Punta Banda, a mountainous promontory about 8 miles long and 2 miles wide, extends in a northwesterly direction and forms the southern shores of Bahia de Todos Santos. It is 27 kilometers by road from Ensenada and 17 kilometers by sea. In about 1885 plans were laid to establish the Colonia Carlos Pacheco. This colony was comprised of the three “cities” of Ensenada, San Carlos and Punta Banda. These three areas were situated north to south respectively, at intervals along the bay shore. Two thousand acres were designated at the base of the mountain for the town site of Punta Banda. A 1500-foot pier was built to serve the steamship lines that occasionally visited the region. A rare salty hot sulphorous spring was located in this area and a hotel and bath house were constructed, which opened in 1888. Unfortunately, the collapse of the prosperity of the 1880’s, due to the short-lived gold rush, caused the inability to sell town site lots. As a result, by 1897 the Punta Banda area became deserted. The pier and the hotel were gradually destroyed by storms and the town was finally abandoned.

During the first decades of the 20th century the site again became a small settlement, and by 1921 the population was listed at 86. The adjoining Maneadero Valley to the northeast became a prosperous agricultural area, and this prosperity gradually extended into the Punta Banda area. This led to the popularity and prosperity that Punta Banda enjoys today. Nowadays you will find the area has been developed into a thriving little tourist center. The peninsula is occupied with campgrounds, cabins, and boat ramps that have made Punta Banda a popular tourist destination. Near the tip of promontory is a spectacular site named La Bufadora, a “blowhole”, which is a little sea cave where wave action causes a compression of air and a resultant explosion of sea spray into the air beneath a spectator lookout. Adjoining the blow hole is a development of craft and artisan booths and restaurants to serve the visiting public. If time permits, visit this area while you are in Ensenada, it is a beautiful drive through a green agricultural valley to a majestic mountain Cape with a superb view across the sea to the north and the south. This magnificent landmark portal is your gateway to further adventure south of Ensenada.

The pop singer that you may associate with her first hit called “Different Drum” (written by Michael Nesmith of the Monkeys) recorded with a band named the Stone Ponies and dating California Governor Gerry Brown was raised in Tucson. As a Mexican American by descent, she recorded two excellent record albums (now CDs) celebrating the music of old Mexico. Her grandfather’s habit of singing to her aunt when she was a child the collection of tunes inspired the songs Linda flawlessly performs singing the traditional music of the land of shorter shadows. You will thoroughly enjoy these songs, through the years sung to wile away the long afternoons on the rancheros and in the cantinas of days gone by and still in present day times.

Federico José María Ronstadt, better known in his later years as Fred Ronstadt, was born in 1868 on the Hacienda Las Delicias near Cananea, Sonora. He spent his childhood in Sonora, moving to Tucson at the age of fourteen to learn the wagon-making trade. In addition to an intelligent, curious, retentive mind and a capacity for hard work, he brought with him a love of all sorts of music. Music seems to have been a feature of the Ronstadt household from the beginning. His daughter Luisa (Linda’s aunt) remembered her father sitting under the grape arbor in the yard on summer evenings, playing his guitar and singing old songs from Sonora. Those songs are part of the family heritage to this day. It is not surprising that this talent and enthusiasm continued as a family tradition. Fred Ronstadt’s daughter, Luisa, became an internationally known interpreter of Spanish song and dance in the 1930s, under the name of Luisa Espinel. In 1994 the Ronstadt family was awarded a Copper Letter from the City of Tucson for beautifying the city with song for well over a hundred years.

Linda writes on the liner notes, “Since I was a young child, I have loved and admired the traditional music of Mexico in all its wondrous diversity. It is said that there are many contradictions in the Mexican culture. Its music is no exception. It is at once the most disciplined and the most hang loose music I have ever attempted. Its Pre-colombian rhythms and subsequent European influences always allow it to shine as distinctly Mexican. The mariachi is in the truest sense a folk orchestra playing the regional music of Jalisco. The influx of German settlers in the north brought with it the accordion and the polkas, waltzes and oom-pah military music so dear to German hearts. The Mexicans engulfed and made it there own. My brothers and I grew up particularly loving the sones and huapangos from the south and trios from Huastecas. We were thrilled when we finally got to record our own versions of these songs we’d admired so long”.

Returning to her Mexican Heritage, Linda Ronstadt changed her musical trends with two excellent music albums featuring a return to her roots. Performing a wonderful set of traditional Mexican music, the velvet-voiced diva’s inspiring and impassioned offering a collection of unforgettable songs that will stay with listeners forever. Señora Ronstadt stepped into the studio with the intention of not only preserving her rich heritage, but also connecting with her past.

Linda Ronstadt recorded “Canciones de mi Padre” (Songs of my Father) in 1987 and followed in 1991 with “Mas Canciones” (More Songs) due to the first album’s tremendous success. Both are beautifully presented with the words to the songs in both Spanish and English on the CD enclosure liner notes. The first album has Linda’s comments prefacing the words to the songs. The incredible range of Linda’s voice is accented by rowdy hooting male companions who also join in with perfectly tuned harmonic choruses. A brass section accompanies strummed and picked guitars contrasting the velvet violins which together celebrate the emotion shared on “Mi Ranchito”. Mix in a harp, harmonica, flutes, a tuba, percussions, and the vihuela (a delicately crafted 12-string guitar with gut strings and 1 to 5 decorated rosettes instead of the sound holes) and you have your entire happy hour filled with music characteristic of Baja and beyond into mainland Mexico.

These songs will remain a great keepsake continually calling you back to visit Mexico again. A few of these songs date back to the turn of the 18th century and are the indigenous folk songs of Sonora, Mexico. The first album was recorded by Asylum Records and is referenced by #60765-2. The second was an Electra product #61239-2. There is also an excellent DVD performance of these songs entitled “Canciones de mi Padre, A Romantic Evening in Old Mexico” available on the internet at CD Universe. Performed in 1991, this is a stage performance of the songs on Linda’s albums, performed in three acts complete with a Mexican ballet. Linda sings 21 songs during this rousing and inspirational celebration of Mexican culture. The DVD is on the Rhino Home Video label #R2 970298.

