TIJUANA – To her six children and five grandchildren, 66-year-old María de Jesús Salas is the equivalent of Santa Claus.

This Santa, however, was taking an exhausting 50-hour trip from Los Angeles, where her mother lives,

through Tijuana, winding up in her native Monterrey. She's part of the nearly 2 million Mexicans who will be traveling from the United States to Mexico this holiday season.

"It costs me less to go this way because if I flew I would be paying triple the fees for all the packages I'm bringing," she said. "I'm very tired when I get there but in the end it's worth it because I get to see the whole family."

On Wednesday, the grandmother was about to start the final leg of her journey: a 36-hour ride from the border to Monterrey. Waiting for her bus to leave from the city's central station, she was already exhausted but happy.

"Really, my biggest worry is what is going to be our Christmas meal; we'll make a decision as soon as I arrive on Friday morning. If it's too late to make tamales and turkey, then we'll make carne asada. Why worry? What's important is for all of us to be together."

She said that she travels to visit her mother in Los Angeles every year. She spends a few months with her and, along the way, buys gifts for her children and grandchildren, mainly clothes and toys.

When she returns home, she's seen as "the grandma with the best gifts," bringing a toy a grandchild wished for, or a fashionable jacket or pair of pants a son wanted.

People arrived and left at the bus station, most of them with enormous suitcases and big boxes. During the holiday season, a large number of people living in the United States travel to Mexico, mainly Mexicans returning to their native land to spend Christmas with their families.

Mexico has the annual Paisano program to protect travelers returning home from being extorted by corrupt government officials and otherwise support them. Program officials estimate that 1.8 million "paisanos" will travel from the United States to Mexico this holiday season.

Like Salas, most will be bringing presents for their families. And that's not taking into account the money that Mexicans, who are not able to make the trip for whatever reason, send to their loved ones back home.

In Baja California alone, the income from these remittances went up 15.7 per cent in the third quarter, compared to the same period last year, according to Alejandro Díaz Bautista.

He's a researcher for the National Science and Technology Council and an economics professor at the College of the Northern Border. He estimates that third-quarter remittances to Baja California totaled $106.8 million.

The remittances that Mexicans send to their home area, like Baja California, contribute to the region's income, just like other revenue sources, such as government spending or direct foreign investment, he said.

Mexico's 2010 census estimated that around 11 million Mexicans, or 10 per cent of its population, live in the United States.

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According to the U.S. census, meanwhile, there are 50 million people of Hispanic descent living in that country, 63 per cent of Mexican origin. This growth of this population has been driven more by births than immigration, according to a study released this year by the Pew Hispanic center.

Back at the station, hundreds of people waited for the bus that would take them once more to their families. There, Salas leaned on her baggage as she waited in a long line to register her suitcases and packages. She didn't seem to mind, though. After all, this Santa knew she would be delivering the presents sure to bring a lot of smiles.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com