![]() ![]() The soldiers set up checkpoints, stopping suspicious cars, and displaying quite the presence. The military patrols the streets of major Mexican cities, in its war on the drug cartels. Remember my brother’s advice that if you encounter trouble in Mexico, go to the military instead of the police? Some locals here in Tijuana endorsed such a policy. Our missions team from Antioch Community Church in Norman had come to minister to the refugees, mostly the kids, and here was the Mexican military standing watch. Others loitered with tailgates down, eating watermelon. They stopped in parking spaces under shade trees, across from the industrial refugee camp, and assumed their positions. Soon enough, the circus van departed, the performance for the refugees having been completed, and in its wake came three Mexican military pickups, sporting soldiers with automatic weapons. Wednesday: Mexican military & refugee campįour circus acrobats finished an impromptu performance on the corner across the street, just as we arrived at the Movimiento Juventud refugee camp in downtown Tijuana on Wednesday. * My take on Tijuana: not necessarily a nice place to live, and you wouldn't want to visit there, but lots of interesting and good people. Tijuana cars generally are smaller than what we see back home. There aren't a ton of new cars toiling around Tijuana, but heck, for all I know, there aren't a ton of new cars toiling around Oklahoma. We hit a few jams getting out of downtown after missions, but nothing that trumps even Oklahoma City. * Traffic isn't anything like southern California. Wasn't all that hungry - breakfast was included at our hotel. We typically had sack lunches at the church, but I often gave mine away. I ate a fish taco on the beachfront one day at lunch, and it was excellent. I love seafood, but dried shrimp is sort of like dried fruit. I also bought a bag of dried shrimp, which some people eat as a snack. We visited the Hidalgo Market, a huge marketplace in downtown Tijuana, on Friday, and I got a chile relleno. It's always fun to try new restaurants, but Veronica's cooking made every night an adventure. Grilled tacos, chile rellenos, shrimp pasta. Veronica is our cook, and she's been outstanding. We've eaten all of our dinners at the private home of a woman from All People's Church. And the farther away from the beach you get, more towards downtown, the more you realize this isn't California.īut Playas de Tijuana is California-like. Like I said, the beachfront is quite rustic and rugged by American standards. Across the street from All People's Church is an Ashley furniture store. But you could plop Playas de Tijuana right in the middle of Fullerton or Pomana, and nobody would know the difference except for a few commercial signs.ĭown the street from Wal-Mart is a Calimax grocery store that is first-rate, much like our Crest. Playas de Tijuana isn't like a posh suburb of Los Angeles or San Diego. * Playas de Tijuana, the borough we're staying in near the beach, actually mimics California quite a bit. Late in the game, they might actually study the board, but mostly, they played like they had a train to catch. Only on occasion was a move pondered for more than three seconds. Call it a country for old men.īut they played chess unlike anything I've ever seen. ![]() As Mexican performers played in the central plaza and residents danced to the music and children enjoyed the playground and merchants wheeled their treats through the park, I stood watching chess. So I tried to make non-verbal connections. We had interpreters, but it wasn't a 1:1 ratio, and I'm lost if we're talking Spanish. ![]() Our mission team from Antioch Community Church spent Thursday afternoon in the downtown park. Shhhhhh!, one of the players kept saying. He also suggested move after move for the competitors who sought no help. But truthfully, I was more alarmed about what I didn't see than what I did.Īmid the revelry of Parque Teniente Guerrero, Tito and I stood around as several men, most of them old, sat on concrete stools in front of concrete chess tables, playing the ancient game. Children and non-working women not allowed.īut in Tijuana, the Red-Light District of Zona Norte is like the other blocks of downtown Tijuana, only with prostitutes lining the streets, leaning against the buildings.Īt the end of the night, Anna prayed that what we experienced would be washed off us. For example, in Reeperbahn, Germany, the sex-trade area is restricted. I read up on some of the world’s most notorious prostitution districts. Each was given a coupon for a free coffee at Selah House the hope is they pop in sometime and find some respite.Īnna warned us that we wouldn’t go to the worst parts of the Red-Light District. A few of the working girls seemed disinterested, but most were pleasant. Just let the girls know someone cares about them. ![]()
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