10th January Rosarito Beach Mexico

After not having to wake early, even for planes, in over a month, it was a miracle that we did it! Of course it was dark, even when we got to Palm Springs, so we looked at Frank Sinatra's house just as dawn was rising. After learning all about the windmill farms as a power source (there are thousands of them - quite impressive), and doing a mini tour of various houses belonging to stars of yesteryear and listening to a few entertaining anecdotes (Gayle, having run this tour for 18 years, has a few contacts there), we headed south through San Diego to the Mexican border.

Crossing the border was no problem going this way - it's coming back that can be a pain. We made it to Rosarito Beach by 10 am, just in time for another breakfast - a full cooked English-style fry-up at the historic Rosarito Beach Hotel. This was followed by shopping at the nearby markets, where the stall owners had been alerted as to our arrival. They had had a lean tourist season, so were more than ready to pounce on us. We nearly had to beat them off with a stick, but all the same they had a sense of humour. We ended up buying a couple of bracelets and a ring (which Chelsea paid $20 for but it turned out to be worth about 20 cents. I think this visit was good in that it showed the kids a different culture and an experience of poverty. It was hard for them to comprehend that people live so close to affluence but are still shot trying to reach it.) On the way back to the hotel we sat in an outdoor bar and drank margaritas - that was fun.

Before meeting back at the bus we took a walk along the pier - a really long boardwalk jutting out into the Pacific Ocean. We could have been anywhere, even back in Australia. The only difference was the hawkers on the beach, and the helicopters flying overhead looking for desperate Mexicans trying to make a swim for the US, just a few kilometres away.

On the way back we went past the sites where Titanic, Pearl Harbour, James Bond and some Disney movies were filmed.

The border crossing was tedious, especially after the bus driver tried to beat the queues by taking a shortcut and ended up getting lost. He eventually made it to the border again, where we all had to get off the bus (a bit off a hassle for Richie) and walk across the border while the bus was inspected and then driven through).

Our final stop was in San Diego for an early tea and a brief look around the waterfront before driving the final leg back to the Marriott at Palm Desert where we boarded the bus. From there we drove back to the resort at Indio and collapsed into bed.