Not So Classy San Diego...

Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. I need all of you, to stop what you're doing and listen.

I don't know how to put this, but the ladies of San Diego are really not as classy as Mr Ron Burgundy, from Anchorman fame, led me to believe they were. I had imagined images of Veronica Corningstone walking around with beautiful eyes and hair smelling like cinnamon. Instead I was confronted with brassy blonde hair, fake boobs and trashy outfits (One outfit was literally just a pair of panties with high heels vest and a cardigan?!). 

I know some of my male companions will be howling like dogs at the above outfit description, but as a rather British and as a result somewhat prudish female, I was well and truly shocked by my female counterparts. I'm not quite sure why I'm so appalled by it all, as you would have thought that after having spent the last few months travelling through Latin America I would be used to seeing women dressed like that - its all about the boobs, butt and long mane hair there - but for some reason having crossed the border into the USA I somehow expected it to be different?! 

Anyway, lack of female clothing aside, I really enjoyed my time in San Diego, it was kind of a big deal. It is full of things to do and places to see. And the best bit about it is the size - you can literally cycle most of it in a day. Which is exactly what I did. I cycled uphill from the Gaslamp Quarter where I was staying all the way to Balboa (no relation to Rocky) Park which is beautiful. There are a number of museums there as well as the famous Zoo (which I didn't go to but now regret in hindsight, but the queue to get in at the time was immense and it looked pretty extortionate to get in).

citygirlrides

Topiary elephant outside the zoo

Instead I spent my time meandering around the rather cool Museum of Photographic Arts and marvelling at the enormous Spreckles Pipe Organ Pavilion that can be found in the park. Its named after the two Brothers who donated the Organ to the park. I had heard the organ before I saw it, I was drawn by the sound of "God Save the Queen" being played which I thought was rather apt for my arrival but it was in fact being played because the organist was a British lady called Dr Carol Williams...ah well!

It turns out that free concerts are given every Sunday at 2pm so if you're in the area I would highly recommend you go and settle in one of the deck chairs and take in the music. You may want to bring an umbrella with you, not for the rain but for the sun as it can feel quite strong whilst you're sat down. I'm such an English Rose...

Spreckles Pipe Organ Pavilion

Dr Carol Williams performing

Desperately Seeking Shade

From Balboa, I cycled down to the port which involves passing the airport en route. You literally have planes almost skimming your head as they come into land they are flying that low!  

Coming into land

The port itself is actually quite pretty, considering the amount of ships (cruise & containers) and boats that are there. It is home to USS Midway which is apparently America's longest serving aircraft carriers. It is ENORMOUS. My travel buddy Tom spent the entire day (in his element of course) exploring the exhibits and restored aircraft that are on board. He did this alone I may add. Whilst I found the carrier fascinating to look at from afar, I certainly had no interest in boarding it and wasting a precious day there. No, instead I spent my time more wisely exploring the Gaslamp Quarter where I was staying and also Little Italy which is a neighbourhood nearby. Both are lovely but the Gaslamp Quarter wins my vote hands down in terms of shops, bars and restaurants. It really has it all. Yes it can get a little trashy at the weekends, but then so can Central London. Those that have been in Oxford Circus / Leicester Square / Piccadilly Circus on a Saturday night in London know what I'm talking about...

Scenic

Clipper

USS Midway. This picture does not do its size justice. My bad.

One thing I recommend you do whilst in the Gaslamp Quarter is visit the Petco Park baseball stadium which is home to the San Diego Padres. I find most sport pretty dull to watch but when its live my interest tends to increase. The match itself was pretty non descript (despite my travel buddy's repeat explanations I still had no idea what was going on) but being sat amongst die hard Padres fans dressed up as monks (Padre is Spanish for monk) is quite amusing. I spent most of my time consuming my weight in hot dogs and soft drinks, whilst frantically waving my big foam hand in the air in a vain attempt to get shown on the big screen shown in the stadium. I failed miserably. But the Padres won which I guess was a bonus. 

The entrance

The stadium

The winners!

