Visiting Tijuana still easier than getting into an uptight bar

Do you need a passport to make it back into the U.S. after a day-trip to Tijuana to stock up on pills? No, ladies and gentlemen, not yet. But, as the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, new rules for U.S. entry at airports are causing mass confusion in Baja as people freak out over whether they'll have to stay in Mexico and sell chiclets at la linea if they lack proper documents to return home. Tourism is taking a hit. NPR concurs. Meanwhile, the government has not taken it upon itself to clarify the situation: there are no statements on the confusion at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection page. I wonder if this is part of the plan. On New Year's night (see "The Pop Pop Pop of New Year's Eve, Part 2"), I crossed the border back home at about 2 a.m. to catch a party in San Ysidro. The agent at the customs gate, a brawny lady with eyeglasses, curtly told me and my friend Pedro, after examining our California IDs and letting us through: "Passports this year." Wrong. Once again, the passport rule at land and sea ports does not go into effect until at least January 2008, if not June 2009. Till then, we can complain about the fact that in previous years, a customs agent would sometimes just give you a look over before nodding you through. Soon, if you don't have a passport, you'll have to shell out $97 to get one and exercise your divine right to roam across the great lands of the imaginary Californias. (* Photo by mokolabs of human cannonball David Smith flying over the border fence at Playas de Tijuana during InSITE05.)