Halloween in Tijuana

Thousands of locals and tourists flocked to Avenida Revolución to party and celebrate Halloween, also known in Mexico as “Día de las Brujas.”

I arrived at the scene around 9 p.m. and police had already closed the streets to traffic due to the crowd of people in costumes.

“Ey! Que traes ahí?” a cop stopped my friend Justin, who tagged along to experience his first Halloween in Tijuana. I jumped in, told the cop that Justin was just carrying a camera and told Justin to lift his shirt to reveal the camera he was hiding.

There was a strong police presence, and I did not see any conflicts; in fact, police officers were helping people take pictures and seemed to be enjoying the celebration.

We walked the streets back and forth, taking pictures. Less than half the people were wearing costumes, so it made for some interesting photographs.

The following day there was news that there had been an attempted murder at Club Zka, which is located above the casino in Hipodromo, miles away from downtown.

Most bars had a huge line of people waiting to get inside. Justin and I were done for the night at at around 3:30, and thousands were still out in the street partying.

With Día de los Muertos being so close to the “foreign” holiday, many Mexicans oppose the celebration of Halloween. A study by IMERK, a survey company, indicated that 8 out of 10 Baja residents consider Day of the Dead more important than Halloween. The survey also pointed out that people younger than 35 or that do not practice Catholicism are most likely to celebrate Halloween.

Avenida Revolución was also closed on Sunday for government-sponsored events for Day of the Dead. More people were out on the street than your usual Sunday and festivities on La Revu went until nightfall.