Let me say I haven’t noticed a lot of differences between their lives and ours. Language may be a slight barrier, but if you look beyond that, they are striving for the same things we are. They want to provide for their families, make a decent living and have a little fun. You have your hard working, honest people, and then you have others who would take whatever from you in a heart beat and never look back. I have seen a little of both. Because the cruise ships come here, a lot of the venders on the street try to get as much from you as they can by letting you think you are getting a good deal. For instance, I went shopping for Christmas gifts. I saw shirts I was looking for and asked the vendor how much? He said they were $25.00 dollars each. I asked him about sizes and he eventually got to the sizes I was looking for. He showed me one shirt I really liked, but I wanted another one and didn’t want to pay $25.00 for each shirt. So I asked if he would sell me two shirts for $25.00. Big mistake on my part. I should have said pescos. He told me yes. He was talking dollars and I was thinking pescos. I was thinking I was getting a good deal. He showed me another shirt in a different color and size, I liked it and now I have the two shirts I want. I gave him 250 pescos, $25.00. He was working on the old exchange rate of when it was 10 pescos to our dollar. The current exchange rate now is 13. So here I am thinking I got a good deal but in fact he ended up getting a great tip. I didn’t realize what had happened until later. I should have only paid 200 pescos, which is $20.00. Lesson learned. When they say dollars you ask how much in pescos and make sure you are getting the current rate. Better to use your credit card because the bank will give you the correct exchange rate. But this too needs to be watched. You can't let your card out of your sight during a transaction. There have been several reports of people using their cards in restaurants and end up having unexplained charges on it. You always need to watch and know what is going on. That is pretty typical any where you go really.
In town on most of the streets traveled by gringos (Americans), there are panhandlers. They even have children coming up to you asking if you want to buy something. This isn’t that different from the large cities at home and in Canada, except you don’t see children on the streets. The further away I walked from gringo gulch, (tourist alley), the less of that I saw.
Because Ensenada is a cruise ship stop, they get thousands of people looking for souvenirs. They also want the American dollar because they can exchange it at a higher rate. Stupid, they are not. When the tourists come into town and see children begging or the panhandlers have their little babies with them, it tugs at the heart strings and people feel sorry for them and give them money. On one of my walks into town, I passed a woman sitting on a step in front of a building, holding a baby in her arms. She was asking for money to feed her family because they were hungry. That kind of stuff does pull at your heart strings. I have witnessed, that when the cruise ships aren’t in, there are no children trying to sell you things and less panhandlers.
For the most part, I have found people to be friendly, helpful, and very courteous. Since our stay at Baja Naval,
in the boat yard and marina, we have been treated very well with friendly greetings, and they are always willing to help with anything we need. I have watched these men work, and they work hard. They bring bottled water to your boat to fill your tanks if you want, fill your fuel tank, and pump your holding tanks. Of course there is a fee. They don’t do it for free. Whenever a boat is coming in they are on the docks to help. I have only seen 2 women at the boat yard, but they work in an office and come out to ask questions or whatever. For the most part you don’t see them. The yard workers are men. Women play a very different role here in Ensenada. My observation, from what I have seen so far, is a woman is held in a different light. She is the mother to their children and that is an important role. I have found women working in an office, women do not do hard physical labor. I have found the men will always talk and joke with Dave, and only smile and greet me. I don’t take offense to this because that is the way it is. They are very respectful towards me. It’s kind of nice. In the boat yard, instead of yelling for someone, they whistle. They have different tones of whistles. Surprising enough you can hear a whistle over engine and other boatyard noise. It’s nice not to hear yelling. Lunch time is an hour. They eat first and then they play volley ball. They have such fun. Then on most Fridays, they have a volleyball competition, win prizes, and have free pizza and beer or soda. It’s such fun to watch them.
The men are family men. They help with the children, walk with the mom and kids at night on the promenade and generally show respect and love for their wife and kids. In the United States I see mostly women doing the shopping, taking care of the kids, and don’t see the dads. Here it is totally different. The whole family goes to the store together. Dad is usually pushing the cart and mom is putting items in. These people seem to be genuinely happy. They love music. There is generally something musical going on in the big area close by the yard here. Right now kids and adults are practicing every night with trumpet and drums for a competition coming up. You also can hear singing at night too. You see strolling musicians looking for someone to pay for them to play and sing.
The children seem to be raised to respect the elders and others. Little girls are treated like little princesses, and when they grow up and prepare for their wedding, they look like a princess.
The schools require uniforms and it looks like each school area has a different color. The elementary and grade school girls wear skirts to their knees and knee socks. The boys wear a white shirt with either a red sweater or navy blue. And their pants are black. The teenage girls wear plaid skirts that are short but they have to wear white or dark tights, and their tops are white with dark sweaters. Boys wear white shirt, dark sweater and pants. Only the wealthy can afford to send their kids to school since they have to pay for uniforms and books. The average person can’t afford it so their kids don’t go.
