Wednesday, April 20, 2005, I got up in the morning, ready to leave Tecate on my way to Mexicali.  But after getting my things ready, I realized that I was not ready to leave Tecate. How could I?  The beauty of the place is truly intoxicating, like an icy-cold Tecate beer.

 

Photos:  A couple of Tecate's beautiful residential neighborhoods.

How many tourists actually take the time to explore residential areas of a Mexican town.  Sure, the downtown shops and honky-tonks draw tourists, but how many folks take the time to hike around and see how and where the locals live?  I'm not your typical tourist, as I stay out of honky-tonks (I'm happily married!) and I'm not a very good shopper.  I'm more interested in seeing what the locals do, who they are and where and how they live.

 

Photos:  Tecate garbage collectors pick up trash using the low-tech approach.

So before I left for Mexicali, I decided to spend a bit of time in some of Tecate's residental neighborhoods, to take some photos and check out areas seldom visited by gringos like myself.

 

Left:  Looking down into a Tecate neighborhood from Highway 3.  Right:  The pleasant neighborhood is located near Parque Hildago.

Sure, Tecate is a border town.  But once south of the border, you'd never know it.  Tecate has some of the cleanest, finest residental neighborhoods that I've seen in any Mexican city. It's a real town, where real people live, work and play.  In a word, the town is beautiful!

Join me as I tour some of Tecate's eesidental neighborhoods.

 

Photos:  Residential neighborhoods with a small mix of commercial enterprises.

 

Left:  Tecate is not your typical Mexican border town.  Right:  This house is simply beautiful, like the town of Tecate.