Slow Baja

Andrew Szabo created the zany Budapest-to-Bamako Rally and the 3000-mile-no-support-Baja XL Rally. In this podcast, Szabo gives us an update on the latest developments for the 2021 Baja XL Rally, starting on January 29, 2021, and ending on February 7, 2021. Here at Slow Baja, we were thrilled to drive in the 2019 Baja XL Rally, which featured 300 entrants in 140 vehicles hailing from more than 25 countries. Due to Covid and border control issues with the U.S., the 2021 Baja XL will start in Tecate. The rally will finish ten days and 3000 dirt-laden kilometers later, on a beach South of Tijuana. The event will travel down the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja peninsula and camp in Diablo Dry Lake. Night two will be another camp out in Bahia de Los Angeles. Night three will be a beach camp on Bahia Concepcion, and night four will land at a camp night in Las Cruces. After the rally rounds the tip of Baja, it proceeds up the Pacific coast, and night five will be in Todos Santos. The Las Cruces night may become optional, opening teams to have a rest day and party night in Cabo or spend two nights in Todos Santos. From Todos Santos, the rally proceeds to the surf town of San Juanico, also known as Scorpion Bay. The next stop is Guerrero Negro, and a half-day of rest is in the schedule for whale watching. Ted and I have a panga booked with Shari Bondy of Whale Magic Tours; there should be several seats available to join us for whale watching. Please email me to reserve your spot. A night in Catavinia will follow, and the last night will be another camp night somewhere south of Tijuana. Visit the Baja XL Rally Website Visit the Baja XL Rally on Instagram  Visit the Baja XL Rally on Facebook Budapest-Bamako channel on Youtube 

Javier Plascencia’s first book, The Soul of Baja, describes his approach to life (and cooking) like this, “His creations reflect the love for his homeland, his respect for ingredients, and the permanent cultural exchange experienced every day in his native Tijuana.” He grew up cooking alongside his grandmother in the kitchen of Giuseppi’s, his father’s pizza restaurant. The sights, sounds, and smells, like a freshly-butchered hog, that he would turn into chorizo -form the core of his childhood memories. By the time he was a teenager, he knew that he was going to be a chef. Now 30 years into his career, his humility and approachability are a rare breath of fresh air in our celebrity-driven culture. In this conversation -recorded in a shady grove of olive trees at Finca Altazano, in the Valle de Guadalupe -Plascencia was relaxed and in perfect harmony with our surroundings. He consistently eschewed my inquiries about his restaurant empire, preferring to talk about his passions, surfing, and golf. Like his favored pursuits, Plascencia is intensely cerebral and competes mostly against himself. He’s committed to forging his own culinary path in harmony with the environment and fresh, locally-sourced ingredients. Enjoy the conversation with chef and restaurateur Javier Plascencia. Visit the Finca Altozano Website Visit the Finca La Divina Website Visit the Javier Plascencia Website Visit Javier Plascencia on Instagram Visit Javier Plascencia on Facebook

Tru Miller, the lovely and gregarious owner of Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards and Inn, is the Grande Dame of Baja’s wine region. Originally from the Netherlands, Tru spent much of her youth exploring the world. She has distilled that lifetime of travel into her casually elegant hacienda. When she and her husband, Donald Miller, bought the land in 1997, they began hiring the best. Hugo D’Acosta became their winemaker, and Newport-based architect Neil Haghighat designed and oversaw the winery’s construction. The first bottling was in 2000. Quality and obsessive attention to detail infuse every detail of their magnificent estate. Under the care of current winemaker, young-gun Daniel Lonnberg, Adobe Guadalupe produces some of the finest and most exciting wines in Mexico. For our visit, we arrived at 10 AM and found Tru and her agronomer, Jose Fernandez, having breakfast at the kitchen’s communal table. She beckoned us to join them, and we were delighted that we did. The eggs and machaca with handmade flour tortillas were divine. Tru opened a bottle of Tia Tula, her rose-colored blanco tequila (aged for thirty days in used Rafael wine barrels), and all was right in our world. After months of staying home, it was beautiful to be sipping tequila after a lovely breakfast of farm-fresh, locally-sourced ingredients. Viva Baja! Enjoy the conversation with Tru Miller, Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards and Inn. Visit the Adobe Guadalupe Website Visit the Adobe Guadalupe  Instagram Visit the Adobe Guadalupe Facebook

