San Diego to Ensenada the long way round

Last time we left you on a knife edge, no doubt, wondering how on earth we managed to get into Mexico with only a fully functioning rental car, an almost fully functioning driver, our passports and our most certainly semi-functioning wits. Go back the way we came and seek amnesty in San Diego for one more night? Decide that - being a 24 hour border crossing only 1 hrs drive away - Tijuana was actually our best bet? Sleep in the car? Get taken in by gringo bandidos? No, fools! Of course we drove about a two hours east away from Tecate, Ensenada and all we knew. With Frances fuelled by coffee and the childhood dream of reaching Calexico on the Californian side of the border from its Mexican counterpart Mexicali (geddit? geddit? kinda sweet dontcha think?), we drove on into the night. Finally, we reached Calexico, town of gas stations and a motel that kindly agreed to take us in once we'd handed over a fair amount of dollars. Phew! We crossed into Mexico at Mexicali (I still think it's sort of romantic, Calexico/Mexicali, aw) Jos and I having momentary panic that we might need some sort of tourist card to get in. As it turned out, we were welcomed to Mexico with a green light and no formalities whatsoever. Mexicali was pretty uneventful, though obviously more exciting than Calexico it being in Mexicocococococococo (will make no further comment on the town names)! We tasted our first quesadillas and drank pints of fresh jugo de naranja, gave the cathedral a quick once over and headed south once again, beckoned by the brewery at Tecate and, further south, Baja's wine country (are you detecting a theme?). Tecate did indeed provide us with a welcome pitstop, the nice brewery people gave us nice free beer. On our way out of town we managed to avoid being siphoned across the border back to the US by the skin of our teeth and a bit of spirited driving by Frances. The drive through Baja wine country to Ensenada was stunning. We passed through mountains with incredible views, the rocks absolutely shatted by some kind of weathering that, as a geography teacher, I really should be able to identify. Practically no vegetation and small white crosses and shrines dotted across the mountainsides. We stopped at a vineyard on the Ruta del Vino and again were given free booze. We tasted the first truly dry white we've had since arriving in the Americas - Napa valley has a lot to answer for - and stocked up for the days ahead. We arrived at Ensenada in the afternoon buoyed by the incredible drive and ready for anything! Mountains along the Mexican border

Breakfast in Mexicali

Sunset in Ensenada