In Mexico and Central America, grows a monster of a plant known as the Blue Agave. It is a succulent, like a cactus or yucca plant. If you can imagine an Aloe Vera plant weighing hundreds of pounds and as tall as a man, then you have an idea of what this Agave plant is like. There are literally hundreds of different species of Agave, it is an ancient plant that has been known for its food value for thousands of years. Some claim that it is a gift from the Aztec gods. Until recently, it has probably been best known as the plant from which tequila is distilled. More recently it is becoming well known by the health conscious as a sweetener for foods.

The Agave Nectar comes from the core of the plant. As the plant matures, its side leaves are cut off leaving the core and a spiky top-knot something like a pineapple plant. The core can weigh well over 100 pounds and more. The sap is then taken from the core, and is lightly heated over low temperatures breaking down the carbohydrates into simpler sugars. The lighter the Agave Nectar, the more it has been filtered, and the more mild its taste is. We understand that there are a few people who don’t like the taste of honey (It’s really hard for us to imagine, but we hear it’s true), Agave Nectar may well be for them, It makes a wonderful sweetener for many purposes especially as a replacement for sugar in cooking. In spite of its mild flavor, you use less Agave Nectar than sugar in recipes. A general rule of thumb is to use 2/3rds the amount of Agave by volume than sugar when replacing it in a recipe. It is really very nice in coffee and tea.

If you are diabetic, then you probably know Agave Nectar as the blessing it is. It has a lower glycemic index than sugar or even honey; yet it has no bitter aftertaste like many artificial sweeteners do. Two Tbsp. of Agave Nectar has a glycemic index of 30, and a glycemic load of 9.6. That is little more than half that of a medium fresh apple; and two Tbsp. of Agave Nectar can put a lot of sweet on something.

At any rate, Agave Nectar isn’t just for the health conscious or those trying to avoid sugar, the plain and simple fact is it tastes really good. You don’t need an excuse to like it, it’s just delicious.

Tequila, an alcoholic liquor distilled from the fermented juice of the Central American century plant Agave tequilana. Any of numerous plants of the genus Agave,  native to hot, dry regions of the New World and having basal rosettes of tough, sword-shaped, often spiny-margined leaves. Agaves are grown for ornament, fiber, and food. Also called the century plant and grouped into the family of succulent plants. The best-known species is the American aloe, or century plant, which usually flowers only once, between the ages of 10 and 25 years. Shortly before it flowers, a long stalk grows rapidly upward to a height of about 12 m (about 40 ft). The flowers are large and greenish and cover short, horizontal branches that spring from the upper half of the stalk. Some plants die after flowering, but rhizomes of suckers often develop into new plants. The plant may also be grown from seeds, bulbs, or underground stems. The agave has large, thick, and fleshy leaves, which can store considerable quantities of water. They are spiked, particularly at the tips, are evergreen, and grow to a length of about 2 m (about 6 ft) in a cluster around the base of the plant. The blue agave (agave azul tequilana weber) has long bluish green spiny leaves with sharp points and a large heart (called piña or pineapple) from which the juices are extracted and then distilled twice. One liter of distilled tequila requires between 6 and 8 kilos of agave pulp. Tequila is not distilled from pulque nor is it produced from any cactus. Different agaves and processes produce mezcal with different names throughout Mexico: stotol in Chihuanhua, mezcal in Oaxaca, and bacanora in Sonora.

Many species of agave are of economic importance. Sisal, native to the West Indies but now also grown in Mexico and various tropical countries of Eurasia, yields sisal or sisal hemp. Fibers up to 1.5 m (5 ft) long are obtained from the leaves of this plant and are used to make rope. Other species of agave yield similar fibers that are called sisal or, more properly, false sisal. The roots of some species yield a pulp that produces a lather when wet and is used as soap. Such soap plants are called amoles. All agave is called maguey in Mexico. One species, the false aloe, is native to the southeastern United States.

Tequila is famous around the world for its unique taste and bouquet and it is also the great mixer used in Margaritas that have become one of the most popular cocktails ever. Tequila is a Mexican liquor distilled from the fermented juices obtained from the hearts of blue agave plants grown in the Tequila Region. The liquor gets its name from the town of Tequila located in the state of Jalisco where production started more than 200 years ago.

The process of tequila begins when a blue agave plant is ripe, usually 8 to 12 years after it is planted. Leaves are chopped away from its core by a “jimador” who assesses the plants ripeness. If the plant is harvested too soon, there won’t be enough sugars to do the job. Too late and the agave’s sugars will have already been used to form a once-in-a-lifetime stem “quiote” that springs 25 to 40 feet high so that the seeds grown at the top of the stem can scatter with the wind. The jimador’s task is a crucial one; once he decides that the plant is ready, he wields a special long knife known as a “coa” to clear the core. The cores or piñas (Spanish for pineapple) weight an average of 40 to 70 pounds, and can weight up to 200 pounds. The “piña” will be visible when all the leaves (pencas) have been cleared. Piñas are hauled to the distillery where they are cut in half or chopped and put to roast. Starches turn to sugar as the piñas are roasted in furnaces called “hornos”. Modern distilleries use huge steam ovens to increase output and save on energy. Roughly speaking, seven kilos (15 lb.) of agave piña are needed to produce one liter (one quart U.S.) of tequila.

The roasted piñas are then shredded, their juices pressed out and placed in fermenting tanks or vats. Some distilleries use the traditional method to produce tequila. In this method –artesian tequila– the cores are crushed with a stone wheel at a grinding mill called “tahona” and the fibers are dumped into the wooden vat to enhance fermentation and to provide extra flavor. Once the juices are in the vats yeast is added. Every distiller keeps its own yeast as a closely guarded secret. During fermenting, the yeast acts upon the sugars of the agave plant converting them into alcohol.

Distillation
Juices ferment for 30 to 48 hours then they are distilled twice in traditional copper stills or more modern ones made of stainless steel or in continuous distillation towers. The first distillation produces a low-grade alcohol and the second a fiery colorless liquid that is later blended before being bottled. Alcohol content may be between 70 and 110 Proof. At this moment the liquor is no longer mezcal but tequila.

Types of Tequilas
Tequila can only be produced in Mexico, in the Tequila Region, and must comply with strict Mexican government regulations. In order to satisfy an ever-growing demand and a multitude of consumer’s preferences and tastes, tequila is produced in two general categories and four different types in three of those categories. The two categories are defined by the percentage of juices coming from the blue agave:

Tequila 100% Agave. Must be made with 100% blue agave juices and must be bottled at the distillery in Mexico. It may be Blanco, Reposado, or Añejo.

