Tijuana, Tacos and a Birthday Piñata in San Diego

After exploring Ensenada and the Guadalupe Valley, our final afternoon and night in Mexico was in Tijuana. The city has quite the reputation - Americans tend to think of it as a former seedy tourist party city that was more recently besieged by drug cartel violence. But in the last decade, huge changes have occurred. Señor Frogs and the tacky tourist shops are gone, and crime is down - locals have reclaimed their city as a hub for culture and food. New restaurants and local shops are popping up, making Tijuana an exciting and unexpected destination. We already knew this from Alex and her family, but people are starting to catch on: The LA Times, New York Magazine, and other media are all talking about the new energy in this vibrant border city.

We booked a room at Hotel Pueblo Amigo near the border so we'd be able to walk across in the morning. After dropping off our rental car, we spent some time at Casino Caliente, attached to our hotel. David won some money on roulette! It's fun to bet in pesos, because you get so many more chips to play with. After getting our fill of the casino, we went to Mercado Hidalgo, a large market filled with all kinds of produce, candy, and household goods. We walked across the street to Tacos El Gordo for some delicious al pastor tacos. This is the original, but they've since expanded and we've actually been to their location in Las Vegas!

The view from our hotel, with new skyscrapers going up.

Mole at the market.

Can I have this at my birthday party?

Paul in the pinata section of the market.

Tacos on the outdoor bar, right in front of the grill.

So many tacos on this trip, and they were all great!

David with the trompo team.

They were super friendly!

It was a short walk from Tacos El Gordo to Centro Cultural Tijuana, a huge art museum and cultural hub. We didn't go through all of the exhibits, but we browsed the small but cool gift shop. The building is really neat - it's a huge tan sphere, with a lot of outdoor art and a cafe. Definitely a centerpiece of Tijuana. We crossed the street to Plaza Fiesta, an area with narrow pedestrian streets and a lot of bars. It was still early so it wasn't lively yet, but a few places were open. We sat for a while at the Border Psycho brewery and tasted some of their beers. Beer is another thing that is really starting to catch on in Baja California, with a number of new breweries in the area. Next we walked back to the hotel to change before dinner.

The cultural center is really impressive.

Really cool art at the cultural center.

Beer flight at Border Psycho.

There's a lot of cool street art all around the city.

Crossing the Tijuana River. Similar to the Los Angeles river, it's been fully channelized.

The atrium of our hotel, complete with casino.

Dinner for Alex's birthday was at Misión 19. It's a really trendy restaurant with creative dishes based on the produce and seafood of the region. It's in an upscale area of Tijuana, on the second floor of an office building with big windows overlooking the city. The chef is a culinary pioneer who helped to kick off the foodie renaissance in Tijuana. And what a meal we had! Every dish was delicious, and uniquely presented. We definitely recommend this place as your "fancy" meal when visiting the city. Be sure to make reservations! After dinner we went up one floor and had some drinks at Bar 20 before going back to the hotel to rest up for our early morning departure.

Nice cocktails and great food at unbeatable prices (thanks exchange rate)!

Delicious grilled octopus. So much negative space...

Three types of local pork. All amazing.

Deconstructed red velvet cake. David prefers it fully constructed. 

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and walked back across the border, catching a Lyft to Alex's parent's house south of San Diego. The schedule for the day was a birthday party for Alex, complete with lots of grilled meat from her cousin (a chef). We stuffed ourselves with tacos and had our fill of tequila and beer, before whacking a piñata and having a living room dance party. Fun times were had by all!

The remains of someone else's bad choices the night before.

Firing up the grill for the all-day birthday taco-fest!

The beer of choice for many of the party-goers. Look at those peppers!

He's kinda a wolf pup...

This is small fraction of all the meat grilled on this day!

Stuffing the piñata.

Alex's dad was pretty adamant we drink lots of tequila.

Hanging out, drinking and eating with friends and family. Yay birthdays!

It got a bit cloudy and cold, but the rain held off until night.

So many tacos...

Who doesn't love a good birthday piñata?

Moana piñata, of course!

Blowing out the candles.

Lots of Mijares!

What a face!

That's a wrap on our February trip to San Diego and Baja, Mexico. This trip had been in the works for a couple years and we had a great time with Alex, Julie and Monique. Baja is often overlooked as a tourist destination by Americans, but has a lot of things that make it appealing: from food and wine to beaches and friendly people. We know we'll be back to Mexico soon - it's one of our favorite countries!