We met Gerald Lee in Ensenada, at the October 2019 NORRA 500 Rally. Lee and Kansas native, Miles Hasselquist, competed in a Ford Ranger pickup in the non-race, Savvy Safari 4x4 Class, for street-legal vehicles. It was Hasselquist's first trip to Baja, and Lee let him do all the driving. I've learned he's generous like that. Whenever we caught up with them, Hasselquist and Lee seemed to be in a smiling competition. With ear-to-ear grins, I wasn't sure if they were genuinely surprised our old Land Cruiser was still running or if they were having the time of their life. Lee grew up in Southern California, and like many who find themselves playing in the dirt as adults, started by racing motorcycles in his youth. Years later, when a friend gave him a Jeep, Lee wanted to modify it. He surveyed the burgeoning aftermarket offerings and decided to fabricate his own. Lee used lightweight aircraft-grade aluminum that's stronger and significantly lighter than the heavy steel parts that dominate the scene. What started as a hobby to improve his Jeep's performance became Savvy OffRoad, the leader in high-quality Jeep products and offroad racing vehicle construction and preparation. While Gerald is decided low-key about driving in NORRA events, he is a serious racer with multiple overall wins in the Every Man Challenge at the King of the Hammers. He's also had top drivers like Robby Gordon and Jessi Combs take the podium in Savvy OffRoad built racers. Visit the Savvy OffRoad website. Follow Savvy OffRoad on Instagram Follow Savvy OffRoad on Facebook Follow Savvy OffRoad on YouTube Visit the NORRA Mexican 1000 website.

Shari Bondy has been studying whales for more than thirty years. At eighteen-years-old, she moved to Vancouver Island, British Colombia, from Ontario, Canada. She wanted to get close to whales and Tofino, was the place to be with a population of Grey Whales, Humpbacks, and Killer Whales to study. Following the whale migration South, Bondy found herself in Laguna Ojo de Liebre in Baja. Instantly, she fell in love with the place and moved there to begin a new chapter in her research. In my opinion, Bondy is the Jane Goodall of the whale world. Like Goodall, she’s mostly self-trained and has spent decades in the field, watching generations of whales birth and raise their calves. She’s photographically identified scores of individual whales and learned their personality, character, and behaviors. To continue her research, she began Whale Magic Tours and has been instrumental in developing whale-watching in the region. From January through March, you’ll find her in her new private whale camp (glamp) in Guerrero Negro. You’ll find her in her home and boutique hotel La Bufadora Inn the rest of the year in Bahía Asunción. In this conversation, Bondy gets personal about how whales changed (and possibly saved) her life. She’s quick to acknowledge her spiritual connection to these majestic mammals. Her approach and her whale watching excursions are a deep-dive into the intimacies of whale behavior. And over the decades -she’s witnessed a phenomenal change in that behavior. Her approach has built a trust level with whales that often have mothers pushing their calves right up to touch the boats. If you are lucky, a whale may come close enough for a kiss! In addition to whale-watching, the region has excellent fishing, surfing, and kayaking year-round. Shari is happy to help book tours and activities, including diving, beachcombing, mountain biking, fossil hunting, and horseback excursions to see cave paintings with local rancheros. Visit the Bahía Asunción website. Visit La Bufadora Inn on Facebook Follow Shari Bondy on Facebook Follow Shari Bondy on Instagram

