A new day in Ensenada, we wake to the ‘bing bong’ and the cheerful voice of a cruise director. Young and chipper, she instructs the throngs of buffet stuffed cruisers on the procedure of debarking the ship. I know, because I’ve been here for three weeks, that the Carnival Inspiration is in port today. I peer out my companionway, bright white and rust streaked in all her glory. There’s a second ship as well, the ultra tacky Disney Wonder is also in port today. I can see the bulbous stern, and a plume of black smoke belching from a funnel adorned with Mickey Mouse ears. Soon the happy cruisers will be wandering the Malecon, looking a little lost and bartering for jewelry and backpacks with their favourite professional sports franchise logo. The cruise ship people are slightly mysterious, they walk past silently, taking the occasional picture and then they disappear, promptly at five. They are much quieter than the Mexican families that come to the Malecon in the evening and on the weekends. Mexican children run and play while their parents hold hands and laugh at private jokes. Cruise ship people aren’t that comfortable. Some carry large DSL cameras. Some young couples take selfies with our boat as the back drop. I occasionally consider calling out to them, wanting to find out how I find their selfie on Instagram, with me in the background enjoying my morning coffee. I’m in a lot of those selfies, I could maybe become a celebrity background model and charge 10 pesos per selfie. I don’t know how I’ll collect though. I know from the cruise director’s afternoon announcements that the trip back to Los Angeles will include a Halloween party. Every trip back to Los Angeles this month will include a Halloween party. I wonder what they do on the way back to Los Angeles in November? Does Disney do a Halloween party? We can’t hear their announcements, their PA system is much quieter. The other day we cruised past one of the ships in our tiny boat. Several passengers lined the stern rail on one of the upper decks. Kirstyn waved to the happy crowd. One gentleman reluctantly waved back then looked to his fellow shipmates looking a little embarrassed. Today our plan is to do a small amount of boat maintenance then walk to the Mayorista store to get groceries. We might also stop at the store with the giant bottles of rum and vodka for 109 pesos. I might get a fish taco while we’re up that way, those are good tacos, we’ll see.
Adventures of Sunshine Three 