Slow Baja

"Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible." — Doug Larson In today's podcast, we meet Mike Steel from Idiot Racing. His dream was to race the Baja 1000 in a Class 11 VW Bug built with his own hands. He documented the build on his Instagram page and won many fans and followers.  His first race was the SCORE Baja 500 on June 13, 2021. The team of rookies took the green flag and made it to the first dirt section. Then, at mile 35, the trouble began. They snapped a balljoint and were stuck on a steep hillside. A group of locals formed an ad-hoc pit crew. They held the car on the hill, fixed the balljoint, and towed them to the top. At race mile 50, trouble returned. They did a  field rebuild of the carburetor and jury-rigged the failing alternator. A few miles later, down on power, another hill climb finally ended their race. The chase team arrived and, given the location, decided to drive back to Ensenada and grab the trailer rather than tow the broken car with only a strap. They removed all the valuables from the VW and went to get the trailer. When they returned, it was gone. Was it stolen or towed by some good samaritans? They searched for the car vainly. Mike's wife Cynthia made an Instagram post alerting the world to their situation. The offroad racing community sprung into action. By the middle of the following day, a local Baja citizen had located the vehicle -stripped and abandoned but reportedly in pretty good shape.  Since recovering the car, Steel has been fixing the damage and making the rounds to the So Cal VW community. He's stocking up on parts and plans to be back for the SCORE Baja 1000 in November 2021  Follow his progress at Idiotracing.com and Idiot.racing on Instagram.

Today's Travel Talk with Slow Baja, we chat with the team behind the new Benchmark Maps Baja California Road and Recreation Atlas. Cartographer Neil Allen, Bridger De Ville, Director of Sales and Marketing, and Baja expert and project consultant David Kier are my guests. "The Baja California Road & Recreation Atlas is truly unique, combining the most accurate trip planning information with spectacularly beautiful landscape Maps. Discover the value of current and reliable road and recreation information. Use these maps to plan your next road trip or weekend adventure while exploring the highways and back roads of the Baja California Peninsula. First-time visitors and lifelong residents alike will appreciate this unique view of Baja California and Baja California Sur." Baja fans are well aware that both of the most coveted Baja maps, the Baja Almanac and the AAA Baja California Map, have long been out-of-print. They have been soaring in cost on eBay, causing much frustration among travelers who want an analog option for planning and navigation. The new Benchmark Maps Baja California Road & Recreation Atlas will quickly supplant those titles to become the go-to map for all serious Baja travelers. Get yours today from Benchmark Maps.

Ron Gomez Hoff is the founder of the website and Facebook page Talk Baja. A Southern California native, Hoff fell in love with Baja as a teenager on a scouting trip in 1968. After high school, a stint in the Navy had him operating nuclear powerplants on submarines. When he left the Navy, he returned to Long Beach and joined his family business running testing laboratories in the oil and gas industry. With his father's passing, he expanded the labs into full environmental certification, including drinking water, wastewater, hazardous waste, and air emissions. A consulting project had Hoff creating computer databases which led to a project in Mexico City. He enjoyed the people and the culture, but Mexico City was too large for his liking. Recently divorced and seeking change, Hoff headed to Baja and rented a house on Rosarito Beach. He realized that he could work from anywhere with an internet connection, so why not a beach in Baja? While attending a weekend cooking class in Tijuana, he met the love of his life, Christina. The two married and began exploring communities South of Rosarito. They visited San Quintin and fell in love with the nearby fishing village of La Chorera. They loved the physical beauty of the location but were amazed by the beautiful people; Hoff says they are some of the finest people he's ever met. When the local building supply owner found out they had bought a property and began building a house, he extended credit to them immediately.  Gestures of trust and generosity were repeated over and over by their new neighbors. As a result, Hoff says he doesn't feel like a foreigner; on the contrary, "I feel like we've always been here. The people make you feel like you belong here." Embraced by his community, he has become an advocate for moving to Baja and a cheerleader for San Quintin and the region. 

