Ensenada, Tijuana's nicer, prettier cousin

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A travel journal to Ensenada by El Gallo

The little pool by the Big Pool Photo - Las Rocas, Ensenada, Mexico

Quote: One hour of beautiful seaside driving south from Tijuana brings you to Ensenada: nicer, cleaner and more scenic than Tijuana, with shopping and great eating.

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Ensenada, Tijuana's nicer, prettier cousin

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Overview

Quote:

The sea cliff drive itself is memorable. Stop at the 'Mirador' for pictures, come back the inland route through wine country, haciendas, fruit stands, and the brewery at Tecate.

Quick Tips:

Skip Tijuana if you have a car--do your shopping here, where it's more concentrated and less aggressive. Feast on cheap, fresh seafood. Enjoy a fairly nice little town without the hustle. Hit the beach. Hang out in some famous cantinas.

Best Way To Get Around:

The entire downtown in walkable, there's almost nowhere you bother to go on a bus. If you're driving, check out Punta Banda beaches and the famous La Bufadora blowhole.

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Las Rocas

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Hotel

Romance on 'The Rocks' Photo - Las Rocas, Ensenada, Mexico

Quote:

I'm a confirmed border rat who never pays more than $10 to sleep in Mexico. But Las Rocas is something very special. It's a luxuious, beautiful while Greek Islands-type resort built right on the surf-pounded rocks, just North of Ensenada. This place is, frankly, the bomb. Beautiful rooms with jacuzzis, full service spa, pool by the sea, great bars and restaurants. And you can slip into Ensenada at night to party. While some spas seem to be all about health and reclaiming dissapating youth, or just being rich, Las Rocas is about ROMANCE. It's a perfect place for a wedding, a honeymoon, or a seduction. And it's not all that expensive by U.S. standards, especially for a place only an hour...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on August 26, 2000

Las Rocas
Km 38
Ensenada, Mexico
(888) Las Rocas

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Dockside Seafood Stands

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Restaurant

Quote:

They got stupid and built a huge building in front of their waterfront, then put a Denny's in it! You have to figure out how to get around the Dennys dump and find yourself down by the water.

First of all, if you like seafood, wade past all the seafood stands and take a tour of the big warehouse right on the water, where you will see mounds of freshcut fish, clams, sharks, crabs, mussels, shrimps, oysters, and things you don't even have words for. Buy direct--bring your ice chest.

By now you're probably ready to eat some seafood, and you're in luck. The alleys leading down to the docks are packed with little stands selling some really great chow. And the vendors are not shy about announcing it to you, since they all have the same thing and competition runs high. This is absolutely seafood heaven--I never pass up eating here if I'm anywhere near the place.

First of all, there are the cocktails. A big soda glass full of your choice: shrimp, oyster, scallops, clam. Or pata de mula, a sort of clam/mussel. Or 'pulpo'--chunks of octopus with suction cups attached. If you just can't decide, mix them up--or just say 'campechana' and get a mix of all of the above, with tomato sauce, cilantro and salso mixed with the juices to create a delicious cocktail with tortilla chips or crackers.

Or get the famous Baja Fish Taco. Strips of fish (or shrimp if you really want to go all the way) that has been dipped in a spiced batter and deep-fried in Japanese tempura style, then wrapped in a taco. You add your own sauces and salsas from an array of bowls. The Fish Taco is a Baja specialty, invented here by people familiar with Mexican cooking, Japanese fry techniques, and the local fish supply.

Or just go whole hog and get a big hunka fish. Order huachinango (red snapper) in the zarandeado style (sort of blackened) and you've got it going on--a big fish complete with tail, head, and accusing eyes to tear apart and gorge on as you best see fit.

Wash it down with beer or pop or - if you see big glass jugs full of ade up in the front - 'agua fresca', like koolaid maid with fresh fruits. Keep eating until you've had it, then settle up the whole works afterwards.

Damn, I love these places! Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on August 26, 2000

Dockside Seafood Stands
Behind Denny's
Ensenada, Mexico

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Hussong's Cantina

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Story/Tip

Hey, It's 100 Yrs Old Photo - Ensenada, Mexico

Quote:

This has to be the most famous cantina in the world. It's the most infamous in Mexico, and where else to they have infamous cantinas? Started by Russian settlers over a century ago (almost everything in the Baja was started by somebody from some weird place for some nutty reason), Hussongs has evolved from a Western hole right out of the movies into an international bawdyhouse where Lee Marvin and John Wayne cavorted, into THE place to toss back a tequila in the Baja--with an incredible T-shirt and bumpersticker empire that was plastering its strange name all over the Americas when the Hard Rock wasn't even a gleam in some marketing sociopath's eye. Like Disneyland, the reality of Husson...Read More

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Thar She Blows !

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Story/Tip

Quote:

La Bufadora is one of the main blowholes on the Pacific coast. Waves smash in through tapering slot, then blast straight up through the hole. You never know how high it will blow at any time, maybe just a salty spritz...maybe you'll suddenly find yourself losing a wet T-shirt contest. It's a fun place, full of couples and young people and weekenders gawking at 'Old Unfaithful' and buying curios and tacos from the stands along the road. You need a car to visit the Bufadora, since it's well out of town on Punta Banda--but it's a trip worth making just to see the Point. The water is clear here with good diving; this is where you'll end up if you charter a dive trip. The drive is through f...Read More

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About the Writer

El Gallo
Monkey Junction, Afghanistan

"Born in Japan, educated in SE Asia, have lived in Central America most of the last 15 years, alterna..."
44 journals
275 photos
112 reviews

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