Ale ambra Mexicana!

I went to Mexico last week for a 2 days tour. I was really excited about it because I haven't been there before and it is a different kind of country from US or Australia.

First thing you notice when entering Mexico is how different it is with USA. This really strikes you because these 2 countries are only separated by a really long wall. This border runs for around 3,141km, and has the highest number of both legal and illegal crossings.

Entering Mexico is not too hard. If you have holiday visa to go to USA, make sure that you got the 5 years visa which allow you to enter USA multiple times. Entering Mexico you don't need visa, however re-entering USA is really strict and thus, you need the multiple entry visa.

We queue up in the border to enter Mexico while the officers are checking cars in front of us. While queuing, you can already see the pollution that comes out from Mexico. You'll see that the sky in front of you has dark smokes , and the sky behind you is clear blue.

The difference really striked me after I passed the borders. Mexico was really hot, dry, everything looks yellowy, and there's not much trees around. While San Diego, the nearest city to Mexico, is a really beautiful,modern city, it has a lot of trees, and nice cool breeze.

We stayed in Ensenada for the night. Before going to the hotel, we stopped by to the famous blowhole (like the one in Kiama - South NSW), it was a really nice place with great ocean view. Along the walkway, there were people selling Mexico souvenirs, it really reminds me to Tanah Lot walkway in Bali.

One of the guys in our tour both a leather hat for $30. The tour guide said that he should be able to bargain until $15! Lol!

The next day, we went to Tijuana for brunch in a really fancy hotel. The hotel is has a really unique Mexican look and feel to it.We ate our meal outside on the balcony looking at the beautiful ocean. Inside the hotel, there's this dining room area where Titanic movie was shot. The dining room has been left like it was, so everyone was taking photos in it.

After brunch, we stopped by near the Mexico monument to buy some souvenirs. I took photos with a fake zebra (donkey with black and white strips painted on his body) wearing Mexican hat ! I'm so framing this photo! :)

The way back to US feels really slow because we need to queue up in the US border. You can come in to US by cars or by foot. Because we were in a tour bus, we needed to get off the bus and queue up in the immigration, just like in airports. US is really strict on who can come it to their country. They also x-ray everyone's bags because they are really concern about people taking unprescribed drugs/medicine across.

In Mexico, drugs/medicine are really easy to get. Alot of prescribed ones are sold freely with much cheaper price. Viagra can be found everywhere! I lost count of how many times I saw the writing "Viagra sold here - 1 box for $10!". There is more pharmacy in Mexico than McDonald in US!

Well, luckily I got passed the immigration fine :) I heard that if they suspect you of anything, like what happenned to the tour guide once before, you'll get interrogated for 2-3 hours. And since I was there with a tour bus, the bus and everyone else won't be able to wait for us, they will need to leave , and we must get our own transportation back to LA! How nice of them =P

So, that's Mexico. A really interesting place and I do suggest everyone to go when they have the time :)