Celebratory Padre Mexican wave

My last day in San Diego was spent visiting Coronado Island. The island is a short ferry ride away or if you don't fancy a boat you can drive or catch a bus and cross the bridge which connects the island to the mainland. I caught the ferry there and the bus back which gave me the best of both worlds : D

My reason for visiting Coronado Island was to go and see the Hotel Coronado which is famous for having been in the film "Some Like it Hot" with Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis. It didn't disappoint. You can walk in and around the hotel and take in its grandeur whilst sat in the restaurant sipping a cup of tea. Unfortunately the hotel staff had wised up and put in glass security doors preventing you from walking into the pool area.  My usual trick of just walking in to hotels and having a quick dip in the pool therefore didn't occur. Damn you Hotel Coronado!

Hotel Coronado

If the hotel isn't quite your cup of tea - travel buddy Tom I'm referring to you here - then the beach on the island is. According to the very modest visitor guide we spoke to, the beach is "the best in the World". Yes that is a bold statement, and one I wouldn't quite agree with given I have seen some rather spectacular beaches in my travels, but it certainly has good soft sand. I cant give such praise to the water though as it is freezing! Oh, and then there is the small fact of the Naval base that just happens to be situated at the end of the island. In the few hours we were on the beach I lost count of the number of fighter jets, air drones and light air craft that flew inches above us as they came into land. Not to mention the battleship that drifted past the beach. Hardly relaxing!

Soft sand

A familiar sighting

Spot the battleship...

Coming into land

Another thing I found amusing was the sign I kept seeing in most shops and restaurants we went to in and around San Diego. It said "This Faculty contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm". All rather bizarre and something I chose to ignore as I'm sure if you start thinking of all the hazardous things you come into contact with on a daily basis then you really wouldn't leave the house everyday.

You have been warned!

My last night in San Diego was spent at Shout Bar which is known for its dueling pianists. Basically two pianists sit and face each other and sing songs. It was really entertaining and being we were in the USA everybody was a willing participant. Sometimes with a little too much gusto for my liking but then there are always a few that get carried away. 

The bar

The duelers

Well, that's all from me here, I'm citygirltravels, you stay classy, San Diego.

N.B. For those of you who aren't familiar with the film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy then you inevitably wont have got some of the references I made in this post. Shame on you. Go and watch the film now so you know what I'm talking about!

Coming to America!

OK, OK, I know, its been a while since the last blog entry, and I have actually come to the end of my travels *sigh* but I owe it to you all (and my dad who is PC illiterate and will require a printed version of this blog to see what his daughter has been up to over the last few months...) to write up the last few places I visited before returning back to Blighty.

So the story continues...

San Ysidro. Situated in the Southernmost part of San Diego, California immediately north of Tijuana, Mexico, is according to Wikipedia the Worlds busiest land border crossing. 

No this isn't an NHS Hospital sign despite it resembling one

Given this big statement you would have thought that the security control here would be top notch. Alas my experience crossing here would suggest not. In fact the entire process of entering the USA from Mexico is really rather farcical. 

I guess I ought to explain my journey in a little bit more detail so as you can fully appreciate where Im coming from.

My journey began back in Baja California Sur, where I had caught a flight from La Paz direct to Tijuana. I would have caught the bus but given the flight cost the same price and was a good twenty four hours less time it really was a no brainer. 

Having marvelled at the huge fence separating Mexico and the USA which you could see from the plane (it really was that big) as we came into land. I collected my luggage and was promptly in a taxi making my way to the border.  

It wasn't difficult to spot where the border crossing was as there was a queue as long as the eye could see marking the spot. Thankfully the queue appeared to be moving quickly so it wasn't long before I reached the immigration desks. I was immediately amused by the way the Americans refer to foreigners literally as Aliens on all their signs. 

