When most people hear the name Tijuana, they imagine two things….drug cartels and excess partying.  Tijuana is in fact, a fascinating community, straddling two worlds….Mexico and the USA and is one of the world’s most visited cities.  Founded on July 11th 1889,   its  motto is “aqui empieza la patria” (literal translation ‘The Homeland Starts here’), Tijuana is The Gateway to Mexico with a border that some 50 million people cross a year.   It is also the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California with a population of 1,410,700. The history of California does not start until the Spaniards are the new rulers of Mexico in the 16th century.  As they explored their new possessions, the conquerors realized how rich in natural resources the territory was, and decided to stay.  Long before the United States became a country, the first settlers in Mexico began making plans to build a mission and spread the word of God to the natives... Rumours quickly spread about the vastness and wealth of the new region and many religious orders travelled to the area, desperate to be the first to convert the heathens. The Franciscans won the race and in 1548 Fray Junipero Sierra founded the first mission, the Mission of San Diego de Alcalá. The arrival of the Spaniards heralded a history of political unrest that left the country in turmoil for many centuries.  In1821, Mexico was at last an independent country but in 1848, during the Mexican-American war, lost more than half of its territory, including the high California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  A border was created. To understand Tijuana you have to go back more than a century when California was a brand new star in the Union Flag.  At that time Tijuana was no more than a cattle ranch called Rancho de Tia Juana (Aunt Juana´s Ranch). By the end of the XIX century settlers began to arrive and called it Tijuana.  Prohibition in some places means booming business for others, and that is exactly what happened and in the first decades of the XX century people from the U.S. crossed the border to look for entertainment amid the strict alcohol laws prevailing in their own country.  It was with the building of a railroad that Tijuana began to constitute itself as a city because it created an easy access for people living in San Diego and Los Angeles to come to Mexico and have fun in the many night clubs the place offered.  A race track was added to heighten the experience and money began pouring into the town.  Many out of work American girls came to work in the not so reputable nightclubs;  legend has it that a girl named Margarita Carmen Cansino made her debut as a dancer in one of those -  years later, Hollywood would discover her, change her name and create an unforgettable movie star, Rita Hayworth. When alcohol prohibition was lifted in the States, Tijuana managed to retain its reputation as a party destination. To give a more “latin flavor”, in the twenties a bullring was built.  Decades later, James Dean often crossed the border to watch the bullfights.  In 1960 another bullring was built near the sea -  it is the second largest in Mexico, a beautiful location but with a big flaw - very windy, and a dangerous condition for the matadors.    As the decades rolled by, try as it might, Tijuana just couldn’t shed its image as place of vice, but the city continued to flourish away from Mexico’s very serious economic problems and more and more people decided to call the border town home.  With the arrival of immigrants from other parts of Mexico one of Tijuana’s most serious problem appeared, drugs.  It is widely known that because of the city's proximity to the U.S. border, drug trafficking has become a part of daily life and organized crime a hard reality. When I first heard that we were moving to Tijuana, I was a rebellious teenager of 18 and dreaded the thought of leaving my friends back in Mexico City.  Tijuana seemed so far away.  We had been there before but only to cross the border into the United States, and I felt like a sailor heading to the ends of the earth.   But the decision was taken and there was nothing I could do.  In Mexico most families stay together until marriage; there is no "I’ll stay here, you go there."  You are a family and you remain as one until you form your own.

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My two younger sisters entered a beautiful school in Coronado, a small island town in San Diego; the other one was enrolled, much to her dismay, in an all-girl Catholic school.  They crossed the border every morning for their studies, while I, being of college age, and having all intentions of returning to Mexico City,  matriculated in a university in Tijuana from which I could transfer sooner or later.  For my sisters it was odd crossing the border to go to school; they had to wake up very early because you never knew how long it would take.  You literally lived between two countries - you would buy some things in Mexico, others in San Diego.  You could compare prices and see in which country you would purchase what.  You went to the movies, the doctor, and the dry cleaners in San Diego.  You always carried dollars and pesos.  When visitors arrived they would only had one thing in mind - San Diego, and Tijuana stayed in the shadows.  No one cared to see what it had to offer.
 

And for me the years that followed were miserable.  I thought I was being robbed of my youth in such a dreadful city.  I have always loved and admired my culture.  Mexico is a country full of beauty and splendor with a rich cultural heritage.  The architecture of its cities, the delicate work of its artisans, the food, the landscapes, everything, but here I couldn’t find culture anywhere.  I will never forget those first trips to “la línea”  (“the line”) that is what we called the place where we waited to cross “to the other side” (San Diego). 

A concrete island divides the place in two, and in the middle is a market filled with the most horrible plaster creations you could ever imagine.  None of the skillful works of Mexico’s artists is displayed there.  Imagine my shock when I saw a miniature copy of Michelangelo’s David painted in gold, thin Buddhas in different colors, enormous black rats, an assortment of famous TV toons reproductions, and my personal favourite (I’m not kidding) a skull with a Nazi helmet and a tarantula on top.  Today I can laugh at it but when you are a teenager, you take everything very seriously and I thought I was going to die of sadness.  All the beauty I had experienced travelling through Mexico had vanished, this was hell, full of uncivilized people and the thing that worried me the most - What will tourists think of my country when they see all this?.

