Chip and Daisy’s Blog: Ensenada, Mexico, Part 1 of 2

Friday, Feb. 9, 2018

This is a view of our campground at La Jolla Beach.  Our  43 units occupied nearly all of the beachfront sites and half of the next row away from the beach.  This Pacific Ocean beach was our home base for the next 8 nights. Our blessings continue!

While we were in Ensenada in Baja California North, we participated in day-long bus tours on Friday and Monday (Feb. 9 and 12) that had been arranged by our Wagonmasters. This gave us the opportunity to explore various features of the area with local guides who were very informative.

Our first day of touring was spent in downtown Ensenada, where we started at the Ensenada Museum of History, housed in this former casino that was built in 1928. During its heyday, the casino was a playground for Hollywood personalities and other wealthy people from the U.S.

The Social, Civic and Cultural Center of Ensenada occupies the former Riviera del Pacifico, and is used primarily for special functions, such as conventions, social events and occasional art shows. At one time this casino and hotel was owned by famous boxer Jack Dempsey, rumored to be backed by mobster Al Capone. It was a favored gathering place for wealthy Americans and Mexicans during the Prohibition era. Among the glamorous clientele were Bing Crosby and Rita Hayworth.

Below is a 1928 picture of the complex under construction.

The Bar Andaluz in the casino is famous for being where the Margarita cocktail was officially named for the wife of the bartender. Later I’ll tell the other side of this story.

The interior of the casino featured elaborate woodwork and décor, which makes the museum very beautiful.

Our next stop was the Ensenada Museum of Modern Art. The outside of the building featured colorful murals.

One of our group’s favorite exhibits was the sculpture on the right below called “Sirena del Mediterraneo.” A sirena is a mythological sea creature.

We walked to the waterfront area, which offered vistas of the harbor and the Ensenada residential area. Our interim destination was the downtown open air café and market. It had many small seafood restaurants from which we could choose for our lunch.

Daisy and I shared oysters on the half shell, fish tacos, a shrimp entrée, and beer—all very fresh and tasty.

After lunch we shopped the Mercado.  We had lunch alone but joined another couple we met on our way back to our designated gathering place.

Items ranging from fresh fish to trinkets were available.

While waiting, Daisy had a Pina colada and a strolling musical group arrived. Daisy and I a danced a two step and a swing. Our friends Dick and Jackie did a line dance.

In the afternoon, we toured the Science Museum, which was interesting but probably one too many museums for a single day!

One of the displays at the Science Museum indicated that the campground is located above an active geothermal fault. Scientists predict that in the distant future this whole Baja California peninsula will be located just off the San Francisco coast.

Then we went to Hussong’s Cantina, where we heard the rest of the Margarita story. Some say that Ensenada was built around this bar, which was first used as a stage coach stop and is now a historic landmark.  Our guide told us that the combination of ingredients for the drink was actually developed here, but the name was patented by the Bar Andaluz in the previous casino.

Not everyone in our group sampled the Margaritas, but of course we did. Daisy often says, “in Spanish the flower daisy is “la margarita,” so it is my signature drink” !

Saturday, Feb. 10

La Jolla Beach Camp

We decided to skip the continental breakfast  and presentation this morning and slept in.  I fixed a light breakfast and then we searched for the showers that were not to be easily found, but unique. All we knew was that there were up hill near the entrance.  We found them and discovered that there was plenty of hot water and at no additional fee. It seems that these showers were thermal and one had to add cold water to get the right mixture. Oh,  and the cold water came from a different underground source so it was salty.  It was a very rustic shower but it worked.  The key was not to swallow the water. 

We took a another walk on the chilly beach and saw this activity first thing but decided to come back later  on our return route to investigate.  The day was sunny and beautiful.

 

A family in our group was digging a “hot tub” in the sand.  With just a few inches excavated you get very hot water from the underground thermal activity.  We had never been on a beach that had this thermal effect so well exhibited.  To cool the 104 plus temp down to the more comfortable upper 90s, they had a runner who carried a bucket back and forth from the ocean, bringing cool water to add to the “tub.”

We checked out the pit digging we observed as we started out morning foray.  It turns out they were not digging a pit but stockpiling sand.  Our campground owner had arranged for a team of sand sculptors to construct a “castle” and a replica of the camp’s entry with a motorhome. We watched them start. It would take all day.

In the evening pictures were taken of our group at this artwork. Today had no scheduled formalize activities except for onsite meetings, personal chill outs, and private treks into town for groceries and such.

