This weekend in Ensenada...

This was our first free weekend in Ensenada... on Saturday, I helped one of my friends on base repaint his apartment, then we went out for lunch to eat empanadas. Empanadas are sort of like a homemade Mexican version of a Hot Pocket - a hot pastry stuffed with all kinds of goodness, meat, cheese,veggies, bacon, mushrooms, chile, etc. They are one of my favorite foods down here, along with tamales. Tamales are made of corn meal dough called masa stuffed with a delicious filling and then wrapped in corn husks and then steamed in huge covered pots. These can also be filled with a variety of things, like meat or cheese, or be sweet and have fruit inside, like pineapple. I have learned that you will find the best tamales being sold out of someone's house or from a little stand on a street corner from a local. :)

Saturday night we all went to the circus! It was set up right behind the Walmart in town, so we all headed there for a fun night. I realized that I had never been to the circus before, even in the US, so I was pretty excited. At first I didn't really want to go because I thought it was with all those crazy rides and dumb arcade games, but then I realized that was a carnival, and that the circus would have animals and that would be fun. So I imagine the Mexican circus is pretty much the same as the American circus - clowns, acrobats, trapeze artists, mini horses, panthers, tigers, etc. The one thing that was alittle strange is they said the kids that were on the trapeze were only between 11 and 14 years old... I guess those kids really did run away from home and join the circus.Gordana and I pretending to be tigers outside the circus, haha.

Real tigers jumping through a fiery hoop!

Sunday was a ridiculously fun day, I went with my friend Giezi (who is also on staff here) off-roading in his jeep. We picked up some lunch in the morning then headed out with his other friends in their jeeps up to the mountains of Baja. We caught the most beautiful views of the coast. By the end of the day I was covered dust and dirt, but I didnt' care. It was really an unforgettable experience..I can only hope all my weekends here will be as memorable as this one :)