Tequila. Must be made with at least 51% blue agave juices. This tequila may be exported in bulk to be bottled in other countries following the NOM standard. It may be Blanco, Gold, Reposado, or Añejo.

Blanco or Silver
This is the traditional tequila that started it all. Clear and transparent, fresh from the still tequila is called Blanco (white or silver) and must be bottled immediately after the distillation process. It has the true bouquet and flavor of the blue agave. It is usually strong and is traditionally enjoyed in a “caballito” (2 oz small glass).

Oro or Gold
Is tequila Blanco mellowed by the addition of colorants and flavorings, caramel being the most common. It is the tequila of choice for frozen Margaritas.

Reposado or Rested
It is Blanco that has been kept (or rested) in white oak casks or vats called “pipones” for more than two months and up to one year. The oak barrels give Reposado a mellowed taste, pleasing bouquet, and its pale color. Reposado keeps the blue agave taste and is gentler to the palate. These tequilas have experienced exponential demand and high prices.

Añejo or Aged
It is Blanco tequila aged in white oak casks for more than a year. Maximum capacity of the casks should not exceed 600 liters (159 gallons). The amber color and woody flavor are picked up from the oak, and the oxidation that takes place through the porous wood develops the unique bouquet and taste.

Reserva
Although not a category in itself, it is a special Añejo that certain distillers keep in oak casks for up to 8 years. Reserva enters the big leagues of liquor both in taste and in price.

Flan, pronounced [FLAHN] is commonly used as a term to describe the Spanish, Portuguese, or Mexican version of French Crème Caramel normally baked in a water bath and turned out of its mold into the plate for serving. You will find this desert in Baja in many restaurants as a treat to enjoy after your meal.  It resembles and is very similar to custard made from a combination of milk or cream, egg yolks, corn flour, and sugar and flavorings such as vanilla. Depending on how much thickener is an added the custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce or Crème Anglaise, to a thick blancmange like that used for vanilla slice.

The name “Flan” originated from a word in old French “flaon”, which comes from Latin “flado” meaning “custard”. The same Latin root was used in the Middle English word “flaton”, and “flawn” which later became flan”. The roots of Flan, and really custards in general date back to Medieval times. This eggy confection is mentioned in both Ancient Roman and Medieval European food history. The term originates from alchemy, where some practitioners needed to give their materials prolonged periods of gentle heating, in an attempt to mimic the supposed natural processes whereby precious metals germinated in the earth. It was said to be an invention of Mary the Jewess, an ancient alchemist. These custard dishes were widely spread through Europe with the Roman conquerors. ” According to Platina’s De Honesta Voluptate, an Italian cookery text published approximately 1475, custard-type dishes were considered health food. In addition to being nourishing they were thought to soothe the chest, aid the kidneys and liver, increase fertility and eliminate certain urinary tract problems.” Eggs were thought to have many health benefits (and aphrodisiac qualities as well).

During the Roman era eggs took on a much greater importance, when domestic fowl first became common. With eggs for the first time available on such a scale, it was now possible to consider them seriously in cookery. The Romans subjugated eggs as a thickening or binding agent for other foods. They borrowed from the Greeks the idea of combining eggs with milk to form a custard mixture, which was either cooked very slowly in an earthenware pot, or fried in oil…Another kind of egg confection was made of fruit or vegetables, or fish or shredded meat, bound with eggs and lightly cooked in the open dish called a “patina.”

Flan is often cooked in a bain-marie. A bain-marie (or “water bath”; plural bains-marie) is an apparatus used in cooking for applying gentle heat to food. The name comes from the French tradition, bain de Marie, meaning “Mary’s bath”, a process rendering the caramel sauce on the bottom layer. The food is placed in a container, which in turn is placed in a shallow dish filled with hot water, which is then usually placed in an oven. When finished cooking, the mold is inverted, covering the flan with the sauce. In England the term usually refers to a crust with either a sweet or savory filling.  The crust is formed and baked in a flan ring, cooled and filled. The sweet filling frequently includes custard.

Flan Variations

Spanish and Mexican Sweet Custard
Flan, the custard, is is a very popular dessert in Spain and in Mexico.  It is   normally made with whole eggs and milk with a caramel coating.  The typical favoring is simply vanilla but there are numerous variations that include almonds , pistachio, lemon, and various other fruits.

Savory Flan, Another Variation
A small savory version of Flan can be found on many restaurant menus as an accompaniment to a main course. Examples are Asparagus Flan, Sweet Potato Flan, or a Sweet Corn Flan. These are typically made of eggs, cream, and the appropriate vegetable flavoring.

Classic Flan Tart
The Flan pastry is baked in a Flan ring atop a baking sheet.  Flan may also be baked in a tart pan or a pan with a removable bottom.  A filling is added to the baked pastry.  Fillings may be of any type but typically they are custard with a fruit topping or cheese custard resembling a Quiche.

Flan Pan (Mold)
In many countries such as Mexico, Spain, as well as Cuba it is customary to make flan in a special pan (mold) over a bain marie (water bath).  The molds are fitted with a lid that clips on securely.  The custard can be prepared on the cooktop or in the oven.   First you add sugar and water to the pan and swirl over a hot burner  to melt the sugar and form the caramel. The pan is then filled with the custard mixture and placed over a pot of boiling water (either in an oven or over a double boiler) where it remains until the custard is set, about 1 hour.

An Easy Flan Recipe
In g r e d i e n t s
1 3/4 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk (do not use low-fat or nonfat)
Pinch of salt
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water

3 large eggs
2 large yolks
7 tablespoons sugar

In s t r u c t i o n s
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Combine cream, milk and salt in heavy medium saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into cream mixture; add bean. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and let steep 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine 1-cup sugar and 1/3-cup water in another heavy medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and cook without stirring until syrup turns deep amber, brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush and swirling pan occasionally, about 10 minutes. Quickly pour caramel into six 3/4-cup ramekins or custard cups. Using oven mitts as aid, immediately tilt each ramekin to coat sides. Set ramekins into 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

Whisk eggs, egg yolks and 7 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl just until blended. Gradually and gently whisk cream mixture into egg mixture without creating lots of foam. Pour custard through small sieve into prepared ramekins, dividing evenly (mixture will fill ramekins). Pour enough hot water into baking pan to come halfway up sides of ramekins.
Bake until centers of flans are gently set, about 40 minutes. Transfer flans to rack and cool. Chill until cold, about 2 hours. Cover and chill overnight. (Can be made 2 days ahead.)

