The city is very accessible by public transportation including a trolley system that transverses the city and goes directly to the Mexican border. It is quite common for visitors to take a day trip to Tijuana for touristy fun and frolic. Visitors can take the blue line to the border pass through border control and literally walk across a footbridge into Mexico.
When I was growing up in Los Angeles in the mid-60’s Tijuana had an aura of carefree and wild abandonment, a party destination. I think over the last few decades it’s viewed now as just a big sweatshop labor conduit for North American Free Trade Association businesses and a playground for drunken tourists.
I want to caution the uninitiated who may be swayed by all the party hype; and go there to get inebriated on the endless flow of inexpensive tequila, margaritas and perhaps marijuana and then find themselves in dangerous and risky situations. Be forewarned, women are routinely sexually assaulted and/or robbed in Tijuana. Don’t expect the Tijuana police or local residents to come to your aid.
Okay what is it about San Diego that makes me want to leave after a few days? “The Military”. The military presence, military heritage, military facilities and military civic influence are just too damn much for me.
I visited the University of California San Diego campus, which by the ways spans over 1200 acres—land donated by the military. I took a stroll from my hotel to the harbor and was enjoying viewing the historic boats until I saw a docked submarine as part of the collection. I went to check out the ballpark and to learn a thing or too about the Padres team. Lo and behold the Padres are billed as “The Team of the Military”.
I decided to take the 25-30 minute walk back from the Gaslamp Quarter to my hotel so that I could check out side streets. What I observed all up down a particular street for at least a 1/4-mile were military personnel with erections and local hustlers looking for tricks. I purposely did not visit the popular Balboa Park on this trip because I remember it as a major gay cruise spot with men ducking into bushes barely out of sight engaged in fellatio.