Malcolm Smith is probably the greatest name in American off-road racing. He’s won more races in more places on both two wheels and four. Smith’s list of racing achievements is stunning. Between 1966 and 1976, he won eight gold medals in the International Six Day Trial (the Olympics of motorcycling). He’s won the Baja 1000 six times (three times on a motorcycle and three times in a car), including the first NORRA Mexican 1000 in 1967. He’s won the Baja 500 four times and the grueling Mint 400 twice. He won the Roof of Africa Rally (his most memorable race) and raced the Paris Dakar Rally twice, “In 1988, I finished fourth overall. It was unlike any event I had ever raced before or since. I consider it one of my proudest accomplishments. It’s easy to go fast over twenty minutes; it’s much harder to go fast over twenty days. The difference? Preparation. Perseverance.” He’s in the legendary inaugural class of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. He’s also in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and the American Motorcycle Association Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Ironically, his appearance with Mert Lawwill and Steve McQueen in the 1971 Bruce Brown film On Any Sunday was what sealed his fame. Famed among the motorcycling and the off-road racing world, he remains a humble man with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. He loves Baja, and his Malcolm Smith Motorsports Foundation has adopted the El Oasis Orphanage in Valle Trinidad, Baja Norte. The MSM Foundation provides full tuition to university or trade schools for the children at El Oasis. Funding comes through charity motorcycle rides organized through Malcolm Smith Adventures. Each year, 15-18 university students receive full support from the ride, including tuition, books, transportation, clothing, and a personal stipend. In this conversation, Malcolm was enormously generous with his time and in opening his home for our meeting. He’s fighting a widely-reported battle with Parkinson’s disease and fought valiantly to find and form the words to answer my questions. After we wrapped our recording, Malcolm apologized for his performance. He’s a relentless competitor and wants to do his best in every way in everything. Before I left, I followed him up his long driveway in 110-degree heat. He wanted to show me a couple of old Land Rovers that he has stashed in his orchard. I had to hustle to keep up! Check out the Malcolm Smith Foundation Check out Malcolm Smith Adventures Check out Malcolm Smith Motorsports Follow Malcolm Smith Motorsports on Instagram Follow Malcolm Smith Motorsports on Facebook Special thanks to Alexander Smith for his help in arranging this meeting.

Tim and Kelsey Huber bill themselves as two ordinary people living an extraordinary life. For the last two years, they've lived in "Goose," a 1995 Toyota Land Cruiser modified for camping with a custom interior and pop-top. After a year secretly planning, saving, and divesting themselves of all salable possessions, the duo crossed into Tecate Baja, California, on June 25, 2018. They spent most of the first month trying to beat the heat by staying high in the mountains or hugging the Pacific ocean. Unfortunately, when they tried to ship Goose to mainland Mexico, a paperwork issue sent them back to the US border. They made a banzai-run North to get it sorted out. With the documents in hand, they said goodbye to Baja and headed East into Mexico. The Pan American Highway led them down through colonial cities of the North to the beaches of Oaxaca and into Chiapas' jungles. Once in Central America, they enjoyed Nicaragua and El Salvador but hustled through Costa Rica to get to Panama. They had a deadline to meet a freighter and get Goose across the Darien Gap. As they waited for Goose to arrive from Panama, they spent a magical month exploring Cartagena, Colombia, on foot. Back in the Land Cruiser, they worked their way South. Zig-zagging through Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru before heading into Brazil and onto Bolivia. They explored cayman-filled jungles, survived the death road, salt flats, and climbed to 18,660 feet, before continuing South into Tierra del Fuego. At the tip of Patagonia, they celebrated with friends they had met along the way before heading back North. Argentina and Uruguay were the last places they saw before the coronavirus began closing down borders. They shipped Goose to the US from Montevideo, Uruguay. He landed in Texas on March 17, 2020. With the drive to Canada figured into the journey, they've logged 80,000 miles and are still on the road! When we spoke at the end of August, they were in Gillette, Wyoming. To follow their journey or buy them a taco check out their website www.dirtsunrise.com. Visit Dirt Sunrise here Follow on Instagram Follow on Facebook Follow on YouTube

