Daily Commute From Mexico to Jobs in U.S. : Life Style Pulls Americans South of Border

Over cool beers on the beachside patio with the waves breaking nearby and the clouds rushing in overhead, Jo Lynne Gilpin is asked why she does it, why she puts up with the maddening commute across the border each morning, why she does not just move back to the United States?

“And give up all this?” she responds, almost incredulous, her comment and accompanying gesture enclosing the nearby ocean and the invigorating sea air. “Where else could I find this?”

So it goes for the thousands of Americans who choose to live south of the U.S.-Mexican line, commuting to their jobs in San Diego and elsewhere north of the border.

Theirs is a vote for what they say is a superior--and far more affordable--life style, one that provides them an inexpensive alternative to what many view as a harried, not particularly attractive, way of life to the north.

For this, they say, they are willing to fight the border traffic, live with occasional bribe-seeking cops and make other adjustments--such as living without telephones and daily mail delivery, enduring the not-infrequent disruptions of water and electric service and dealing calmly with potholes that would spark calls for congressional investigations in the United States. Some cope with not speaking the language, a fact that contributes to their somewhat insular existence here, although many are married to Spanish-speaking spouses.

The Americans’ presence in Tijuana is a sign of the mix that reigns along the border, an area where two cultures meet and often collide--but occasionally, and however improbably, seem to fit together just fine.

More than 40,000 U.S. citizens, many of them retirees, live in the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur, say U.S. authorities, who could not break down how many commute across the border to work.

“We are used to Americans living among us,” said Victor Clark Alfaro, a Mexican anthropologist in Tijuana. “I think relations between Mexicans and the Americans living here are generally good.”

The legions of commuters are often forgotten among the highly publicized border spats about contraband and illegal immigration. U.S. authorities say legal crossings at San Ysidro will top 40 million this year, including tourists. That means more than 100,000 people traverse the border there each day.

Apart from U.S. citizens who reside in Baja California, there are many other categories of legal commuters. Among them are Mexicans who possess permits enabling them to work in the United States and Mexican residents who possess cards allowing them to cross for brief periods.

At the same time, many U.S. executives, engineers and others commute south to work in Tijuana’s booming industry of assembly plants owned jointly by U.S. and foreign interests.

If there is one major drawback to this somewhat schizophrenic existence, it is the international crossing. Delays often exceed an hour, and at times have topped several hours. And the wait is unpredictable; things can be clear at rush hour and backed up at 3 a.m.

Conversations inevitably turn to the nuances of “The Line.” If you let it, residents warn, the line can begin to dominate your life, ruling how you come and go.

“You just can never figure it,” said Richard Rosengreen, 27, a college student and civilian employee of the U.S. Navy who lives with his Mexican-born wife in a quiet, middle-class Tijuana neighborhood. He leaves his apartment at 5:45 a.m. each day to ensure that his wife is at her job in San Diego by 7 a.m.

Delays Lessened

Despite the recent crackdown on contraband at the border, frequent crossers say the delays have, if anything, lessened of late, thanks to additional U.S. staffing.

“We do the best we can,” said Jerry Martin, port director for the U.S. Customs Service at San Ysidro. “Of course, if we get hit by thousands of cars within an hour, there’s nothing we can do.”

But aside from that bothersome issue, Americans living here say they enjoy a simpler, less-frenzied life style that would cost many times more in the United States. A one-bedroom apartment here may rent for $150, compared with $450 or more in San Diego. Utility costs and home prices are also low, although Mexican law requires that foreigners in border areas lease, not buy, property.

No matter. For those who love it, they would not live elsewhere. They are also unfazed by the fact that many Americans living here are themselves illegal aliens, residing without the required visas or other documents. But Mexican authorities, unlike their U.S. counterparts, are quite happy to welcome them--and their purchasing power--legal or not.

“I guess I don’t need a lot to keep me happy: my wife, the peace and quiet, the ocean, some fishing, some books, music,” said Bill Brown, who commutes to his job at a downtown San Diego health club via car and trolley. His home is in the beachside community of Baja Malibu, about 15 miles south of the border, one of a number of coastal communities favored by Americans.

Brown, 61, an unflappable native of Massachusetts, said he paid $7,600 for a small lot here 18 years ago on which he put a trailer. Now he exults in the broad ocean view from his house, his simple patio and the small-town beach life style he leads, looking forward to his retirement.

TV Satellite Dishes

Brown’s comfortable home has one of the area’s ubiquitous TV satellite dishes, capable of bringing him his beloved Boston Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins games.

Brown and other Americans here are accustomed to the reactions of shock from friends aghast that they are living in the Third World. Do you have running water? people want to know. Do you use an outhouse?

“They come down to Mexico and see trash along the road and dilapidated buildings, and they say, ‘How can you live this way?’ ” said Gilpin, 47, who runs a preschool in San Carlos and lives with her Mexican-born husband in a modern development where she purchased a one-bedroom home for $10,000 about four years ago. “We don’t live that way. . . .”

As for crime, another major concern, many say they feel safer here than in the United States. Brown recalls having two items, a surfboard and a bottle of rum, stolen from his home. The thieves were Americans, he said.

Several U.S. citizens acknowledged that they probably would not remain if they had small children because they fear their English would suffer. Otherwise, returning to the north seems, for many, an unappetizing prospect.