I was ushered through and immediately got "Welcome back Miss" by the official behind the desk. I thought it was odd given that my passport clearly states Im British and not American, but I chose to ignore it as was tired. Very soon I was through baggage check and standing outside waiting for my travel buddy to appear. I waited five minutes, and then another five minutes before an official came over and asked me to return inside. I had thought it was because my travel buddy had travelled through a number of Muslim states in Africa and given the Americans political attitude towards these places he would have been interrogated about his time there. I needn't have thought this as it turned out that this never even came close to happening like we had anticipated. Instead my travel buddy had been more awake than me and questioned why we hadn't had our passports stamped and paperwork issued to say we had exited Mexico and were entering the USA. Effectively we had passed through the border freely and unchecked!

That was the first border crossing of the day...

On realising the mistake the customs officials redirected us to the US visa check point, via Mexico.

After ten minutes our paperwork now in place we entered the US again.

That was the second border crossing of the day...

However this time passing through into the US we realised we had not been given an opportunity to check out of Mexico.

On asking the American border control staff what we should do their response was (and I am not kidding); "Don't worry about it, it's only Mexico".

When we responded saying we didn't want to overstay our visa and would want to return to Mexico one day, they counted with "you want to go back?". 

Seriously?! I was flabbergasted, not least because Mexico happens to be one of my favourite countries on my travels in terms of its beaches and warm sea - yes that's warm sea USA which you don't seem to have much of other than in Miami - and generally kind hearted people. I didn't dare bring up the fact that California, which we were now in, was in fact at one point part of Mexico as I knew that would just delay our crossing more...

So against the bad US border advice we crossed back to Mexico and paid our fees to exit providing the necessary paperwork and exiting Mexico on good terms - instead of "just throwing away" our visa papers like we had been told to do! In order to do this we had to pass back to Mexico again!

To recap that was the third border crossing of the day...

After one final trip we finally crossed back into the States and headed onto downtown San Diego.

Lessons learnt; an astonishing lack of border control entering the US and it's physically impossible to exit Mexico at this border without first entering the US forcing you to re-enter the States afterwards!

I must add here that each border crossing was carried out whilst lugging the dead weights that were our backpacks. To say I was exhausted by the time we reached San Diego was an understatement. Still I guess it makes for a more interesting tale : )

The Boat That Didn't Rock & Cabo San Sleazy

By the time the CHEPE train arrived back in Snotville A.K.A. Los Mochis it was already 10pm. I was having a massive stress as the ferry over to Baja California which was my next destination in Mexico, was scheduled to leave at 11pm. The minute the train came to a stop I leapt off and jumped into the nearest taxi I could find to take me to Topolopobampo (try saying that when you´re out of breath!) where the ferry departed from.

According to my taxi driver, Topolopobampo was roughly fifteen minutes away from Snotville. Great I thought, Ill make the ferry in time. Forty minutes later we were still driving and in true Latin American fashion, despite saying he knew where the ferry port was, the taxi driver still stopped to ask directions...

Thankfully I managed to make the ferry with minutes to spare, although I really shouldn't have bothered rushing as the queue to board the boat took forever - we even had to show our passports despite it not being an international journey?! 

Once on board I was given the choice of either sitting in the bar or restaurant seating area. I chose the restaurant thinking that given it was a night journey it would be quieter. Upon walking into the restaurant area I was greeted with normal dining chairs. I scanned the room for some lounge chairs but failed to spot any. After asking in reception where the lounge chairs were I was told quite matter of factly that the lounge chair was upstairs but that my ticket was just for the bar and restaurant area. I was not amused. This boat certainly did not rock in my mind. To cut a long story short I ended up finding a spot on the floor of the restaurant, made myself a little den barricaded with a table and chair and went to sleep. It seemed every one else was doing it so I thought I may as well join them. Surprisingly I did manage to get a few hours shut eye!

