Visitors to Playas de Tijuana use the border fence as a backdrop for a photo.

A woman touches up the paint on artwork on the Mexican side of the border fence.

A section of the decorated US/Mexico border fence in Parque de la Amistad in Tijuana. The US-built fence in this area incorporates sheets of World War Two-era perforated steel Marston Mat, used during the war for quickly building and repairing temporary runways.

A sneaker dangles from barbed wire at the top of the US/Mexico border fence in Parque de la Amistad in Tijuana.

Some people use the border fence at Playas de Tijuana, adorned with a variety of artwork styles and political messages, as a recreational climbing challenge.

Rev. John Fanestil, Ph.D., wearing a straw hat, conducts a church service at Parque de la Amistad (Friendship Park) in Tijuana. Fanestil and another pastor conduct simultaneous non-denominational church services on both sides of the border fence on most Sundays. The area on the north side is called Friendship Circle. The obelisk in the foreground is border monument 258, the western-most and first-built of 276 monuments of various sizes, styles and materials along the US/Mexico border. (The monument numbering system is inconsistent, hence the first monument being number 258 of 276.) The black vertical line indicates the actual international border, but the border fence sits to the far right, several feet inside the United States. The English-language legends on the border marker have been defaced.

Rev. John Fanestil, Ph.D. conducts the bi-national church service on the Mexican side of the border. The church is called The Border Church / La Iglesia Fronteriza.

One of the worshippers in Mexico attending The Border Church / La Iglesia Fronteriza.

A woman breaks bread for communion as Fanestil finishes his liturgy.

Navy veteran Amos Gregory, left, shares communion in Tijuana with fellow worshippers after the weekly bi-national church service held simultaneously in the US and Mexico. Gregory is a member of "Veterans in Distress," an organization devoted to assisting veterans. In the San Diego/Tijuana region, members of the organization are kept busy helping non-citizen US veterans who have been deported to Mexico.

Worshippers pray at the border wall between Mexico and the United States near the end of the church service.

Playas de Tijuana, always with the border wall looming, attracts Mexicans as well as foreign visitors.