My Vida Loca en Mexico

There's nothing like skipping from one big adventure to another and another to keep you alert and taking mental notes. After returning "home" to my Long Beach, California budget hotel at a late hour, I was ready for a little more adventure. This was after flying into LAX after my trip to Waikiki Beach, Hawaii.

I hustled myself early the next morning to the Pacific Coast Highway Greyhound bus station to purchase a ticket to Tijuana, Mexico.

Yep, after shaved ice, I was ready for tacos.

My adventure occurred in 2008, during the height of the drug trade murder stories. I may have been the only gringa on the bus, the only one traveling south of the border at the time. Once I passed through the creaky metal gate that separated the first world from the third, my dineros mysteriously became worth 13 pesos -- an improvement over 11 from the year earlier. That day I was able to have a restaurant lunch, buy dazzling handmade glasses and other loot, get my hair cut and blow dried, and generously tip my cab driver who hustled me back to "la frontera" just on time so I could make my bus back to Long Beach. Total expenditure: about $25. A good day indeed. Perhaps not smart, but fun, fun, fun!

Would I do it again? Of course!