BACK FROM BAJA
On Saturday morning, two of the other kids from work and I drove down to Baja California. This was the first time I'd been to Mexico apart from Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, and I was much relieved to discover that parts of the country are really beautiful. The scenic toll road cost about $6.50, and it was well worth it.
We had lunch on Saturday at one of the many basically identical lobster restaurants in Puerto Nuevo--steaming hot lobster with fresh flour tortillas, Mexican rice, and several different salsas. A few so-so margaritas, but the food more than made up for it, all for $10 a person. The restaurant stuck out over a cliff above the sea, and we looked right out into the Pacific.
The kind of lobsters you find off of Baja (Panulirus interruptus, also known as the California Spiny Lobster), incidentally, are an entirely different crustacean species from Northern or Maine lobsters (Homarus americanus). They are covered with spines and have no claws. I haven't been able to do a real comparison for taste, but these ones were really good, and of course the view was amazing.
After lunch, we drove down to Ensenada and found a hotel right on one of the main streets in the tourist district. It was $20 off because the heater was broken and it was (relatively) cold that night--somewhere in the low 50s. By comparison, it was 85 this afternoon. East Coast people, please do not hurt me.
Ensenada is quite charming, and is a genuine Mexican city (or town, at least), completely unlike Rosarito. As the sun set, we watched the huge and brightly lit Carnival cruise ship, which had made a call in the port, set out for points south.
We warmed up around 7:00 p.m. by playing a few rounds of Asshole and watching TV, stopped by the room of the only other Americans in the hotel for some beers, and then set out.
We started with a round of drinks in the hotel bar, where they were doing a big karaoke thing. We were the only gringos there (the three of us comprised ber-cracker me, an almost equally pale blonde girl, and an Asian girl, so we did stick out a little bit), and all the music was in Spanish, but it was really fun to watch. Surprisingly, a lot of the singers were actually really good, including the men, which (a few of my friends aside) is not usually the case in the states. I think singing is considered a much more masculine part of life in Mexico than it is in the states--all the men sang these fairly challenging Mexican ballads.
After the first round of drinks, we went to this club that had a band playing and had a few more rounds of increasingly strong margaritas. The band did a couple of American songs, but the audience was mostly Mexican, and they quickly switched to doing what I think were covers of Mexican rock hits. They were actually pretty good--particularly the girl who was the singer (who was also remarkably cute) and the bassist.
After that, we went to Papas and Beer (yes, they're a chain, but at least in Ensenada, at least this time of year, it wasn't full of drunken white-baseball-cap-backwards-wearing frat boys--in fact, there were hardly any Americans), and stayed there for a while dancing to a mix of mostly hip hop with some house and 80s music thrown in.
We ended the night going across the street at a club that had an excellent latin band, playing mostly meringue. Most of the people (myself included) were pretty much faking it, but there were a couple of couples that really know their shit. I need to learn how to salsa and merengue sometime. Every time some friend has tried to teach me, I've been too drunk to learn. Anyway, we finished dancing around 2:00 or 3:00 or so (none of us had brought a watch), and went back to the hotel and promptly passed out.
Sunday morning, we had a wonderful, very authentic buffet brunch at another hotel, which was mostly full of Mexican families, several of which had just come from church. I wish I knew what all the food I ate was! I had: a couple of scrambled egg dishes; a lot of wonderful fresh tomatoes and peppers; this chicken and tortilla dish which was fried in cheese and covered with tomatillo salsa; quesadillas made fresh (including the tortillas) by this woman with a big iron grill; little pastries filled with refried beans, jack cheese, ham, chopped peppers, cilantro, and onions in a really interesting red sauce (I could not for the life of me figure out what was in it, but it was yummy!); fresh melons and papayas; flan; fresh OJ; and hot chocolate.
After brunch, we drove up the coast about 20 minutes to the resort Las Rosas, which was unbelievable. Check out the photos on that site. They actually don't do it justice--when we were there, there was no fog covering the peninsula or the islands. I spent the rest of the day detoxing and reading, while the girls lay out in the sun by the "vanishing" pool (it had no ledge around it on the ocean cliff side, but instead the water that overflowed the sides was collected in a moat and pumped back in, for a really cool effect). Dinner was unfortunately very bland, obviously meant for crappy American pallets. Mine was chicken poblano crepes in a Mornay sauce, served with miniature squash and Spanish rice. We--shudder--skipped dessert. I'm pretty sure all of use had passed out by 9:00 p.m., though we did of course catch the gorgeous sunset over the Pacific.
We got up this morning, had breakfast (mine was a big green chile stuffed with scrambled eggs and cheese in a red chile sauce), packed our bags, and, unfortunately, left the hotel. We stopped off in Rosarito for lunch because (1) we were getting hungry, and (2) the girls really wanted to see what I had described as so lame. Good chicken and fish tacos, a few Sol beers, and some quite nice horchata.
After a rather lengthy detour through central Tijuana (the girl who was driving missed an exit), we finally made it through the Port of Entry and back into San Diego.
Oh yeah, and the drive down the toll road from downtown San Diego to Ensenada? About 90 minutes. There are definitely some advantages to living in S.D.!