Our campground water and sewer hook ups, so Saturday was the day for fresh water delivery and grey (sink and shower) and black (poop) tank pump out.  Daisy and I needed both so we hung around for a bit. There was also supposed to be a propane delivery truck so we could top off our tanks.

Only the pooper truck showed up. When the large tanker truck showed up to pump out our holding tanks, I realized there was going to be a problem when he tried to attach his line directly to our tank fixture.  His doing that and pressuring his line would have collapsed my hard plastic internal tanks by sucking all the air out of the tank along with its contents.  He spoke little English and I not enough Spanish.  But with hand signals and drawings in the sand the light bulb came on.  We wound up dumping my tanks’ contents by gravity flow into an auxiliary tub he had and then pumping from this open container to his holding truck.  As they say this is a shitty job.  This technique worked well and was to be used for the other RVs.

However, the fresh water and propane trucks did not show up this day. The word we got was manana. That is translated to mean tomorrow. But in local custom, I realized it really just means not today. We had sufficient fresh water and propane capacity for several more days, so it was not a big deal to wait.

In late afternoon we rode with Dick and Jackie from our group to the Calimex supermarket to stock up on depleted stores such as fruits, vegetables, and other miscellaneous items.  On the way back we stopped at a roadside stand that had a large number of Asian tourists in attendance and  got a couple more things including home dried mango that was delicious.

We got back to our unit just in enough time to get photos taken with a few of our crazy bunch at the partially completed sand sculpture.  Yes they were in an extended happy hour.

As evening approached, I realized that there is something soul comforting about being outside and absorbing sunset on the beach.

The next day would be very busy. It was the day for the big parade at the Carnaval de Ensenada.

Sunday, Feb. 11

We started our Sunday morning as most tourists do.

With a drink in hand we watched the construction of an additional stage to the sand castle on the beach.  

In the U.S. many people celebrate Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), the French version of the festival before the beginning of Lent. Other parts of the world celebrate this occasion as a fiesta called Carnaval. Chip and I rode with Jackie and Dick to downtown Ensenada for the amazing Carnaval Parade. This year Ensenada observed a very special milestone, the Centennial of the city’s Carnaval celebration.

Ensenada’s Carnaval is the 3rd largest in Mexico, after Mexico City and Vera Cruz.  This was the 100th year, so definitely it was to be a big party with thousands in attendance. We parked on a street near the art museum and walked about 4 blocks to the parade route, right dead center of downtown.

It was definitely a family environment, including a ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and other rides in an amusement area. Notice the large homes on the hillside overlooking the city.

Plaza Civica is an attractive park on Boulevards Costero and Macheros, and it is known locally as "Three Heads Park." This is because it features three giant golden heads of Mexican heroes Benito Juarez, Miguel Hidalgo, and Venustiano Carranza.

We walked around trying to find a good spot to view from and had a simple lunch of fajitas de Cameron with rice and salad. We had turned down the McDonalds and Carl Jrs we came across.

Among the food booths was this one selling various fresh fruits. We especially liked the mango.

Before the parade started at 2:00, we staked out our viewing spot on a raised median to give us a few inches of additional height. There were thousands of people packed into a small area, and everyone was in good spirits.

It took it a while for the performers to get to us in the mist of a large crowd of local people of all ages.  One young person standing next to me told me that one year they had to stop the parade because there was no room to get through the loving crowd.

It was difficult to have a clear view, but the music, laughter, dancing by the parade watchers and performers, cooking smells from the roadside vendors, and smiles from both the young and old made for a very festive costumed occasion.

Of course there were musical groups included in the parade—they were loud, Latin, and sassy.

There were a number of floats that had young children or older participants, all of whom seemed excited to be part of the action.

And there were lots of fancy headdresses and costumes. In summary, it was an impressive parade.

Most of the participants in the parade were a few years older than the children, and quite lovely.

Of course we had to have the classic cars on parade…

…and horses.

And then it was over….

except for the next day’s cleanup.

On our way back to the RV park, we stopped to take photos at a large field with many colors of stock flowers, sometimes called Gilly flowers, in colors of white, yellow, peach, red, pink, lavender, and purple.  Dick and Daisy had to take pictures of course.

These lovely flowers are shipped to florists across the U.S. and Canada.

We had dinner with Jackie and Dick at Junior’s Restaurant, on a hill overlooking the tidal plain. When the tide is high, the area below us is covered with water.  Daisy wanted a sea bass and I, having eaten Mexican all day, desired a cheeseburger with my Margarita.

Daisy did not eat all of the large fish at one time. Leftovers are always good when you are traveling in an RV with a refrigerator, range, and microwave.

This was a nice ending to a very special day. Carnaval is definitely worth attending and experiencing.

More to come...