To serve, run small sharp knife around flan to loosen. Turn over onto plate. Shake gently to release flan. Carefully lift off ramekin allowing caramel syrup to run over flan. Repeat with remaining flans and serve.

How would you like to visit a Baja restaurant that has Ensenada’s finest Cadillac Margaritas and 24-hour food service too? Welcome to El Corralito! The restaurant and bar are distinguished by the green glass enclosed structure on the curb that sandwiches the sidewalk in between the outdoor seating area and the main bar and galley. This results in everyone that is passing on the walkway to walk through the establishment. Wherever you are seated, the color of the day is vividly on display, and in this reporter’s book, this eatery and bar equals even France’s sidewalk cafés for an interesting menagerie of passing town traffic. On cruise ship in-port days you will find Ensenada’s streets filled to overflow with a melting pot of locals, partying and shopping gringos, strolling mariachi minstrels, and the town’s many enterprising street vendors.

Eduardo Escobedo has owned the El Corralito for the entire 46 years of its existence. You will see the same employee faces every time you visit, creating a warm and friendly ambiance for you and your party. The food is excellent, as witnessed by a party of 20 that was visiting last week from San Francisco. They had just arrived from Cabo San Lucas by cruise ship and said the El Corralito food was the best yet on their trip. Loren and Michelle had a day in Ensenada to kill during a 13 hour lay-over fresh from Catalina by cruise ship and said, “great tunes, good food, good beer, and a great atmosphere”. They had spent 2 hours watching 3 of the 5 big screens featuring a live satellite dish sports broadcast, a U-2 concert and Baja off-road racing. The place does have a unique interior look, the walls and ceiling are covered with Baja racing memorabilia, signed dollar bills and Polaroid camera shots that date back many years. By the way, all those hundreds of dollars of US dinero are rendered non-negotiable in Mexico after being defaced by the act of personalizing that bill with an ink marker before it is stapled to the wall.

The menu has changed little over the years. The last time the menu was changed was for design purposes only a few years ago. Now the El Corralito is expecting a new menu in coming weeks reflecting the new food prices caused by the weakening global economy. One dollar tacos will now be a little more, as will the most expensive dish, steak and lobster. You will still get a huge serving of local Mexican fare for just over 6 bucks. The specialty of the house is the huge fishbowl Cadillac Margarita, still priced reasonably, containing an interesting and tasty mix of spirits. The best brands of tequila will be found here, if you want to splurge, try a shot of one of the many preeminent brands of Mexican tequila the bar has to offer!

Deservedly popular, this pleasant restaurant which has an enclosure for patio seating on the roadside, serves up gigantic portions at some of the best prices in town. The atmosphere is lively when it fills up but even if it is empty just go for the food. Try the super 16 inch burrito, filled with meat of your choice along with peppers, beans, rice and pico de gallo and covered with three different sauces – a real challenge to finish. Curbside enclosed and indoor eating 24 hours a day, the bar is closed from 2am to 10am.

Local to Ensenada and the Coronado Islands mariners and road warriors can observe many seaborne circular enclosures which are serving as underwater feedlots for the creatures called “the kings of the sea”; thunnus thynnus orientalis, or Pacific bluefin tuna. These valuable fish are symmetrical, with pointed noses, vacuous eyes, and rigid appendages. This is the fish prized above all others by connoisseurs of sushi and sashimi. The fish whose belly meat (called toro) commands the highest prices on Japanese restaurant menus (with the exception of the potentially poisonous fugu, or blowfish, which is not nearly as widely sold). At its best, when the fat content is high, and the fish has been meticulously handled; the flesh is fabulously tender and buttery, ranging in color from a soft pink to a deep wine red. Obviously too luscious to cook and begging to be eaten raw.

Unlike salmon, tuna has not yet been successfully farmed – that is, raised in captivity from egg to maturity. Currently, all bluefin must be caught in the wild, not only the Pacific species but also its giant, biologically similar Atlantic cousin, which is perhaps slightly less desirable from a gastronomic viewpoint. Around the world, fishermen facing declining quotas for high-quality bluefin tuna are discovering that one way to maximize the return on their reduced catch is to add value to it, only in a novel way; catch them live and fatten them up. That’s what Australian tuna fishermen have done in a big way. Concerned over the sustainability of the species, fisheries managers and the industry established quotas in 1984 to limit the tonnage of fish caught to 14,500 metric tons. That was reduced to 6,250 mt in 1988 and 5,265 mt in 1989.

The notion of capturing gold ingot valued tuna and holding them for the market has been around for a quarter of a century. It started in St Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia, in 1976 but stopped a few years later when the giant Atlantic bluefin tuna altered their migration path. Since then, various forms of bluefin aquaculture have been developed, the best known in Port Lincoln, Australia, and with operations spread around the world in Croatia, Malta, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Japan and Mexico. After entrepreneurs found that the high prices paid for such tuna outweighed the cost of building pens, operations quickly expanded into the Atlantic, to Australia, and then to Baja California.  Japan drives the market for fresh fish, it’s literally almost a stock exchange. The Japanese auction block determines local tuna prices.  After being caught by local seiners, the fish are then transported to farming facilities at the Coronado Islands and the Ensenada area run by Mexican tuna ranchers. Upon arrival at the site, the tuna are herded from the seiners underwater panels into the farm’s football field-sized pens, where they are fattened with sardines, anchovies, and other bait fish for three to six months. After months of gorging, the tuna are auctioned at Tsukiji, Tokyo’s fish market. Beginning in the 1970s, international fishing laws prohibited Japan from trawling foreign waters in their own boats. Japan had to import, looking to tuna ranches.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has listed the bluefin tuna as “critically endangered” on its Red List of species at risk. The number of bluefin tuna has been reduced to less than 5 percent of its original population size in just three decades. Other scientific debates surround the tuna farms and their existence. The Mexican tuna ranchers will do whatever it takes to protect and fatten the “herd”. From the Mexican ecologically forbidden practice of shooting predatory sea lions to spending thousands on temperature-monitoring devices that cool the water so the bluefin build up fat stores and, in turn, fetch a higher price.

Much of the tuna farm production is delivered to Chesapeake Fish Company at Point Loma Seafoods in San Diego for processing. These companies are involved in all aspects of the seasonal bluefin production, from the killing and cleaning of the fish to the packaging and shipping. Last year the Chesapeake employees worked from August to March to fill a quota of 900 tons of bluefin for Japan.

