Slow Baja

John Davis started surfing at twelve and began winning local competitions soon after. He moved to Huntington Beach to attend High School and became the Captain of Huntington High School’s first surf team in 1967. After graduating, Davis “took off to surf Hawaii, --with two pounds of marijuana under my airplane seat” he finished second in the 1969 Sea Spree, a contest that he said was rigged, but made ten times his investment on the marijuana. Turned off by the politics of competitive surfing, he rarely competed in the following years until he won the North Shore Trials of the Smirnoff Pro-Am at Sunset Beach. That qualified him for the US Surfing Championships in Malibu in 1973; Davis placed third after surfing his way through multiple heats. That performance “proved his point,” and he gave up competitive surfing. Eventually, Davis’ “lifestyle choices” moved him to Mexico, and he began smuggling marijuana into the US. Through the 1980’s he had a few brushes with the law and “served time” after being caught with an airplane loaded with 800lbs of marijuana near Victorville, California. In 1995, while smuggling 50lbs of marijuana, he got caught in a roadblock in Mazatlan and spent three years in a Mexican prison. He was repatriated to the US to finish his sentence, and a parole officer got him into a drug treatment program. John Davis has been sober since 1998. He was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach, California. He and his wife operate Las Olas Recovery, a comprehensive drug and alcohol detox and early drug rehab center in El Pescadero, Baja California Sur. More information on Las Olas Recovery Follow Las Olas Recovery on Facebook  Check out Surfers’ Hall of Fame

In today's Travel Talk with Slow Baja, we sit down for a quick chat with Yolonda Contreras, General Manager of the Guaycura Boutique Hotel Beach Club and Spa in the heart of Todos Santos, Baja, California Sur. We stayed at the beautiful Guaycura on the 2019 BajaXL Rally and enjoyed the ample accommodations, romantic rooftop deck, and gracious staff. The El Faro Beach Club & Spa is the Guaycura's beach club and swimming pool located two miles south of Todos Santos. Situated on a secluded and pristine beach, the El Faro is the place to spend a relaxing day in the sun. Book a massage or chill poolside enjoying a margarita; the El Faro is a Slow Baja favorite! El Mirador Restaurant is the third piece of the Guaycura trifecta. Locally sourced Mexiterranean farm-to-table cuisine meets fine dining and stunning sunsets. We ate there in July and were blown away by the setting, the scene, and the fare. Open Tuesday thru Sunday, from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Camino al Mirador Restaurant 1, Todos Santos, BCS, 23300. The Guaycura Boutique Hotel, El Faro Beach Club and Spa, and El Mirador Restaurant are Slow Baja approved! You can find the latest promotion and book your room directly at the Guaycura Boutique Hotel website. email: reservation@guaycura.com Visit Guaycura Boutique Hotel on Facebook Visit Guaycura Boutique Hotel on Instagram Mexico: Tel. +52 (612)175-0800 Toll-Free From US & CAN +1 (877)448-2928 Tell them that Slow Baja sent you!

Boyd Jaynes is a Southern California-based photographer and the creative director of Dusty Times Magazine. His professional bio reads, "When not shooting, he enjoys traveling to far-flung beaches with his wife or racing his vintage Bronco in Mexico." In today's podcast, we will get to know all about Jayne's vintage Bronco, Caballo Del Diablo, why he's raced every NORRA 1000 since 2010, and his profound love for Baja. Check out Boyd Jaynes photography Follow Boyd Jaynes on Facebook  Follow Caballo Del Diablo on Instagram Check out Dusty Times Magazine Check out National Off-Road Racing Association 

"Life's an adventure; go out and enjoy it."-Mike Younghusband After reading Graham Mackintosh's Into a Desert Place, Mike Younghusband decided to get a burro and walk the length of Baja himself. "I've done my duty to my family, god, and my country. It was time for some 'me'-time -so I set out to get that, and I got it!" Younghusband gave himself one year to plan the epic adventure. He plotted the route, pre-positioned supplies, including whiskey, purchased a donkey, and trained for every scenario possible. While he freely admits that his first mile was horrible, he eventually walked 1147 miles down the length of Baja with his beautiful burro Don-Kay and an assortment of dogs. His 202-page e-book Tres Amigos Blancos chronicles the adventure and includes 200 photos. It's available via Amazon for Kindle. Follow Mike Younghusband on Facebook 

