---
type: Video
title: "A Journey Across the US/Mexico Border into Tijuana 🇺🇸 🇲🇽"
description: Walking across the border from San Diego into the city ranked the most dangerous in the world — pharmacies full of Americans, taxi drivers who give life advice, and a wall with a soldier watching it.
tags: [mexico, united-states, tijuana, borders, cartels, pharmacies, tacos, immigration]
timestamp: 2026-08-05T19:00:00Z
resource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2cspOu3_iQ
video_id: F2cspOu3_iQ
upload_date: 2024-07-20
duration: 1345
---

# A Journey Across the US/Mexico Border into Tijuana 🇺🇸 🇲🇽

A day trip on foot across the border from San Diego into
[Tijuana](/places/tijuana.md), [Mexico](/countries/mexico.md), with
[Cameron Mofid](/people/cameron-mofid.md) — Harry's first time in the country, in
a city that has been ranked the most dangerous in the world.

The useful half of the video is the border economy: who crosses, in which
direction, and why. The other half is two taxi drivers.

*Obs: the video carries a read-aloud DNA-testing sponsorship at [03:45] with an
extended segment on Harry's own results. It contains no travel information and the
provider is not recorded here.*

## Key moments

- [00:00] **The reputation**: consistently named the most dangerous city in the
  world, with **1,844 murders the previous year** *(from video – unverified)*. His
  stated reason for going is the tacos.
- [00:30] **The border economy, from Cameron**: fly out of Tijuana's airport — which
  sits on the border — and domestic Mexican flights are far cheaper. There is a
  **$35 crossing fee** for the bridge into the terminal.
- [01:04] **The commute runs both ways.** Mexicans cross daily for work; **American
  citizens live in Tijuana** because San Diego is among the most expensive cities
  in the United States, and cross every day for work or school.
- [01:04] **Cameron has been to 174 countries**, against his claim that around half
  of Americans don't hold a passport *(from video – unverified)*.
- [01:34] **His risk assessment, which the day bears out**: a normal city, where you
  can find trouble if you go looking for it — filming alone in the wrong
  neighbourhood in good clothes. The **risk of petty crime is almost zero**; nobody
  will put a knife to your throat for a phone. A different kind of danger from
  Afghanistan.
- [02:40] **Sunday is empty.** On a weekday afternoon the crossing can take hours.
- [03:10] Cameras everywhere on the approach, and he films carefully.
- [03:45] **Crossing takes five to ten minutes** and a security form. There is **no
  US exit stamp**, which leaves him unsure he can get back in.
- [05:34] First impressions: obviously different from San Diego, and not bad at all.
- [05:55] **The pharmacies.** Americans cross for medicine at roughly **half the US
  price**, and for dental work — a direct consequence of US healthcare costs. He
  checks a painkiller and the figure holds.
- [07:33] A convoy of military vehicles down the main tourist street.
- [08:00] **The taxi drivers**, and the best surprise of the day: friendly,
  talkative, and — his words — the opposite of an American rideshare, where you say
  hello and nothing else.
- [08:41] **On the cartels**: they don't bother tourists, because it isn't worth
  their time.
- [09:12] **The red light district in daylight**, which he films carefully and
  briefly.
- [10:53] **Why the violence is here**, as the driver explains it: the territory is
  valuable for moving drugs into the US, so cartels from across Mexico compete for
  it. The violence is between them, and people minding their own business are fine.
- [11:33] The driver on his own life: he has never crossed to the US and has never
  wanted to, because everything he wants — family, work — is here.
- [12:38] People ask him for life advice in the car, and he gives it. Harry asks for
  some.
- [13:10] **San Diego visible across two walls** and a strip of empty ground.
- [13:36] **Playas de Tijuana** on a Sunday: families everywhere.
- [13:43] **Mango with chilli**, which he expects not to like and does.
- [14:59] **The wall at the beach**, with a soldier watching it, rifle visible. He
  asks for a conversation and is refused, and says he'd have refused too.
- [15:29] **The part of the wall where families used to meet.** People split across
  the border — some of whom will never get into the US — could come and speak and
  touch hands here. He is told that may have stopped.
- [16:33] **Local women's view of the city**: many people arrive in Tijuana hoping
  to reach America, but Tijuana itself is comparatively well off by Mexican
  standards, and people from here are broadly happy and not desperate to leave.
- [17:10] His own reflection: a few kilometres decides which side you were born on,
  and there is a wall in between.
- [17:46] **A bracelet seller** from a Muslim background who, asked his religion,
  answers *humanity* — which Harry says he is going to start using.
- [19:14] The fridge magnet is blessed before being handed over, and is warm.
- [19:46] **The bullring**, which he believes is no longer used, on animal-cruelty
  grounds.
- [19:54] **Murals along the wall**, degraded by the sea — including a Free
  Palestine piece and a Trump-and-Biden cartoon.
- [20:26] **The line he stops the video for**: we call people illegal immigrants,
  which makes them sound like animals, and they are people working harder than
  most of us.
- [20:58] **Tacos at 40 pesos, around $2.30**, at a touristy beach restaurant he
  expects to be the most expensive he'll find in Mexico. Soft, fried corn, and very
  good.

## Extracted pages

- Countries: [Mexico](/countries/mexico.md),
  [United States](/countries/united-states.md)
- Place: [Tijuana](/places/tijuana.md)
- Person: [Cameron Mofid](/people/cameron-mofid.md)