[destroycreate]

Cool thread! Ensenada is def. a place we don't see much of around here.

When I was a kid my parents kept their yacht in a Ensenada marina (next to Hotel Coral) for tax reasons, so we would often go down there from San Diego and spend the weekend. I LOVE the drive down the coast, and I actually like Ensenada way more than Tijuana, as its infinitely safer and more welcoming. However, it has a depressing/abandoned feel I can't quite put my finger on, but which can likely be attributed to the slump in tourism.

I wouldn't feel "guilty" about taking the pictures in any kind of exploitative way. First of all, Northern Baja state is the most developed in the country, and arguably the most middle class (the highest wages in the country). You don't see extreme poverty there like you do in say, Chiapas...but even then, people have this idea of Mexico being such a omgpoorcountrylookhowhardtheyhaveit when it's one of the most prosperous countries in all of Latin America. Ensenada is generally a lower-middle class town; we in the US are just not used to seeing half-assed put together houses, esp. made out of cement blocks (this is the norm in MX) and therefore misconstrue them as being shacks. If you go inside these homes, they're like any normal home.