On Saturday morning, two of the other kids from work and I drove down to Baja California. This was the first time I'd been to Mexico apart from Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, and I was much relieved to discover that parts of the country are really beautiful. The scenic toll road cost about $6.50, and it was well worth it.
We had lunch on Saturday at one of the many basically identical lobster restaurants in Puerto Nuevo--steaming hot lobster with fresh flour tortillas, Mexican rice, and several different salsas. A few so-so margaritas, but the food more than made up for it, all for $10 a person. The restaurant stuck out over a cliff above the sea, and we looked right out into the Pacific.
The kind of lobsters you find off of Baja (Panulirus interruptus, also known as the California Spiny Lobster), incidentally, are an entirely different crustacean species from Northern or Maine lobsters (Homarus americanus). They are covered with spines and have no claws. I haven't been able to do a real comparison for taste, but these ones were really good, and of course the view was amazing.
After lunch, we drove down to Ensenada and found a hotel right on one of the main streets in the tourist district. It was $20 off because the heater was broken and it was (relatively) cold that night--somewhere in the low 50s. By comparison, it was 85 this afternoon. East Coast people, please do not hurt me.
Ensenada is quite charming, and is a genuine Mexican city (or town, at least), completely unlike Rosarito. As the sun set, we watched the huge and brightly lit Carnival cruise ship, which had made a call in the port, set out for points south.
We warmed up around 7:00 p.m. by playing a few rounds of Asshole and watching TV, stopped by the room of the only other Americans in the hotel for some beers, and then set out.
We started with a round of drinks in the hotel bar, where they were doing a big karaoke thing. We were the only gringos there (the three of us comprised ber-cracker me, an almost equally pale blonde girl, and an Asian girl, so we did stick out a little bit), and all the music was in Spanish, but it was really fun to watch. Surprisingly, a lot of the singers were actually really good, including the men, which (a few of my friends aside) is not usually the case in the states. I think singing is considered a much more masculine part of life in Mexico than it is in the states--all the men sang these fairly challenging Mexican ballads.
After the first round of drinks, we went to this club that had a band playing and had a few more rounds of increasingly strong margaritas. The band did a couple of American songs, but the audience was mostly Mexican, and they quickly switched to doing what I think were covers of Mexican rock hits. They were actually pretty good--particularly the girl who was the singer (who was also remarkably cute) and the bassist.
After that, we went to Papas and Beer (yes, they're a chain, but at least in Ensenada, at least this time of year, it wasn't full of drunken white-baseball-cap-backwards-wearing frat boys--in fact, there were hardly any Americans), and stayed there for a while dancing to a mix of mostly hip hop with some house and 80s music thrown in.
We ended the night going across the street at a club that had an excellent latin band, playing mostly meringue. Most of the people (myself included) were pretty much faking it, but there were a couple of couples that really know their shit. I need to learn how to salsa and merengue sometime. Every time some friend has tried to teach me, I've been too drunk to learn. Anyway, we finished dancing around 2:00 or 3:00 or so (none of us had brought a watch), and went back to the hotel and promptly passed out.
Sunday morning, we had a wonderful, very authentic buffet brunch at another hotel, which was mostly full of Mexican families, several of which had just come from church. I wish I knew what all the food I ate was! I had: a couple of scrambled egg dishes; a lot of wonderful fresh tomatoes and peppers; this chicken and tortilla dish which was fried in cheese and covered with tomatillo salsa; quesadillas made fresh (including the tortillas) by this woman with a big iron grill; little pastries filled with refried beans, jack cheese, ham, chopped peppers, cilantro, and onions in a really interesting red sauce (I could not for the life of me figure out what was in it, but it was yummy!); fresh melons and papayas; flan; fresh OJ; and hot chocolate.
After brunch, we drove up the coast about 20 minutes to the resort Las Rosas, which was unbelievable. Check out the photos on that site. They actually don't do it justice--when we were there, there was no fog covering the peninsula or the islands. I spent the rest of the day detoxing and reading, while the girls lay out in the sun by the "vanishing" pool (it had no ledge around it on the ocean cliff side, but instead the water that overflowed the sides was collected in a moat and pumped back in, for a really cool effect). Dinner was unfortunately very bland, obviously meant for crappy American pallets. Mine was chicken poblano crepes in a Mornay sauce, served with miniature squash and Spanish rice. We--shudder--skipped dessert. I'm pretty sure all of use had passed out by 9:00 p.m., though we did of course catch the gorgeous sunset over the Pacific.
We got up this morning, had breakfast (mine was a big green chile stuffed with scrambled eggs and cheese in a red chile sauce), packed our bags, and, unfortunately, left the hotel. We stopped off in Rosarito for lunch because (1) we were getting hungry, and (2) the girls really wanted to see what I had described as so lame. Good chicken and fish tacos, a few Sol beers, and some quite nice horchata.
After a rather lengthy detour through central Tijuana (the girl who was driving missed an exit), we finally made it through the Port of Entry and back into San Diego.
Oh yeah, and the drive down the toll road from downtown San Diego to Ensenada? About 90 minutes. There are definitely some advantages to living in S.D.!
VIEW 14 of 14 COMMENTS
No I don't have any scuba equipment. *sniffle*