Of course not everything was terrible, some places were amazing.   My favorite one was the scenic road to Ensenada with its monumental cliffs and sunsets that can convert the most cynical person into an instant romantic with the oranges, the blues and the reds, the sky offers every evening before exiting for the day.  I have travelled extensively and I cannot recall a more beautiful road.  In Ensenada, we would usually go to the market to eat the most awesome fish tacos and then for a dessert and very good coffee at “El Rey Sol” a restaurant that specialized in French pastries.  On occasions we would go to the famous Puerto Nuevo Lobsters, a place that started very small, with fishermen selling their catches; but because the food was delicious (lobster with home made beans, rice and flour tortillas, dipped in liquefied butter), it grew and grew until becoming a must for all visitors.  Now, they don’t only sell lobsters, but an array of Mexican dishes and drinks, including Margaritas.  The charm of eating with the fishermen in their humble houses has vanished, and now there are streets filled with restaurants and the sound of the sea has been transformed into very loud mariachi music.  But the place I most loved going to was San Diego.  For a very long period of time the only place I knew how to get to was “the line” and sometimes I would cross the border, just to get away.  I also frequented Los Angeles a , I loved the restaurants, the Santa Monica Pier, Westwood, any place north of the border was O.K.  In that time Tijuana was a place looking for an identity and so was I.

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To my surprise, and profound shame, I found a huge offering of cultural events: the Tijuana Cultural Center, had been there when I arrived and apart from going once or twice to its Omnimax, Movie Theater, I had never passed through its doors.  Designed by a team of architects, among them one of the country’s best, Pedro Ramírez Vazquez , the Cultural Center or CECUT, as it is best known,  is a modernist building that comprises a theatre, various lecture rooms, video rooms, a well stocked library, an exhibition hall, a restaurant and perhaps one of Tijuana’s best known landmarks the huge movie theater shaped as a giant ball “La Bola” (The Ball) , which has become a symbol of a the new Tijuana.  Since 1992 the museum has hosted the Orchestra of Baja California and today receives more than a million visitors per year making it the most important cultural center in Baja California.  Thanks to them I also came in close  contact with La Casa de la Cultura, a venue were you can  take classes, see plays or go to the library, free of charge or for a very small amount of money;  I also went to Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (Municipal Institute of Art and Culture).

Living in Tijuana with a U.S visa is something not everyone can do and therefore all the immigration troubles the city has endured in the past seem to be growing because each day more people arrive from other parts of the country and Latin America to try to cross the border. The U.S has tightened the security and people have to be more daring and creative to go to the other side. Even today, with all the hi-tech, it is strange to see some houses that are built right behind the fences and if a child throws a ball outside his home he would need a visa to go and fetch it. Sometimes it’s heartbreaking to see people seated in the walls with their feet on the air and gazing full of hope the U.S.; So close but yet so far away….

Tijuana is still synonymous with  drugs and violence. All the time I lived in Tijuana it was a constant threat not only to its citizens but its reputation.   I can tell many stories of ambitious young men who, in order to make some quick cash, smuggled drugs into the U.S and landed themselves in jail or even worse dead.  but to be honest if you don’t mess with them you can live a pretty quiet and peaceful life. In recent years the boldest violent act committed in Tijuana was the slaying of the P.R.I candidate to the presidency, Luis Donaldo Colosio, which occurred in 1994 and perhaps changed the course of the country’s history. 

In 1997, after ten years of bickering, being unhappy and telling everyone who would hear me that Tijuana was one of Dante’s circles of hell, I returned to Mexico City.  The place I remembered, and especially my family situation, had changed so dramatically that it took a while to get used to “paradise”. In the next few years, I would return to Tijuana and suddenly what seemed horrible was not so. In sharp contrast in Mexico City violence was beginning to take to the streets. Traffic jams would turn a journey of a few kilometers into hours of despair.  To my surprise, the horrible statues that plagued the market in “the line” were not longer abominable, but funny and definitely kitschy. The lack of culture was not even an issue anymore because the uneasy  but unique relationship between these two countries has resulted in the arrival of many painters, writers, musicians and  artists in general that have elevated Tijuana’s profile, according to Newsweek as “one of the most important new cultural meccas". 

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Tijuana had also changed; it is no longer the border town that people come to visit for a brief period of time to get drunk and party. It has become one of Mexico’s most important cities.  During my absence, many maquiladoras and industrial plants established and with them more people arrived. Today crossing the border takes more time because you can no longer go to San Diego 4 or 5 times a day liked I used to, but I don’t care anymore, now going San Diego is just one of the things Tijuana has to offer, I no longer want to get out, but thrive in here, It’s a big change, but hey, I’m very happy.