TECATE ON A WHIM — Berrics Magazine Issue 2
WORDS AND PHOTOS: Dave Swift
There was a time in my life many years ago that traveling to Tijuana on a whim was normal business. Most of those Tijuana missions were to party before we reached the age of 21 and sometimes we’d day trip it down there to ride the old park that we called Skatopista’s (long gone now). Long story short, it’s been a good 25 years since I made the trip south of the US border via automobile.
Every so often spots in Mexico pop up on Instagram that catch your eye and a little investigative work is needed to suss it out. This abandoned pool has been on the radar a few years and our crew has been talking about hitting it for about the same amount of time. Chris Gregson skated it on a recent Blood Wizard trip and had the hook up on a tour guide named Azaf who was willing to show us the way if we picked him up in TJ.
We gathered the troops, loaded the van and headed the 50 miles to the US border and crossed it without a hitch. This was surprising considering our cast of renegades that included Gregson, Willy Lara, Omar Hassan, Alex Sorgente, Patrick Ryan, and Peacock could spark a quick search from border officials. Not this time.
We picked up Azaf at the Costco and trekked our way east to our destination. This was the first time I’d been east of Tijuana and it was an eye opening experience to say the least. Lot’s of poverty happening in the cuts. The drive took about 45 minutes (even though it was only about 15 miles max) but worth it in the end as you will see in the photos from our day. Enjoy.
Before we got all the water out of this pit Patrick Ryan took some brutal slams just rolling around. The pounding must’ve woke him up as he killed it the rest of the day. This lipslide around the corner was brutal.
It’s always a treat to have Omar Hassan in the van and this time was no exception. Text book fastplant by Larry’s brother.
Not sure how the hell Willy Lara did such high (and stylish) backside airs on one of the weirdest double trannies I’ve ever encountered but he did them consistently. // It’s been nice getting to know Alex Sorgente over the last couple months. This kid is full of skate energy and attacks terrain with the fury of ten men! Backside sugarcane over the light.
The only one out of the crew that had skated here before, Chris Gregson battled some moves but walked away victorious. I know this looks like a mere frontside blunt but the end result was a frontside blunt to disaster revert. Truth.
Pick up issue 2 of *Berrics Magazine in The Canteen today.*
