We went to the morning buffet and I was surprised to see land on 3 sides of the ship. We had land on our starboard side, which continued around the back of the ship, and on the port side, the land seemed to continue, but beyond the harbor, around a bunch of docks, it eventually opened to the ocean. Having never left the U.S. before (except for a long weekend in Montreal, Canada), I didn't know what to expect. In my school books growing up, they always depicted Mexico with old cars of the 1970s that didn't look like American cars. The photos typically shown of Mexico look like Indian Reservation land, with beat up pickup trucks, and building shanty's made with pieces of scrap metal leaning together. I know there's some poverty-stricken areas that may actually look like that, but where we were in Ensenada, it looked like a typical lower-income city. We could see a McDonald's and other familiar fast food and cheap type of businesses. I was surprised that the cars were modern and looked like those on an American street. I already knew people dressed in jeans and T-shirts and sneakers - not the souvenir type of garb they sell to tourists, with over-sized sombreros and sarapes draped over them. After breakfast, we went down to the gangway to do some shopping. I was hoping to find souvenirs for all the kids there too.
This was the strangest day. We got off the boat, went through a little building with about half a dozen mini shops of souvenirs, and one pharmacy. Yeah, like a Walgreen's in a 10' x 10' area, strange. The first thing that told us we weren't in America anymore was the style of souvenirs. I searched high and low for those little mini collector spoons for my Grandmother. I try to get one everywhere I go. I expected shot glasses, but not ones with clay body parts sticking out in 3D fashion. Seriously, who wants to do a shot with "one of those" poking you on the bridge of your nose? And there were skulls...lots of skulls. Not typical Harley Davidson skulls, these were Day of the Dead skulls, styled with flowers for eyes, and all kinds of intricate patterns on and around them. They just don't match our decor...There were lots of jewelry cases and stands, silver being the main focus it would seem. Not what I was looking for. They had clothes, but again, nothing they would wear, so nothing I felt the need to wear to remind me of our visit. We didn't find anything worth parting with our money there, so we got on the $2 bus to get to "downtown" safely. It has no route other than ship to downtown center and back. Little did we realize until afterwards that the center of downtown was about 2 blocks from the ship. Oh well. It was a nice bus with clean, new-looking upholstery. Not some broken down 1960s thing with a lady and chickens on it like they portray in movies.
Once you're off the bus, you're in it. You're in the center of the main street filled with literally hundreds of tiny stores, all sharing walls, that have open fronts and go very deep into a dark back of the store. The owners sit across from their stores putting you in-between the store front and themselves, with the street behind them. There's also dozens of people with stands of junk to buy on the sidewalk itself. It's a bit claustrophobic, but I love learning about cultures so I had a great plan to be friendly, and see what the Mexican people are like. Well, all I really encountered were the salesmen and saleswomen. It's like going to a huge car dealership to find out what Americans are like. It's not really a representative picture of the whole. Every single person you pass has their routine down, "Good morning amigos! Go into my store and see all the great deals we have for you today! See if there's something you like, no pressure. Here, let me have a 'Mexican Minute' of your time to show you something..." And you heard it every 10 feet down a half mile long street. Over and over and over. We must've said, "No thank you." at least 100 times while still smiling. Then we got all Boston on them and just stopped making eye contact and stopped smiling. We did great for about an hour. We even figured out what a Mexican Minute was. Apparently, it's as long as it takes a Mexican merchant to make his sales pitch. We went into one store followed by an adolescent who asked us, "Do you speak Spanish?" Tim said, "No." He then asked if we came in off the ship. When we told him we did, he replied, "Ah, mas barrato." (Oh, very cheap). I stopped, looked right at him, and he looked like the kid caught in the cookie jar. I told Tim we were leaving, and we walked out. If his mind is already made up that ship people are cheap because they don't buy from his one store, among the hundreds, all selling the same thing - we don't need to change his paradigm. The nicest guy we met was one of the first. He took about five or six no's and was still just as nice, pleasant, and excited to show what he had. It was a great lesson for us to learn. He didn't let the no's stop him from doing what he had to do to make a living. There were also several shopkeepers that tried to show us how to not be fooled into buying fake silver or fake leather. It was to buy their real wares but it was still a learning experience. The funniest was when one asked me what I was looking for. I told him, "One of those little silver spoons" and he said, "Coke spoon (cocaine spoon)?" I then had to explain further. It was a good laugh for us but he was just as serious either way. Getting back to pharmacies...just like it was strange seeing liquor sold in normal stores in Arizona (you can only buy them from liquor, state liquor, or "package" stores in New England), it was just as strange seeing that every 20 mini stores or so was a pharmacy. NOT like a Walgreens. These were stores that had huge signs directed to Americans. You could buy Viagra, Antibiotics, pain pills, sleeping pills, whatever you needed, right there in the streets. They let Americans know that, "The U.S. Law allows you to enter the states with up to a 3 month supply of drugs as "personal use" so you can buy them today and take them home." Our public service messages are a little different...