The bluefin are slaughtered individually by sticking a hook between the eyes that punctures the brain. Attached to the hook is a long pipe that’s inserted vertically into the fish. This shocks the spine and speeds up rigor mortis. A tuna’s value is determined by its grade. The grade is determined by the fish’s color and fat content. Number two grade is more highly valued, as it has more fat content, and number one grade is considered less desirable. There are four grades of tuna; however, most fish buyers recognize only the first two, as number three and number four grades are often either canned or frozen.

Negotiations begin on the dock of San Diego. Buyers from Japan inspect the fish, checking fat content, color, and visual appeal. After calls to Japan to determine current prices, high bids are accepted, and the tuna is submerged in crushed ice — after being sliced up and boxed for shipment and shipped by Chesapeake’s fleet of delivery trucks from the company’s Harbor Lane facilities to LAX, where it will go to Tokyo via air freight and be auctioned at Tsukiji, all within 48 hours.

Most of the tuna caught off the coast of California is not bluefin, and only a certain clientele is interested in bluefin, mainly the Asian market. Local fishery officials worry that there is simply not enough room in local Mexican waters for more pens to meet the growing demand. In the Ensenada area, there are six tuna-ranching operations either functioning or approved for operation by the Mexican government.

The first and largest of these, Maricultura del Norte, on the south side of Punta Banda, operates 15 pens, and legislation to authorize the first American tuna-ranching operation is being drafted. With funding from Chevron, Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute of San Diego is seeking permits to operate an experimental fish farm and hatchery for three years at Platform Grace, a relay point along an oil pipeline owned by Santa Barbara oil company Venoco Inc., near Ventura in federal waters. The Grace Mariculture Project would include four submerged pens, encompassing 1H square miles. The project’s goal is to help supply a growing demand for seafood. The largest trade deficit in the U.S. is oil, the second is seafood imports. As part of the three-year project, the institute would raise bluefin tuna, California yellowtail, California halibut, striped bass, and red abalone. The Grace Mariculture Project would be used to determine the economic and environmental feasibility of tuna ranching in the U.S. a pilot program to determine just how lucrative commercial bluefin farming is.

A local fishing tournament was affected by the existence of the tuna ranches. On Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005, the Ensenada Club Nautico sponsored the Torneo Internacional De Pesca Deportiva Verano, a huge Baja Norte fishing tournament with over 300 anglers competing in a vastly publicized largest fish contest that was held based in Ensenada. The second place fish, a 64 pound yellowfin tuna was disqualified because it was proven that the angler had bought the tuna from the Salsipuedes pens. Later others commented that the man who submitted the fish had rock cod on his boat and no gear to catch such a fish. The eyes were white and the fish was black and covered in flies. The cheating fisherman got so violent, it was necessary for the police to take him to jail!

Local boats net the fish, tons at a time, as they cruise along the coast, 20 to 30 miles offshore.  Then, the tuna are towed at less than two miles an hour, still in the water in specially designed enclosures, to local Baja tuna pens. There they live the life of Riley, splashing happily about in the huge circular pens, gaining weight and building their fat content on a sardine diet – all the fish they can eat, three times every day, six days a week, for four to eight months. To avoid damage to their livers from overeating, the tuna are fed only six days a week.  And on those six days, the sardines are broadcast across the surface of the water to force the big fish to compete aggressively for food. Some farmed salmon are criticized because, having no need to work for nourishment, they develop a flabby texture.

This method of fattening takes a run-of-the-mill fish, a so-so fish, and transforms it into a superstar, a fish ripe for the markets of the sushi and sashimi connoisseurs of Japan. The tuna are caught between June and August, as they swim between Magdalena Bay, near the southern tip of Baja California, and Monterey Bay, south of San Francisco. They are sold between October and March, by which time most of the fish weigh up to 190 pounds. Some of the larger tuna in the pens approach 330 pounds.

When the largest local tuna ranch company, Maricultura del Norte gets an order, an appropriate number of fattened tuna are harvested. That gives them an edge over conventional suppliers: they have to sell as soon as their boats dock. They sell when they want to, whether the demand is high or not. At Christmastime, when the demand peaks, Maricultura sometimes harvests as many as 900 tuna in a single day, working from sunrise to sunset. The current price for a gutted bluefin, with head and tail on, runs about $11.50 a pound for small fish, $15.75 a pound for medium fish and even more for larger fish. The meat sells at retail for as much as $45 a pound, despite the lasting slump in the Japanese economy. A 410-pound tuna was sold for a record $160,000 in 2005. Buyers insist on quality – tuna without bruises or blemishes, with vividly colored flesh, with maximum oil and fat content. When the pen is ready to harvest, it is like a ripe fruit, the fish at a perfect point in their development.

The harvesting of the fish is a systematic display of proven methodology. Divers in black wet suits start by raising a barrier inside one of the pens, separating a dozen or so tuna from the rest. Next they grab the fish, one by one, one hand on the tail and the other in the gills, and hoist them onto a barge, where another crew of workers holds them in place. Instantly that team spikes each tuna in the head, killing it, cut a main artery behind the gills to bleed it, and run a fine steel wire down the fish’s spinal column, paralyzing it immediately. Another team, astonishingly deft like the first, then takes over, cutting out the gills and guts in one swift motion and tossing the bluefin into a 32-degree saline water solution. The whole process takes only about 50 seconds. This method is employed to preserve the tuna’s quality in two ways: by avoiding the formation of excessive lactic acid and by preventing the fish’s blood temperature from rising after it has left the sea. This yields a cut of fish that is blissfully sweet and custard-like, with no hint of the metallic flavor that mars the elderly fare served at second-rate sushi bars.

About 95 percent of Maricultura’s output goes to Japan, the other 5 percent is sold in San Diego and Los Angeles, mostly to top restaurants. Chilly from their cold-water bath, the fish are cleaned, weighed, tagged and measured before being placed with cold gel packs in plastic-lined boxes to keep them fresh. If they are harvested on Thursday, for example, they are packed on Friday morning and trucked to Los Angeles International Airport on Friday afternoon. They arrive in Tokyo on Sunday, local time, and go on sale at 5 a.m. Monday. Most of them will be consumed by Wednesday at the latest. That may sound like a very long time. But in fact it is almost ideal; like a number of other fish, such as Dover sole, bluefin only reaches peak flavor and texture four to six days after it has emerged from the water. The Ensenada operations have a marketing advantage over numerous other tuna-penning locations because of its proximity to the Los Angeles airport with its 19 flights a day directly to Tokyo.

