Tijuana/San Diego - Day 3

We got everyone out of bed early and packed into the van so that we could leave Rosarito just before 8:00am. Things sort of went downhill from there. We quickly arrived in Tijuana and got stuck in a traffic jam. For some reason the road we were on was not moving at all. There were police directing traffic, but they were just allowing traffic to move in the other direction, so we sat for quite a long time doing nothing. At the same time there was a marathon going on, possibly due to the fact that today was Cinco de Mayo. After a long wait, our traffic suddenly moved forward, though as we drove past, the policeman was trying to stop the people behind us, so I'm not certain if we were supposed to go or not.



After that long wait, we quickly arrived at the traffic jam for the border. Twenty-four lanes of traffic stretching for a very long way. It only took about one and half hours to reach the border, which was faster than Rick expected. Unfortunately, the border official tagged the van, which meant that we had to pull ahead to get searched. The customs official who did the searching was very strict and official until she asked us to get out the van and realized that there were four small children inside. She did not seem impressed that we had been tagged for searching, so she went as fast as she could. Once that was done, we were back in the US and on our way to SeaWorld.

The main attractions at SeaWorld are the shows, so we headed towards the sea lion and otter show, stopping to view the sea lions, dolphins and star fish as we walked by their pools. The star fish were the biggest hit, as you were allowed to pick them up and briefly take them out of the water. The sea lion and otter show was somewhat interesting, as the sea lions are very well trained, but they aren't elegant or attractive creatures. That goes double for the big ugly walrus that arrives at the end of the show. After the show, we went to a pizza/pasta place for lunch that "only" cost us $32. It never ceases to amaze me the prices that are charged inside theme parks. A small coffee cost $2.19!

Our first stop after lunch was the sharks. This was the first aquarium we went to where you could look through glass and see the animals underwater, and Xander was extremely excited about it. He really enjoyed the tunnel where the large sharks swim around and above you. The same cannot be said for me. After another aquarium, we went to see the penguins. By this point, the lack of a nap was beginning to take its toll on Xander, and Sandra had to take him along the moving sidewalk twice before he became interested in looking at the penguins. The next attraction was the arctic exhibit, which had a ride attached to it. Rick and Colette took the ride, while Sandra and I took the four kids into the exhibit. As we were entering, someone behind Sandra asked if we had two sets of twins (as our kids and Rick and Colette's kids are the same age). Sandra told me later that if we had two sets of twins, the last place we would be would be SeaWorld. The big hit of the arctic exhibition was a glass window where a giant walrus kept swimming past. It kept the kids occupied until Rick and Colette were done, which was good, as holding a baby and chasing after a two year old was becoming very tiring. The big disappointment of the arctic exhibition was the lack of polar bears. There was a mother and cub in a small area, but it was so crowded, there was no way were getting the kids to see the bear.

The next stop was one of the few that actually interested me. It was a pool full of rays that you were allowed to touch, and feed, if you were brave enough. To feed one, you held the food underwater on the flat of your palm and let a ray swim over top of your hand and eat the fish. I don't think I could have done it. However, I did touch quite a few of the rays - they are a bit slimy. I think rays are one of the coolest sea creatures. They just look neat as they swim along. The ones in the pool often stuck their heads out of the water to look at the humans surrounding the pool, which was pretty cool. Xander refused to touch the rays. I think the fact that they were moving scared him a bit, compared to the star fish.

After seeing some extremely icky moray eels, we took a break among the flamingos and then went into another aquarium. This one was ocean fish, so it had an aquarium with Nemo and Dory in it, which was a big hit with Xander. It was quite difficult to get him away from that tank. Due to popular request (of the two year olds), we returned to the star fish pool. This time, Xander was even more adventurous and actually picked up the star fish and took them out of the water. Many pictures later, it was time to go to the Shamu show.


While watching the killer whales perform was very cool, the cloying "Believe" message that was broadcast on the screens and through the words of the trainers really annoyed me. It was an obvious ploy to pull at the heartstrings of the people there, to make them think that something special was happening, rather than just watching captured animals perform tricks for our enjoyment. I mean, I'm not against captured animals performing tricks, but I don't think it is necessary to wrap that in some weird eco-message that implies that the performance is helping us bridge the gap between the two species.

After the entire day at SeaWorld, we found a fast food restaurant ($12, versus the $32 we paid inside SeaWorld for lunch) before heading back to Mexico. Unfortunately, due to Cinco de Mayo, the border crossing into Mexico was also very busy and it took longer to get back than we expected.

Everyone is really tired at the moment, and the kids aren't even in bed yet, so I'm pretty certain tomorrow is just going to be a relaxing day in Mexico.