We have a room at the Casa del Sol -- stayed here several years ago -- right in the heart of the tourist area in downtown Ensenada. We walked up to the Santo Tomas Bodega and Cheese Shop, about 1.5 miles, bought a bottle of a varietal new to us: Tempranillo. A very lovely bottle of wine deserves nice glasses, so we purchased 2 red wine glasses with the winery name on the base of the glass. We also bought some cheese, walked back to our room, and had our before dinner wine and cheese with crackers from our stash in the car. After that small but delicious repast we walked along the malecon, lovely evening, fog gone, and eventually ended up at our favorite restaurant. We ordered the most spectacular French Onion Soup (every bit as great as what we had in Montreal so many years ago) and our favorite: Caesar Salad. We chose this restaurant because we had the Caesar Salad last year and could hardly wait to have it one more time!
There was one blip along the way. When we crossed the border, we got the green light (meaning that we didn't have to stop at customs) but noticed that there was no sign for Immigration. So we continued on our way to Ensenada, knowing that there is an Immigration office there. The Immigration official issued our 180 day tourist card, but admonished us for not stopping at the border. We told him we didn't see the sign, he said "yes, there isn't a sign, you just have to go in the line to declare customs and then they'll send you to Immigration." We'll we didn't have anything to declare and told him we probably wouldn't ever have -- but no matter, he said, you still have to do it that way. If we drive in again without a tourist card the fine is $220 per person. Not only that, but they now expect visitors to turn in their tourist cards upon departure and have an office at the exit at the border. Big changes!
We'll stay in Ensenada tomorrow and on Monday morning head down the highway, stopping at Valle Santo Tomas to visit the winery and pick up a case!
~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~