It is the reliability of supply and consistency of quality that make farmed bluefin popular, but they will never replace free-range bluefin in the very top echelon of the market. The true connoisseurs still prefer a wild fish, as they prefer a wild salmon. The muscle and meat structure is not the same from a pen 50 feet across compared to thousands of miles of ocean. Consumers complain about the meat structure and say the fat doesn’t taste right. The wild bluefin still get the top price. When a farmed Australian is going for 3,000 yen per kilo, in the same day a fancy wild bluefin from the East Coast or Spain with good fat will go for 6,000 or 7,000 yen per kilo. It is just a different product; it is not in the same size class, and it is also natural.

Whether tuna farming will serve as a model for farming other species, such as black cod and halibut, remains to be seen; but fishermen in many fleets have a definite success story to ponder as they contemplate the future of their industry. The world’s, and especially Japan’s, appetite for tuna seems insatiable. The question is whether stocks of bluefin can withstand the pressure. Already, the giant Atlantic bluefin, which can reach up to 1,500 pounds, is listed as endangered by the Monterey Aquarium, which monitors such matters. The southern Pacific bluefin, which is caught off Australia, has also been over fished, but so far the northern Pacific bluefin, caught here, appears to be in better shape.

Two books by John Steinbeck, his novelette The Pearl and his nonfiction account The Log from the Sea of Cortez, brought widespread attention of American travelers to La Paz and by the 1950s it was a popular sports fishing destination. But prior to this “discovery” of La Paz by mainstream civilization, much attention had been focused by the pearling industry on this beautiful area on the Sea of Cortez’s western shore. Steinbeck based The Pearl on a famous pearl story he heard while visiting La Paz in 1941. La Paz was for decades the world’s largest supplier of pearls and the mystique of the La Paz pearling industry continues long after the demise of the last pearl harvested.

Pearl gathering in the world goes back at least 7,000 years. Only particular mollusk varieties within the family Pteridae, found only in certain coastal areas off East Asia, Panama, and Baja California can form pearls. Pearl’s develop from sand grains or other small particles that manage to get between an oyster’s mantle and a shell.  The oyster secretes a substance that cushions it from the irritation of the particle-if the grain moves freely during the secretion buildup, the developing pearl is more or less spherical; if it stays in one place or is embedded in the shell it becomes a “baroque” pearl, irregular in shape. Even when the oyster doesn’t contain a pearl, the interior of the shell is highly valued due to its rainbow patina, known as the mother-of-pearl.

The Spanish found Indians along the Sea of Cortez coast wearing pearls and pearl shells as hair ornaments in the early 16th century, and while imperialistically conquering the local tribes added pearls to the list of exploitable resources in Mexico. Soon other foreign marine expeditions were engaged in finding the source of these highly regarded trinkets and the oyster beds that spawned their existence off the Sea of Cortez coastline.

After a Spanish mutineer reported the presence of pearls in the Bahia La Paz in 1533, harvesting them became one of Conquistador Hernan Cortes’s primary interests while exploiting the lower Sea of Cortez. Between 1535 when Cortes finally managed to establish a temporary settlement at Bahia La Paz, and 1697 when Jesuit padres began missionizing the Baja peninsula, incalculable thousands of pearls were harvested. The Jesuits strongly objected to any secular exploitation of the peninsula, preferring to keep the riches of the Baja within the domain of the church. Hence, during the mission period 1697 to 1768, pearling was restricted to sporadic illegal harvests; many pearls found their way to Europe, where they encrusted the robes of Bishops and Spanish royalty.

In the mid-19th century, following the secularization of Baja missions, the pearl industry was revived by armadores (entrepreneurs) who hired Yaqui divers from Mexican mainland Sonora to scour the shallow bays, coves and island shores of the local La Paz vicinity and north to Mulege. The invention of diving suits in 1874 revolutionized pearling by allowing divers access to deeper waters and further large-scale harvesting ensued. By 1889 the world pearling industry was dominated by Compania Perlifera de Baja California, based in La Paz.

Intensive harvesting rapidly depleted the oyster beds. Between 1936 and 1941 a mysterious disease killed all the remaining pearls, devastating the town’s economy.  Many La Paz residents today believe the disease was somehow introduced by the Japanese to eliminate Mexican competition in the pearl industry, but it’s more likely the disease simply took advantage of the already weakened remaining pearl population. In response, the Mexican government granted La Paz duty free status that all of the Baja enjoys to this day, transforming it into a busy port for goods from the United States and the Pacific Rim and stimulating tourism from the Mexican mainline.

The boom in the 1950’s due to the popularity of the Steinbeck novels established La Paz as a world-class sports fishing center and destination. But the tourist foray dwindled in the 1970’s, as industrial foreign fishing brought marlin, swordfish, and sailfish to the brink of extinction in the Sea of Cortez and the resort development of Cabo San Lucas eclipsed La Paz as a tourist destination. Since then, gringo visitors to the city have been mostly long-term snowbird retirees attracted by low prices and readily available health care. Today the big game fishing industry is resurrecting and the waters around La Paz are being discovered by a growing number of the vacationing yachters, scuba drivers and sea kayakers.

The area known as California was first claimed for the Spanish Crown in 1542 by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo when San Diego Bay was discovered. However, the region remained unexplored for more than two hundred years. In this time interval, New Spain’s expansion in the northern frontier continued along a line of one hundred presidios (military garrisons or forts) in the present- day Northern Mexico and the American Southwest. However, in 1769, in response to concerns over possible intrusion by Russia and England into the area, the colonization of Alta (Upper) California, was initiated by the Spaniards. Hispanic settlement of what is now California began when the Presidio and Catholic mission of San Diego were established. By 1823, nineteen more missions dotted the California coast from San Diego to Sonoma, along with several military presidios and civilian communities known as pueblos. With few exceptions, the settlers and their descendants stayed close to the coast. There were few extensions into the California interior.

Spain’s colonization strategy of California was intended to follow the same pattern as in Northern Mexico and in the American Southwest through the establishment of missions, pueblos and presidios, each having a distinct function.

