Once a year, the city of Ensenada hosts the "Ensenada de Todos" event where families, clubs and groups representing the different cultures and interests of Ensenada come together in front of our ginormous flag to offer samples of their unique foods, drinks and activities. Evaristo and I went this past Sunday to drink some mojitos from the Cuban stand and to eat some food from the Oaxacan post. We sat down in front of the bandstand to enjoy our Tlayudas and watch the recitals of local elementary school kids.
Afterward, we walked along the boardwalk and stopped to watch a new assemblage of sea lions that have taken up residence on one of the piers. It certainly isn't uncommon to see one or two sea lions swimming around the fishing boats every day, hoping to catch some scraps, but to see this many all sunning themselves on the pier was so cool and very out of the ordinary.
I have no idea how long the sea lions have been using the pier, but their arrival has been recent. Not everyone has had the opportunity to see sea lions up close and personal and if you haven't, now is a great time to go and check them out. As I sat there watching the sea lions interact, it was neat to hear what everyone else thought of them. Some little kid behind me spent a good while trying to convince his mom that sea lions are cold-blooded and that that's why they need to sun themselves. Some guys next to me were giving play-by-plays of the small fights and skirmishes that broke out from time to time between the bigger sea lions over space on the pier. I enjoyed watching the little sea lions climb over the big ones in hopes of finding more comfortable spots, only to annoy all the other sea lions in the process. I hope the sea lions stay for the summer.