In our second conversation with Zach Plopper, Associate Director of WILDCOAST.org, we learn about the exciting new trash collection project on the Tijuana River. With funding by the Benioff Ocean Initiative, WILDCOAST has installed a 100-foot-long trash-skimming boom, which has stopped more than 10,000 pounds of plastic and waste destined for the Pacific Ocean. Plopper relates the project's challenges and opportunities, including a plan to repurpose some waste into playground structures and park furniture. His enthusiasm for conservation is infectious and comes through loud and clear. He delivers updates on several WILDCOAST projects, including; the Million Mangrove Mission, a study of coral in Mexico's Pacific Ocean Marine Parks, sea turtle nesting sites in Oaxaca, and protecting 38-miles of the Valle de Los Cirros (Seven-Sisters) region of the Central Baja Coast. Visit WILDCOAST.org here Follow WILDCOAST on Instagram Follow WILDCOAST on Facebook

Matt Frick is an old Baja hand who runs the off-road tour company, Camp4Lo. We ran into each other recently at a stop sign in San Felipe. After exchanging greetings, we decided to get tacos on the Malecon.  As we were chatting and eating, the conversation drifted to how we got started traveling to Baja. I mentioned that I worked at Trackside Photo in the mid-'80s and shot the 1986 Baja 500. Trackside Photo was a photographic agency run by Off-Road Hall Of Fame Member Jim Ober. They specialized in covering off-road racing events that required teams of photographers. As a free-lancer, I would travel all over Southern California and Baja to shoot racing for the weekend and return to my college life late Sunday night. Matt looked curiously at me and said that he worked at Trackside too! No wonder he seemed so familiar, small world! Enjoy this rambling conversation and check out Camp4Lo.com

Javier Alejandro Inzunza and Leopoldo (Polo) Sanmiguel are passionate about sharing the stark beauty of Baja with the world. The Tijuana-based duo created the beautiful travel site Baja Adventures, "To inspire people to live in a more sustainable way by adventuring into The Baja Peninsula and rediscovering the unique bond between themselves and nature." On a recent trip to San Diego, I reached out to Javier -we had been trying to get together for months and hadn't been able to make it work. I suggested that I drive down for tacos. Polo and Javi changed their schedules to make time for me, and I booked a one-day policy on Baja Bound Insurance. Less than five minutes later, I was on my way to meet them in Tijuana. We met at Taconazo, a fantastic local taqueria. I ordered an Al Pastor taco and a carne asada taco. The Al Pastor was sublime, cut right off the giant trompo, and served with a fat slice of pineapple. The carne asada came with cheese and guacamole and was divine! Stuffed from our lunch, we adjourned to Javier's nearby loft to continue the conversation over a few cold beers. Follow Baja Adventures on Instagram Follow Baja Adventures on Facebook

Jonas Deichmann is a world-class endurance athlete. He is currently running a Munich to Munich Triathlon that is 120 times the distance of an Ironman Triathlon.  We caught up with him as he had just finished the Baja portion of his adventure. He had run from Tijuana to La Paz, averaging a marathon each day. With the Baja leg of his circumnavigation of the globe complete, we spent a few minutes discussing his adventure and his thoughts on Baja. "Baja is just amazing! I've been in more than 100 counties now; this is one of the best places I've ever been. The landscape of the desert and the beaches between Mulege and Loreto are spectacular! But the best is the people. The hospitality and the happiness of the people -I've never seen that before. Everyone is just so happy!"

In our second conversation with Eve Ewing, she shares more stories from her 70 years of Baja adventures. From her 1950's flights to count whales with her father, legendary Oceanographer Gifford Ewing, to riding mules in the '60s on the grueling Meling-Alford Expedition Eve has been there and done that and still remembers the story! Enjoy this rambling conversation with my friend and Baja-legend, Eve Ewing. 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.

"The key to victory is throwing yourself at it and see what happens." Napoleon Graham Mackintosh won the UK Adventurous Traveller of the Year Award in 1987 for his walk around the Baja peninsula from 1983-1985. He captured the experience of his extraordinary voyage in his 1988 book Into a Desert Place. Growing up in England as admitted couch potato, Mackintosh became obsessed with the idea of walking the entire Baja peninsula and writing a book about it. He was utterly unprepared for what he was embarking on, from finding scorpions in his swim trunks to eating rattlesnakes and cactus for two years. "I was the last person in the world who should be doing this, but if I could do it, anybody could." Graham Mackintosh is the author of four Baja books: Into a Desert Place Journey With a Baja Burro Nearer my Dog to Thee Marooned With Very Little Beer