Fishing boats and pleasure craft share the harbor at Ensenada, Mexico.
I feel after being here a week (my second visit) that I can safely recommend some things for anyone planning a short visit to Ensenada, which is on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico a couple hour’s drive south of San Diego. For someone planning to come for longer than a few days, perhaps I would need to stay longer, maybe a month. That’s the way it works, at least for me. I need to be in a place for awhile in order to speak intelligently about it, and then my thoughts are only good for a shorter visit than I had. It’s something I recently discovered about travel. Note that I don’t cover many of the standard attractions; do a quick internet search (e.g. Trip Adviser) for the standard sort of advice.
Everyone needs a hat: Ensenada, Mexico.
I’m finally posting some people pictures, though my last post actually talked about the people more. Sort of a mismatch I realize, but it probably only bothers me, and not all that much at that.
A pretty girl on the streets of Ensenada, Mexico. Note the pay phone, a disappearing sight.
Ensenada, like so many places, grows on you. Many people from San Diego or elsewhere in SoCal maintain a house down here. And many of those end up retiring down here. So it is slowly becoming more popular. Sure, Loreto to the south on the Peninsula, along with other places in Mexico, are more popular retirement destinations. Ensenada, after all, has a seedy side. And there are not really any good beaches nearby. But it is a superb place to have a boat, and the fishing is excellent. It is also a very safe place to be in Mexico, which is pretty important these days. And for an American, being so close to U.S. soil is downright convenient.
A man selling honey on the streets of Ensenada, Mexico laughs at a friend ribbing him.
There is one little piece of Ensenada that I was missing, that is until I found one last night; that is, a brewpub. On a recent walk near sunset (my favorite time to take a walk), I ran into a great microcerveceria, or microbrewery. It’s called the Old Mission. I was skeptical about the quality of their brew, but they proved me dead wrong on that score. It is the first in Ensenada. La Paz, Tijuana, Mexicali, they all have several brewpubs.
A plain wall and window are given a bit of color in Ensenada, Mexico.
A good brewpub is something we take for granted now in the Pacific Northwest. But in Mexico you cannot buy microbrews in the stores. Tecate is like Budweiser, and that company even manages to keep out competitors like Pacifico (which is my favorite mass-produced beer in Mexico). You can find Pacifico in cans, but the best kind, that is, in thick-glass returnable bottles, is rare indeed.
A glass lamp and the setting sun combine to make a miniature lighthouse in Ensenada, Mexico’s fishing harbor.
The microcerveceria, which has only been open about a year, is a very well built place, with soaring ceilings made of good ol’ Oregon Doug fir beams. It cost the owners a bundle to import them. They serve good pizza, and a variety of very good Mexican dishes and pasta. They serve a couple great IPAs, plus a few ales, including a brown and a red. And unlike in the U.S. (at least the ones I’ve been to) this brewpub sells mixed drinks. Prices are quite reasonable, what with the good exchange rate between American dollars and pesos. A margarita goes for about $2.50, while pints are in the $3.00+ neighborhood. Sadly, $1 beers are pretty much gone in most of Mexico.
Men selling honey (miel) in Ensenada, Mexico pass the time in a card game.
This post has two parts. Tune into the second of these tomorrow!
A walk up a desert wash on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula reveals some nice surprises, including palm trees.
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