Finally we made it to La Paz in Baja (Badger as we nicknamed it) California Sur. That is after a eleven hour CHEPE train journey, manic break neck speed forty minute taxi ride and an eight hour ferry crossing. Lest not forgetting the thirty minute bus journey into the centre of La Paz & the time it took to get off the boat. To say I was exhausted would be an understatement. The sunset that evening made up for the horrible journey:

Its a stunner

La Paz is by the Gulf of Mexico which meant a boat trip to the nearby Isla Espiritu Santo was in order. The island is huge but no inhabitants live there, other than some long standing fisherman, as it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The Island

Our tour boat did a loop of the island where we saw various sights including a cave, a rock that resembled a mask and a plant that appeared to be growing out of the cliff face?!

Smaller island covered in bird poo 

This rock formation reminded me of the tree in Dali´s desert in Bolivia

citygirlwalkies

Our boat

Looking out from within the cave!

The Mask!

Freaky tree

Having seen the sights our boat then dropped us off to snorkel with sea lions! Initially I was rather apprehensive about getting in the water as: A, it was much colder than what I've been used to and B, I was worried that the sea lions would mistake me for one of them in the wet suit I had donned to warm up. I need not have worried as the wet suit made the water bearable and me buoyant. The sea lions were also very tame albeit they were a little intimidating in the water as they're so big!

citygirlswims...only kidding its a sea lion!

shuteye

Id certainly recommend a tour to Isla Espiritu Santos as the scenery is very beautiful and the cerviche lunch the tour company serves you is delicious.

From La Paz I headed to the nearby town of Todos Santos which is where you can find a Hotel called California. Rumour has it that the hotel was the inspiration for the famous song of the same name by The Eagles. I've no idea if this is true but I gladly ate breakfast there and took some pics. 

Hotel California. Bit underwhelming isn't it?

Having been shocked by the prices of everything in Todos Santos - its ridiculously expensive - I jumped back on the bus and went straight to Cabo San Lucas. In hindsight this was a bit of a false economy as it was just the same, if not even more, exorbitant there.

Cabo San Lucas turned out to be nothing like the image I had in my head. I had thought it was a Mexican version of Saint Tropez where the rich & famous of Hollywood head to unwind. The reality was more like Benidorm but sleazier with numerous strip bars, a thousand tacky souvenir shops and a surprising number of dubious looking pharmacies all selling cut price Viagra. The marina was pretty (in a gawdy way), as were the beaches and  The Arch which is a distinctive rock formation there.

El Arco (Arch)

Words fail me.

Nearby San Jose del Cabo turned out to be much prettier albeit quieter - there was literally no one on the beach!

Where is everyone?

Verdict: I hate to say this but I really wish Id given Baja California a miss. It was ridiculously over priced and I had seen much nicer beaches back on the mainland. Baja is also not a true representation of Mexico. The mainland is far more affordable in terms of accommodation and places to eat. My recommendation is go to mainland Mexico!

As Starsky would say: Do it, Do it!

Courtesy of  forums.themustangsource.com

Copper look at that Canyon!

Having been inland for a fair few days I was starting to yearn to see the sea again (who would have thought this would ever happen?) so I headed to the nearby town of Mazatlan.

Mazatlan is located on the Pacific coastline and has a pretty malecon (seafront) you can walk along. The town itself isn't that big and there really wasnt much to do there. However I did spend a day at Isla de la Piedra (Stone Island) which had an OK beach. After being fortunate to visit so many stunning beaches it has meant that each beach I next visit is rather unfairly compared to these so please take my opinions with a pinch of salt...or sand : )

Crazy times in Mazatlan

The beach

Chillaxing

With my sea fix having been met, I set off to the town of Los Mochis which lies further north up the coastline and a little inland. My main reason for going here was to catch the Chihuahua - Pacific train otherwise affetionately known as CHEPE which goes through a network of canyons called Copper Canyon. I imagine just like me you had never heard of the Copper Canyon which is a shame as I discovered it is actually bigger and in places deeper than the Grand Canyon in nearby Arizona! Who would have thought? The Mexican tourist board needs to hype up these rugged and naturally stunning canyons a bit more...

Thankfully I only stayed one night in Los Mochis. Not only did the name of the town remind me of mocos which in Spanish means snot but it was also a bit of a ghost town with not much going on. Albeit I did manage to bump into my Austrian friend Julia who I had met whilst in Guatemala...very surprising considering I think she and her mum who had come to visit her, are pretty much the only other Gringo tourists Ive seen since travelling through Mexico!

