The long and winding road

San Diego, California, USA

Bus travel in Mexico can be a very nice experience - just look at our previous post when we took the bus from Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta.  On that trip we were travelling on a first class TAP bus, luxury all the way.  This time that was not an option.

The buses on this route are second class, a step up from Greyhound but still nothing like the first class vehicles.  Truthfully the bus was pretty good - the real problem was with the disorganization that had us scrambling for a seat in spite of having a supposed seat pre-assignment (it is right there printed on the tickets).  When we approached the driver with our tickets to Tijuana, he seemed quite upset that he could not seat us together - he had one left near the front of the bus and one on the very last row over the engine.  He assured us we could move to two seats together after our first major stop when some of the people were leaving.  As it turns out, even that seat near the front had someone already sitting in it, and he did not seem eager to move.  We went to the very back of the bus and snagged two seats on the last row instead - nobody seemed to care.  By the time we left we had a handful of people who had to stand for the first 1-1/2 hour journey - I think they were actually on stand-by which makes some kind of wierd sense.  After that we were able to get a couple of seats together for the rest of the 16-hour trip and managed OK.

One of the great features of  travelling this route is that there is always something happening.  We had to make a lot of stops for people to get on or off, as this bus serves all of the communities from Cabo San Lucas to Mexicali - most people are only going short distances.  We also got to stop periodically for drug inspections by the army.  On two of these occasions everyone had to get off the bus and all the luggage was taken off and thoroughly searched - by hand the first time and by a drug-sniffing dog the second time.  If you eliminated all of these interruptions the trip would probably only take about 11 hours and you might get to sleep for some of that - where would the fun be in that?

Regardless, we left Santa Rosalia at around 5PM (only about an hour late) and arrived in Tijuana around 8AM (about 1-1/2 hours late).  We were able to get a new Mexican visa right away at the bus terminal itself and caught the 8:30AM Greyhound bus to take us to the US border crossing to make our way into the good old USA.  Greyhound then took us to downtown San Diego where we just had to walk next door to the wonderful Hotel Sofia, where they actually managed to get us into a room at 9:30 in the morning.  Riding even this short distance on Greyhound sure makes you appreciate how good we had it on the trip up from Santa Rosalia.  This picture of the USA border lineup was taken through the window - it was a perfectly clear day - the windows were really that dirty.

San Diego is one of our favorite cities.  We used our time today, after much needed showers and a great breakfast at the hotel, to walk along the waterfront viewing the latest eclectic collection of statues and ogling all the cool yachts in the upscale Marriot Marina.  It sure is different to be here in the high season for a change.  The weather is beautiful, temperatures in the mid 20s with blue skies and sunshine - perfect for walking long distances, not sweating like pigs for a change.  Also neat to see so many people, mostly tourists, just out having a good time.  We did a little shopping too - Sue bought some new sandals to replace the ones she has pretty much worn out.

It was quite windy here today which made for lot of fun out in the bay too - lots of sailboats going every which way.

Tomorrow, we will most likely make a trip to West Marine to pick up a few non-essential boat items.

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