Old Town San Diego, Tijuana, Ocean Beach Pier

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Well, today was quite the adventure! Haha.

I woke up early again which is good I suppose – gives me more time to get stuff done. I bussed into town and headed straight to Old San Diego/Historic Town. The area is pretty much “Upper Canada Village” but smaller/less staff dressed up. It was neat though! They had a Mexican garden/fiesta area which had amazing decor and sculptures. I wandered through the “Stable House” and read up about some of the history of the city in another museum-like area. The courthouse/jail was neat too – the jail was basically just an iron block big enough to stand in. The General Store and Confectionary Store were fun to look around as well – even better with free samples (dill pickles and peanut butter fudge... thankfully, not together haha)

Oh, and I even got to see a San Diego donkey. Awesome, I know 😉

I wandered out of the “Town” and came across “Heritage Row” which is a bunch of old Victorian-style houses that were conserved from “back in the day” – they were lovely, as were all the colourful flowers! I think I honestly took more pictures of the flowers than the homes haha.

From there I went into downtown – the plan was to go up to this sculpture park... but the bus I needed to take doesn’t run on Sundays. D’oh. Nevermind that idea... I grabbed lunch at the shopping district (5-floor outdoor mall... one of the coolest things ever! I can imagine that fail that would be if they had snow here 😉 lol).

Trolley ride to downtown was fun – three transit cops got on the trolley, one of which was incredibly good looking. After they were done checking the car, they started laughing at the three guys in the car over because it was empty (well, two people). So the cute guy pulls out some paper (plays with his cuffs for a minute) than writes “SLACKERS” in marker on the paper and holds it up to the window. The other two guys then locked him into the driver-booth and were hamming it up. It was a fun show.

Anywho, considering I now had a few hours to spare... I debated what to do next. I could go to a museum but I wasn’t really in a museum mood. So I went to Mexico (jajajaja) I fail. I know I said I probably wouldn’t considering, you know, all the travel advisories and such, but everyone at the hostel vowed it’s still safe at the San Ysidro/Tijuana border because you literally walk across into Tijuana. I checked with the Tourist Info downtown and they told me the same thing... so off I went.

It became quite the trek let me tell you. Took the Trolley until the detour. Had to switch to a shuttle bus. Got back on the trolley. 20min later – San Ysidro, y voila!

(Cute moment on the second part of the trolley ride: this 5yr old girl sits beside me, her mom is across (seats are front/backwards on the trolley). The little girl is just staring at me for a few minutes then jumps up on her knees so she’s face to face with me. “HI! WHAT’S YOUR NAME! I’M SHANEK...(some name I can’t spell haha) I smiled back and told her my name. She beamed back, “I LOVE YOUR HAIR! IT’S SO. IT’S SO. DIFFERENT!” (She was black). I had a little chuckle; her mom wasn’t impressed and told her to sush her mouth, that my hair is straightened. The little girl’s like “WOW! I REALLY LIKE IT! CAN I TOUCH IT” Before I answered she was running her fingers through it. I’m sitting there like... ooook? I feel like I’m at work when the Latino group is playing with my hair. What is up with that, it’s not even blonde! Anyway. The Mom kept yelling at her to stop, I didn’t really care either way. She tried braiding it, but was unsuccessful and asked if my hair ever got cold... which I didn’t quite know how to answer lol. They got off about 3 stops later, so that was that.

Ok, so off the trolley it felt about 20 degrees warmer than it had in San Diego. Le sigh. As I got off the trolley I also had a good laugh... I swear I was the only white person for miles around. *white girl dance* S’all good, I had my strut on. Let’s do this.

I crossed the massive bridge and when I got to the other side my plan didn’t seem as interesting as it had. First of all, no customs... so I don’t even get a damn Mexico stamp in my passport. Second, I got attacked by 20x taxi people... yes I’m obviously a visitor, no I don’t need a taxi. Third... I had no pesos on me haha. I basically just wandered around some garden area and tried to avoid sales people like the plague for an hour. It was... something to do? Haha.

I then went back to the border area– now, I had been warned there would be a line to come back because they’re hard at the border... but come on, it went beyond as far as you could see..!! I stood in line for a little over an hour. That was a party. But it was neat to people watch – in all honesty, that was the best part of my little jaunt to Mexico – just watching people interacting, seeing different architecture and houses... it was interesting.

I got a great border/customs guy – it was fascinating watching everyone go in front of me because the guards really don’t look all that interested, but don’t look friendly at all... it’s all business of course. When I got up and he saw my passport he just smiled. I’m like... ok? Haha.

You won’t guess his opening question ... ... ... “what’s your favourite hockey team”

I actually started laughing, I couldn’t help myself – it caught me completely off guard!! I blurted out “Ottawa Sens of course!!” and he laughed. I’m like pfft, come on they’re doing way better than anyone thought this year. Who do you cheer for? “Jersey Devils” You from Jersey? “Yes... *lowers head and shakes it*” I laughed again, well that’s unfortunate haha. We continued our little hockey chat for a bit and then I went on my merry way. At least that was painless.

Trolley back to San Diego was uneventful. Minus the guy who was having a conversation with himself (not talking to himself... he was also answering, in a different voice).

I headed back to Ocean Beach to walk the Pier - holy crap it was freezing when I got off the bus. I had to run back to my hostel to get a scarf and sweater lol. I walked to the end of the Pier – having fun watching people fish (they were successful too!) and watching people try to surf (they were not as fortunate... the waves were pretty wimpy, they couldn’t even get up)

The sky was peculiar – it was sunny as day over Ocean Beach, but out on the Pier and the water it was crazy overcast, as if it was going to start raining buckets any moment even though no rain was forecast for the day. I stayed dry, that’s all I cared about.

Tonight I’m writing this a little earlier than last time... so no overheard drunk comments. If I hear any good ones, I’ll add them to tomorrow night’s entry 😉

Speaking of tomorrow, I’m headed off bright and early to Los Angeles! Thank you San Diego/Ocean Beach – you’ve been a lovely host.

Also, never thought to mention before – another reason I love Ocean Beach is there are dogs EVERYWHERE. Makes me miss my Balouser though... no actually it makes me miss Homer. He’s more of a dog.

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