Giood mechanic- Miguel at Refaccionaria Del Valle on OCampo
It's the huge garage and parts store painted yellow at corner O'Campo and Calle 4.
Miguel speaks English and is a fun guy. He said having no wife, but 2 GFs in Tijuana. Their shop rate is about $20 an hour. The guy knows cars, is smart and good with his hands. He diagnosed the problems correctly, replaced 2 critical items and problems are fixed. The work was done expertly while I watched. I paid the shop $40 for labor and gave him 20 pesos for coffee.
This shop would change your oil for 95 pesos labor, if you bring the oil and filter, or buy them in their shop. I was there on Saturday morning at 10:30 AM. There was only 1 oil change ahead of my car, so he started on mine after 10 minutes wait.
Refaccionaria Del Valle.
Avenida Melchor Ocampo, Zona Centro, Tijuana, BC, Mexico.
[URL]refaccionariasdelvalle.com[/URL]
+52 1 664 XXXX790.
The leaky exhaust manifold gasket was fixed for $60 by Rex muffler, at corner of Aqua Caliente and Ensenada, including an Alum alloy gasket that would cost about $70. The US shops did not diagnose the correct problems and wanted way too much money.
These shops are highly skilled and do honest business, cheap. Highly recommended.
Cascada's rubber-band reservation system
Cascada has been in high demand in the last 2 years. Arrived in reception Tuesday before 5 PM. Angel Cruz at reception told me both hotels were fully booked for 4 days, Monday until Thursday. He had a couple guys looking for my confirmation.
The bros should print out any confirmation and reservation and show them to reception, as they could never find any of my confirmation times and times again.
Cascada does not have a computerized reservation system, and it really sucks. Reception guys have a bunch of notes in their desk drawers. Also like most small hotels in Mexico, their reservations require no money down, so I suspect lots of guys would just book and never show and never cancel.
If you come back later and ask them a few times, they may have rooms for you.
[QUOTE=Come47;2015688]Crossed the border today in the afternoon. Took the Libre Taxi (white / orange) to HK ($5), bought the VIP card for 850 Pesos. Went upstairs to the Cascadas hotel and the guy in reception said rooms are fully booked. Went to Hotel Riza de Oro, same thing. Not sure if just BS or the rooms are really fully booked.[/QUOTE]