There are a few of the gothic looking kids here, but you don’t see many. Very few lips, eyebrows, and ears are pierced. They look like normal kids. Because San Diego is only an hour and a half away, there is a lot of influence that comes over the boarder in dress and such. You see some people on cell phones, but very rarely, and you don’t see people talking on them in the grocery stores or restaurants. I have seen one or two people talking on one while driving, but that is rare.
As far as disciple, I only saw one mom lightly pat her daughter on the butt. She was throwing a temper tantrum in the store and wouldn’t come when she was told too. Mom basically patted her, but you would have thought the mom beat her. Most of the time when a child is crying or complaining, the mom ignores them. When they stop, the mom then pays attention to the child. I’m sure it isn’t always like that. There are commercials dealing with abuse of children and showing the parent getting mad and then counting to 10 to gain control of them selves.
It looks as though everyone here has a sweet tooth. The french bread and pastries are sweeter. Their juices and brand of coke is sweeter. A lot of the foods are fried and they eat a lot of fish, chicken, pork, and some red meats. You have to be careful what you are ordering at a restaurant if you want red meat. Some of it could be horse meat. We had steak the other night that we bought at the Commercial Mexicana store, and it wasn’t as tender as what we are use to, but it was good none the less. I don’t think they grain feed their cattle. Of course you get refried beans a lot when you go to restaurants, and you can always find all kinds of beans at the grocery store.
You see a lot of couples, young and old, sitting along the promenade or in the parks, actually talking to each other . You see couples walking arm in arm, and kissing like people in love.
Unfortunately birth control is very expensive so you see girls 14 years old with babies and families with 4 or 5 children. Despite the economic hardships and conditions in which most of them live, these people seem happy. Most everyone has a smile for you and will greet you. Because of their economy hurting, when a cruise ship isn’t in, the owners or workers look frustrated and sometimes even desperate to make a sale. Or you just find those shops closed.
The country is proud of their flag and when it gets really windy the military will come out and take the flag down. Because of its size it takes several men and women of the Naval Base to keep the flag from touching the ground.
Reminds me of home when you are folding the American flag you respect it and not let it touch soil. After it is taken down, it is put into the back of a flatbed truck with the sides on it, and laid in their carefully.
I couldn’t see if they had a big bag they were putting it in or what the flag laid on. It was strange to see them handle it so carefully and then just put it in a truck. When the wind calms down the flag goes back up.
The police have a huge presence here. When they have their sirens on you had better figure out how you are going to get out of their way. I witnessed one night a man stopped at a stop light. A police car came up behind him with sirens blaring and the man had no where to go. When the signal finally changed the man was not sure where he should go to get out of the way, but eventually did. The police car was right on his bumper, literally.
The water is hard and it leaves spots on everything. Most of Ensenada’s water system sets on top of an aqua fir system, which is salt water, so the water does have a hint of salt in it. I have used it to make ice, coffee and boil it for cooking. People at the marina either buy bottled water or hook a hose up to 2 large housing units with filters, with another hose that leads to and hooks up to a water unit on their boat so they have fresh running water. The units are not cheap. Each housing unit costs about $16.00 dollars and each filter is about $6.00 or $8.00 dollars a piece. You could end up going through a lot of filters if you stay here a while. We have purchased 2, 3lb bottles, from Wal-Mart and when they get emptied we get one of the 5 gal bottles that they use in the boat yard. We fill up our two bottles and we are good for a couple of weeks. We have a filter that we got from West Marine we use to fill our forward water tank.
When you walk down the streets, you have to watch where you are walking. Sidewalks are uneven, and there are holes that aren’t covered. They are creative in making the sidewalks interesting. They use rocks to separate cement slabs and have used tile to decorate. It is interesting and fun to see. The buildings are cement and they have tile floors. You don’t see rugs anywhere on the floors. I believe it is because of the dust that accumulates. They don’t use vacuums; they sweep with a broom and use a mop to wash the floor.
There is a McDonalds, Starbucks, cinemas, Burger King, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco, Office Depot, and Blockbuster Video. The further south we travel the less we will see of these places.
I swear there are as many Pharmacies as bars. Just about every block you find a pharmacy, and not far from them is a bar. It’s kind of funny to see that.
At the Baja Naval Marina, we have a key that gets us into the boat yard to use the facilities. The bathrooms have warm showers and the walls and counter tops are pink marble, with the floor being white and grey.
At least that is the color scheme in the women’s bathroom. One thing they want everyone to do is put the used toilet paper into a waste basket instead of flushing it down the toilet. Their septic system can’t handle all that paper. You will find this all through Mexico.
The waste baskets are gathered everyday and a new bag replaces the old one. The interesting thing is, while we are here at the marina, we don’t have to pay to use the restrooms. When you leave the yard, all the bathrooms require a fee. Some places it is .25 cents, other places it is .50 cent.
I was told the charge is for toilet paper. Another thing we are offered at the Marina and boat yard are free calls to the USA. It is timed and each call is for ten minutes. They also have free wifi access, which sometimes doesn't work.
I have met some really great mexican people here. A lot of them have traveled from other places in Mexico. This was a wonderful place to visit.
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