Tijuana Airport - HowTo: Cross Border Express (CBX)

I need to pick up my kid brother at the Tijuana Airport as his Snowbird season has come to an end.  Marty is a retired postal worker living in Tacoma, but has a home in Mazatlan as  his winter residence.  It’s much less expensive to fly in/out of the Tijuana and using the Cross Border Express (CBX) footbridge that connects Otay Mesa to the TJ airport.  

From home it’s easy to hop on I-5 south to exit 3, CA-905 East.


Follow CA-905 East 6 miles to Britannia Blvd.



The route is well marked with directional arrows on the light poles.


The CBX is not a free service - it is a toll bridge!, at this time it is $16 US one way!   Be sure to have enough US Dollars to cover that expense.  Or purchase your ticket, up to a year in advance online HERE.  To use the CBX bridge you must have a CBX ticket AND an airline boarding pass for a flight either departing Tijuana Airport within 24 hours, or having arrived within 2 hours.

There is ample parking, but the main lot is $18 per day!  Ouch!!! that’s out of line for a pick up, and there is no cell phone lot, as is available at Lindbergh Field.   The left lane is for long term parking $18 per day.  The right is for pick up and drop off.


However, there is a short term lot $5 for up to 2 hours , but better still street parking is readily available.  The best bet is to park on the street and wait for a text/call from the person you’ll be picking up and then circle the pickup area.


Once you’ve done this once it’s so very easy, much easier than the TJ or Otay pedestrian pick up.  I hope a reader might find this HowTo useful.  

A Google map showing the CBX can be found HERE.

a Week of Me Time …

A nephew was trusted to a key to Marty’s home in Mazatlán.  He knew in advance that the house needed attention and I closed my last post with his departure via CBX.

It turns out the nephew rented out the house!  The damage included the missing copper plumbing and an empty water tank!  It’s all been repaired and the locks have been changed.

He’s back keeping me company while Fran remains in Ohio and Juanita in Mexico.

I have the PRONTO app on my phone, which I can use for the San Diego trolley, or any of the county bus services.  Fran has the PRONTO card, but never used it.  Marty and Juanita will need either the card or tickets when we attend an up coming Padre game.

Since I also had a free ticket to the Home Show at the Convention Center, I decided it would be a good day to ride the trolley downtown and check out some of the methods of payment.

At my station at the bottom of Clairemont Drive I bought a S/D/M ( Senior or Disabled or Medicare) ticket - Marty and Fran will need this, Juanita is still an Adult ticket.

Max fare $3 per-day

At a $1.25 each way, or $3 max on any single day, it’s far less expensive than driving.

Clairemont Drive is on the Blue Line, to reach the Convention Center I’ll need to switch to the Green Line in Old Town, just 2 stops away.

The home show was quite lame.  As a home owner my ticket was free.  But the pressure to replace all my windows or go solar was nearly all that was there.

From there I took the walking path on the north side of the Center to the Rady Shell for a FREE concert.  Marty and I have tickets here the day he returns.

The Shell sits in Jacob’s Park along the San Diego Bay.

I’m trying to increase my step count a few times a week.  After enjoying the FREE performance I walked (slowly) to Seaport Village to board the trolley there.  Thus reversing the route, back to old Town.

A post surgery high !!!

Bara Bara is the probably the closest restaurant to the Old Town trolley stop.   They have a nice house Margarita.  That was just right with my tamale, and the stop is included with my 2-hr north-bound trolley pass.

On Sunday the junior OTL was taking place at Fiesta Island.

A nice turnout of mostly friends and family to watch the kids.

OTL can be taken as an elective in the local schools.  It’s quite popular!  The kids can start young!

I found a packet of Macadamia nuts in the freezer!  I decided to chop some and make turtles for the upcoming birthdays.

Alas, only 2 caramels were in the package I bought!  Somebody with a sweet tooth raided it!  So I mixed the 2 caramels with the chocolate to form a combined caramel body and chocolate shell.

That SOOO did not work!  Gooey and sticky.  The turtle shell needs to be hard.

Also while in the freezer I found a serving of salmon!  Whoot! I grilled it to make my own version of the fabulous sandwich at Point Loma Seafoods.  They have a great tarter sauce there but I had to make my own, using jalapenos and cilantro in place of pickles and parsley.

For my last lunch of My Time, I whipped up a BLAT.  Typically Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato, but I kicked it up with cheddar cheese and fresh jalapeno.

Altho no pictures I also had the clutch replaced in Fran’s Jeep.  We managed well over 2 decades on the original clutch, but is was starting to slip.

That was my Me Time!!!

I picked up Marty at CBX Saturday afternoon.  Once he was settled we headed to the trolley for a return to the Rady Shell.  I've been with Fran to several Selena tributes, but this time it would be a full pheromonic orchestra backing her, not the family band.  Selena remains "The Queen of Tejano Music", altho there are many great Texans of Latino decent musicians. 

The songs were selected to accommodate the backup orchestra, but dang she was good!

Most tributes skip Como la Flor as the notes are difficult and hard to hold … She nailed it!

And a chance to re-celebrate Aj’s 18th birthday!

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Meals at Buca di Beppo are ordered family style.  We ordered SMALL antipasto salad, chicken parmesan and stuffed shells (cheese and sausage).  Each SMALL serves 3.  So much food left over!

Aj did some research to find birthday free-bees.  Buca offers $20 off the meal tab and a FREE desert.

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We all helped a bit ...

Plus a fun attention grabbing birthday salute.

That was a great Me Week!  Juanita and Fran both return this week. 

Chicano Park - a National Historic Park

I was a bit surprised that Marty enthusiastically wanted to visit Chicano Park.  I figured he would see enough Mexican Murals while he is in Mazatlan.  As his Spanish is way better than my Span-glish, I knew he could help with the translations.

I last posted on Chicano Park in January 2017 shortly after it was named a National Historic Landmark.  That blog can be found HERE.  Since that time Chicano Park has been undergoing renovations to restore the vibrant colors of the murals.

Birth of Chicano Park April 22, 1970


The History Mural has been restored to it’s vibrant colors


The Herb Garden has also been restored since my last visit.


Many murals depict the Aztec influence over their domain of Azlan.  Present day Mexico, California, Arizona and parts of Nevada, Utah and New Mexico.



Frida Kahlo with the men in life Rivera, Orozico and Siqueiros
"I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim”  ~Frida Kahlo


Another new (to-me) mural
“Not even one more death:, “Love, Yes you can” “Love has no boundaries”


General Emiliano Zapata


“The land belongs to those who work it with their own hands” ~Emiliano Zapata


New murals in process and one recently completed


I really don’t get the Che connection with Mexico, but he indeed was a revolutionary.


This is an interesting mural on the decisions that need to be made.  Basically an education or continue to work the land.


“To the Bay”,  the collective barrios would like to continue the murals to San Diego Bay.


This young man has to be one of the youngest kids in the skate park.




We are always up for a good Margarita so we stopped in Old Town on the way home.  Ever since Daddy-O’s closed in Pacific Beach a few years ago, we have been in search of the best chicken tortilla soup available. This one at Outback Steakhouse is pretty good


I dropped Marty at the CBX (Cross Border Express) where he can walk across the border to the TJ airport to head home to Mazatlan.  If you want details on the CBX you will find my post HERE.


No Bad Days!