San Diego & Mexico

Some family bonding!
Another family reunion! This time it is Sara’s family in San Diego. We spent a lot of time with Sara’s cousins and her aunt. They were very helpful in everything, they took us to so many places and advised us for good food and activities.

Safari in the USA
When you hear safari you probably think of Africa, but no, we did not go to a safari in Africa...we went to the San Diego’s Safari Park instead! In the park we did a tram safari, this was very nice. It drove us through the park where we have seen different kind of animals. We also watched the cheetah run (see video)! It is astonishing how fast they can run!

Sporty girls on a kayak tour
Wear your wetsuits (!) girls, because we are going to kayak! It was funny because when we got there at the kayak place we saw a group of people wearing a wetsuit and we did not expect to need a wetsuit. We did not even take any swimming clothes or towel! So, we asked the woman working there if we need a wetsuit or if we could just go in our clothes, we were not sure if we would get wet. We kind of blamed the organisation for not telling us to take swimming clothes and she reacted like: well… I am sorry you did not know you can get wet in the ocean... The funny part was that, after we borrowed the wetsuit and got to the departure place, all the other group members just wore normal clothes! Eventually, we were the only ones wearing a wetsuit...

After the kayak tours we entered one of the La Jolla Caves. Nice to see!

Hiking in the mountains
Sporty as we are we did another active day! We hiked the Cowles Mountain in San Diego. We climbed up to the highest point of San Diego (486 m).

After climbing we were really hungry and went for some good American fast food at Shake Shack. In the US it is very common to freely refill your cup. However, they still sell small and large cups...so we were thinking why would people buy a large cup if they can freely refill the small one? We were speculating about it: maybe for take away, maybe because they do not want to walk to get a new one? But that would be soo lazy right…!?
Well we were too curious so... we asked a girl sitting behind us (who was drinking from a large cup) why she bought the big one. Her answer was: So that I don’t have to get up to get a refill! Wow, this is laziness on a new level which we (we think) do not know in Holland.

Flying above San Diego
The flight experience was definitely the highlight of our trip! Sara’s cousin is a pilot and he teaches students flying. We got the chance to fly with him! Hafsah did the take off, Rachidatou did the stunting and Sara did the landing. We changed places during the flight this was very exciting. The experience of flying is amazing!

Our new friend
In San Diego we stayed at Lucky D's Hostel which was located in the middle of the center. It is a really nice hostel and the people who are working there are very friendly. At the hostel we met a nice guy who was, by chance, Egyptian! (Just like Sara!) He lives in Orlando...our next destination..We planned to meet him in Orlando again.

Mexico
Taco’s Taco’s Taco’s
Sara’s cousin was so nice to take us to Mexico (Tijuana) for a day. San Diego is very close to Mexico, it took us about 20 minutes to get there! When you enter Mexico you see a lot of difference compared with the US. Mexico is less developed and the traffic is more chaotic. Mexico...and tacos form an integrated whole, so we ate the real Mexican tacos! Along with some nice street music (see video) We really experienced the Mexican vibe.

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Problems at the border...again
Borders are just not really our thing...I guess. On the way back we (again!) had some troubles… In total it took us 6,5 hours to get back to the US! First we were waiting in line and thereafter our car was picked for secondary inspection and we had to wait for an officer for 4 (!) hours! Is this normal!? Funny part is that this person who we were waiting for asked only 3 questions...thereafter we could enter the US.