We went to see pretty much what Ensenada is famous for: La Bufadora, a marine geyser. Basically as the waves pound into the coastline, pressure builds up in a particular cave, shaped in a particular way, and shoot up into the sky, 80 to 100 feet up. On the walk there, we had to walk through a flea market, where the vendors sold all manner of trinkets and souvenirs, as well as tacos and seconds-old churros.
The girls were well-entertained on the rest of the cruise thanks to some magnetic bead necklaces that my mom had bought for them. They'd wrap them around their wrists, loop them around their necks (loose per Mommy's orders!), and stick them to the walls in our stateroom on the ship. Yes, those wallpapered walls were magnetic!
Unfortunately, there was one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad incident that occurred in Ensenada. We finished the tour of La Bufadora and were waiting around for my parents to come back from shopping so that we could take the bus back to our ship. While we were waiting, we saw a huge jump house for kids to play in. We asked if we can let our girls jump around in there, and they said that's what it's there for, so we let them play. Abigail was tired by this point, so she napped in my arms while Elizabeth jumped in there alone. A few minutes later she was joined by about five other kids, who were all happily jumping around. Four of the kids got out after a few minutes, and sat down to eat in an enclosed patio next to a bar, leaving Elizabeth and another boy, who looked to be about 8 years old. Next thing I know, he grabbed her, tackled her, and BIT HER LEG. I couldn't do anything because I had a napping Abigail, but my husband jumped up and almost ripped the kid's head off (don't worry, neither one of us laid a finger on him). He got Elizabeth out from the clutches of this monster-boy (sorry, anybody who attacks my daughter and leaves toothmarks and scraped skin on her leg will get called monster-boy), and I ran around looking for his parents. They were nowhere to be seen. I went to him and asked where his mommy is, and that's when I saw that he had Down Syndrome. And that's when he spit at me. I asked again where his mommy is, this time in Spanish, and he spit at me again.
His mommy was still nowhere to be seen.
My daughter's leg had a huge bite mark on it. I could count the number of teeth that he had just from a look at her leg. And I could see two spots of scraped skin right where his incisors were.
I went up to the enclosed patio and finally saw a woman walking toward the stairs, and found out that it was her son in the jump house that had bit my daughter. But at this point, what could I do? I can't beat her up. I can't get mad at her son. I can't rip her son's head off. All I could say was "where the heck were you? You NEED TO SUPERVISE YOUR CHILD!! I don't care that you need to grab a glass of water, YOU NEED TO SUPERVISE YOUR CHILD!! If you have to leave the area, BRING HIM WITH YOU!!" But what's done is done, and really, what could she do other than apologize up one side and down the other? She did apologize, but it was quite obvious that she couldn't (or wouldn't) get control of her son. She tried to get him out of the jump house but he wouldn't comply. She tried for a minute or two, and then gave up.
Ugh.
Anyways, my husband washed off her leg, and I got some ice for her leg, and we tried to make the rest of our time there better. And stay the heck away from that boy.
Well, about 10 minutes later, I saw a man trying to talk the boy out of the jump house. What? Is he the father?? Now I'm angry again -- two parents, and neither one was supervising their son?? I also saw that the boy had a similar wristband that my girls had gotten on the cruise. Great, this boy is on our boat. And who knows who'll supervise him (or not), and when he'll bite again.
Ugh.
I am with you! I can't stand it when parents don't supervise their children. Totally bad parenting. I am glad Elizabeth is ok.
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