Letters from...San Diego

 (text in ENG)

   Although this trip was in September, I only write about it now… So, there was a 4 day holiday in Mexico, so we took off to San Diego. The original plan was to go to Guadalajara, the second biggest city in Mexico, but as it was Independence Day, we dropped the plan and rather “escaped” out of the country. (It is not only that everybody is traveling is such days and the traffic jams can be huge, but also the fireworks and parties on the streets can be dangerous – as it is said.)

   Fortunately we could get some sun in San Diego after almost a whole month of hurricanes and rain and cloudy weather in Mexico. That was the best part going out of the country! 

   As it was an almost last-minute trip, we went without any plans. Well, if it is San Diego, the first thing pops in is “zoo”, of course. (Although my husband has never heard of it – maybe because he never saw “Madagascar”…) So, one destination was the zoo and the other (after reading a bit on the plane) was USS Midway, the mothership in the bay. And shopping, of course…

   After arriving and picking up the rental car (which was a small, but cute Fiat 500), we headed to the center to check out some outlets. Not finding anything interesting in the outlet (despite the Chinese run Japanese restaurant that my husband loved), we decided to see the Midway. 

   The ticket includes the audio guide which is great, because otherwise I would never had had paid for it, although it turned out to be useful and fun walking around with it. For me, this was the first mothership to see in my whole life, so for me even its size was astonishing. In the inside of the ship there were many entertainment things like the model of the ship, real catapults, helicopter and plane simulators etc. Also, there was a part of the engine section where the audio guide has guided us. In this part veteran marines were explaining and telling stories about the function of the ship and details that an audio guide wouldn´t be able to tell. The route included the staff´s part (kitchen, bedrooms etc.) as well. It was interesting to see the difference of the hierarchy within the ship: the captain had a room just like any hotel suite while the staff´s beds were like those in prison.

   After checking out the engine and staff room, we went out to the surface, where the planes had been landing and taking off. Here, of course you could climb up the different helicopters and planes, could learn about the different roles of the staff (there were life size photos of the staff – apparently staff with different roles had different colored uniforms in order to be easily distinguished.) There was also a mini-tour with veterans climbing up to the control tower where we were explained how the captain would coordinate the landing and taking offs (apparently there is only 70ms to landing, 110ms to take off and there had been over 30 planes on the ship at one time!), we were shown the ship´s control rooms where the navigation plans and actual ship direction had taken place.

   As I was never a ship/plane fan (i.e. I know nothing about planes and ships), it was a whole new world to me, and it turned out to be very interesting! So interesting, that we got a parking ticket for exceeded the allowed parking time… and this became the task for the next 3 days, as we couldn´t pay it in person (office closed on weekends), nor by credit card (can´t pay with foreign cards), so we had to figure out how to pay the ticket so the rental car co. wouldn´t charge us three times of the penalty. Fortunately, the motel staff was nice and explained to us how and where to buy a money order, how to fill out and they even sent it by post.

   The next day (Saturday) next to the above battle with the parking ticket, we went to Balboa Park, where the famous San Diego Zoo is located. We arrived quite early, but it was worth the wait to be opened, as the number of people around noon was extreme! The guidebook said it was better to take the tour bus first which takes you around the zoo and decide the route after this ride. The bus tour was really great, about 20 minutes and it was really worth to be there first time in the morning, because apparently we weren´t the only ones who had thought to take the bus as the first thing in the zoo – the bus was full in seconds!

   Although it is said that the San Diego zoo is huge, I think it is rather just full with slopes which makes it seem to be huge because you get tired easily. (Actually, I think the Mexico City zoo is bigger for area –at least, it felt like it.) Anyway, the zoo was great, cleverly mixing animals and business: after each area there was a “commercial” area with food courts and shops that sold the related articles. Like after the panda area, you could buy Chinese food or panda toys, while at the elephant section elephant toys were sold. (Just like Disneyland.) I was interested in the koalas (had never seen one in live) and my husband is fan of pandas, so those were our first destination. There was a panda baby (it was sleeping up on the trees at the time we went, so we only saw a big, whitish fur ball among the branches), but strangely the adults were quite active. In other zoos, the maximum activity I had seen from pandas were eating, but here they were walking around, sitting down then standing up, so it was interesting to see them!

