Christmas Day is almost here, and for that reason many shoppers from Tijuana are heading north across the border into San Diego.

Unfortunately for these shoppers, the waiting time to get across the border and begin their Christmas shopping is up to 5 hours, which is an all-time high for this holiday season.

Being that this coming weekend is the last one before Christmas Day, many people are committed on doing their last minute shopping despite the long lines to get into the U.S., and if you have ever been to Tijuana, you would know that the lines can begin all the way by the Tijuana cultural arts center (CECUT), and block the access to those who are lucky enough to hold a Sentri pass.

Due to the heavy traffic conditions that this creates, Mexican authorities are regulating the lanes that head towards the U.S.-Mexico border in all directions.

Once across the San Ysidro border, the long lines now begin into other highways that lead to shopping centers in San Diego, which by this time it almost makes it feel like an impossible mission to get to an open parking space.

If going through all this trouble for some gifts is a major battle, why even bother? Well to many people the trip and all of the troubles are well worth it, because they consider that the prices for things are much lower, and the quality of the products is much better.

This past weekend there were a lot of complaints from people who hold a Sentri pass, where they claimed that they waited for more than two and a half hours to get across the border, and if that wasn’t bad enough, the number of pedestrians waiting in line to cross the border on foot at one point added to 3,000.

Many people who were waiting in their cars just ended getting out and going for a walk, since the lanes that led into the U.S. became a parking lot, where cars did not move for a while and some were completely turned off as well.

For those who live in Tijuana but work in San Diego, they are anxiously waiting for this holiday season to be over, since it’s a big inconvenience for them who have to cross the border on a daily basis.

Joy.Ruvalcaba@sandiegored.com

Omar.Martinez@sandiegored.com