Sheilaclapkin's Blog;

As we sailed away towards our next stop, Ensenada, Mexico, my memories of early teen years consisting of family vacations on Catalina Island begin to fade. Before they fade into the next event, I do want to tell you that the memories are positive and a pre-amble to many future events in my life.  I have a soft spot for you Avalon Bay; you look beautiful and although I probably will not physically return, I will mentally fly over from time to time and bid you my best.

Good Morning: Ensenada

Our day in Ensenada began with a brilliant sunrise.  Ensenada is famous for its beautiful beaches, wineries, and The Bufadora, which is one of the worlds’ largest blowholes. The water can rise up to 100 feet and water blowing creates a resounding roar.  When visiting Ensenada, there is a wonderful opportunity to visit three wineries and taste wines of this region. When you have seen some of the sights, heard Bufadora’a roar, tasted your wines, an essence of colors pop out at you as you stroll the shopping streets of Ensenada. The colors run the spectrum and the variety of goods become immediately apparent. I felt caught up in the moment.  I heard the vendors talking, mumbling, grumbling and wondered were they talking to me or amongst them selves, I don’t know, but I did not like what they were saying.  “Here come the big spenders.”  Here we have the money people. “Come on buy, you have mucho money.” And it went along like that.  I did not need a thing, but I bought something. Okay, I was the big money spender for the moment.

Skip and I had a Coca Cola date in Ensenada. We were in this town so many years ago, and I remembered we sat in a restaurant and had two coca cola’s, each with a straw and enjoyed our date.  I wanted to re-create that moment. Well, you can’t, but you can come close to the same enjoyment. We had a number of coca cola dates on this trip and came home with a list of 17 things we need to attend to, and I would like you to know we ARE checking them off. We have fourteen yet to go.

Before we say goodbye to Ensenada and head to the ship, I have the remaining shopping story to tell you. It did unnerve me and still has me pondering the encounter.

We boarded the shuttle bus that would take us back to the ship. Following us on the bus was one snot nosed kid after another selling their wares. I took particular notice because they were so forceful. The mother sent the children one at a time. She has trained them well. They say things in English and then when you don’t pay attention to them or say no, their words become louder and harsher.  When the children didn’t make a sale, the mother came on board. I bargained for two necklaces and she could not accept my offer, but kept throwing hers back to me. I wanted to dismiss her and nothing I did or said fazed this professional. Finally, I blew her a kiss with my final offered price. She agreed, but did not follow through, ran off of the bus and became completely freaked out. She acted like she had lost her mind. She began to rub her lips over and over, like I had cursed her. She was totally thrown off balance. She was standing next to the bus rubbing and rubbing. The last I saw of her as we rode off into the sunset was her vehemently rubbing the suggestion of an air kiss off of her lips. I don’t know the meaning of it all and who won and who lost, or if anyone won or lost. I do know I will never stop wondering what really happened and why my gesture of a kiss was so abhorrent to this skilled street sales lady.

Lovely Ensenada street scenes: