San Diego - The Beach and Mexico

So, the bus was fun. All 8 hours of it. Arrived in San Diego about 8.30 and went straight to our hostel at Ocean Beach - much livelier (and in a slightly less dodgy 'hood') than the one in Las Vegas - and only about 200 metres from the Pacific Ocean. Hence, Ocean Beach. Met our ker-azy roommate Candice as soon as we walked in the room, she was busy rolling spliffs for her big night out. We didn't see much more of her, although she does a pretty mean english accent which she'd learnt from Monty Python films. Excellent!

First night we checked out the local burger joint, Hodads across the road - the hostel was on the main street so bars and restaurants were on our doorstep, none of this catching a bus into town malarky. Sunday we wandered down to the beach and watched some surfers in the morning (well, we say morning, we still missed breakfast though), before heading into Downtown San Diego where we got out priorities sorted and got some ice cream in the local plaza. Mooched around the shops - not buying anything - and took in some culture in the Museum of contemporary art. I think it's safe to say neither of us were really that impressed - it was basically rubbish and we didn't really think it was worth the time taken to hang the paintings on the wall. Rant over. Headed back to the hostel and had some local fish tacos - Mahi and Wahoo (chosen purely for the names) and some shark. Checked out the local bar (where we were ID'd) and played a brilliant game called shuffleboard - it's really big over here. To the untrained observer, it's basically a long bit of wood with sand on where you have to push a little metal disc from one end to the other without it falling off the end. The winner is the person who gets it closest to the edge. Excellent entertainment for 50 cents. Kept us amused, anyway.

Took the 'trolley', that's the tram in english, to Tijuana on Monday (yesterday) and experienced a bit of Mexico. We read on the BBC website that the 24th January has been calculated to be the most depressing day of the year. Not that we're rubbing it in or anything but we had blue skies, warm sunshine and would have been walking around in T-shirts had we remembered the factor 20. Was a lovely day. Tijuana is not typical of Mexico - it's just the really touristy bit just across the border where US citizens go to get cheap clothes and prescription drugs - we saw a sign offering, among other things, Viagra, Amoxycillin and Prozac, all at knock-down prices. Mexican men also like to yell at you from across the street and we felt particularly conspicuous given our VERY white skin. Didn't fit in at all - we looked like we'd just stepped off the plane from the UK. Oh wait, we had. A bit more sunbathing required perhaps.

That evening saw abit more shuffleboard - it's very addictive - and some yummy yoghurt from the local Apple Tree supermarket. Where, if you want some juice, it appears you have to buy it by the bucket. No one needs that much juice, unless they have a medical condition, and yet it's all you can have. Madness.

Woken up early this morning by mad German roommate, which was probably a good thing given the time it took us to pack. Managed to make it down in time for breakfast though - only the second time since we've been here - so every cloud and all that. But more importantly we went to the zoo today. it was FAB. Lugged our bags into town and stored them at the Greyhound station before getting the bus to the world famous San Diego Zoo. We haven't been to the zoo for years and we weren't disappointed - the giraffes were gorgeous, the lions were lovely and the rhinos were radiant. We would the pandas were perfect but actually, they kind of just lay there. Not really making the effort. The zoo itself was huge and we spent 4 and a half hours walking round just to fit everything in. Never fear! - Footsie Wootsie's here!. What? I hear you cry. Yep, we thought the same thing. For the benefit of tired feet, the Americans have an ingenious machine that is supposed to relax and revive those tired little tootsies. This is, in reality, a plastic chair with a little vibrating platform that shakes your feet really hard. Relaxing? Not really? Uncomfortable to the point of being painful? That's closer to the mark. It makes your feet really hot and a little jelly like - why anyone would want this is a mystery to us all. Not recommended for the faint hearted.

Tried to get into some museums on the way back but they were shut so we went for the next best thing and read all the books in the gift shop instead. Then came back to downtown and had some questionable chinese food (if there's aneon sign in the window saying 99c, it's probably not a goos idea) and then spent about an hour trying to find an internet cafe to write this. We hope you're grateful.

That's pretty much it for today. We're getting the bus to San Francisco tonight, which is a 12 hour journey which we're really looking forward to, so we'll update you when we get there. Pictures to follow - we promise!

Thanks for all the messages by the way - we really love hearing from all you guys. Lovin' it Mally - lol!

Lots of love,
Raches x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Sorry if these photos read a bit like My First Book of Animals but we did go to the zoo and there's not a lot more you can photograph there. We can only work with the material we're given. Plus, they're kinda cool.

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