After an hour, we were done, SO done. We took the return bus back to the ship so we had visited and returned, all by 11:30 AM. We experienced it. We found 2 necklaces for the guys - a guitar and a cross, both with the Lord's Prayer in Spanish - no souvenir spoon for Grandma. On the boat, we relaxed by the pool, sunning ourselves until we got hungry for the lunch buffet. It took a few hours to just decompress from the pressure in the market. After lunch, we returned to the top sun deck where we'd found quiet the day before and found it even more secluded. We spent all afternoon there. It really struck me how industrious and hard-working the Mexicans we met really were. They get up every day, get told "no" by hundreds, if not thousands of people. They sit out in the hot sun on the sidewalk. And they do it with a smile, handshake, and kind words. They pay around 20% in taxes, they told us, so they do whatever they can and do most of their deals under the table to survive. It's not easy, but at least they work. They aren't sitting home on public benefits (at least the ones we talked to said they were able to work, thankful to be able to own a business, so benefits were not an option). I really think if you put 100 Americans on that routine, they'd quit, give up, or walk away. Then I started thinking about the ship's staff - no Americans that we encountered. They put their country of origin on their name tags. They work harder than anyone I've seen in years! I see our evening waiter working in another part of the ship in the morning, then doing another job in the afternoon, they wait on us for dinner (handling several tables of 10 at a time), then they do it again for the late seating dinner. When in port, you see dozens of Asians scrubbing the decks, washing all the windows, doing all the unseen jobs that don't get credit or tips. They looked to be in their teens, for the most part. It really made an impression on me what good workers come from other countries and how lazy the typical Walmart employee and cashier seems to be in comparison.
Our last dinner was fun. I ordered the steak, Greek salad, and Bread Pudding with Coconut sorbet. The staff did another rehearsed song & dance, including a part 2 which was the Gungham Style dance. We said goodbye to our table-mates, and exchanged facebook information. We agreed to go see another family-friendly comedian with Christopher and Kerri. He was funny, but not as good as the first guy. Wanting to make the most of our evening, Tim and I returned to the Violin Bar before going to bed on our last night.
We knew the Sea Ninjas were playing again, and tonight was 80's Night. They were all decked out like the cast of Saved by the Bell. They did a good job, just missed the words a few times, but that's okay, we understood...some of them weren't even born when the song was popular! They played well and people clapped after each song, but there was a strange, new excitement in the area. There were two waitresses who'd been there all trip, but were very serious and quiet until tonight. One was named Aimee, she was very sweet. The other was named Kajka and she could've been Cameron Diaz' twin sister from about 10 years ago. She's Russian, and seemed so stern before, I just guessed maybe she was tired of being hit on by the drunks in and out of the casino right there. On Thursday night though, she was a whole new person. She and Aimee were dancing, singing along, interacting with customers with laughs, and they made it a fun, party atmosphere. Kajka came out from behind the counter several times, grabbing the hands of all the patrons on the barstools to lead them to the dance floor, then she'd stay with us for a few minutes so we'd be comfortable staying out there. As I mentioned before, this bar area was an open concept with the main deck's walkway crossing straight through the middle of it, and through the "dance floor". The most heart-warming thing I saw Kajka do was grab the hands of a man in a wheelchair passing through, and she gave him her full attention and danced with him for a whole song. He looked so happy, and she made him feel like part of the party. Warm fuzzy feelings! We stayed until the very last song, around 1 AM, then went back to the room full of happiness and joy. And although the cruise was over, we weren't sad because we weren't leaving to go home. We still had a few days at a Bed & Breakfast, more beach time, a great business event, and the San Diego Zoo - so after the cruise, we were going "on vacation". What a great trip.
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