Missions were intended to be the temporary facilities for turning natives into Christian citizens of the Spanish empire, thus providing a civilian population, a labor force and auxiliary military support for protecting Spanish interests in the area. By 1773, five missions had sprung up in California. These were San Diego, San Gabriel, San Luis Obispo, San Antonio de Padua, and San Carlos. The Franciscan Father Serra supervised their construction. These Franciscan outposts were the foundations on which California would grow. A total of twenty-one missions were established in California in the following years.

The pueblos (towns) were supposed to be composed largely of families recruited in Mexico. They were expected to provide agricultural support for the presidio companies, while also expanding population centers and military reserves in case of invasion. However, only three pueblos were established under Spanish rule in California. These were the pueblos of Branciforte, of Los Angeles and of San Jose.

Finally, the presidios were the military outposts established to provide coastal defense from foreign invasion and to defend the missions and towns. In addition to their military role, they were the civil, economic and social centers for the frontier settlements of Alta (Upper ) California. They served as the centers for government and for communication within California and between California, Mexico and Spain. The presidios were the trading centers, which received and disbursed the annual supply of goods from Mexico, on which the entire population was dependent for survival. And the presidial companies, composed largely of married soldiers and their families, were planned as “seed” communities from which future pueblos would grow, thus strengthening Spain’s claims to the region. All of the presidios met to varying degrees the goals assigned to them by the Crown. Most were successful in fulfilling their role as “seed” communities. Pueblos grew up around the forts as military personnel retired from active duty and constructed adobe homes nearby. Military garrisons from the presidios, provided protection to the mission padres the (priests) and to the settlers for as long as they were needed. Once, in 1818, presidio soldiers defend the coast from a raid by the Argentine pirate Bouchard. Presidio couriers on horseback provided an efficient communication system – an early “pony express” system.

Most of the twenty one California missions enjoyed great material success for a while, but the natives who were brought within their compounds were gradually decimated by foreign diseases to which they had no immunity. Thus the Franciscan friars were not able to deliver the expected large population of new Spanish citizens to the Crown.

One of the most dramatic and significant events of the Mexican period occurred in 1833, when the Mexican government secularized the missions. This meant that vast mission landholdings were taken over by the government, which in turn awarded them as land grants to Californians. The mission properties were distributed to soldiers in lieu of wages and to Mexican citizens in return for political favors. The Native Americans who remained were assimilated into the local society serving as laborers, household servants and vaqueros (cowboys). Soon huge sprawling ranchos became the basic socio-economic units of the province. While upward mobility remained difficult, some Mexicans succeeded in making the transition into the California elite, particularly with the help of these land grants.

During the 1821-1846 period, Anglo-Americans began to settle in California. Many of these settlers, particularly those who had come by ship, eventually married Mexican women (usually of the local aristocracy), became Mexican citizens, and obtained land grants. In contrast, Anglo overland pioneers who settled in the Sacramento Valley of northern California brought their families, stayed to themselves, and resisted integration into Mexican society. It was this group that ultimately rebelled in 1846 against its Mexican hosts and formed the short-lived secessionist Bear Flag Republic, which disappeared during the U.S. conquest of California.

Of the California pueblos, there was no significant growth to the pueblos with the exception of Los Angeles and San Jose, which remained as small villages until well into the American period. The significance of the presidios also diminished as communities eventually assumed the political functions originally centered in the presidios. By the end of the Spanish/Mexican period in 1848 and the US/Mexican war, the presidios were in ruins, due to disuse and cannibalization of building materials. Most of the buildings of these presidios have nearly vanished.

It’s interesting to note that there is no missionary built church in Ensenada. Gold, not God, developed the area into what is now known as a town. In February 1889, accounts reported that gold had been discovered in the Santa Clara Mountains about sixty miles southeast of Ensenada, which signaled the beginning of the boomtown era as gold rush fever brought new settlers from other areas. Now becoming a center of trade and support for the miners, with all the graft and greed that are usually a result, Ensenada endured the effects of this sudden prosperity. Rumors about the size of the area and its richness traveled from man to man. The farther the stories spread, the more incredible became the stories of the gold discovery. Soon the Baja California gold strike was given rumor status comparable to that of 1849 in central California. Old timers that had panned for gold as “forty-niners” near San Francisco, began streaming south in search of the quick riches that had eluded them in the north.

Joining them, men who had traveled to the west in search of a new life found land was abundant but jobs were scarce. The result was those who had made this migration to the area had no choice but to remain, regardless of the financial troubles they were experiencing. The news of the gold strike was quickly spread among these men in the Southern California region and soon they too were joining the rush to the Ensenada area. This news was circulated widely by Southern California News sources, which sent many correspondents to the new Santa Clara gold settlements. These journalists even further fueled the frenzy by exaggerating accounts of the event in order to increase the circulation of their publications.

The gold was in four gulches in a region of the mountains some 4,500 feet above sea level. The settlers in these gulches named their settlement after the ethnic group that was the primary population. American, Indian and Mexican names were assigned to three of the gulches; the other was of no particular ethnic connection named Alamo. These were inhospitable, cold and snowy areas and the camps attracted many more than their advertised capacity of 1,000. This tremendous pressure on an area that was quickly depleted of the gold found, created an even greater hardship than the environment on these men as they realized the fabled gold strike was mere fallacy.

The miners were gouged in every conceivable way by the services employed by the rush. Southern California steam ship and stagecoach lines and the Santa Fe Railway all increased their fares by as much as doubling the costs of transportation south. The cost was increased to as much as $10 to reach the mining area. Additional schooners were enlisted that were charging $6 per passage. Even at these inflated rates, they had to schedule extra runs which were loaded with men, animals and equipment. Many chose to travel by foot with pack mules and burros and campfires were seen glowing along the entire length of the dusty dirt road between Tijuana and the Santa Clara claims. Burros were in great demand and the cost of a good animal rose from $15 to as high as $40! All supplies were channeled through San Diego to the departing miners as news spread that Ensenada had no more supplies for those going south. To outfit for the trip, complete with food and equipment cost about $50.

