Port Excursions

Although we're not on a cruise, our tour of Ensenada today felt like a port excursion, with similar highlights and lowlights.

We started at Gabriel House, an orphanage for children with severe disabilities. The caravan brought supplies from the US including two wheelchairs, toys, paper goods, toiletries, etc. We had very mixed feelings about the stop: it was positive to make a donation, but it also felt like the children had to put on a show for our group of wealthy visitors. It was a good idea that didn't quite feel right. Neither of us took photos because it felt awkward to use the children as props.

Next, we went to La Bufadora, a blowhole on the Pacific that can be viewed from cliffs south of Ensenada. It was a nice view, though not worth a long stop. We had to "run the gauntlet" of street vendors as we walked downhill from the tour bus to the viewpoint. The street vendors were aggressive, perhaps since there weren't many visitors since the cruise ship hadn't arrived yet.

Afterwards, we stopped at Pai Pat Ecotourism Park. (I'm not going to link to this). Had it been a zoo of local animals, it might have been interesting. Instead, it had attractions like paying a fee to pet baby tigers, which also felt exploitative. It was Tiger King in real life.

However, the restaurant was really good. We ate a huge lunch of skirt steak with guacamole, nopal cactus and more. We had very little appetite for dinner. That was worthwhile.

Next, the tour bus drove us around downtown Ensenada. We stopped for some shopping, where we went to "the best grocery store" in Ensenada. It was fine, though we were amused by the number of Kirkland (Costco) products for sale. Hey, we could have stopped at the Costco down the road!

Next, we stopped at Doña Engracia, a local tequila distillery. Our host gave us a brief description of how tequila is made, followed by a tasting of 8 different tequilas, including several flavored ones (peach, cinnamon-almond, coffee, mango). Fire water isn't our thing, but this was pretty good. Our host led the fun with some loud, rowdy toasts.

Finally, a stop by Wal-Mart for some groceries. Spoiler alert: Wal-Mart in Mexico is almost the same as Wal-Mart in the USA. We returned after dark. Tomorrow, we visit the wine region.