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Published: January 2nd 2007
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Wow! Interesting day. Today was the day of the Holiday Bowl- big Gridiron match for the holidays. Kinda like our old State of Origin. Benn tried for a few days and we finally got some tickets to go! The game started at 5pm. It was a huge event- everyone was talking about it. So the day started with a Balloon Parade in Downtown San Diego. So we headed down at 10am and sat and watched the parade. It was awesome. Just what u see on TV or the movies. Like hot air balloons expect shaped as different things and characters which are carried down a main strip with marching bands inbetween them. So this was very exciting start to the day.
Next we ventured down to Tijuana (which is actually Mexico- just cross the American Boarder). This was an experience never to forget. So we caught the 45 minute trolley and got off at the border. We walked up a bridge and through a turnstile and here we are Mexico! Very interesting place- people harassing you every step. Every shop you walk past there is a guy out the front telling you to come in. Even pharmacys! There are people
selling things everywhere and anywhere selling anything. Little kids come up to you with beaded bracelets or chewy to sell.
We walked down the main strip to the market area. Each shop was similar just Mexican stuff like maracas, guitars, rugs, hats etc. In between the market stores were Mexican restaurants. So we walked down being harassed every few meters by the locals to come into their store. Benn got used being called amigo and myself sinureta. My favorite lines for the day were, 'Amigo, why don’t you buy something for your princess sinureta' also a guy looked at Benn and said 'I think you need one more beer- come in ill look after you' (and Ben hadn’t had a drink yet!) Everything was negotiable- start high and then show no interest and they bring it lower and then when you turn your back and start walking they yell out a lower price and that’s when you buy it!
We didn’t spend too much time here it was just to overwhelming and demanding of the people. So we headed back to the boarder but had to have some Mexican food in Mexico. Each time you walk past a
restaurant the man out the front goes on about how good the restaurant is and then says ok lets go in and then turns away walking into the restaurant calling you in. Very funny when you don’t follow him. Anyway we went to a Mexican restaurant that was open and quite populated. The food was great and we had $1.50 Margaritas and $1 Coronas. After 2 Margaritas I was already feeling it. They must of been double shots! Anyway we were conscious of the time to get to the holiday bowl so we left to recross the boarder at 3.45pm.
And that’s when it all started. We walked over the bridge to see a line. Didn’t look too big- but we looked around the corner and around the next corner and it was huge. Coppers said it was gonnas take 3 to 4 hours to get through!!! We couldn’t afford to wait the holiday bowl started in an hour and a half. So we heard some dodgy guy saying $10 to cross the boarded in 20 mins. This took our fancy and so us and a few others decided to follow the man. We got into a van with
10 others to hurry up and cross the boarder. So we ended up on the road in traffic sitting there until we got up to the boarder to cross. Two and a half hours later (!!!) of sitting in this van we were still in traffic. The people near us in the line had passed us and we were not happy. We finally crossed at 6.30pm (after starting at 3.45pm!). The holiday bowl was another hour's train ride- we were not gonna make it.
So we finally headed home, without going to the match. When we finally got in to the Hotel the Holiday Bowl was on the TV in the last quarter with 5 mins to go!!! We couldn’t believe it. We walked straight into Mexico with ease but to get back into the US was another story!!!
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