Hey amigos, it's hard to believe that is's been a year since Slow Baja got picked up on Apple iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast. I wanted to take a moment to say a hearty THANKS for listening. Since I launched the show, many have asked me about my Baja journey and what Slow Baja is all about. So since you asked, here it is, one year in, I swap seats with my intrepid editor, Christopher Keiser, and tell you all about me. My first Baja trip came in 1984, just before my Freshman year at San Diego State University. An older cousin who attended SDSU invited me to have lobster down in Puerto Nuevo. On the drive home, we got pulled over, he bribed the cop, and we continued on our way home. -Welcome to Mexico! Regular Tijuana and Rosarito Beach (drinking) excursions followed, and camping on the beach in San Felipe was our Spring Break destination for years. At the end of one of those Spring Break trips, Ted Donovan, my roommate, and I decided to continue South. We piled into my old Toyota Corona and headed out -destination unknown. We slept under the stars, ate on the cheap, and had to scrounge beer bottles for the deposit money to buy gas for our return. It was quite an adventure and I couldn't wait to have another. Fast forward to 2001, I'm married and have two-year-old twins and a four-year-old. My wife and I are exhausted and needed a break. We quit our jobs, rented out our apartment, and took the family down to La Paz for an extended vacation. La Paz was way too hot for us, so we moved over to Todos Santos. We had a bliss-filled month puttering around Todos Santos before putting our minivan on the ferry to the mainland. We drove the Devil's Backbone to Durango and onto Zacatecas. The Colonial city of Zacatecas is an UNESCO World-Heritage site and is well worth a visit. As the only gringos in town, we were warmly welcomed, and our light-haired children were known to all. We spent seven months there before reluctantly returning home. Mexico and the slow life bit me. I immediately began scheming about how to get back. My Mexico adventuring started in earnest in 2006 when Ted and I took on the grueling La Carrera Panamericana. The 2000-mile La Carrera, also known as the Mexican Road Race, is widely considered the fastest, most dangerous vintage race in the world. We had the least amount of experience, the least amount of horsepower, and we finished dead last. On one challenging day, I said to Ted -if we ever figure out the La Carrera, we will take on the Baja 1000 in a Class 11 VW Beetle. We haven't acquired a Beetle yet, but in 2012 I found Slow Baja, my 1971 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. Later that year, for Ted's 50th birthday, we drove Slow Baja down for a three-week adventure. We traversed the entire peninsula on dirt. It was my first off-roading experience, the FJ40 performed flawlessly, and I was smitten. After driving the 3000-mile BajaXL Rally in 2019, I started thinking about starting a Baja-centered podcast. After guest-hosting Jim Reilly's show, I launched Slow Baja. Covid made my goal of recording every interview in person a little more complicated, but I am deeply thankful for all of my guests who opened their homes and their hearts for me. Here's to another year of sharing conversations and exploring Baja together! Please follow Slow Baja on Twitter Please follow Slow Baja on Instagram Please join the Slow Baja Community on Facebook 

Nicole Demme Kapturowski is an avid RV enthusiast who recently spent a month exploring Baja with her parents, husband, and two teenaged children. The family caravan consisted of a dual-cab pickup pulling a 33' travel trailer followed by her parents in a Class-A motorhome. Nicole brought up the rear in her parent's car that they would typically tow, but they unhitched and drove due to the narrow roads. The New York resident bubbled with enthusiasm as she described her trip planning. "We have a full plate. My husband retired in 2019 because he has stage 4 cancer, but he's doing very well. We're just trying to make the most of our time and not be the cancer family—much the same way with my son, who's autistic. I try not to let that define us. We're not the family with the autistic child; we're just another family out there doing things and living our life. We try not to let those things define us. With my husband being retired. And me working remotely. And the kids both studying remotely in school gave us the opportunity to have this extended experience together. Once we planned it all out, my parents, who are retired, and used to RV 20 years ago, said they would buy an RV and join us. So we started this cross-country, international journey together in our little caravan." In this conversation, Nicole shares her heart-felt endorsement for Baja as an RV travel destination. Moved by the kindness of strangers and stunned by the warmth, attention, and care shown to her autistic son, she eloquently posted about it on Talk Baja. The post received over 2700 likes, 410 comments, and 200 shares! Read her Talk Baja post on Facebook here. Slow Baja approves of her message and encourages you to get out and travel!