By 1890 the mines were depleted and the area returned to its previous pastoral existence. This brief period of increased activity boosted the local mercantile business and a few of the miners involved did obtain great riches through their successful efforts to harvest the small amount of gold that was found. During this era, Ensenada consisted of three hotels, one bar, a pier, a few shops, a flour mill, a school, a stable and a wine cellar. A new telegraph and phone line between San Diego and Ensenada had been established. The discovery of gold had lured Hussong’s Cantina’s founder, German immigrant Johann Hussong to Ensenada. In those days, the cantina was located where Papas & Beer is now. The next door neighbors complained constantly about the noise, so Johann, who had assumed the name Juan, moved his bar across the street. In April, 1892 Hussong’s Cantina was formally established it’s the current location. The town’s population of 1400 consisted of primarily out-of-luck miners.

Tijuana is often referred to as the world’s most visited border town. The history of Tijuana is brief, compared to Rome or Mexico City, but this little town has made a name for itself around the world. The city of Tijuana is situated in a region once inhabited by the Kumiai, an indigenous tribe of Yuman-speaking hunter-gatherers. Europeans first arrived in 1542, when the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo toured the coastline of the area, which was later mapped in 1602 by Sebastián Viscaíno. In 1769, Father Juan Crespí documented more detailed information about the area and Father Junipero Serra founded the first mission of Alta California in San Diego. The missionaries came with soldiers and range animals and taught the Indians how to make wax candles, clothes, soap. They also introduced the Indians to ranching. At that time, few Mexicans lived in this Baja California area along the present day border. It was a land composed mostly of brush and desert, suitable for stock raising but little else. More settlement of the area took place near the end of the mission era when José María Echendía, governor of the Californias, awarded a large land grant to Santiago Argüello in 1829, then the commandant of the San Diego presidio. This large cattle ranch covered 10,000 hectares and was known as Rancho de Tia Juana. The community was a small settlement of ranch houses, born from the working ranch and its vaqueros (cowboys).

In 1889 mining activity began in Baja California, and Ensenada became the new port city of the border territory. In Tijuana, at the new international border in the middle of nowhere, a Mexican customs house was built, and the ranch became an important stop on the stagecoach road. The chance for passengers to get food and water gave birth to a popular story shared around the campfires of the traveling fortune hunters. The myth of Tia Jane may have come from a good woman, perhaps an Indian, like many of the ranch servants of those days who gave food to the stagecoach travelers passing through the area. While traveling south to the gold settlements, travelers climbed down to stretch their legs on the dusty or muddy earth outside an old adobe buildings, and to sit down at a table to drink and eat the food that the fabled cook Juana put before them before going on toward Ensenada. This seemingly insignificant moment at Tijuana was the birth of both tourism and the businesses that were spawned at the border crossing. Most of Tijuana remained a ranch community for many more years. Cattle, horses and other animals can still be found on hills around Tijuana. To this day, the area’s Mexican charros are among the best rodeo riders on Earth.

This year of 1889 marked the beginning of urban ascent for the little village of Villa de Zaragoza, then the official name for Tijuana. Descendants of Santiago Argüello and Licenciado Agustín Olvera entered into an agreement to begin the development of the city of Tijuana. By the 1890s, the area attracted many settlers, who began referring to the area as simply Tijuana. It became a municipality in 1917. In this same year, San Diego banned cabaret dancing and nightclubs. Three years later, U.S. Prohibition was written into law. Seeing an opportunity to attract U.S. visitors, Tijuana opened a magnificent casino and its residents built numerous bars and nightclubs in the town. U.S. tourists immediately began flocking to Tijuana, and the city boomed as a major playground, gambling and tourist resort.

During this era, Tijuana experienced a period of economic and demographic growth largely due to tourist enterprises owned and operated by Americans. One of the first was centered on the natural hot springs, the Tijuana Hot-Spa Hotel, built in 1885. This was followed by the construction of dog and horse racing tracks, casinos and other hotels. Mexicano entrepreneurs opened the first bull ring by 1910. When tourists visited San Diego during the Panama Exposition in 1915, they also traveled to Tijuana, which had recreation activities that were illegal in California. The Tijuana attractions, the Jockey Club, Trivoli Bar, the Foreign Club, the Sunset Inn and Agua Caliente Casino were all owned by Anglo-Americans and employed mostly American workers. This was a source of constant resentment with the Mexican labor unions and government.

By the end of the 1920s there were more than 260 businesses located in the downtown area, many of them along Avenida Revolucíon. These included many service businesses beyond the many bars. Besides liquor, Tijuana also had the attraction of almost unregulated prostitution and related vice establishments. Tijuana’s image as Sin City became world famous. During this era, schools, rural roads, paved city streets, water mains, electricity and telephones were all built from taxes on gambling and alcohol. New residents also came, among them Mexicans exiled from north of the border. They soon founded a new Colonia, Libertad, on the hill behind the ruins of the flooded and abandoned Tijuana race track (which had lost its power to the Caliente track up-river). The population grew 10 fold from the 1000 residents that occupied the city before the business boom began.

This period in the city’s growth engendered many negative stereotypes about Mexicans and border towns in the minds of visiting American tourists. These attitudes were generalized to Mexican Americans who lived in San Diego. It was not until the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas that Mexico moved to end gambling and American control of the tourist industry in Tijuana. In 1934, by presidential decree Cárdenas outlawed gambling and in 1937 the government expropriated American owned property in Tijuana. The gilded salons in Ensenada, Rosarito and Tijuana were all shut down. Most of Hollywood which had frolicked and floozied and flaunted their new movie money went away. Horse racing, whoring, drinking and prize fighting continued. Some of the casinos were converted to schools and those Mexicanos who lost their jobs were given government employment.

Today visitors are attracted to Tijuana, a bustling city of more than one million people, primarily for its shopping and entertainment opportunities. The city is a duty-free zone, and it is truly a shopping paradise, with an impressive and astounding variety of merchandise, ranging from silver jewelry, designer clothing, tile, ceramics, blown glass, glazed pottery, woven blankets, embroidered dresses, onyx chess sets, Mexican liquors and much more. You can still buy leather but now it comes from Durango and Zacatecas, a thousand miles away. Tijuana’s main street, Avenida Revolucion, is regarded by many as the world’s most popular street for shopping. Here you will find a 10 block strip of colorful craft marts, shopping arcades, boutique stores, and stalls offering bargains on a wide variety of merchandise from Mexico and from all over the world. Avenida Revolucion, is truly designed to be a “shop till you drop” experience. In addition to the hundreds of shops, dozens of restaurants and bars are scattered between the various shops in the area to help tired shoppers rest and unwind. Bargaining is expected with most street vendors in this area, but it is often considered inappropriate in the more upscale shops.