Slow Baja

Jon P. Rebman is the Curator of Botany at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Originally from rural Illinois, Rebman landed a Fulbright Fellowship that took him to study in Ensenada. During his year south of the border, Rebman traveled the peninsula cataloging cholla cacti with his fellow students and the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California faculty. He credits this formative experience for i...

Geoff Hill is back for an update on Baja Bound Insurance, spoiler alert --Baja Bound can now insure your home in Mexico! We talk Baja travel, trip preparation, where he's just been and where he's headed next. Geoff's not your average Insurance agent. Since his first surf trip in 1990, he hasn't been able to escape Baja's pull. After surfing his way to a degree at UCSD, he joined Baja Bound Insuran...

Eric Solorzano, the King of Class 11, is a humble mechanic from Tijuana. He’s been racing a Volkswagen in Baja for over 30 years. “Out of the car, I don’t know anything. In the car, as soon as I put it in gear, a calm comes over me,” says Solorzano. Honored by the Mexican Government as the Winningest Mexican in Off-Road Racing history. Solorzano has 11 SCORE Championships, 1 Baja 2000 win, 9 Baja...

Matthew Schnitzer is a barber in Dana Point, California. Today's Slow Baja Podcast discusses how he formed Barbers for Baja. After organizing two immensely successful holiday toy drives, Schnitzer made a dramatic and ambitious pivot to focus on sending kids in need to college. "Barbers For Baja began at The Kings Club Barbershop with a toy drive for La Mision, Baja California, Mexico in 2019. We w...

Michael Squier returns to Slow Baja to give us an update on the premiere of The Baja Bug Movie. The film has three screenings at the 2022 Newport Beach Film Festival. October 15th and 18th are sold out, but tickets (as of this posting) are still available for the closing night on October 20th. “When the Volkswagen Beetle was first brought into the United States in 1949, only two vehicles were sold...

Andrew Norton is a nerd. He freely admits that he's been nerding out on cars since he was a kid in Iowa. His first love was the bold and beautiful Mustangs and Cobras built by Caroll Shelby in the 1960s. Peter Brock was a childhood hero, and Norton often dreamed of the day he would find a dusty Daytona Coupe hiding in a neighbor's barn. By 16 years old, Norton, now living in California, would spen...

RIP Jorge Enrique Corral Sandez. The Baja Icon, better known as "Coco," was found dead at his residence. For decades, a stop at Coco's Corner was a must for travelers heading south of San Felipe.  Coco was the informal archivist of Baja's highway 5. He recorded every visitor in his guest registry. Every time we stopped, we would buy a beer, sign the book, and Ted would ask Coco about the road...

Peter Brock is an American automotive design and motorsports legend. At age 19, while attending Art Center School, Brock became the youngest designer ever hired by General Motors' design department. In November 1957, legendary GM stylist, Bill Mitchell, selected one of Brock's sketches to become the iconic 1963 Corvette Stingray. After securing his SCCA racing license at 21 years old, he acquired...

Mary McGee is an American motorsports racing pioneer. She was the first woman to compete in motorcycle road racing and motocross events in the United States. McGee started as a sports car racer in 1957. She drove the finest cars of the period, from her first race in a Mercedes Gullwing 300SL to racing Porsche Spyders, and Ferrari Testa Rossa's, McGee drove the best of the best. After legendary rac...

I am pleased to share this 2021 Slow Baja archive conversation on RVing in Baja with Nicole Demme Kapturowski. With the Summer travel season in full swing, I've been fielding loads of questions from folks planning their first Baja trip. I love Nicole's enthusiasm, and her honesty as she shares her heart-felt endorsement for Baja as an RV travel destination. This lively conversation answers many qu...

Greg Tomlinson, aka GT, grew up in Dana Point, California. With Baja practically in his backyard, GT has nearly 50 years of Baja stories to share. A lifelong surfer, motorcycle rider, and adventure seeker, exploring Baja is where his wanderlust began. Reflecting on his first father and son camping trip in the early 1970s, "The dads rode in the cab while the kids rode in the back. As the pickup tru...

Josiah Roe is the co-creator of The Journal of Lost Time, a digital publication that shares stories of timeless immediacy. After acquiring a painters-tape green Vanagon, which he lovingly calls Barb, Roe set out for an extended Christmas vacation in Baja. An epic adventure ensued, and he vowed never to miss a winter exploring Baja Sur again. Upon his return, he left his tech job and his comfy apar...

