Still no word, but if nothing else, this post is another opportunity to get his attention.Ĭopyright: gregorylee / 123RF Stock Photo 4. I wrote an “ Open Invitation” to the musician urging him to play the border between San Diego and Tijuana, then asked all my followers to share it via social media. In 2017, Roger Waters, former lead singer of the rock band Pink Floyd and a vociferous anti-Trump activist, intimated that he would consider playing the US -Mexico border at some point during his tour to protest the wall. Roger Waters STILL hasn’t Responded to my “Open Invitation” to Play Here

However, local tourism has benefitted by luring visitors with the promise of its new cenotes (underground rivers, typical in the Yucatán) for adventurous swimmers.Įnsenada cenotes. Recent heavy rains have only exasperated the problem. It’s main streets, particularly to the south, are plagued with potholes that more often resemble sink holes. Ensenada has a Problem with Pot(holes)Īll joking aside, there are some real problems that need to be dealt with in Baja California’s famous port city of Ensenada. Twice a year, this part of the border is threatened with a “humanity crisis” when gates are opened on either side to allow separated families and friends from both countries to embrace and commingle.īorder Fence at Playas de Tijuana. A local artist had painted the horizon behind the fence to give the impression that for just a few meters, we weren’t separated physically, socially or emotionally from each other. A Section of the Wall in Playas de Tijuana Disappeared Completelyįor a few years, a section of the border fence that runs into the Pacific Ocean in Playas de Tijuana seemed to disappear. Rosé, cheese, and olives at Lechuza, Valle de Guadalupe. Visitors from around the globe have reported experiencing a relaxed state “under the influence” and return again and again to get their “fix”. An Epidemic of High-Quality Wine in the Valle de Guadalupeįor years, dealers (some call them vintners) in the Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California’s wine region, have been pushing an increasingly addictive product on an unsuspecting public - chiefly imaginative red blends and more recently, refreshing rosés. Visit my shop! I need to pay for the wall! 8. I declined, knowing that I’d never be able to get that kind of credit. A hotel owner in Ensenada challenged me to a round of poker to determine which of us would pay. I was personally involved in several altercations, typically with laughter over a glass of good mezcal at an excellent restaurant with Mexican friends. When Donald Trump announced that Mexico would foot the bill for the wall, the effects were felt in Tijuana where souvenir hawkers beckoned pedestrians to “…come visit my shop! I need to pay for the wall!”.

Arrive early so this doesn’t happen to you. Arrive too late in the day, though, and there’s a chance that they’ll have sold all of their birria and you’ll have to settle for a taco filled only with their delicious tripa (griddled small intestine). Tacos Fitos, located just outside of Mercado Hidalgo, is famous for the stuff.

Many of Tijuana’s food carts serve birria de res, a local specialty of seasoned and slowly-stewed beef, as a taco filling. Zero-Tolerance Birria Shortages in Tijuana So as a public service, A Gringo in Mexico presents the Top 10 Crises at the San Diego-Baja California Border to help you better navigate our region during these troubling times…Īre you afraid to leave your facemask? You could have ’empty face syndrome’ġ0. Thanks to the president’s declaration, a cloud has been lifted and I now realize that there are problems here at the southwestern border that have gone unrecognized for years but were inevitable, sneaking up on us like El Chapo emerging from a drug tunnel. Perhaps we have been blissfully, some would say tragically, unaware of the looming crisis and the need to construct another blockade between us and our amigos in Mexico. After all, my family and dozens of people we know make the commute across la frontera on a regular basis for work, play, food and cultural exchange sans incident.īut there is a distant possibility that the president’s base – located largely in the Midwest – know something that those of us who actually live here don’t. SAN DIEGO, CA – When US president Donald Trump declared last week that there was a “National Emergency” at the US-Mexico border, many of my friends and I in the San Diego- Baja California mega-region were taken by surprise. Top 10 Crises at the San Diego-Baja California Border.

Lechuza birria tacos