Motion to Mexico: Ensenada Adventures

Adventures of All Sizes
Written By Coach Vida

There’s a rhythm to travel that isn’t just about where you go it’s about how you move through it. My latest trip to Ensenada, Baja California 🇲🇽 was a full journey in motion: border lines, mountain drives, Puerto Nuevo lobster, handmade Oaxaca treasures, and even a stop at Hussong’s Cantina, said to be the birthplace of the margarita.

Travel for me is about movement and gratitude. Every step, every stop, and every story becomes part of the adventure. At the table: lobster, and the taste of my own childhood of visits from long ago.

Lobster feast in Puerto Nuevo

Shopping with Gratitude

Travel is never just for the visitor; it’s for the local economy too. I searched the stalls until I spotted a handmade bag from Oaxaca, yellow and blue, it reminded me of a flower pot that sits at my front door. The vendor herself started the bargain: 100 pesos off if I took it. I never bargain and its such a part of the whole thing, but this time, I finally did.

I nearly chose a Sheinbaum apron instead, Mexico’s first woman president, before the U.S. could do it. My friend surprised me by buying it for me. That, too, was a gift.

The Bars and the Flags

Plans shifted, and that’s fine. We skipped our cooler beers and followed the noise instead: a street skate tournament under six Mexican flags, then Hussong’s , the oldest cantina, where the margarita was said to be born. Mariachis filled the room, heartbreak songs and laughter, strangers singing along. A rose appeared in my hand. Chivalry isn’t dead.

Lessons in Motion

The toll was paid, not just pesos but time, patience, energy. But a toll is also a ticket: the right to move forward. And that’s how I choose to see it.

What I learned:

  • Motion reveals capacity. You don’t know how far you can go until you’re already moving.

  • Support local, receive ancestral. When I gave to Oaxaca, Oaxaca spoke back.

  • Permission is an illusion. The gate was never locked, I only needed to drive through.

  • A toll is not a block, it’s a passage.

I came back tired but grateful, carrying lobster memories, a blue-and-yellow bag, a Sheinbaum apron, and stories that feel like roots. And this is only the beginning.

This reflection is just the story. To move with me through it, watch the Ensenada Adventures playlist here

Coach Vida wearing Ensenada Baja cap

Cap game going strong

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Coach Vida

Coach Vida is the voice behind FormaFit Active a movement journal rooted in mindful motion, real gear, cultural pride, and showing up without apology.
She believes in slow mornings, walking when it hurts, and building strength that feels like freedom.

Her motto: You don’t have to look like an athlete to move like one.

She writes from Los Angeles, with a speaker clipped on and sunscreen always in the bag. This journal is for anyone reclaiming energy, stretch by stretch.

Coach Vida es la voz detrás de FormaFit Active, un diario de movimiento con raíces en el cuerpo, la cultura y la intención.
Cree en moverse con calma, en estirarse cuando duele, y en la fuerza como libertad.

Su lema: No tienes que parecer atleta para moverte como uno.

Escribe desde Los Ángeles, con su bocina a un lado y bloqueador en la mochila.
Este espacio es para quienes se están reclamando, paso a paso.

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