This Slow Baja Podcast is an archive edition with Off-Road Hall of Fame Racer Curt LeDuc. I recently saw LeDuc at the NORRA Mexican 1000. He led the Ford Factory Bronco Team. In a test of engineering and endurance, Ford ran a stock 2022 Bronco Wildtrak with a Hoss 3.0 suspension. The only modifications were a roll cage and five-point racing harnesses for safety. The stock Ford Bronco ran from the...

Today's Travel Talk with Slow Baja has me chatting with Leda Gamboa, the owner of Adobe Food Truck in the Valle de Guadalupe, Baja, California. Adobe Food Truck is a top-notch Tapas Restaurant masquerading as a food truck. I visited for lunch and asked Leda to pick something for me --she selected the spicy beef tongue and a Jardin Magico, Sauvignon Blanc, from Adobe Guadalupe Vineyard next door. I...

Raul Aguiar and Caroline Kane are the affable owners of Rancho La Bellota, a 2800-acre guest ranch located in Tecate Baja, California. Rancho La Bellota is a portal to another era. Free from cell service and wifi, guests quickly adapt to the rhythms of ranch life. The coffee is ready at 6:30 AM, and after a cup on the porch, the guests gather in the sun-washed dining room for a hearty breakfast. F...

Sandra Dibble is a veteran reporter who worked as a Tijuana-based foreign correspondent for the San Diego Union-Tribune for 28 years. She earned a master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University and worked at The Miami Herald for nearly a decade. Dibble was part of a team awarded the Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for uncovering the Reagan administration's clandestine support of the N...

On Earth Day, I am delighted to share this Slow Baja conversation with Paula Pijoan. Paula is a native plant expert and a fierce advocate for the land and nature. She is a certified practitioner of shinrin-yoku, the Japanese art of forest bathing, also known as forest therapy. We met at Vinos Pijoan, her family vineyard in the Valle de Guadalupe. When I arrived, Paula was transferring native plant...

Agave Expeditions Gabe Erivez is an adventure tourism outfitter who leads with his heart. With over a decade of professional guiding experience in Patagonia, Iceland, and Baja California, Erivez brings a lifelong passion for the outdoors to his work. He strives to be mindful in his travel, and "Be Here Now" is his mantra. "The human and cultural element gives exploring these wild places their rich...

Natalia Badan has spent her life on Rancho El Mogor, the vineyard and organic farm her Swiss-French parents built nearly seven decades ago. "We are romantics and have always been a little eccentric. We were always organic, since my father's time. They called it biological agricultural, and everybody thought we were completely crazy. My father studied a lot; he had all the books from the University...

Travel Talk With Slow Baja Meet Javier Martinez, owner of Boules Restaurant. Today's Travel Talk with Slow Baja has me chatting with Javier Martinez, owner of Boules Restaurant in Ensenada. I wanted to sit down with Javi to learn why everybody is raving about Boules and its gregarious owner? I loved the food and the atmosphere. #SlowBajaApproved  Boules Av Moctezuma 623, Zona Centro, 22800 En...

Brook Elgen is an illustrator, artist, and maker-of-things who splits her time between Mendocino, California, and Zacatitos, Baja California Sur. She specializes in handmade goods in a diverse array of mediums. Humor and wit are constants in her illustrations, books, and found object assemblages. She carries a notebook (chock full of lists,) has an antique pocket knife, sometimes drives a Baja Bug...

81-year-old Pete Springer has been a frequent visitor to Baja for over 60 years. He watched the 1969 Baja 1000 and raced a home built-single-seat buggy in 1970. He continued building and running his designs until 1973 when he teamed up with Four Wheeler Magazine Editor Bill Sanders in a Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40. The duo won Class 3 in the stout Toyota that Springer had built in one month with a sc...

Today's Travel Talk with Slow Baja has me chatting with Collin Corrigan, the owner of Cerveceria Transpeninsular in Ensenada, Baja, California. I sat down with Collin to learn more about the craft beer scene in Baja, and he was delighted to educate me. Cerveceria Transpeninsular is the official beer sponsor of the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA) "The Happiest Race on Earth," and Corri...

Benito Ortega Vargas was born in Mexico City in 1951. At an early age, he displayed a penchant for making art. He felt that art was his calling and eventually chose sculpture as his method of expression. He studied at the San Carlos Academy, the National Institute of Fine Arts, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and the Casa de Cultura de Oaxaca. He began showing his work in 1979. In 19...

Today's Travel-talk with Slow Baja features Paola and Daniel from Antonio's Eco Tours in San Ignacio. Daniel's father, Antonio, founded whale-watching in San Ignacio Lagoon nearly three decades ago. His mother, Maria "Yaki" Aguilar, has graciously offered accommodations, meals, and hospitality unsurpassed on the peninsula. Multiple generations of the Aguilar family extend from the nearby rugged mo...