Tijuana

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Tijuana
Skyline of Tijuana
Coat of arms
Motto: Aquí empieza la patria (English: The homeland starts here.) The government translates the phrase as Gateway to Mexico.
Location of Tijuana in Baja California
Coordinates: 32°31′30″N 117°02′″W / <span class="geo-dec geo" title="Maps, aerial photos, and other data for 32.525 Expression error: Unexpected / operator">32.525, Expression error: Unexpected / operator
Country	Mexico
State	Baja California
Municipality	Tijuana
Metropolitan area	San Diego-Tijuana
Founded	July 11, 1889
Government
- Type	Ayuntamiento
- Municipal President	Jorge Ramos Hernandez (PAN)
Area
- City	637 km² (245.9 sq mi)
Elevation	20 m (65 ft)
Population (2005)
- City	1,286,187
- Density	2,212/km² (5,729.1/sq mi)
- Metro	4,922,723
	[1]
Time zone	PST (UTC−8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC−7)
1 INEGI, Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México
Website: http://www.tijuana.gob.mx

Tijuana (pronounced /ˌtiːəˈwɑːnə/^[2]; Spanish, pronounced [ti'xwana]), is a Pacific coast city situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, California. Tijuana is the westernmost city in Latin America (the westernmost Latin American population center is located in Isla Guadalupe) and is the largest city in the Mexican State of Baja California and the seat of the municipality of Tijuana.

Currently, the Tijuana metropolitan area is the sixth-largest in Mexico, with a population of 1,483,992 ^[3] and as the San Diego-Tijuana Metropolitan Area it is the 14th largest metropolitan area in North America, at 4,922,723. It is one of the fastest growing modern cities in Mexico.

[edit] History

Caesar's Hotel on Avenida Revolución

The city of Tijuana was inhabited by the Kumeyaay, a tribe of Yuman-speaking hunter-gatherers. Europeans arrived in 1542, when the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo toured the coastline of the area, which was later mapped in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno. In 1769, Juan Crespí documented more detailed information about the area that would be called the Valley of Tijuana. Junípero Serra founded the first mission of Alta California in San Diego.

More settlement of the area took place near the end of the mission era when José María Echendía, governor of the Baja California and Alta California, awarded a large land grant to Santiago Argüello in 1829. This large cattle ranch, Rancho Tía Juana ("Aunt Jane Ranch"), covered 100 km² (40 sq mi).

In 1848, as a result of the Mexican-American War with the United States, Mexico lost all of Alta California. Tijuana acquired a new and distinct character and purpose on the international border. The city began to shed its cattle ranching origins and began to play a new role, forming a socio-economic structure for the city.

1889 marked the beginning of the urban settlement, when descendants of Santiago Argüello and Agustín Olvera entered an agreement to begin development of the city of Tijuana. The date of the agreement, July 11, 1889, is recognized as the founding of the city.^[4]

Tijuana saw its future in tourism from its inception. From the end of the 19th century to the first decades of the 20th, the city attracted large numbers of Californians coming to Mexico for trade and entertainment.

During the Mexican Revolution,revolutionaries loyal to Ricardo Flores Magón took over the city in 1911. Shortly, thereafter, federal troops arrived and routed the rebels.

In 1915, the Panama-California Exposition brought a great number of visitors to the neighboring Californian city. Tijuana took the opportunity to attract these tourists south of the border with Feria Típica Mexicana. The fair included curio shops, regional foods, thermal baths, horse racing and boxing matches.

Legal drinking and gambling attracted U.S nationals, especially with the start of prohibition in the 1920s. The Avenida Revolución area became the tourist center of the city with casinos such as Agua Caliente and lodging such as Hotel Caesar's, birthplace of the Caesar Salad. Remnants of the Agua Caliente casino, which burned to ground in a large fire, can be seen in the minaret next to the Plaza Minarete strip center at the end of Avenida Sanchez Taboada. In 1925, the city attempted to change the negative image of hedonism and lawlessness created by American mob empresarios by renaming itself Zaragoza but the name reverted to Tijuana shortly thereafter.

