Slow Baja

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

Zachary Plopper is the Associate Director of WILDCOAST, a 501c3 non-profit organization that conserves coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife in the United States, Cuba and Mexico. An avid surfer since his childhood in Solana Beach, California, Plopper started competing at age twelve and was sponsored by the time he was 13. He competed professionally during high school and won the National Scholastic Surfing Association’s collegiate state champion while attending UCSD. A few years later, while in grad school at UCLA, he was surfing Trestles and met Serge Dedina -the Executive Director of WILDCOAST. As they talked and surfed, Dedina suggested that Plopper write his graduate thesis on a new WILDCOAST conservation opportunity in the Valle de los Cirios (Seven-Sisters) region of Baja California. Plopper’s 76-page thesis became the guiding document on the project, outlining the region’s threats and opportunities, and in 2008 -a full-time job for Plopper. Working with local landowners, Mexico’s National Commission for Protected Areas, and international funders, his efforts led to creating the Valle de Los Cirios Pacific Coast protected area, one of the largest private protectorates of coastal land in North America. In this conversation, we cover Plopper’s eleven years of work at WILDCOAST and some of the lessons learned from his years of travel in Baja’s remotest regions. Visit the WILDCOAST website here. Follow WILDCOAST on Instagram Follow WILDCOAST on Facebook

Sports Illustrated called Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Tournament the “Super-Bowl of Billfishing.” Now in its 40th year, with prizes and payouts in the millions of dollars, it is the richest independent family-run fishing tournament. The event was founded in 1981 by Bob Bisbee Sr., who ran a fuel dock, and tackle shop in Newport, California. He was always looking for reasons to go to Cabo, and the idea of hosting a golf-style Calcutta sweepstakes Marlin tournament seemed like a good one. Six boats entered the first Bisbee tournament, and Bob Sr. won the $10,000 prize. Last year, 126 boats and 862 anglers took part, and the prize payout was a whopping $4,500,000! In this conversation, Wayne Bisbee and his daughter Jordyn Bisbee talk about their world-famous Black and Blue Marlin tournament. They reflect on Bob Sr., who passed away earlier this year and how the little competition he started forty years ago has grown into a world-renowned billfish bonanza. We also discuss the Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore -a relaxed, three species tournament in Los Barriles August 4-8, 2020 Visit Bisbee’s website here. Visit Bisbee’s conservation fund website here. Follow Bisbee’s on Facebook Visit Bisbee’s YouTube Channel here.

Trudi 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 her company 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 which 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." In this conversation, Angell talks about her life and work, 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." Listen to the podcast here. Visit the Bell Mare website here. Follow Saddling South on Instagram Follow Saddling South on Facebook

Mike Pearlman, talking about NORRA Mexican 1000, and the making of the Happiest Race on Earth. In the early 1960's, Mike Pearlman was a teenager growing up in Los Angeles when his father, Ed Pearlman, bought a used 1964 Toyota Land Cruiser. Ed was an avid hunter, and the utilitarian 4x4 looked like the perfect vehicle for the upcoming deer season. Not long after, Mike's friend was driving the Land Cruiser on the highway; he didn't know that you had to shift gears manually and blew up the six-cylinder Toyota motor. Ever resourceful, Ed, took the bell housing to a junkyard and found that a 265cu Chevy V-8 would fit. That Chevy V-8 woke the old FJ40 up, and Ed began hill-climbing and drag racing the little Toyota. Soon with the assistance of legendary Land Cruiser pioneers, Con-Ferr, Pearlman had a fuel-injected, hot-rodded 327 V-8 with a hot cam under the hood! Ed Pearlman read about the 1966 record-setting run from Tijuana to La Paz on Triumph motorcycles by Bud and Dave Ekins, Eddie Mulder, and Cliff Coleman. Pearlman thought that he could beat their time in his hopped-up Land Cruiser. He tried and failed, but the idea for the first off-road race, the 1967 Mexican 1000, was born. In this conversation, Pearlman shares stories from the founding of the National Off-Road Racing Association, those early Baja races, and how with Eliseo Garcia Jr., they revived the Mexican 1000 as a vintage rally. Visit NORRA's website here Follow NORRA on Instagram Follow NORRA on Facebook