The Mexicoach bus waits at San Ysidro car park
Rosarito and Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico - 2nd March 2008
The day after a long road-trip around the desert of South-west California, Nosher and Isobel decide to head south across the border for a poke around Baja California, Mexico. So we drive to San Ysidro - the last US exit on Interstate 5 - and get the bus down to Tijuana, then change bus again to carry on to Rosarito. Rosarito is one of those places that sounds nice on paper but in reality is blighted by truly hideous beach-front bars pumping out music all day, at a volume which you can stil hear half-a-mile down the beach. We even end up at one of these bars for a drink, simply because it seems to be the only way to find a toilet. The rest of Rosarito is a little like a seaside version of Tijuana, but it does give Nosher the chance to eat some street food, as encouraged by Isobel, in the form of a small and tasty Taco al Pastor. Later, we catch the bus back to Tijuana and hang out there for a few hours before enduring the spectacle of the border crossing at San Ysidro - the world's busiest.
next album: San Diego and Hollywood, California, US - 3rd March 2008
previous album: The End of the World: Julian to the Salton Sea and Back, California, US - 1st March 2008
On the beach at Rosarito
Fruit stalls struggle against hideous bars
Kids play on the beach
Pineapples, oranges and bags of sweets
Beachfront Condos overlook the chaos
Random blanket sellers
A Mexican hat seller
A beach tat seller
Quality jewelry up for sale
The hat woman
Isobel and Nosher at a tacky bar
Fruit sales seem to be a little slow
Fruit and crisps seller
Lurid buildings on the beach
Under the Rosarito pier
Nosher, with hat, on the beach
Horses on the beach
Isobel plays with sand
Ponies trot on the beach
A couple of ponies trot along the beach
An unsure state of demolition or building
Another pair of ponies trot on the beach
Classic 1970s car outside Brown Pride Tattoo
Brown Pride tattoos
Downtown Rosarito
On Rosarito's main drag: Bimbo
Random cartoon super-heroes and Mexican wrestlers
A shop absolutely packed with random stuff
5 and 10 liquor store on Rosarito's main street
A blob of Al Pastor pork waits for us
The taco dude prepares to slice the al pastor pork
In the taco shop
Isobel gets ready to scoff her taco
The light makes this photo look like the 1970s
Rosarito's main drag
A bar on the street corner
Panificadora Rosarito
Mexican 'lucky' pharmacy
A Mexican minibus
An empty shop
The Tijuana bus-station bogs
The bogs at Tijuana's bus station
Pharmacies sell cheap drugs to Americans
Old man on a bike, with his wordly possessions
A Mariachi band walks down the street
Bands of musicians roam the streets
Grilled corn-on-the-cob from a street vendor
Tijuana street life
A Tijuana street corner
The remains of a million posters linger
Indoor Tijuana market
A Tijuana market
A clock tower on Juarez 2
More street corn
A beat-up Ford van displays some sort of advert
Downtown Tijuana
The random restaurant 'Genesis'
A mobile taco stall
A Tijuana bakery
A street hamburger stand
More street-corner action
A woman in some sort of traditional garb waits
An entertainer lies on broken glass and is stood on
More musicians roam Avenue de la Revolucion
A dude hauls around bottles of water
Amusing sign: no drugs or nuclear weapons allowed
A vintage American car
The classic 1970s Chevrolet at an intersection
Tequila Sunrise
A burnt-out building
In Tijuana bus station - a small carousel with zebra
An indoor tat shop at the bus station
Queues at the US border
Huge queues of cars at the Mexico/US border
A mobile tat stall at the border crossing
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The Mexicoach bus waits at San Ysidro car park
The Mexicoach bus waits at San Ysidro car park
On the beach at Rosarito
Fruit stalls struggle against hideous bars
Kids play on the beach
Pineapples, oranges and bags of sweets
Beachfront Condos overlook the chaos
Random blanket sellers
A Mexican hat seller
A beach tat seller
Quality jewelry up for sale
The hat woman
Isobel and Nosher at a tacky bar
Fruit sales seem to be a little slow
Fruit and crisps seller
Lurid buildings on the beach
Under the Rosarito pier
Nosher, with hat, on the beach
Horses on the beach
Isobel plays with sand
Ponies trot on the beach
A couple of ponies trot along the beach
An unsure state of demolition or building
Another pair of ponies trot on the beach
Classic 1970s car outside Brown Pride Tattoo
Brown Pride tattoos
Downtown Rosarito
On Rosarito's main drag: Bimbo
Random cartoon super-heroes and Mexican wrestlers
A shop absolutely packed with random stuff
5 and 10 liquor store on Rosarito's main street
A blob of Al Pastor pork waits for us
The taco dude prepares to slice the al pastor pork
In the taco shop
Isobel gets ready to scoff her taco
The light makes this photo look like the 1970s
Rosarito's main drag
A bar on the street corner
Panificadora Rosarito
Mexican 'lucky' pharmacy
A Mexican minibus
An empty shop
The Tijuana bus-station bogs
The bogs at Tijuana's bus station
Pharmacies sell cheap drugs to Americans
Old man on a bike, with his wordly possessions
A Mariachi band walks down the street
Bands of musicians roam the streets
Grilled corn-on-the-cob from a street vendor
Tijuana street life
A Tijuana street corner
The remains of a million posters linger
Indoor Tijuana market
A Tijuana market
A clock tower on Juarez 2
More street corn
A beat-up Ford van displays some sort of advert
Downtown Tijuana
The random restaurant 'Genesis'
A mobile taco stall
A Tijuana bakery
A street hamburger stand
More street-corner action
A woman in some sort of traditional garb waits
An entertainer lies on broken glass and is stood on
More musicians roam Avenue de la Revolucion
A dude hauls around bottles of water
Amusing sign: no drugs or nuclear weapons allowed
A vintage American car
The classic 1970s Chevrolet at an intersection
Tequila Sunrise
A burnt-out building
In Tijuana bus station - a small carousel with zebra
An indoor tat shop at the bus station
Queues at the US border
Huge queues of cars at the Mexico/US border
A mobile tat stall at the border crossing