Ensenada - Part Uno

Last weekend, my wife Laura and I went on our summer vacation - a cruise to Ensenada! This was planned way before we found out that Laura was pregnant. Originally, we thought it was going to be a "booze cruise". We talked about hitting a couple of clubs on the ship, as well as throwing back a couple of drinks at Papas and Beer in Ensenada. Well in the interest of Laura's health, and the health of our unborn child, Laura didn't drink alcohol. I did. Well I'm not pregnant.

This was not our first cruise, so you would think that we would be familiar with the routine of getting to the ship with enough time to enjoy the festivities before sailing. Well just like each time before, we end up rushing around and getting there with just enough time to drop off our luggage in our state room before the mandatory evacuation drill. No free Hour Devours, no refreshing drink, just a life vest and a staircase climb (several decks) to stand like sardines until the whistle blows. What fun!

Anyway, here we are right before we board. If we look out of breath, we are; we just carried our luggage from our car through security, and through the check-in line.
So after the drill there's just enough time to go back to our state room to stow away our life vests, and then it was off to the early seating for dinner. On past cruises, we've had the late seating, and that has it's pros and cons. On the pro side - you have more time to do whatever (shore excursions if applicable) during the day, and then get ready for dinner. On the con side - you finish dinner late, and anything you do tends to make your evening run late. That might be okay for some people, but I'm an early riser and the longer my day is the less energy I have. Laura is not an early riser, but also suffers from low energy by the day's end.

So we go to dinner and meet our tablemates. One very nice couple (Chris and Debbie) have a common interest with us in off road recreation. What a coincidence. Chris was a pro motocross rider a few years back. The second couple (Sauce and Angie) arrived to dinner late and told us about a very difficult commute they had to endure just to get to our ship on time. Two other pairs of seats remained empty, but we were joined the following night by a third couple (Esteban and Norma). They too have something in common with us - they're expecting. Only in their case, it's their first child.

After dinner we return to our room to find it has been made up by the steward. We were please to find two chocolates on our pillows, and this cute towel piglet. Sorry the image is sideways. I couldn't figure out how to edit it to turn it 90 degrees, so if you want to see it correctly - either turn your head to the left, or turn your monitor on it's side to the right. Buenas noches.

We woke up Saturday morning and found ourselves in Ensenada, Mexico. Que Bueno! We ate breakfast and grabbed our bottles of water, and off the ship we went. We hopped on a shuttle and heard the lecture of where to shop, where to avoid shopping, and when to get back to the ship. We also heard a wonderful sales pitch about taking their tour of Ensenada, including a trip to La Bufadora. The blow hole - you know there are only three in the whole world: Hawaii, Australia, and Ensenada. But the one in Ensenada is the biggest! Well we saw it 2 cruises ago, and it's not worth going back given the possibility of Laura getting car (shuttle) sick.

Laura and I got off the shuttle and walked around a bit looking for souvenirs. We didn't buy anything at first, because you can find the same stuff everywhere and it's all about the same price. So you might as well keep looking for the item that looks the best in the color or style you want, yada yada yada. We wondered over to Papas and Beer for some nachos and margaritas. Laura had a virgin strawberry margarita, and I had a real one - or two. Our waiter Pedro took this picture of us:

After our refreshments we continued walking around Ensenada and shopping. This time we started buying souvenirs. We picked up a pair of cool sunglasses for our son Brady. We also bought him a Papas and Beer shot glass for his collection. Brady has shot glasses from all over, and he keeps them on a shelf in his bedroom. We found a cute Nacho Libre mask and cape for our daughter Nina. Also for Nina, we found a cute mini pinata that looked like a donkey. Laura got a mouse pad from Papas and Beer. They generously threw in a sticker.

We returned to the shuttle pick-up point so we could head back to the ship. As we waited for the shuttle to fill up, we were entertained by a local man who sang songs. Coincidentally, Laura and I saw this same guy on a previous cruise (well, the Ensenada part of the cruise). He is very funny, and gets people on the shuttle to sing along with him while poking fun at us gringos. He didn't remember us from the last time - no surprise - there's one of him and hundreds (maybe thousands) of us that he sees. After his show he walks through the shuttle bus holding a bag and we help him make his living.So back to the ship we went just to stand in line to get our souvenirs scanned - just like luggage at the airport. Once on board (using the same identification to get off the ship) we get to walk through scanners again. Back to our room and time to get ready for formal night.

More to follow on the next post. Until then, bon voyage.