AC DC PORTABLE REFRIGERATOR

Less than fifteen miles from San Diego, along the I-5 (Interstate) lies the American border with the Mexican city of Tijuana (Tia-wan-a). We had mentioned the possibility of visiting Mexico, during our stay, to an American friend.

"You really don't want to go there at the minute" he said "It's crazy with all the drug cartels, even some of the cops would "shake you down" to get whatever they could."

Today we decided to go, enticed by the proximity of the border and a five dollar day pass on the "Trolley"(The San Diego railway/tram system) that would deliver us to the American border town of San Ysidro. From there we could hire a cab and cross the border into Tijuana.

After purchasing our tickets at a cheque cashing booth at 25th and Commercial, we waited on the platform for the next trolley. We had been told that they ran every fifteen minutes and as the last one had departed as we'd come out of the booth, we knew that we'd have a short wait.

Just under ten minutes had gone by, during which time we'd enjoyed the exchange of banter between an elderly black gentleman and a San Diego transit cop who appeared to be of Mexican origin.

As the exchange continued the cop came towards us and said hi. We decided to double check the border crossing and re-entry info just to make sure that we had all the relevant details.

"Where u from?" came the usual query

"Ireland" I replied

"Mmm, I really wouldn't advise you to go to Mexico at the minute, it's a bit wild down there. Rival cartels are carrying out shootings daily and tourists are being targeted. A cartel member was arrested by the Mexican police a while back and it's really kicked off. I wouldn't even go there at the minute and I'm from Tijuana."

I guess that kind of made our minds up for us, however the cop said,

"You could still take the trolley as far as San Ysidro and then walk half way across a bridge over the Interstate just beside the border. From there you can at least get a picture of Mexico without leaving America. When you get to the stop just ask the cop there for directions".

We thanked him and minutes later boarded the trolly for San Ysidro.

The journey took in around eight stops and lasted about forty minutes. When we finally arrived we checked around for a cop. When we located one he was a shifty looking little chap. His shiftiness was confirmed when I asked him for directions to the bridge.

"What do you want to go there for?"

I said that we'd been advised against going to Mexico and I just wanted to take a few shots - I noticed his hand hover nervously over his holster.

"What do you mean?" he asked. I pointed to my camera.

"Oh," he said. "You can't take pictures here".

"Why not, I was told by a cop in Downtown San Diego that I could get a few pictures of Mexico from the bridge"

"You know nothing about Mexico" he replied "This is a controlled area and if you take any pictures you will be arrested and detained".

Maybe he was right, maybe he was just a major arse. Anyway I decided not to take his advice. I'd made the trip and I wanted to get a few shots.

I must admit that standing there, camera in hand, on the bridge over the I-5 yards from the Mexican border it did feel quite hostile and intense and a world away from the surroundings of Bird Rock, San Diego.

I managed to visit Mexico, allbeit visually and from a distance, and I did take quite a few snaps without being detained, but straight afterwards we hopped back on the trolley and got the hell out.

When we made it back to our accomodation I did a wee search.

I discovered that at about the time we were standing at the bridge, yet another Cartel leader had been arrested close to the border with Texas. I also found this, dated October 18th....

Almost 400 people have died in the past two weeks in an intensifying drugs war in Mexico despite a government crackdown on cartels, trafficking and related violence.

The killings include six people lined up and shot against a wall with a written warning promising a similar fate to all "rats", and five others shot dead in a house where a ganglord's corpse was found in a freezer.

The death toll this year has crossed 3,800 despite a massive state crackdown launched two years, including the deployment of some 36,000 soldiers across the country.

The drug wars, ongoing for years in Mexico, has seen a spiral in violence since August.

Newspaper tolls, published daily, show 387 people were killed in the first two weeks of October, and more than 3,800 deaths recorded since the start of the year.

The killings are concentrated in the northern border regions, where cartels are fighting over key trafficking routes into the United States.

The main cartel in Tijuana is led by the Arellano Felix brothers, and is battling other groups for control of the strategic border city across fro

Hi from Prague,

Our family has been a part of 350.org since last November and we were so happy to take part in the Walk for Clean Air here in Prague on 10.10.10. It is extremely exciting to see the growth of the 350.org FAMILY worldwide in the past year and really feel confident that this movement will have a lasting impact on the planet. We also coined a phrase for our movement in our family 'Get on Board 350.org' which we are using on home made T' shirts and also on the window of our bar in the Old Town Precinct of the city. During the past year in our bar we now only turn on half the lighting and have changed over to power saving light bulbs. We have also become the first no-smoking bar in the city which means we no longer have to turn on our large extraction fans and have also given away three fridges and a large freezer which were being used merely for convenience (a huge saving in our carbon footprint). These are only small steps, but I urge all commercial business owners to have a serious look at their own work environments and turn off lighting and any electrical appliances which are only used for appearances or convenience.

In a beautiful medieval city such as Prague, there is constant cleaning, painting and protective coatings being applied to the buildings and statues because of the drastic degradation caused by harmful pollution and acid rain. As an Australian living in Prague I have come to appreciate the damage
being caused to these buildings and understand only too well the fatal
consequences the destruction of the environment is doing to places like
the Great Barrier Reef back home. A movement such as 350.org not only looks after the health and well being of the planet, but can also be a great cure for the destruction of the magnificent buildings and works of art that we as humans have created throughout our history.

I am attaching a photo of my daughter in her home made t'shirt with our slogan 'Get on Board 350.org'. Our family looks forward to the next big event and make a commitment that we will try our hardest to recruit as many people to the worldwide 350.org FAMILY.

Blue skies,

Arabella, Zouga, Lenka & Norman