TIJUANA – The volume of traffic has dropped considerably in this city this week and along with it the daily stress that comes from too many vehicles jammed onto streets at the peak times.

That's because Tuesday is the official last day of 2010-2011 public school year.

Classes in most of the 1,550 preschools, elementary, middle and high schools in the city ended on June 22, giving way to final exams, the delivery of report cards and graduations.

Starting Tuesday, 334,000 students and 14,000 teachers will be on summer vacation, one-fourth of the city's population, and 50 percent of the school population in Baja California.

Unlike many districts north of the border, the vacation only lasts 45 days. Schools will re-open in the third week of August.

But much like their U.S. counterparts, dozens of public and private cultural, educational and scientific organizations will be offering recreational camps for children and adolescents who will be staying local and whose parents can afford them.

For example, the children's Museo del Trompo will offer a camp from July 11 to Aug. 5 called "Expedición de verano" ("Summer Expedition", which has various scientific workshops for children ages 7 to 12 at its location next to the Parque Morelos (more information in Spanish at 011.52.664.634.3476, ext. 215).

Meanwhile, the Centro Cultural Tijuana will offer a camp called "Arcoiris" ("Rainbow" with art workshops for children ages 6 to 12 through July 29 (more information in Spanish at (011.52.664.687.9645).

Other families have either left the city on vacation or are preparing to do so. Tourism officials say summer is the peak time for traveling by car or air.

Juan Tintos, Baja California's tourism secretary, said hospitality officials are expecting a good summer, particularly for local establishments, based on the good numbers seen in the first six months of the year.

Some 332,000 traveled to the region in 15 days that made up spring break. That's the best record in four years, with hotel vacancy topping more than 60 percent in the state.

Residents may be leaving on vacation, but there's no lack of cultural, gastronomic, artistic and commercial events this summer in the city.

Over the weekend, residents and tourists alike flocked to two very different festivals, the Caesar Salad Festival, celebrating the local roots of the aforementioned dish, and Bikefest, a celebration of motorcycles, bikinis and tattoos.

On Friday (July 8), the Mexican artist of Italian descent Pedro Friedeberg will present an exhibit at El Cubo gallery called "The Hypnotic Esthetic, Obsessive Mania and the Utopian Architecture of the 21st Century."

Colonia Libertad will host the outdoor Festival Ópera en la Calle on Saturday (July 9) and on July 16 and 17 there is the Fish and Seafood Fair in Playas de Tijuana.

In August, the more than 50 wineries celebrate the annual wine festival with events across the region; the month-long Tijuana Fair begins on Aug. 10, and there's the gastronomic celebration called Festival de Chile en Nogada in the Río zone on Aug. 28.

It's not all fun in the sun, however. The city hosts the first Aerospace Forum in the innovative new building Vía Corporativo on July 20 and 21.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com