Ensenada Local Customs

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who wants to try horse *** cigarettes? who would in their sick mind try these stuff? i may be a smoker but i'm not a crazy smoker to try one hehehhe but for posterity, i have taken pictures of the cigarettes. The packet claims that Horse *** Cigarettes are made from the finest grade of domestic and imported horse *** obtainable. Only fresh mild horse *** is used. NOT MULE ***. And they are roasted to keep that mild, sweet taste and not touched by human hands. wanna try one? (not me ok) and a pack of this horse *** cigarettes costs 40 mexican pesos!!! the horse manure cigarettes can be bought at the Avenida De lopez Mateos or the main tourist street, you won't miss it! I dare you to try one.

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besides having a souvenir shirt from the famous chamuco little devil brand here in ensenada, i also bought a regular souvenir t-shirt at a local souvenir shop in the Calle Primera (Again the Avenida de Lopez Mateos). local souvenir t-shirts are available practically in every stall and store here in ensenada and have different designs, artworks, graffitis, pictures, symbols and a lot more. a caveat in buying t-shirts! always haggle when buying since the first quoted price will be very high like they will tell you that a t-shirt will cost you 140 pesos ($ 11) and that is highway robbery! bring it down to at least 50% at 70 mexican pesos or else you will be ripped off! So i brought the shirt price down to 70 ok!

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another particular favorite collectors item of mine aside from t-shirts and shot glasses are the refrigerator magnets of the countries and towns and cities and places that i've visited and my refrigertor is full of these ref magnets from all over and here in ensenada is no different. the ref magnets here are numerous and has lots of designs and pictures of the ensenada area like the big flag or the bufadora or the wine country and even the fish tacos. the ref magnets are avaialble everywhere and the price starts at 40 mexican pesos with the bigger ones at 50 to 60 mexican pesos.

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if you a long time fan of virtual tourist, you should know by now that i love to collect shot glasses in my travels and upon arriving here in ensenada mexico is no different so what i did was to buy one hehehe (they have many kinds of shot glasses even the nasty ones like the sex shot glasses wherein the clay paintings in the shot glass depicts what else but sex). i bought 1 shot glass at the price of 40 mexican pesos (kind of expensive i think) to add to my collection. shot glasses are available everywhere and the price depends on the size and the kind of artwork done in it.

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as everyone knows, it is always safe to buy bottled mineral and spring water when visitng new areas as to decrease the incidence of diarrhea and water borne diseases like e. coli infection and here in ensenada, it is no different. in restaurants it is better to ask if they use just tap water of bottled water on what they serve but again just to be sure then better buy bottled water since they are available everyhwere here especially along the many oxxo convenience stores in ensenada area and a small 500 ml bottled water just costs 4 mexican pesos and 1 liter bottled water costs just 6 mexican pesos.

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well the mexican style of wrestling or the lucha libre is know popular around the world that many are into buying the symbols of it which is the Lucha Libre Masks and here in Ensenada, many hawker and street stalls sell it. The mask (mascaras) have been used dating back to the beginnings of lucha libre in the early part of the 20th century and have a historical significance to Mexico in general dating to the days of the Aztecs. More recently, the masks that luchadores wear have become iconic symbols of Mexican culture hence the popularity of it and buying a lucha libre mask here cost 80 mexican pesos and it will go down to 40 mexican peos if you know how to haggle.

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as we all know, mexico produces most of the true vanilla extracts in the world since the vanilla originated here. Vanilla comes from the orchid vanilla planifolia. The vanilla bean is the seed pod of the orchid and the flavor comes from it's many tiny seeds inside the pod. The seed pods go through extensive processing and curing before they become the substance so familiar to most of us. Once harvested by hand, the vanilla beans are boiled in water, then allowed to heat in the sun. The beans are then wrapped in blankets to allow them to sweat. This curing process of sun-heating by day, and sweating at night goes on for 3 to 6 months until the beans shrink by 400% of their original weight.

Here in Ensenada, you can buy a pure vanilla extract (it is made by percolating chopped vanilla beans with ethyl alcohol and water) but a caveat, reall vanila extract is bottled in amber colored bottles ok! a small bottle of pure vanilla extract cost about 60 mexican pesos.

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the jumping beans are purely not a bean ok. The jumping beans comes from the mountains in the states of Sonora, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua not here in Baja but are widely available here too. What make makes it a jumping bean is a seed pod in which the larva of a small moth has chewed through. The seed does not actually jump so much as wiggle because when it gets in a hot place the larva snaps its body hoping to roll to a cooler place. The beans themselves are from a shrub of the genus Sebastiania (S. palmeri or S. pavoniana), itself often referred to as the jumping bean, while the moth is a member of the genus Cydia, called a jumping bean moth. The beans should become active if one holds them in the hand (out of the box) for a few minutes. The beans should also appear to be a very slight shade of green on the side. If the bean starts to turn brown (top picture, bean on the left), that indicates it is dying.

it is sold is plastic boxes and costs $ 1 a pack.