With increased tourism and the large number of Mexican citizens relocating to Tijuana, the city grew from 21,971 to 65,364 between 1940 and 1950.

With the decline of nightlife and tourism in the 1950s, the city restructured its tourist industry, by promoting a more family oriented scene. Tijuana developed a greater variety of attractions and activities to offer its visitors.

In 1994, PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was assassinated in Tijuana while making an appearance in the plaza of Lomas Taurinas, a neighborhood nestled in a valley near Centro. The shooter was caught and imprisoned, but doubts remain about who the mastermind might have been.

Today, the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing is the most crossed international land border in the world.^{[citation needed]} Although tourism constitutes a large part of this movement, Tijuana and its surrounding area has become a major player in NAFTA with new maquiladoras and industrial plants.

[edit] Etymology

In early documents — primarily mission records (baptisms, marriages, deaths) — there are mentions of "La Tia Juana", "Tiguana", "Tiuana", "Teguana", "Tiwana", "Tijuan", "Ticuan", "Tijuana". It is believed by some that name comes from the Yuman Indian language from the aboriginal Kumeyaay (Kumiai) inhabitants. They spoke a Yuman language, in which some have claimed "Tijuana" originated from "Tiwan", meaning close to the sea. Others say this is not certain, that there is no such word in Kumayaay, and that the name cames from another location of similar appearance (and name) in the south of the peninsula, and the name was brought north by Spanish and Mexican soldiers and mule-drivers.

Another foundation myth is that in the beginning there was an old Indian woman, "tia Juana" (aunt Jane), who provided travelers with good food and a place to rest. In spite of scholarly denunciation, this story continues to be very popular with residents of the city. It has particular resonance amongst those who like to imagine the city as a place of hospitality.

In Spanish, the name is pronounced [tiˈhwana]; in English, the pronunication /ˌtiːəˈwɑːnə is generally used. It is commonly called "TJ" in California and "Tiyei" (matching the sound of the English initials "TJ"). Mexicans typically refer to themselves as "Tijuanenses."

[edit] Geography

View of Playas de Tijuana borough

View of the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area, with Tijuana in the foreground.

sign showing the way to the pedestrian border crossing

[edit] Boroughs (delegaciones)

Main article: Municipality of Tijuana#Boroughs

The municipality of Tijuana is divided into administrative boroughs (delegaciones, in Spanish) of which the city of Tijuana occupies nine, which are in turn divided into colonias. These boroughs offer administrative services such as urban planning, civil registry, inspection, verification, public works and community development and are served by a Delegado Municipal (Municipal Delegate).

[edit] Tijuana River

The Tijuana River (Río Tijuana) is an intermittent river, 195 km (121 mi) long, on the Pacific coast of northern Baja California in Mexico and southern California in the United States. It drains an arid area along the U.S.–Mexico border, flowing through Mexico for most its course then crossing the border for its lower 8 km (5 mi) to empty into the ocean in an estuary on the southwesternmost corner of the United States. Its lower reaches provide the last undeveloped coast wetlands in San Diego County amidst a highly urbanized environment at the southern city limits of Imperial Beach. The river has been the subject of controversy in recent decades regarding pollution, flood control, and U.S. border protection. Because Downtown Tijuana was built at the bottom of the river valley, it is subject to flooding from drain-off from the rest of the city in two rainy months of the year (typically December and January). During this time, east-bound portions of the Via Rapida (east-west highway) may be blocked off by the Tijuana Police due to hazardous conditions.

[edit] Topography

Tijuana is noted for its rough terrain, which includes many canyons, steep hills, and mesas. Among noted canyons in Tijuana are Canyon K and Canyon Jhonson (sic). Large Tijuana hills include Cerro Colorado and Cerro de las Abejas in the eastern part of the city, which many schoolchildren climb as part of annual field trips.