When she was ten years-old, Sarah Beck began traveling to Baja with her family to escape the drizzly Oregon winters. After several trips, they decided to put down roots and moved to San Juanico. A few years later, while surfing at dawn, she met her future husband -and a Baja love story was born. In our conversation, Sarah shares her passion for the people and the places that make the Baja peninsula so unique. Follow Sarah and a_moms_guide_to_traveling_baja on Instagram:

79-year-old Pete Springer has been traveling to Baja for over 60 years. He attended the 1969 Mexican 1000 as a spectator, raced a home-built single-seater in 1970, and won the Baja 1000 in 1973! In this conversation, he shares tales from his many years of Baja adventures. Highlights include; driving a 1940 Dodge Flatbed to Bahia de Los Angeles. Running out of gas while flying a small plane -and successfully landing it on the road near Santa Rosalia. Crashing his motorcycle in a pitch dark desert, -he was riding without a headlight after all! And years of building off-road race cars through seat-of-the-pants engineering and a lot of trial and error. Please note, I originally recorded this conversation in January 2020 (my second podcast recording) when I was a guest-host on the Baja Sessions Podcast. I am pleased to share this freshly remastered version here. To see more about Pete, check out his blog posts here.

Eighty-four-year-old Eve Ewing made her first trip to Baja in the back seat of her father's plane in 1952. Her father, the legendary Oceanographer Gifford Ewing, would fly his plane down annually to perform an aerial census of the California Grey Whales as they calved in Scammon's Lagoon. In those days, they landed right on the salt flats of Guerrero Negro. There was no town, just a grouping of five Quonset huts. Ewing's father would fly on to the village of Bahia de Los Angeles, where he would spend the night at Casa Diaz—owned by his friend Antero "Papa" Diaz. On one of his many trips, Gifford Ewing brought the first short-wave radio to LA Bay -an important gift for Papa Diaz. In 1963, when the Meling-Alford mule train arrived in LA Bay, their second stop from Tecate, half the riders left the arduous expedition -Gifford Ewing, who had flown to LA Bay to meet the group, used that radio to call his daughter for reinforcements and needed supplies. My dad radioed me and said, "a whole bunch of their people are pulling out of the expedition, do you want to join them?" Eve jumped at the opportunity and quickly began rounding up the supplies they requested. She had just a day to round up 50 pounds of horseshoe nails, 25 pounds of dehydrated eggs, pack her saddle, stirrup covers, chaps, and long underwear -and get to Tijuana, as soon as she could. The Baja legend, Francisco Munoz would fly her down to LA Bay meet the riders. The Meling-Alford Expedition eventually made it to Cabo San Lucas. However, Ewing didn't make the entire trip. When the group arrived in La Paz, she learned that her mother had suddenly died, so she flew back to California to be with her family. She's returned to Baja many times over the years, leading over fifty mule trips and visiting one hundred cave painting sites. Deciphering those paintings has become her life's work. In this rambling conversation, Ewing reflects on moving to La Jolla in 1945, becoming a cowgirl, and the arduous 1963 -1964 mule ride. She says it was the warm and welcoming rancheros that kept her returning year after year -and the cave paintings. I have to say, with Eve Ewing's warm welcome and her trove of stories, I need to come back and record with her again very soon! A few clarifications, Charles Scammon, the namesake of Scammon's Lagoon, was a US citizen and was born in Maine. Guerrero Negro was named after the whaling ship The Black Warrior, that was wrecked on the sand bars of Frenchman's lagoon. Thanks to David Kier for the clarifications! For more on the cave paintings of Baja, click here For more on Eve's last mule ride in Baja, click here For more on Eve's father, Gifford Ewing, click here