Visiting The Other California

We arrived in Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico two hours before we were scheduled to arrive.  I guess we caught a fast current!  Since neither Cindy or I have ever been to Ensenada we decided to get off and explore the city. The first stop was a meeting with the Mexican Heads of State.

  As you can see I was in the thick of things with these Heads of State! We were braced for the usual barrage of Mexican vendors trying to sell us everything from cheap silver to timeshares and we were in the buying mood (not).  Were we surprised when we had walked several blocks and had not be accosted by any vendors.  While taking the above photo I was talking to a local family and found out that the Baja 1000 race was starting from here on Saturday and all the dune buggies were on display in town and that is where all the people were. So not wanting to miss the festivities we headed downtown to join in on the fun.

  The  above car is the one I wanted to drive in the race. Below is a  wheelbarrow full of candy I was going to take with me to eat during the race.    

We did talk to a race crew from Vancouver Canada.  They told us the race is 1076 miles down to the tip of Baja California.  They have to finish the race within 46 hours.  The vehicles hold a driver and a navigator who swap off duties.  Each race vehicle has three teams of drivers/navigators. The first team drives the beginning 300 miles, the second team drives the next 400 miles and the last team drives the 376 miles to the finish. Below is a photo of the vehicle from Vancouver.

It was great to see something in Mexico different than blankets, Mexican hats, and silver trinkets.