[edit] Demographics

Tijuana has a vastly diverse population consisting of immigrants from all over Mexico and the world. In fact the city is home to one of Mexico's largest Asian populations, mostly made up of Chinese immigrants and to a lesser extent Koreans and Japanese. Tijuana is also home to a large and rapidly growing population of Americans, mostly Southern California natives, who have moved to the city to avoid the higher cost of living in their home country that commute to work in San Diego. ^[5]

CONAPO predicted that in 2008 the municipality of Tijuana would have 1,540,072 inhabitants and the metropolitan area would contain 1,721,495.^{[citation needed]}

The majority of Tijuana's populations is made of immigrants from other regions of Mexico especially Sinaloa, Jalisco, Oaxaca and the Federal District. Because of the diversity in Mexico and the influx of immigrants from almost every region in the country there are no accurate estimates on ethnicity or race of the current population.

Tijuana today is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico with an average of 80,000 people moving to Tijuana yearly, along with construction of 26,000 new homes a year.

There is a high poverty level in Tijuana, however many organizations combat this issue. Los Ninos, an organization working to end poverty in Tijuana, helps families and children by promoting community development, food security, social justice and human dignity. Various other organizations work towards the goal of eliminating poverty in Tijuana and are making incredible progress with the help of donations and volunteers.

Tijuana is the second most visited city by tourists, only beat by New York City and beating Paris, France, London, United Kingdom, and Hong Kong.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Culture

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

The Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) is composed of a theater, lecture rooms, video rooms, a library, an exhibition hall, the Museum of the Californias, a futuristic planetary movie theater that displays IMAX films, and a restaurant. Since 1992, the CECUT has hosted the Orchestra of Baja California (OBC), it headquarters the Center of Scenic Arts of the Northwest (CAEN) and the Hispanic-American Center for Guitar (CHG). Since 2001, the CECUT receives about a million visitors per year, making it Baja California's most important cultural center. Another important culture center is La Casa de la Cultura, comprising of a school, a theater, and a public library. Dance, painting, music, plastic arts, photography and languages are taught there. The city also has the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (Municipal Institute of Art and Culture), the Tijuana Wax Museum, and the Museo El Trompo (The Trompo Museum).

Tijuana also has a very active and independent artist community whose internationally recognized work has earned Tijuana the title of "one of the most important new cultural meccas", according to Newsweek. Strange New World, an exhibition of Tijuana's current art scene, is being curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and is traveling across the USA in 2006 and 2007^[6]. Art collectives like Bulbo and film production like Palenque Filmaciones explore the use of film like the award winning Tijuana Makes Me Happy, media like television bulbo TV and print "bulbo PRESS", to show different realities of Tijuana out of Mexico. In 2004, Tijuana earned international acclaim for an art exhibition displayed on the cement banks of the Tijuana River and along the Mexico/U.S. border fence in Otay Mesa.

Graffiti is widespread in Tijuana. It can range from free-hand writing in spray can and marker form, often carrying social or sexual commentary in English or Spanish, pictures in wheatpaste and stencils, consisting of stenciled renderings of personalities crucial to Hispanic culture from past and present eras, such as television news announcers or stars, but also extending to images of artists like Salvadore Dali. Graffiti in Tijuana may seem at first to consist largely of simplistic tags and thus not as technically evolved, colorful, or accepted in the mainstream as the "pieces" of graffiti scenes of the United States, Europe, or Japan, but large, colorful graffiti murals adorn walls from both native Tijuanense artists as well as visiting graffiti writers, especially from California. The Tijuanense art pieces show as much prowess and skill as those made by their more renowned U.S. counterparts, although illicit graffiti is strongly discouraged by the Tijuana government, as in other major metropolitan areas.

