HijodeEnsenada - 9-16-2004 at 02:22 PM
I am writing these passages to share my experiences living in Ensenada as a young child in the early eighties and now living in LA as a Mexican
American. I want to share my story because it helps me connect with everyone that loves Baja. If there are any questions regarding the passages please
feel free to ask them.
I lived in Ensenada until I was eight years old with my mother my younger sister and my father. My mother did not work so she could take care of us.
My father worked as a mechanic out our humble home in Ensenada, in the neighborhood of Granjas del Gallo. He meet many people some influential that
made things a little easier whenever we or a friend of my family were in a tight jam. This is probably the reason why he never charged for his
services to certain people. One experience comes to mind that happened when I lived in Ensenada. My mother was having complications delivering my
sister so they had to do a C section. The C section was performed by my father friend who was the head of the Hospital General in Ensenada at no
charge. Dr. Ayala is his name since that day when ever we were in need of any medical attention Dr Ayala provided the services at no charge. Another
time that something similar happened was when two uniform officials from the Mexican customs showed up to my house looking for my father. My father
was not home at the time this happened. My mother worried that my father was implicated in some kind of illegal activity told the two officers that my
father was not home. I could see the worry expression in my mother faces as she talked to the officers. One of the men walked back to the car they
were riding in and pulled a box out of the truck that looked like a shoebox. Sure enough it was a shoebox. The officer handed the box to my mother and
told her it was a little thank you gift for my father for fixing his wife?s car. My mother puzzled and at the same time relief accepted the box. It
turned out to be a pair of boots that the officers had confiscated from someone and they were bringing them to my dad.
My father was one of the only mechanics in the area of Ensenada that spoke English. This was advantage for him and a benefit to all the Americans that
lived in the area including the people in Punta Banda. On any given Sunday my father would pack his tools and take us to Punta Banda to David?s house.
David lived in one of the homes that were part of a small community that were kicked out in the late nineties by the Mexican government. I am pretty
sure most people are familiar with this issue. My father would use the trip to Punta Banda to work on the cars of the people in this small community
and
at the same time take us out to the beach or to The Bufadora (My father just to took us there before they had all those restaurants opened and there
was less people selling trinkets). It was quiet an experience going to the Bufador the beach in Punta Banda. I remember going inside the vacant
skeleton structure that had the shape of a huge dome. This dome was located north from David?s house. We made numerous trips to this dome and every
time we went inside my father would tell about the story of the structure. The story of the dome and the adjacent building was that it was a owned by
Cantiflas (famous Mexican comic) due to not having enough funding the project stopped. The dome and the building adjacent was suppose to be a top of
the line hotel. Before we moved to the US I remember hearing that the hotel had been finished and it was open for business. I haven?t been in Punta
Banda since I was a child, I don?t know if this is true.
Look out for part dos
Germ
HijodeEnsenada
Mike Humfreville - 9-16-2004 at 02:49 PM
Thank you for the first part of your story. I look forward to many more. It's always interesting to get the valid flavor of a person who lived the
story out.
You would still recognize La Bufadora, of course, from the hillsides and the road leading there, and the location of the blowhole itself can't be
changed. But the community that has grown up around it now contains over a hundred shops, markets, stores and restaurants. On the average summer
weekend the same single narrow street is jammed with tourists, Mexicans and foreigners alike.
Write on amigo. Looking forward to your next segment.
synch - 9-16-2004 at 05:26 PM
I was in La Bufadora a few months back, so many tiendas line the street now
[Edited on 9-17-2004 by synch]
Thanks
synch - 9-16-2004 at 05:39 PM
Thanks, great read
Bajalero - 9-16-2004 at 06:35 PM
Your story brings back some good memories. The dome as you call it was always something to look forward to in our excursions to Pta. Banda -we called
it the echo room because it did just that. Really amplified the affect of the m-80's we would set off. We had a trailer at Villarrino camp and besides
playing the most awesome games of hide and seek in this unfinished structure , playing in the surf , and catching small octopi at night by pouring
salt in their holes in the tidepools there was little time for anything else. We did get into fights with the Villarino kids but always ended up
playing together later on and sharing the tamales (at 12 for a buck) that the vendor girls would bring around. There was literally nothing on the
point past the Russian camp except the hotel then. This was in the mid 60's to early 70's. What a time it was!
Taco de Baja - 9-17-2004 at 07:53 AM
That dome was really cool.
I remember it had weird acoustics where you could stand on one side of the room and talk really softly and a person on the other side of the room
could hear you like you were right next to them. As a kid of 5 to 8 years old, I found this very neat.
I too have not been back to the area since they first began constructing buildings around the Bufadora. My family and I prefer to remember the area
as it was.
Bob H - 9-17-2004 at 08:07 AM
This is good stuff. Great read. Going to La Bufadora these days - you should go early in the day - try to park before the entrance and walk in.
Once the buses come and everyone else parks inside - when you get ready to leave you would move so slowly to get out. So many people. Still, a day
trip to La Bufadora is always a blast!
Looking forward to numero dos.
Bob H