We traveled across the border again yesterday in search of cheap pharmaceuticals for Brad.  I realize that it sounds like we are 80 years old but living with no health insurance means you gotta do what ya gotta do to get by.

Tijuana is super different than Nuevo Progreso, the first town we visited in Mexico. 

We drove south on the 805 until there were no more US exits to go and then we found 6 dollar parking within walking distance of the border. 

We looked across the street after we got out of the car and saw a sign that said $4 parking all day.  Crap.  Strike 1.

Getting to Nuevo Progreso was very simple and self explanatory.  You parked, walked over the bridge, and immediately were surround by Mexican tiendas and farmacias. 

Tijuana is a little different.  We really had no idea where we were going so we followed a couple of guys who seemed like they knew what they were doing.  They led us over a maze of bridges and through a couple of turnstyles until we finally saw the sign that informed us of the Mexican/ US boundary.

Alright, we made it.  We were immediately barraged by a million men wearing yellow shirts asking us if we needed a taxi.

A taxi?  Wait, are you telling me everything isn’t within walking distance in Tijuana?

We declined and finally found ourselves walking west towards a group of shops and doctor’s offices. 

We found a farmacia, bought the medicine, and then were harassed by a man wanting us to come to his restaurant.

We looked over and saw a sign that said 99 cent beers so we obliged. 

He tried very hard to sell us tacos, burritos, nachos, and margaritas, but we politely declined and said that we only wanted the 99 cent beers they had advertised.

Even then he tried to sell us more, saying that the quality was much better in the bottle.  We said that we didn’t mind and he finally reluctantly brought us two frosty mugs of some delicious amber beer.

Several times he came back and tried to get us to buy more.  We stood strong and refused.

After we paid he pointed us in the direction of downtown Tijuana. 

After a 5 minute bridge walk across a stinky river we entered a place with even more shops and people trying to sell us stuff.

In Progreso, we literally had to push our way through the crowds to get anywhere.  Tijuana was much more relaxing.

We even found a bench in a sort of pretty park to sit on for a while.

I didn’t take my camera in because I had heard that Tijuana was super crowded and I was worried about it getting stolen.

Now I wish I would have because it was actually a very pleasant afternoon and it would have been an interesting place to photograph

We wandered around a bit, a man told me a had a nice straw hat, and then we topped off the afternoon with a bag full of Churros.

Coming back into the US was also much more difficult in Tijuana than it had been in Progreso.

Remember how I said I could have brought anything back to the US from Progreso.  Not so in Tijuana.

There were x-ray machines and border patrol to boot.

I got through easily because I had no bag and brought nothing back with me.

I turned around and saw Brad being taken to a secondary check point.

Uh Oh, what did he do now?

I tried waiting for him at the end of the line but a woman told me I had to go outside.

After waiting for a very nervous 15 minutes I finally saw Brad come out the door. 

Whew, he made it.

Apparently they made a big deal about him bringing his medicine back in.

They kept asking him if he had a prescription for it, which he did, and eventually they “let him slide” and go through with it. 

That was a relief because it would have sucked if the $80 dollar medicine that we had just purchased didn’t even make it back to the states with us.

We saw two men get arrested in the 30 minutes we spent at the border checkpoint.

It made me wonder how many people they must arrest there on a normal day.  I don’t even think it was a busy day for them.

So aside from a few hassles, we had a nice relaxing afternoon in the great country of Mexico.

3 days till the RED BULL AIR RACE!