Tijuana is home of the Nortec, a fusion of Norteñas or typical northern-Mexican music and electronic music, such as the music of The Nortec Collective and other electronic music artists, and Murcof, which have placed Tijuana in the international eye of specialized magazines and forums in recent years. Additionally, Tijuana also enjoys a large base of support in many other musical scenes, such as hardcore, punk, black metal, Tijuana Brass and house music. Famous musical acts from Tijuana include the world known singer Julieta Venegas, and bands like Delux and Rodeo Drive.

Musical clubs in the Avenida Revolución area and others often cater to a diverse range of tastes by offering nightly variations on musical fare, such as new wave music one night, and punk rock bands on the next. Interestingly, some metal bands from Europe whose members cannot perform in the United States due to prior felony convictions in their own countries will play music festivals in Tijuana so as to attract fans from both Mexico and the United States.

ALthough poverty is widespread throughout the city, a very affluent and prominent society has developed in Tijuana. The Club Campestre de Tijuana (Tijuana Country Club) has many affluent members and a famous golf course. A large sized Rotary Club is also located in Tijuana. The Grand Hotel Tijuana and many luxurious restaurants have been developed along Bulevar Agua Caliente (often called "El Bulevar" by locals) and in the Zona Rio. Around the country club and Agua Caliente, many developments of wealthy and luxurious gated communities have filled the hillsides, most of which have views similar to Mount Soledad in San Diego or areas of Orange County. There are many amazing restaurants in Tijuana, attracting both locals and travelers. These 4 star restaurants range from Argentinean to Italian to Japanese food.

[edit] Entertainment

Avenida Revolución has many open bars, pharmacies, and curio shops, that attract many tourists. The majority of these businesses accept the U.S. dollar and use both English and Spanish to conduct everyday business transactions

Tijuana's most prestigious entertainment center is the Club Campestre de Tijuana golf club, but the Agua Caliente Racetrack would be the most notable that is open to the general public. Parque Morelos has a small zoo and park space; Parque de la Amistad has a small pond, and a running and dirt-bike track. Parque Teniente Guerrero is a park located downtown with a public library and weekend entertainment by clowns.

The most popular tourist attraction is Avenida Revolución. Many foreigners travel there to drink and dance, buy prescription drugs, illegal drugs (especially in and around dance clubs), purchase bootleg brand-name clothing, timepieces, and other personal accessories found globally, as well as manufactured and hand-crafted local curiosities. There are many night clubs, including over a dozen gay clubs but locals and regular tourists avoid touristic hassle over at the clubs at Plaza Fiesta or other areas of the Zona Río without the crowds, heavy marketing, and occasional tourist misbehavior or outright lawbreaking common on the Revolución strip, though the Revolución has been known for its bolstered number of police. While still an entertaining town with an enjoyable atmosphere, locals and tourists alike would agree that it has lost its "anything goes" mentality which it had once acquired, a mindset that was dangerous to tourists, locals, and the tourism industry as a whole.

Tijuana possesses a diversity of shopping malls including Plaza Río, Plaza Mundo Divertido, Plaza Monarca, Plaza Carrousel, and Centro Comercial Playas/Plaza Coronado. Plaza Río is the largest mall and is located just a few minutes away from the US border between Paseo de los heroes and the Tijuana River. The mall hosts a Cinépolis and a Cinépolis VIP movie theater, a Sanborns restaurant and a variety of shops, including the large department stores Mas and Dorians. Plaza Mundo Divertido is off of Tijuana's main east-west highway with arcades and rides for the whole family. Plaza Monarca is on a north-south artery known as "Gato Bronco" and is anchored by the movie theater Cinépolis and the grocery chain Gigante. Plaza Carrousel, so named because the mall contains a children's merry-go-round, is minutes from the Cinco y Diez retail hub centered around a former five and dime store. The beach community of Playas de Tijuana saw a burst of construction in 2004, which yielded the Plaza Coronado complex next to the existing Comercial Mexicana-anchored Centro Comercial Playas.

