Kevin's post - Tijuana, Mexico

Monday December 10...10:30pm

I didn't sleep well last night. No alarm clock, and no wake up call service...so I was all worried about not getting up in time to get the bus from Manzanillo to Colima. So after a tossing and turning type of sleep, I got up at 7am.

I couldn't get a ride into Colima, so I took a taxi to Manzanillo bus station ($7 CAN) and managed to get on the 9am bus to Colima ($8 CAN). The hour and a half bus ride was uneventful, and I arrived in Colima at 10:30am. It took me about a half hour to figure out the way the taxi system works at the bus station...very confusing, especially for someone with limited Spanish...I eventually got lucky and asked a cab driver who spoke not bad English...he set me up with one of his buddies who got me to Colima airport ($15 CAN...for a 25km taxi ride!) with lots of time to spare before my flight.

The Colima volcano

Flying into Mexico city is an experience. The city is actually huge. And as you're flying in, you can see a grey haze hanging over the city. Not good air quality there, and I can see why! Got my connecting flight to Tijuana with no problems. Lucked out and had an empty seat beside me, so that was kind of nice.

My couchsurfer host David picked me up at Tijuana airport and took me for a nice unexpected tour. Tijuana is a big city that keeps on growing. They have a lot of manufacturing here...for example Sony has a TV plant here with over 5,000 employees. And because of this industry, there is a steady influx of workers from the south, and the city keeps growing. He thinks it's between 2 to 2 ½ million people now. Fought our way through the traffic back to his place, where he lives with his wife Laura, and their two young sons David Jr., and Diego. Laura made us a nice fish supper, and David and I spend the evening talking about travel. He's fortunate that he gets to do a lot of company travel to Europe and Asia.

Ruth finally contacted me and we are meeting at the border tomorrow morning. My week away has been nice, but I'm really looking forward to getting back home to the motorhome and seeing Ruth and Whiskey. Also can't wait to see our friends Glen and Steve tomorrow...we are going to tour around Mexico with them for a while.