I managed to drag myself out of bed at 6am the next morning to catch the CHEPE train. I had chosen to travel first class - it really wasnt much more money and Id been told it was worth it - although Id soon find out that the dining cart was anything but. More on this later. Having woken so early (Ive never been a morning person...) I immediately fell asleep the minute I collapsed into my seat on the train. I managed to get a good couple of hours shut eye before I was suddenly awoken by loud mariachi music blasting out through my carriage. The train staff clearly didnt think anyone needed any more sleep and felt the need to remind us that we were still in Mexico. Im pleased to say the music changed throughout the day and we were treated to some classical music which reminded me of spending Sundays with my Dad (like most Fathers he is quite partial to Radio 2 and Classic FM) and visiting the Bluebell Railway in Sussex.

Whilst the Bluebell Railway does have some very scenic views (especially during the Winter when it snows), the CHEPE train somewhat overshadowed these with its panoramic vistas. When I managed to get a view of them that is. I had to pretty much rugby tackle the Mexican grannies who were dominating the open windows by the doors taking pictures!

CHEPE

Emergency axes

Seating

One of the bridges we crossed

The route of the train

I was surprised to see that the train had several armed guards on board. They each had enough arms and ammunition to see off a small army. The train does go through miles of nomansland so Im only assuming that there must have been some attempts of an ambush historically and hence the need for armed guards. Either way their regular patrols throughut the carriages were quite a sight.

Armed & dangerous

My destination in the Copper Canyon was the town of Creel. I was to stay here a couple of nights before heading back once again to Snotville A.K.A. Los Mochis. Creel is named after an American Delegate in Chihuahua which makes sense as initially I was wondering whether there was any Scottish or Welsh heritage here. It was literally like stepping back into Bolivia again in the way that I was immediately hassled by indigenous locals the minute I stepped off the train. It was also like going back in time, everything appeared to be stuck in a timewarp - the decor, the clothes people wore and the lack of customer service. Saying that, everything price wise appeared to be well and truly in the 21st century. Despite this Creel held a certain charm, especially the quite impressive taxidermy that could be found in the lobby of the Best Western hotel I took afternoon tea at. Im not sure they would be able to get away with displaying some of this anywhere out of Mexico...

Antler lighting. Genius. 

Mountain leopard

Stuffed Pelican

During my time here I visited the nearby cable car in Divisidero. The cable car, built by the Swiss naturally, stretches almost five and a half miles across the Copper Canyon making it the longest cable car in the World! Again I would never have known about this and the Mexico tourist board needs to up their ante, especially given this incredible feat of engineering (the Swiss apparently used helicopters to transport the cable across the canyon) has been in operation over the last couple of years.

The views were once again spectacular and I couldnt quite believe how high we were. Whilst my legs did register this, my brain chose to ignore it so I manage to fight off the shakes. The scenery en route to the cable car was reminisent of the views I saw whilst in Yosemite National Park, California last year. Again, another place you ought to go if you have never been.

Copper Canyon. Magnificent.

Spot our cable car...

Open wide

Swiss engineering

Mini citygirltravels

More magnificence

Had to be done. 

The train journey back to Los Mochis was equally as impressive as the journey to Creel. Once again we got to see the amazing waterfalls and go over vertigenously high bridges through the canyons. The best part of the journey for me was when we descended and literally went around the canyon several times, each time admiring the track we had just come from. It was like being a train on a giant Hornby track.

As I mentioned earlier, despite it being a first class train, the dining cart was unfortunately anything but. The staff were all incompetant and the food generally below average and massively overpriced. Needless to say during my return journey I brought my own pack lunch with me and I would advise any of you to do the same should you take the train.

My only regret, due to not having sufficient time, was not visiting the town of Chihuahua. My friend Julia had visited and was raving about all the cowboys she had seen. Ay, Chihuahua!