Border Crossing Into The Land of the Free....

Tam:

29 hours it took by bus to get from Mazatlan to Tijuana. We survived the ride with its multiple drug checks (you have to get off the bus, and random bag searches are performed by the military). I have to say, it was the easiest busride I have ever had and felt nothing like 30 hours.

We checked into a hotel for the night and were scheduled for a greyhound bus into Los Angeles (5 hours away) the next day.

Its worth noting though the actual crossing over into the States as the Tijuana border is notorious for being the most crossed border in the world, something like 2 million people a day cross over (mostly mexicans who work in the US). We braced ourselves for long queues and traffic far as the eye could see. We were also bracibg ourselves for overzealous American security when we go to US customs as we remembered all the rigmoral at LAX all thos months back. So I will hand over to Coxy for his rendition on getting over to the otherside....

Coxy:

So when you think Tijuana you think danger, crime and violence right? Media and I suppose history has played its part in this but the Tijuana I saw was anything but. The border crossing big, not as mammoth as how its portrayed in movies like Traffic but huge nonetheless. There were at least 10 to 12 lanes of traffic waiting to be processed and a massive pedestrian queue stretching for around 500m, the biggest line I have ever been in. But as we joined the end of the queue and started inching our way forward it became apparent that this was not going to be the 'push and shove' session you might find at a Boxing Day test match or ANZAC Day footy match. Rather everyone was cordial and somewhat excited to be going to the USA, there were no murderous drug dealers in sight! I was however slightly nervous given I was carrying a conspicuous 'Corona' bag which contained more than the allowed 2 litres of alcohol duty free into the US (courtesy of our Tequilla town expedition). Then there was the bottle of Mezcal I had stashed deep in my backpack - I had visions of me being pulled aside at the screening process and being interrogated by over zealous US Customs officials! After 90 minutes we approached the entrance, the clunking of the tequilla bottles in my bag was broken only by a sharp voice which said "NEXT"! What happened next was extraordinary. After our experiences within Mexico with the constant drug searches, at LAX where custom officials shout incessantly at you to form a line whilst having your documents ready for inspection and the hype about Tijuana, it took all of 2 minutes to get through. This included about 3 questions from the official followed by having our bags scanned through an unguarded scanner monitored by 2 happily disinterested officers - my tequilla got through unscathed! The experience was such a non-event that we obviously thought this was the 1st phase. This feeling persisted as we continued our walk into the duty free area, waited and finally boarded the Greyhound bus and recommenced our journey to LA. It was a good 45 mins after we boarded the bus and travelled our 1st American super freeway that we finally accepted the fact that no further immigration checks were required. It is simply amazing that a country so focused on airport security can have such a no frills attitude to the biggest land border crossing in the world. Maybe we struck it on a good day? After all our bus driver said we were very quick to cross, normally it takes 4 - 5 hours! So the next time someone tells you Tijuana is dangerous dont believe it immediatey, the same goes for the Central and Southern parts of Mexico. Oh yeah and after all of that it wasnt worth me losing my normally ravenous breakfast appetite with worry for my 3 litres of extra aged tequilla! The next time I will hit the breakfast buffet with full force!