Jeffrey Westman arrived in San Juanico as a 19-year-old on a surf trip and fell in love with it. The teen dreamed of finding a surf shack and staying forever. Not surprisingly, college and a career won out, but the dream stayed with him. Thirty years later, he has built the San Juanico Surf Society, a danish infused, Mexican-modern resort for friends and family. Located on a bluff above "Panga Beach," the SJ Surf Society is a gleaming beacon of clean lines, industrial beauty, and humble hospitality. After his career as a photographer and printer led him to Scandanavia, Westman worked his way into a new thing called the internet. He ran Norway, Sweden, and Denmark for Yahoo. His timely exit allowed him the resources to try his hand as a potato farmer in Northern Sweden. Not something that one usually says during a conversation about building a health and wellness retreat in Baja. His return to the San Francisco Bay Area allowed him to combine his business acumen and his love of farming into a career in the non-profit sector, helping organic farmers thrive. In the process, he converted his Sebastopol farm into a retreat property and found that he enjoyed providing hospitality and creating community through being an Airbnb host. Westman says he "drew the short straw and had to look after his mother, who had retired to Baja Sur." A property in Loreto followed as Westman built his Airbnb portfolio. Old memories of that surf trip to San Juanico led him across the peninsula, and the hunt for the next project began. In this conversation, we hear the backstory of building a dream property in Baja. We can't wait to return to the SJ Surf Society and chill out in style. The SJ Surf Society is Slow Baja approved! Follow SJ Surf Society on Instagram here Follow SJ Surf Society on Facebook  here Check out the SJ Surf Society website here

Edie Littlefield Sundby has been a great friend to Slow Baja. Since I originally aired my conversation with her in July of last year, she has introduced me to many of her Baja community. A few have been interviewed on Slow Baja already, and I hope to record with the rest as time and travel allows. When a family member was headed to the hospital for major surgery, I turned to Edie for advice. She had the answer, and her relentless positivity was deeply appreciated. The surgery went well. With a little time to to recover life will be back to normal, and I should be back in Slow Baja soon. Enjoy this enlightening conversation with my friend Edie Littlefield Sundby. My guest, Edie Littlefield Sundby, was arrogantly healthy when she received word that she had stage-four gallbladder cancer. The doctors gave her three months to live. "I had to kill cancer before it killed me," Sundby said. Seventy-nine rounds of chemotherapy, five-and-a-half years, and four radical surgeries later, she was in remission. The battle took half of her liver, ten inches of colon, two inches of her stomach, part of her throat, and all of her right lung. Amazingly, her spirit was intact! While driving up highway 101 to Stanford Hospital for surgery, she noticed the Mission bells denoting the El Camino Real. "I had this obsession to hug them, to follow them, I had to walk the old California Mission Trail. I had to walk all 21 Missions, saying a prayer of thanksgiving at each one." On a cold, rainy day in February of 2013 -six months after losing her right lung, she started walking from Mission San Diego to Sonoma. Fifty-five days and 800 miles later, she made it. "When I got to Sonoma, I was soaring; I did not want to stop!" In 2015, when cancer returned, and she knew it would, she reflected on how happy the walk to Sonoma had made her. In an instant, she decided to walk all the Missions in Baja. "It was wonderful to have that to look forward to; I had another walk; I had a mission I had something larger (to focus on) than what was going on inside of me." Through the internet, she found the guide and outfitter Trudi Angel in Loreto. "I had the promise of a burro for ten days and a vaquero for five days; that was good enough for me." She walked across the border to Tijuana and boarded a flight to Loreto, Mexico. Listen to the podcast here Visit The Mission Walker website here Follow on Instagram Follow on Facebook

