One Year

A lot can happen in one year. You can pick up your life in one country and start all over in a new one. And sometimes you can do all this while remaining approximately five miles from your home country. And if you’re really lucky, like us, you can do all this in Tijuana.

Exactly one year ago today, we traveled the final five miles to our new casa in Mexico. Most of the day is a blur in my memory, but I do remember that Benjy had a 104 degree fever that day. I also remember sitting in the middle of a big, mostly empty apartment and feeling overwhelmed, isolated and disoriented. After days of hearing, “Are we there yet?” we were finally “there,” but none of us had much clue as to where “there” actually was. Those five miles back to “the other side” might as well have been 1,000 that day.

Since then, we’ve figured out a lot about this vibrant city. Each day, we learn a little more and goof a little less (we think). Here’s what we’ve learned so far.

Tijuana is much more than Avenida Revolución .

It’s mustaches and sombreros, uniforms and pride.

It’s Parque Morelos’s zoo, rides and slides.

 

It’s calaveras and pottery and this unusual star ball.

It’s vendors of all ages, both broken and small.

It’s adventures in ordering. Instead of tostilocos (left), I bought this seafood surprise.

It’s Tajin with apples and giant pork rinds.

It’s tazos and nieve and deadly water slides.

 

It’s bullfights and baseball and fútbol and more.

It’s piñatas and drug stores and street performers galore. 

It’s tough little boy haircuts and the children’s museum.

It’s streets on an angle and fireworks at whim.

It’s purse racks, fine dining and service divine.

It’s borders and fences and waiting in line.

 

Tijuana is home.