Tijuana also enjoys notoriety among Americans and other nationals for its red-light district Zona Norte (referred to La Coahuila as it is one of the main streets in it) which boasts a large number of legal street prostitutes as well as, in parts, a selection of strip clubs offering at least one establishment per block. The strip clubs are typically full-contact, meaning the dancers will allow patrons to fondle them. The dancers also sell their sexual services which are pricier ($US 72 in early-2007) than those of the street prostitutes, and while true of many clubs, is not valid to say of all clubs, or even all of them lower-priced clubs engage in the practice of prostitution. About 1,200 prostitutes from all over Mexico work in La Coahuila street, making it a sex tourist destination that ranks in popularity with Amsterdam and Bangkok, according to Melissa Farley, a researcher with Prostitution Research and Education, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization.

Heavy pressure from the United States over the purchase of prescription drugs from border cities by U.S. citizens have led to an increase in the reduction of pharmacies offering easily available medications scheduled under U.S. law.^{[citation needed]} In particular, people filling up prescriptions for drugs classified under the U.S. list of schedule II or list of schedule III drugs, have found it more difficult to locate such medications, and the purchase of pseudoephedrine also has become restricted by Tijuana pharmacies, as it is in the United States. For a prescription to be filled in Tijuana and brought legally to the United States, any drug covered by the scheduling act would require a doctor's prescription from the United States for re-import. A doctor's or pharmacist's prescription while in Mexico is also required to dispense the medication in Mexico.

[edit] Sports

The city is home to two professional basketball teams. The Tijuana Dragons play in the American Basketball Association against teams from the United States. The team is composed mostly of U.S. players. Their season takes place during the winter months. The Galgos de Tijuana (Tijuana Greyhounds) play in the LNBP (Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional) during the summer months. The team is composed mostly of players from Mexico. Both teams play in the Auditorio Municipal.

Former super featherweight boxing champion Erik Morales calls Tijuana his home.

[edit] Education

Tijuana is home to many primary schools as well as several colleges and universities.

[edit] Notable primary, secondary and preparatory schools

• Instituto Mexico
• Escuela Preparatoria Federal Lázaro Cárdenas
• Colegio Reina Isabel
• Instituto Progreso
• Colegio La Paz
• Colegio Tijuana
• Instituto Cumbres
• Colegio Niños Héroes
• Bachillerato Anáhuac
• The British American School
• Colegio Highland Prince Academy de Mexico, former Colegio Ingles
• Instituto Arangure

[edit] Colleges and universities

• Centro de Estudios Superiores de Noroeste (CESUN)
• Centro de Investigación en Tecnología Electrónica y Digital (CITEDI)
• Centro de Ensenanza Tecnica e Industrial (CECATI)
• College of the Northern Border (COLEF)
• Tijuana Institute of Technology (ITT)
• Tijuana campus of the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC)
• Tijuana Campus of the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA)
• Tijuana Campus of the Universidad Xochicalco
• Centro Universitario de Tijuana (CUT)
• Universidad Univer Noroeste (UNIVER)
• Tijuana Campus of the Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior (CETYS Universidad)
• Tijuana Campus of Tecnológico de Baja California (TBC Universidad)
• Instituto Cuauhtlatohuac

[edit] Economy

[edit] Manufacturing

Due to Tijuana's proximity to Southern California and the US border and its large, skilled, diverse and relatively inexpensive workforce it is an attractive city for foreign companies to establish extensive industrial parks composed of assembly plants that are called maquiladoras, even more so than other cities in the US-Mexican border zone, taking advantage of NAFTA to export products. At its peak, in 2001 Tijuana had roughly 820 of these 'maquiladoras' (today the number is closer to 550)^[7]. Foreign and domestic companies employ thousands of employees in these plants, usually in assembly related labor. Such jobs are demanding but offer high pay for Mexico. Companies that have set up 'maquiladoras' in Tijuana include Sony, Toyota, Samsung, Kodak, Matsushita/Panasonic, Nabisco, Philips, Pioneer, Plantronics, Pall Medical, Tara, Sanyo and vimay. Many of the maquiladoras are located in the Otay Mesa and Florido sections of Tijuana.

