the beach and mexico

so the train was an absolute delight. granted, it was half an hour late but they actually took your bags off you and put them on the train for you and they actually let you know that it was running late and actually actually apologised. my god. and then there was loads of leg room and we could get seats together and there was a plug to charge your ipod and a buffet car to get some coffee. it was paradise. we were so giddy. we were taking photos and everything. we just kept shouting 'a flushing toilet!! ha!!'. people must have thought we were from some third world country or another planet or something. there was an obligatory psycho but the difference was that it wasn't normal. people got up and moved from him rather than thought it perfectly normal to be talking to yourself at high volume. you have no idea how great it was. and then it was the icing on the cake to be travelling alongside the beach. the journey started at 9.21am, dad, (well, 9.51am with the delay) so it was still all misty so not quite the idyllic west coast jaunt in the sun singing 'surfin' usa' and all that. typical, we thought. but then the sun came out and it was the idyllic jaunt. except we were singing kaiser chiefs and arctic monkeys to each other instead. well, it was still a 6 hour journey and we all go a bit loopy after about the 5 hour mark.

san diego is pretty. we're staying in the centre of town by all the bars so it's not the quietest of places. plus all the hostels on the west coast seem to have well dodgy mattresses. nightmare. but it's handy for the bars - though i'm cutting back on the booze this week, mum, honest. it's also handy to get around. we got the bus to pacific beach yesterday and had a proper day's sunbathing. oh my god, it was so relaxing. the beach was more comfy than my bed so it was nice to have a snooze. and i didn't get burnt either, for the first time ever when sunbathing. the sun did seem to go to our heads, though, cos we had a random conversation about what we would call our children if we had any. we all decided on 'barry' whether boy or girl.

we saw the most beautiful sunset on pacific beach. the sea went that metallic colour and the sky was filled with silvers and baby blues and salmony colours. the light went all misty aswell. people walking by the sea looked like they were in cloud. it was gorgeous. i felt quite drunk with relaxation as we walked along the beachside street.

today has been slightly different. we're only half an hour from mexico in san diego so we got the trolley to tijuana. a bloke from brisbane and a bloke from swindon tried to scare me and rach last night by telling us all these horror stories of corrupt coppers in mexico planting drugs on you so you'd have to pay a million pounds to get out of jail etc etc. but we braved it, although rach spent the first ten minutes we were there clinging onto the dev's arm. it was actually quite fun. not a lot like mexico and a lot like tenerife, though we did see our first tumbleweed - and a bluddy massive thing it was too, right in the middle of the road. all the shopkeepers were out on the pavement trying to get you to go inside and buy things. they whistled, clapped and shouted at you from across the street and everything. but it was all good natured and actually quite funny. they kept calling us charlie's angels and saying that they had nice purses, wallets, cigars for us. they also kept trying to ply us with tequila. i mean, we're just not that type of girls. clearly. we had a nice mexican lunch and wandered about the streets. they have the bizarrest thing - they paint white donkeys with black stripes to make them look like zebras and then ask if you want your picture taken with them for a dollar. what's that all about?! the lads in the hostel called them zonkeys... we did give in to one particularly charming waiter bloke called freddi who offered us three-for-one margharitas plus a free shot each. i mean, how could you refuse that? bluddy strong, though. we got all giggly whilst listening to the milli vanilli they were playing. fab.

it made a refreshing change to be in mexico rather than another american city with the skyscrapers. even though it was clearly not the real mexico. but they had scruffy versions of spanish-esque buildings and the barren hillsides all around. it's clearly a poor country and they are desperate for the dollar. when we turned down one ladies offerings of necklaces she told us to 'not be so mexican', what ever that means. we did venture off the main touristy road and had a quick look at the old church and in the market. there were piles and piles of dried chillies and things we weren't sure what they were. there were lots of flies hanging round which somehow made the whole experience more authentic. not sure why.

not sure what we'll get up to tomorrow. we have one more day here and then it's vegas for the weekend. good lord...