Twenty-three-year-old Edson Romero may be the most famous resident of beautiful San Ignacio. His parents, Jackie and Gery, own Edson Ice Cream Shop, a must-stop when traveling through the oasis town. As a youngster, Edson was teaching himself English using google translate. When off-road racers came to town, he would use the opportunity to practice his English to promote his parent's ice cream shop. Touched by his earnestness, the racers returned year after year. They donated jerseys, helmets, and memorabilia, creating a shrine to the sport. Edson's gregarious personality, honesty, and integrity have endeared him to all that have met him. After he helped Walker Evans recover some items stolen from his vehicle, a lasting friendship evolved. Evans stopped in to see Edson and his family every time he passed through. When Edson graduated from High School, Evans stepped up and paid for half of Edson's college tuition! While in college, Edson started a lifestyle brand. He applied the lessons learned from his offroad family to growing his brand by helping others. When a fellow rally driver broke down on the 2021 BajaXL, Edson arranged a tow for him to Ensenada. Learn more about Edson Romero, the Prince of San Ignacio, through the links below. Follow Edson Ice Cream on Instagram here Follow Edson Inc on Instagram here Follow Edson on Instagram here

Three amigos take on the 3000-mile BajaXL Rally in a thirty-year-old Land Cruiser. Hear the unvarnished (and slightly exhausted) take on ten days of brutal Baja backroads, police actions, government sanctions, and a heaping dose of drama. Warning Adult Language! In a first for the Slow Baja podcast, we began recording this conversation at midnight. We were actively consuming adult beverages and using adult language. My sincere apologies for the language. Enjoy team FiveDollaHighFive as we ramble along, share some laughs and ask the age-old question, "Does Baja-Proven still mean anything?" Check out Jake Greene's film work at Yellowcakepics Follow Jake Greene on Instagram here Follow Dominic Prezwanski on Instagram here Check out team pics of Five Dolla High Five here

Now that "La Recua" is finished and making the film festival rounds, I thought I would share this conversation with Trudi Angel again. Angell has been living in Baja since the mid-'70s. She made her first trip South to attend a 12-day Sea Kayaking course at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Mulegé. Angell fell in love with the people and the place -and stayed six weeks. When she finally returned home to Calistoga, she quickly bought a folding Klepper Kayak, a roof rack for her 1964 Rambler American, and blazed a trail straight back to Baja. Sea kayaking was taking off as an adventure sport just as Baja was on the rise as a travel destination. An opportunity to guide a kayak trip down the coast allowed Angell to launch Paddling South in Loreto. Angell says she was "in the right spot at the right time." With a love for logistics, and a desire to go the extra mile for her clients, she cultivated a great business that she ran for thirty years. While riding on a mule trip with her friend and fellow outfitter, Tim Means, she was amazed by the grace the hired vaqueros showed as they interacted with their families. Angell had an epiphany, bought a horse, and took up riding. Soon, she was visiting ranches near and far. She launched Saddling South in 1987. "This opened up a huge world for me -both for studying the history (of the vaqueros) and learning the Ranch culture." Angell talks about her life and work in this conversation and her deep admiration for the vaqueros and traditional Baja ranch life. She shares stories from the 1000-mile Mule trip (the Mula-Mil) that she organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963-64 expedition by Andy Meling, Joanne Alford, Eve Ewing, and others. Additionally, she shares insights about making "La Recua," a documentary film about a traditional overland pack-mule trip featuring 70-year-old vaquero Dario Higuera, a team of 13, and a cast of 25 animals; also known as "Dario's Dream." Watch the film here. Visit the Bell Mare website here. Follow Saddling South on Instagram Follow Saddling South on Facebook