| Well, we've almost made it through 2019—which has felt like both the shortest and longest year ever. (After 2018, that is quite the feat.) Happy holidays—whatever form they take, and whether you worship Santa, mulled wine, cheesy TV reruns, or nothing at all—and thank you, as ever, for reading, and for your support. This week on The Trip podcast, Nathan drinks mezcal Old Fashioneds with chef Ruffo Ibarra—who grew up with feet (and family) on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, driving back and forth to work restaurant jobs (simultaneously) in Tijuana and San Diego. During the height of Tijuana's worst era, Ruffo lost a brother to cartel violence and had to cross north more permanently, working in the U.S. and later, Spain. But he returned, and became one of Tijuana's leading restaurateurs with Oryx Capital (and the speakeasy behind it, a shrine to the city's golden age). "I think it would have been easier to go somewhere else," he says. "But I love being here. Even after all that, the city is not the one to blame… for what happened to us." Instead, he is proud of how he and other Tijuanenses have made the city a must-visit food stop. Even when Tijuana was a haven for all-American spring breakers in search of sin and cheap tequila, it was a spotty food destination. But when the tourists abandoned the city, it made space for locals to set up shop—cheap—and cater with great detail and love to their friends and neighbors, not college co-eds: The soccer mom who opened a coffee shop; the man who made fresh seafood at home and decided to make a go of it as a business. All this was also helped along, Ruffo explains, by Baja California's excellent soil and ingredients, and locals' tendency to "fuck with" sacred food and wine rules that make Italian or French purists "go just fucking nuts." As always, you can read an excerpt of the conversation with Ruffo on our site, and listen to this and other The Trip episodes, from Tokyo to Galway to Iraq, by subscribing at Luminary Media. There is a one-month free trial, and you also get a 50% discount off the annual fee if you sign up before January 12th—so it's $3.99 per month for The Trip and 40+ other exclusive podcasts. This week, Luminary also became the first podcast service to offer subscriptions through voice command with Amazon Alexa, so if you have an Alexa-enabled device you can (in the U.S.) tell Alexa to open and play Luminary podcasts. Plus, if you're not a subscriber yet, you can sample Luminary's Premium podcasts by saying, "Alexa, start my Luminary free trial." Happy holidays. —A human Alexa. (And yes, I've heard all the jokes.) | 
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