STUDENT PLT ON A SOLO XCOUNTRY INADVERTENTLY FLEW INTO MEXICAN AIRSPACE AND WAS GIVEN FLT ASSIST BY ATC.

Narrative

FLT ORIGINATED AT MYF TO YUM. V66 INBOUND TO IPL. ZLA ISSUED FLT FOLLOWING. DSNDING FROM 5500 FT TO 2000 FT I THOUGHT I PASSED IPL VORTAC AND VISUALLY SAW A VORTAC. I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT IT WAS THE BARD VOR. ZLA TOLD ME TO CONTACT YUMA APCH. I CONTACTED YUMA APCH. TOLD THEM I WAS OVER BARD. YUMA CLRED ME STRAIGHT IN TO RWY 17 AND ASKED ME IF I HAD THE WATER TWR IN SIGHT. I TOLD THEM NO. YUMA APCH TOLD ME TO TURN 180 DEGS. I COMPLIED AND SAW A SINGLE AIRSTRIP RUNNING E/W. YUMA APCH INFORMED ME THAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE ME ON RADAR AND TO SQUAWK ANOTHER CODE. STILL NEGATIVE CONTACT. YUMA APCH TURNED ME BACK TO ZLA. BY THIS TIME I HAD REALIZED I HAD NOT OVERFLOWN BARD BUT IPL AND THAT I CROSSED INTO MEXICO. NO NUMBERS WERE SEEN ON THE RWY IN MEXICO. NO LIGHT SIGNALS OBSERVED. I HEADED 360 DEGS AND CONTACTED ZLA. SQUAWKED THE GIVEN CODE AND WAS INFORMED I HAD CROSSED INTO MEXICO AND GIVEN A N HDG. I TURNED TOWARDS BARD VOR AND IMMEDIATELY UNDERSTOOD WHAT HAD HAPPENED. I SKIPPED A LEG ON MY FLT/NAV LOG.