Crossing the Southern Border without a Passport

The San Diego blue line trolley takes you straight to the Tijuana border. Once you exit the booth, luggage in hand and anticipation written on your face, you get the chance to walk across the border to a whole new country. A make-shift metal tunnel leads you on a five-minute walk before spitting you out onto the wild streets of Tijuana. The vendors and taxis are already waiting for you, shouting in English and Spanish the moment you come into view.

I was fifteen minutes out from Tijuana, riding the blue line to its final stop, when I realized in a moment of sheer shock that I had forgotten my passport.

Back in Seattle.

My whole trip was ruined before it even began.

Frantically, I started calling the numbers listed for the US embassy in Mexico. Several of them were out of service, but I got through, and they informed me that I could in fact re-enter the US without a passport, as long as I could present a photocopy at the border. I asked whether I was permitted to enter Mexico without a passport, and they told me to call the Mexican embassy in the US. It was a national holiday in Mexico, and the office was closed. A quick search online revealed that Mexico had changed its laws several years ago to require US citizens to present a passport upon entry. I sighed and accepted my fate, cursing my foolishness and bad luck. However, since I was so close to the border, I decided to at least try and enter. I approached the Mexican border guard with a speech prepared as to why he should let me in. He asked for my passport, and when I informed him that I did not have it – ready to jump into my monologue – he just waved me through and said to bring it next time. As simple as that, I was in Mexico.

Inside Tijuana, I stayed near the Baja coast. The sound of waves softly drifted in through the windows of my rented apartment overlooking the beach. During the days, I walked along the beach drinking the water from freshly carved coconuts, with cheerful mariachi music playing on the boardwalks above. There was a palatable authenticity in Tijuana, and I was the only tourist around at the time.

Up ahead was the infamous Border Wall, so polarized in the US that once I realized what the creaking metal behemoth was, it elicited an audible gasp from me. The wall on the Mexican side was painted in bright colors, with reaching hands proclaiming unity against hatred under quotations of famous peace leaders. On the American side, barbed wire and sinister titanium gleamed menacingly in the baking sun.

In the evenings, I often ventured to the city center, which swelled and bustled with activity. I filled up on delicious street tacos, so cheap and tasty that it was hard to believe it only cost 8 pesos, or about 35 cents.

The most vivid images in my mind today are 1) the countless pharmacies selling prescription drugs without a prescription at every corner and 2) the dozen or so stretch limousines filled with 15-year-old Quinceanera girls celebrating their birthdays and waving while touring the city center.

I never once felt unsafe during my time in Tijuana. The locals were so friendly and inviting, and any ill-place fears I carried with me upon entering were quickly dispelled. Even in Zona Norte, the neighborhood considered most dangerous, I never encountered any issues or threats. It just goes to show that the vast majority of the world is safe, no matter what we hear in our part of it.

Returning back to the United States prove much more uncomfortable than entering Mexico. While the US embassy assured me over the phone that I would be able to enter without issues, this was certainly not the case.

The American border guard, a muscle-bound man with shaved head, body armor, and a machine gun draped across his chest, gave me a pretty hard time. At first, he outright rejected me from entering, waving everyone else through. After negotiating back and forth, presenting him with the photocopy of my passport and groveling with him for a while, he finally let me in. He made sure to let me know how stupid it was to enter Mexico without a passport. I cannot disagree!