Tijuana's Red Light District, best known to locals as Zona Norte, is thought of as being "dangerous", or at best as "troublesome" most of the time. What the world and even locals many times forget, is that in the area there are hundreds of residents trying to make a living, especially as street vendors who set up shop from early morning and sell all types of products and services that range from food to music and movies.

Our trip was the result of being unsuccessful with another story we were working on but that also focused on Tijuana's Zona Norte. So SanDiegoRed photographer Luz Gabriela and I decided to spend some of our free time roaming around Zona Norte's flea market, or sobre rueda (roughly translated as "on wheels", which sets up shop during the weekends.

Photo: Luz Gabriela Macías / SanDiegoRed.com

There's a somewhat unnerving police presence, with cops patrolling the area every once in a while. This isn't very surprising to a local, but it might for a tourist.

Photo: Luz Gabriela Macías / SanDiegoRed.com

Having said that, what did surprise us though was precisely the presence of foreigners there. The area doesn't have the best reputation to be honest, but we were able to see lots of Americans and overall, a lot of Asian tourist. The ones from the picture above purchased Chinese collection coins, according to the merchant, for just $100 pesos (less than $6 dollars).

Photo: Luz Gabriela Macías / SanDiegoRed.com

If you find yourself at La Zonaja, there's a pretty good chance you'll find a shop that'll be selling everything you need to toke up. We found it funny seeing a kid checking out the smoking pipes, rolling papers and other drug paraphernalia while holding his parent's hand. We proceeded to just buy an incense for just $10 pesos (around 50 cents).

Photo: Luz Gabriela Macías / SanDiegoRed.com

I decided to stay away from the food stands since I've had not-so-good experiences with street food. However, this ice-cream lured me in. This walnut ice-cream is seriously THE best ice-cream I've ever had in my short but beautiful life and all for just $15 pesos (little less than a dollar). We wanted to take a picture of the boy who makes them but little by little who moved his arm out of the frame.

Photo: Luz Gabriela Macías / SanDiegoRed.com

While walking through long tunnels that make up the flea market, a lot of shops had their own TV sets. We actually passed on the exact moment when Club America's striker, Oribe Peralta, scored a goal that tied them with Tijuana's own Xolos, a game that ended 6-1, a victory for Las Águilas, making the environment even livelier than usual.

Photo: Luz Gabriela Macías / SanDiegoRed.com

The purchase of the day was at a used movie shop that sells DVD discs for $40 pesos (less than $3 dollars) or 3 DVD's for $100 pesos (less than $6 dollars). Kill Bill Vol. 1, Buena Vista Social Club and Sin City for only $100 pesos! They also have a pretty decent Blu-Ray disc movie variety. The shop is managed by Joaquín, who by the way scolded us for taking pictures of the movies without first asking for his permission. Joaquín, if you're reading this: Again… sorry!

Photo: Luz Gabriela Macías / SanDiegoRed.com

This dancer was going around the aisles, dancing to the sound of his wind instrument. It stroked us as picturesque so we gave him a dollar to take a picture of him.

Photo: Luz Gabriela Macías / SanDiegoRed.com

Yeah, I know I wrote earlier that I was planning on staying away from street food, but this smelled sooo good, we just had to try it. They even posed for the camera. I think this would be the closest to Chinese street food I've ever seen in the city. They have egg rolls, "lion heads", chop suey, and of course rice. Everything served rather quickly.

We loved the experience, it's actually not a bad way to start your weekend. The shops open up every day of the week but it's during the weekends (from Friday to Sunday) when you'll be able to experience it in its full glory. So, if you have a chance, go check it out. Also, bring someone with you. At La Zona there are just as many good things as there are bad, but don't just read stories about it, give yourself the chance to discover one of the most iconic areas in the city of Tijuana.

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oscar.montoya@sandiegored.com

Translated by: edgar.martinez@sandiegored.com