
January 11, 2017
Lord of the wind
Los Barriles sits on the Sea of Cortez halfway between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas. Known mostly for its fishery, this area enjoys wintertime winds that funnel down the Gulf of California from the …
January 10, 2017
Gas-price hike protests in Tijuana
Gas prices went up more than 20 percent in Mexico on the first Monday of 2017 (January 2). Protests and highway blockades started the same day over what is being referred to as "El Gasolinazo." …
January 8, 2017
A different kind of breakfast burrito
Burritos salesmen walk the streets toting coolers in many corners of Tijuana. You can find them while waiting in line to cross the border, in small stores, or outside popular dive bars. The coolers contain …
January 5, 2017
Mingus and poul fri among newest Tijuana residents
Cue the upright bass solo in G minor. Enter trombones. Enter drums. Enter saxophones. All in a long crescendo. “My solo in it is a deeply concentrated one,” said jazz man Charles Mingus about “Haitian …
January 4, 2017
To Baja and back again
After what appeared to be a never-ending campaign of presidential media blitzes, president-elect Donald Trump won the race. Lost the popular — but who’s counting? And now, a storm is coming, but the conditions are …
December 29, 2016
Tijuana destroys Spanish and English
“Tengo que ir hacer laundry, then I have to study en la biblioteca,” I’m paraphrasing what the Latina students in my college sounded like. My first real encounter with Spanglish speakers was in Minnesota. Spanglish …
December 28, 2016
Southbound toy smugglers wanted
A group of smugglers huddled in a prayer circle a couple weeks ago to ask God for help crossing into Mexico. “We prayed for [aduanas, Mexican customs officials] to turn a blind eye when we …
December 24, 2016
Parkland push is on for Tijuana River Valley
Nearly 100 people showed up at the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park Wednesday night (December 14) to see what county officials are thinking about putting in the large and largely undeveloped park that starts at …
December 15, 2016
State of emergency in the Tijuana River Valley
Since 1993, the San Diego City Council has been redeclaring a state of emergency in the Tijuana River Valley over the sewage, sediment, and rubbish as large as tires that flow into the area in …
December 15, 2016