Adventures of David and Paul: ¡Vamos a México!

In February we took a short trip to Mexico with Alejandra and some friends (Monique and Julie) to celebrate her birthday. We've been talking with Alex forever about making this trip to Tijuana and Baja, so we were thrilled it was finally happening. We flew into San Diego on a Wednesday, spent time with Alex's family, then crossed the border early the next morning for some tacos, wine and a good time for a few days before heading back to San Diego for a big Mexican birthday cookout. This was a short trip, but very memorable and fun! This first post focuses on our first evening in San Diego and our first day and a half in Mexico - hanging out in Tijuana and driving down to Ensenada.

We had a beautiful view of sunset over downtown San Diego while flying in.

We were greeted with tacos upon arrival at Alex's parents' house. These were the first of dozens of tacos...

We stopped by a liquor store and got some California beer. Tacos and beer within hours of landing? Paul was happy!

Thursday morning we took a Lyft to the border, crossed on foot, and then took an Uber to a rental car building. Unfortunately they didn't have power, so they drove us to the airport where we were upgraded to an SUV. More room for the five of us! We went straight to a late breakfast at Café de la Flor, which turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip. Everyone was in love with the mole chilaquiles. After eating we stopped by a bank ATM to get some pesos, then went to Venus Chocolates. Alex had brought us some of these delicious chocolates before, and we knew we had to go back. They have a wide variety of little chocolate truffles, some of which are flavored with liquor or local wine. Our favorite is the tequila con cajeta.

A mural in Cafe de la Flor.

Mole chilaquiles. Yummy!

And fancy drinks too.

Venus chocolates!

Our last stop in Tijuana for the day was Mundo Divertido, a small amusement park. Of course Paul needed the roller coaster credits! It was actually a nice little park, but was very empty because it was the middle of the day on a weekday.

Paul and Alex with some kind of purple monster.

Paul and David on the roller coaster.

Paul getting his wacky worm on.

We loved hanging out with mister purple monster.

After getting our fill of Mundo Divertivo, we drove down to Ensenada via Playa Tijuana. Alex grew up in Playa, so it was cool to see her old neighborhood. We drove along the border to get there, and saw some interesting art on the wall.

The highway that heads west along the border. USA on the right.

The border wall actually juts out into the ocean.

Social commentary on the wall.

Paul with some ocean friends.

For a world without fences/borders.

The drive down to Ensenada passed inbetween the oceans and mountains, through a few towns.

We arrived in Ensenada in the early evening, checked in to our AirBnB, and went to dinner at Manzanilla, a fancy restaurant in the port area. After dinner we had a few beers at Cerveceria Wendlandt, then wandered around the Carnaval celebrations in downtown. It was the 100th anniversary of Carnaval in Ensenada, and a huge stretch of the main street was closed down for music, games, rides, and drinking.