[edit] Service industry

In addition there are also some high-tech firms and telemarketing companies making their way into the city drawing skilled people with technical trades and college degrees to Tijuana. One example is Telvista, a Texas-based telemarketing company which maintains two call centers along Blvd. Agua Caliente. The nominal GDP per capita of the city is above the national average at about $9000 per year, third only to Cancún and Mexico City (source: INEGI). This makes Tijuana a popular city for migrant workers as well as college graduates from other parts of Mexico as well as other countries to the south.

[edit] Tourism

From the arch hangs a sign saying "Bienvenidos a Tijuana" (Welcome to Tijuana)

Tijuana also relies on tourism as a major revenue. About 300,000 visitors cross by foot or car from the San Ysidro point of entry in the United States every day. Restaurants and taco stands, pharmacies, bars and dance clubs are part of the draw for the city's tourists. Many shops and stalls selling Mexican crafts and souvenirs are also located in walking distance from the border. Mexico's drinking age of 18 (vs. 21 in the United States) make it a common weekend destination for many high school and college aged Southern Californians who tend to stay within the Avenida Revolución. Tijuana is also home to several pharmacies marketed toward visitors from the United States. These pharmacies sell some pharmaceutical drugs without prescriptions, and at much lower costs than pharmacies in the US. Many medications still require a Mexican doctor's prescription though several accessible doctor offices are located near the border as well. In addition Tijuana has a legal "red-light" district known as the Zona Norte which also adds significant revenue to its economy. Tijuana is also home to many businesses selling products and services at a much cheaper rate than in the United States. Such businesses as auto detailing, medical services, dentistry and plastic surgery are heavily marketed and located near the city's border with the US.

[edit] Economic research and development

Economic development has its CBD area at Zona Río, which with the corridor along Blvd. Agua Caliente (the extension of Avenida Revolución) contains the majority of the higher-end office space in the city. Binational economic development along the US-Mexico border is key to the development of Tijuana going forward. Multiple regional (San Diego-US/Tijuana-MX) think-tanks exist on both sides of the border that promote such regional collaboration and innovation.

[edit] Government

[edit] Infrastructure

[edit] Sewer

The International Boundary Wastewater Treatment Plant currently treats 25mgd directly pumped across the border from the central collection point in Mexico (Pump Station #1). When there is any flow in the river, the river diverter kicks in and diverts up to about 12-13 mgd to the IWTP. The totals from either must not exceed 25mgd, based on a monthly average (permit conditions) although the IWTP can treat sustained flows up to 45mgd daily and peaks of 70 or so for a short period. The diverter is regularly sending about 6-8 mgd daily to the IWTP.

[edit] Japanese credit plants

The plants (a total of 4-5 decentralized units in all) have been planned for some time as part of the "Tijuana/Rosarito Potable Water and Wastewater Master Plan". This plan was required as part of Public Law 106-457 (Nov.7-2000) which was written to allow the Bajagua project to move forward. The master plan was a binational collaborative effort by EPA and CESPT and addressed those cities' needs for the next 20 years.

The plants are intended to treat approximately 5 mgd each, to tertiary levels and provide the reclaimed water to the surrounding areas for agriculture, industry etc.

There are several issues that they are facing: no infrastructure to convey the reclaimed water to customers and inadequate groundwater recharge infrastructure.

[edit] Water

Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos Tijuana, (State Commission of Public Services Tijuana) better known as CESPT, is Tijuana's water supplier.

[edit] Electrical

As with all of Mexico, Tijuana's electricity is supplied by Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE).

[edit] Telephone

Land lines in Tijuana are provided by Telnor. Popular cellphone carriers include Movistar and Telcel.

