Closing the gap

Distance: 40km

We left Jamie and Adrian's in the early afternoon and after a few stops to try and find a Spanish phrasebook (unsuccessful) we stopped about 10km from the border.

The ride south from San Diego took us through some interesting suburbs - each one becoming more and more Mexican.

We planned to cross into Mexico the next day.

Another day, another 9km, and we stopped at the outlets on the border, intending to replace some well worn clothes at the Nike store. 

While Sam was inside a man came up to chat to me (which Sam tells me is not unusual). He was large, tattooed with a big gold chain around his neck... his appearance was Mexican but his accent American.

The conversation was about our trip, where we'd been, where we were from... Standard questions we always get asked. 

He said he lived in Perth for a while and spent time in Brisbane. Mentioned we must have some great photos from our trip... Where were we going in Baja? Where were we planning to stay tonight?

I was my usual friendly, chatty self throughout.

When Sam came back the guy left pretty quickly. When I recounted it all, I was sternly reminded that I shouldn't be so free with our details to strangers on the border with Mexico. For months we'd been warned by almost everyone we spoke to about the problems in Mexico (drugs, theft, gangs, kidnapping, murder) - particularly in the border areas.

I went over all the tips I'd read on how to avoid being a target - and realised I'd done all the wrong things.

We decided to cross tomorrow.