So Kristel wanted to do more lists for this post, but I sidetracked her by getting her to make a list of her lists so be prepared on the next post.

I think we left you last in Death Valley as we prepared to head to San Diego and make some final preparations to cross into Mexico. We had a short shopping list and managed quickly to quickly find a good camera shop (George’s) to buy a charger as I left mine at home thinking the one I had bought on the internet from Hong Kong was right. Not so. A fishing store that could hopefully also supply a few outdoor items was next on the list. The first one on our list looked too sketchy to even bother with and the next one didn’t seem to have any fishing rods that cost less than $200. However, we finally ended up at a Sport Chalet and got everything we needed. Our next stop was Sanborn’s for Mexican Car Insurance. This was done relatively quickly, but it was getting late in the day and we opted to spend the night at a Motel 6 (and were pleasantly surprised how nice it was!).

The next day we drove to Tecate because we hoped the border crossing would be easier at this smaller town than Tijuana and it did prove much quieter. We were through in not much over an hour and spent much of that time visiting with a couple of guys who are building a school for Aztec children in central Baja. We may pop in on them later in this journey.

From Tecate, we headed through the mountains and wine country to Ensenada. This should have been a beautiful drive but it is mostly remembered for the semi-trucks that were tailgating and passing me on solid lines at velocities well over the posted speed limit. During one such incident I was forced to hit a rather large pothole because I had a truck right beside me and crowding me. A large thunk was heard but we didn’t think much of it at the time.

When we got to Ensenada, we thought we would try and find a Spanish School before getting set up with a data plan and finding a place to stay. One such school was recommended by our guide book but when we arrived at the address listed, the building was essentially deserted, with only a random dog there to greet us. Seeing this, we wandered into a nearby English school where one of the local teachers (Erick) informed us that there was no school there and, if there had been, it had been closed for years (so much for that guide book…). He did however offer to find us a tutor to help us out and we agreed to meet him the following day.

After our chat, we returned to the vehicle and noticed that the camper had not fared so well on our trek through the mountains. One of the upper cupboards had come completely loose from the ceiling (apparently the source of the “thunk” we’d heard earlier) and the other appeared to be coming down as well.

However, without the energy to deal with it just then, we closed the door and decided instead to try and frustrate ourselves by getting our phone on a plan for Mexico. After the ordeal we went through in the U.S., we expected this to be an adventure but we were happily surprised to find better staff and better cellular options. In under 40 minutes we had our phone set up with a plan just like we wanted. A big thumbs up to Telcel!

After that success, we decided to treat ourselves to a real hotel and a meal at a real restaurant. It took a bit to find a hotel in Ensenada that would take dogs, but we finally found a very nice one. We walked around town and randomly selected a restaurant and were very impressed with their enmoladas (chicken mole enchiladas). They were so good, we devoured them quickly and only got a photo of our empty plates!

We met Erick the next morning and, although his friend wasn’t available, he offered to give us lessons. We agreed to give it a try and planned to meet at 5:00 at the school. He offered to show us a campground in San Miguel that was on the beach and cheap. Although the shower room was a bit sketchy, we loved the view and the price so we decided to stay there.

With most of a day to kill, we decided to tackle the cabinet repairs in the camper. We needed some wood, screws and glue and remembered seeing a hardware store when we were getting our phone set up. With Spanish dictionary in hand, we managed to buy screws and glue but could not buy wood there and believed we were told we could buy would at a store near the Walmart on Calle Reforma, so off we went. We never did find the Walmart but we did find a True Value Hardware that sold lumber. With our dictionary, some scribbled notes and a few pantomimes we were able to order the 2X4 but not 1X6 so it would just have to do. As we drove into the yard to pick up the 2X4 we saw them right next to the 1X6s but decided it was too much to go through again, so the repair would be done with 2X4s (Bill will be proud of us).

We managed to complete the repair but it took all afternoon in the hot sun. Driving 2.5 inch screws by hand left us both with worn out wrists and we were actually glad when Erick texted us to cancel that afternoon and try again on Saturday morning from 8-12. We think the repairs were a success. The cabinets are now stronger than before (though uglier).

That afternoon, Chester was on particularly good behavior and Kristel thought he had earned some off leash time. It wasn’t long before one of the local beach dogs enticed him away for a romp through the streets of San Miguel. Of course, this meant Kristel and I also got to go for a romp through the streets of San Miguel. Chester probably won’t be off leash again for a while…

The beach had a lot of evening visitors, but the music was far away and the groups were mostly gone before midnight.

The next day we had our first Spanish lesson but it had to end after just 2 hours as Erick had another commitment. He did invite us to a Jehovah’s Witness service on Sunday (we must look like we need saving).

We decided that with lots of time left in the day, we should check out the sights; the most famous one being La Bufadora (the Blow Hole). It was a 30 kilometer drive with at least ten kilometers of construction to get there. After paying 20 pesos to park we got to pass through a 1 kilometer gauntlet of vendors hawking everything from hats to pastries. La Bufadora is a formation in the rocks where the waves cause the water to shoot high into the air. It was neat but a bit underwhelming after what it took to get there.
After supper on the beach, we retired for the night with fewer locals on the beach. This time, though, the music was a bit closer and louder. They left around midnight, only to be replaced by a group who decided to park just a couple of car lengths away from us (even though the beach was empty). In standard fashion they opened all the car doors, turned the stereo up as loud as it could go, and sat around and shouted at each other over the volume of the music. This went on for a couple of hours before they finally left us in piece. After it seemed I had just dozed off, another group rolled in followed the same procedure. I looked at my watch, 5:00 am (groan). We dragged ourselves out of bed by 6:30 am to make it to Spanish class. The last group was still going hard when we rolled out at 7:30 am.

Once more, our Spanish lesson could only be 2 hours long and, although we found them good, we felt that 2 hours per day was not enough to keep us in Ensenada. We decided to move on. We thought we would a nice RV place with real showers (neither of us had braved the showers at San Miguel) and get stocked up before heading for the mountains. We stopped at the grocery store just next to the Walmart that we hadn’t found earlier and next to it was a Home Depot! While shopping, we were entertained by a huge calamity that included loud music, loud speakers and a lot of screaming and laughing. After some confusion we realized someone had won a shopping spree and was careening around the store filling his cart much to the delight of the other shoppers and staff.

We found a luxurious (and considerably more expensive) RV Park just south of town. We relaxed, got caught up on some work, and wrote this blog between dips in the pool and hot tub. This is the life!