As for the koalas, they were far from active. There were some 15 koalas and the adults (I guess the males) were separated and everyone had a pole with eucalyptus branches and heating on the top. They were just hanging on the poles and sleeping. Even so, for me they seemed interesting to finally see them live. Although a lot of people say they are not as cute as their stuffed friends, I thought the real koalas were just as cute as their stuffed counterparts.

  We also saw a komodo dragon, which I believe is very rare in a zoo! I was always astonished by these huge lizards that don`t only look like dragons (or dinosaurs), but they even act like that! As they are lizards, don`t have huge fangs as wolves or tigers, so how do they kill a cow or deer...? They use venom! All they have to do is bite the animal and follow its trails as the animal wouldn`t go far. The poison in the lizard`s saliva goes straight into the bloodstream from the wound and the animal is dead in a couple of minutes! Quite scary, no?
  

 
  Of course there were the "standard" animals like insects, lions, elephants, polar bears (they were swimming in the cool water, it was beautiful), hippos (they as well were resting in the water which wasn`t the usual mud water, so fortunately you could see what a hippo does under the water), birdhouse and we even saw a few okapis, the mysterious, blue-tounged, giraffe-zebra mix animal. Unfortunately they were quite shy and couldn`t take a good picture, but they are beautiful! I can`t imagine how they could hide so good that despite their size, this species was only discovered in the early 20th century!

   Although it was only the part of the zoo we had seen, it was late afternoon when we finally got too tired to walk around more, so we headed back to our hotel.

   
   On Sunday we visited La Jolla near to San Diego. I´ve first heard of this town in a TV program in Fox Life, called “Property Virgins”. I don´t know if “Jolla” has anything to do with “joya” (jewelry in Spanish), but indeed the town seemed like a small jewelry box. Cute, clean and rich city with amazing views and beaches. Although we could hardly find a parking spot along the beach, it was worth to take 2-3 rounds, because it was amazing! Actually, the town (at least the center) is in a small hill, so there is a park along the cliff where families having picnic and children are chasing seagulls… there are stairs from this park leading down to the beach where you can swim with sealions! Yes, there was even one sealion sleeping just about 10ms from the people! In the water they were swimming along the people... (Apparently you don´t have to go to Peru to swim with them (as we did), it would have been enough to go to La Jolla). However, the life guard seemed to be very strict (shouting at people) about not touching a sealion. (As usual in the US, not because it would cause stress to the animal, but because it is prohibited by law…)

   Nearby there is a cave as well (also, full with sealions), where you can take a kayak tour (often included with snorkeling). 

   As we hadn´t planned kayaking or swimming, we just strolled around the park, watching chipmunks and seagulls, and went down the beach for a while to see the sealions. (I have to be honest, it wouldn´t be easy live nearby as the smell and the sound of these animals cannot be ignored.) 

   But not only the beachside, but also the town itself is worth to see around. Cute houses, interesting (though expensive) shops and great weather characterize La Jolla.

   In the afternoon we went to the other side of San Diego, to the Mexican Border. Although living in Mexico for almost 3 years, we had never been near to the border as everybody says it is not recommendable (drug cartels). (Not to mention that it is a “bit” far from Mexico City.) So, it was interesting to see the border - huge, tall walls with wires on the top all over the horizon and the Mexican-like one floor houses on the hillsides in Tijuana, on the other side of the border.

This we could all see from the border-outlet, the Premium Outlet which is located there clearly for the Mexicans (there were more people speaking there Spanish than English).

   

   The zoo, the mothership, La Jolla and some outlets were all we could fit in the 4 days at this time, but thanks to the nice weather in San Diego, we had a great time and returned to Mexico on Monday full with new memories.