[edit] Crime

Tijuana's crime problems are often blamed on drug trafficking and human trafficking rings which smuggle drugs and people into California. In 2004, nine kidnapping cases were reported to authorities in Baja California. However, that number is believed to be low because many cases are not reported to police ^[8]. In the first four months of 2005, there were 151 homicides and in 2004, there were 355 homicides. According to Francisco Castro Trenti, an administrator of the homicide investigation teams in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach and Tecate, at least 20% of Tijuana's homicides were related to organized crime groups in the city. ^[9]. As a result of police corruption, citizen groups have been formed to help stop corrupt cops there from soliciting bribes from the population ^[10].

[edit] Transportation

Tijuana International Airport

[edit] Air travel

The General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport is the city's airport, with eleven airlines serving destinations across the nation and Asia. It is one of the busiest airports in Mexico. Aeromexico introduced intercontinental air travel between Tijuana and two major cities in Asia, Tokyo in 2007 and Shanghai in 2008, respectively. With several private road lines, U.S. and select Canadian destinations can be reached via the busy San Diego International Airport, located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of the international border.

[edit] Public transportation

Mexico is served by a network of bus transportation, reaching virtually all parts of the country. The city's main bus station is in its eastern area. There is also a small terminal downtown which serves a few Mexican bus lines and US-based Greyhound Lines and Crucero USA. Another bus station is near the border, with frequent services to Ensenada, and other Mexican states, like Sinaloa, Sonora, and Jalisco, to major cities like Mazatlan, Culiacan, Hermosillo, and Guadalajara.

In 2006, Tijuana underwent a major overhaul of its existing system of guayines, or shared fixed-route station wagons, forcing the replacement of the guayines with new models of vans. Other forms of transportation in the city include calafias (short buses in the eastern part of the city), taxi libres (red-white compact taxis), and buses. Major transit hubs include Downtown Tijuana and the Cinco y Diez. From the US side, San Ysidro is the southern terminus of San Diego's municipal bus and trolley systems, providing public transportation to and from the Mexican border with Tijuana. The newly-rebuilt San Ysidro trolley station is located directly next to the US Customs facility.

[edit] Roads

Tijuana is home to the world's busiest border crossing with about 300,000 people crossing the border between San Diego and Tijuana every day. Queues take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more to cross to the United States, on non-US holidays, with wait of a few hours on US national holidays. However, after clearing customs and immigration formalities, Interstate 5 is a major 8-10 lane freeway from San Ysidro to downtown San Diego, Los Angeles, and north to the Canadian border. Interstate 805 branches off from I-5 just north of the border, and takes a more easterly route which bypasses downtown San Diego, rejoining with I-5 in the northern part of the city. From the Otay Mesa border crossing, Otay Mesa Road takes drivers west to connect with both I-805 and I-5.

Two important Mexican federal highways end in Tijuana, one of them is Federal Highway 1, which runs south through the Baja California peninsula, ending in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur. From Tijuana to Ensenada, most travelers take Highway 1-D (scenic road), a four-lane, limited access toll road that runs by the coast starting at Playas de Tijuana. Mexican Federal Highway 2 runs east for several hundred kilometers near the international border, currently as far as Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

[edit] Sister cities

• San Diego, USA
• Caldwell, USA
• Havana, Cuba
• Beijing, PRC
• Slubice, Poland
• Zaragoza, Spain

[edit] See also

• San Diego-Tijuana Metropolitan Area
• Juan Soldado, a local folk saint and Tijuana's first urban legend
• Tijuana Zebra

[edit] References

http://www.losninosinternational.org/about.html

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Tijuana

• (Spanish) Municipality website
• Tijuana Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Rosarito Convention and Visitors Bureau

	Baja California Mexicali, capital
Municipalities	Ensenada | Mexicali | Tecate | Tijuana | Playas de Rosarito
Cities	Ensenada | Mexicali | Playas de Rosarito | Tecate | Tijuana

Coordinates: 32°31′30″N, 117°02′″W