The Blue Line Trolley has arrived at the All American Plaza. Mainly domestics and laborers from Tijuana spill out. Some are running across Kettner to the Santa Fe Station to ride the Green Line. Others scramble to track three where the Coaster waits next to an Amtrak train.
The All American Plaza is the home of Bank of Mexico, or the more familiar name of Bank of America. At any time, Mexicans are cashing checks or sending money somewhere. The tellers in this corner bank speak good Spanish, as they should. San Diego is in a hurry to make everyone speak their native language.
Now the Plaza has a large canopy covering it. It is the main stop for many who enter and return to the home of the Mariachis and the best food in the land. Imperial Station is the last stop before transferring to the Blue Line that takes the workers back home across the border.
The buses take many of the domestics to a residence in La Jolla, Pacific or Mission Beach. The number 30 bus drops them off close to their destination. They are hardest workers in San Diego, and now to the second what time a bus is due to leave. Half today are asleep on the 30 bus that swivels around the beach communities until it arrives at the VA Hospital.
They reenter the bus at about two or three o'clock. Some carry trash bags full of cans or left overs from their matrons. Their one hundred dollars take home is translated to three hundred across the border. Of course the laborers enter the bus a bit later. Like the domestics, they are hard workers.
Since I enjoy the Coronado Library and take the 901 bus there, I have had the chance to sit with these ladies who triple as a maid, baby sitter, and cook. The Coronado residents pay them more handsomely than other homes in the San Diego area. San Diego would be in big trouble without these hard workers. No Mexican begs in the streets of San Diego. They work hard for their money.
Many take the Blue Line from the Iris Station by the border not to work. They need to take Aunt Estelle or their wife who is pregnant to a hospital. San Diego provides what Mexico does not seem to...good health care. More to come
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