Slow Baja

Jim Chamberlain has been preparing Dune Buggies for Baja since Bruce Meyers invented them in the early 1960s. Chamberlain prepared the legendary " Old Red " for its record-breaking run from La Paz to Tijuana that preceded the first National Off-Road Racing Association race in October 1967. Chamberlain was also a noted racer -while often found behind the scenes, he was the 69th entry in the 1967 Me...

“Chango,” the twelve-inch tall, plaster-of-paris, irregularly painted statuette, first appeared in the San Ysidro border traffic lines during the early 1970s as street vendors hawked them to passing tourists. Many a gringo returning from their surf trip, tourist jaunt, TJ bar run, or mission trip came home with one of these in the back seat.” Slow Baja has questions, and in this riveting interview...

Happy New Year, Slow Baja amigos! I am delighted to be on my first Baja trip of 2022. For the next two weeks, I'll be off-the-grid, scouting dirt trails for the NORRA 1000. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite conversations from last year. Enjoy this escape to Slow Baja with Graham Mackintosh. "The key to victory is throwing yourself at it and see what happens." Napoleon Graham Mackintosh w...

Today's Travel Talk with Slow Baja has me chatting with Iran Leonardo Verdugo, Director of Tourism for Rosarito Baja, California. I wanted to sit down with Iran to learn more about Rosarito's pivot to adventure tourism. Most know of Rosarito's famous beach, but it also boasts seven of Baja's best hiking trails. In addition to the traditional hiking trails, there's the newly-created Medano Trail th...

After I ran into Tim and Kelsey Huber twice recently, I had to get them to sit down on Slow Baja to give us an update on their travels. Here’s how they describe themselves on their website : “Hi! We are Tim and Kelsey. We’re two ordinary people that just happen to live an extraordinary life. We are traveling the world in our 1995 Land Cruiser named Goose…to put it bluntly neither of us is overly t...

On today's Travel Talk we sit down with Mason Schreck and Gabe Erivez from Pacific Overlander Expedition Vehicles. Pacific Overlander offers fly-and-drive adventures made accessible through turn-key, camp-ready vehicle rentals. Informed by years of backcountry travel and a passion for adventure, Pacific Overlander’s rentals, tours, and vehicle builds are the highest quality. Their fully-outfitted...

Today’s podcast discusses GHA Racing’s Class 11 Championship winning Season. While most racers start racing slower and less expensive vehicles and move up to faster and more costly classes, GHA began in a Spec Trophy Truck and decided to move down to a Class 11 Beetle. Driver and team owner, Alex Gonzales, laughs as he says they have “Racing dyslexia, --but you haven’t lived until you’re flying th...

In our second conversation with Tru Miller, we discuss how her Adobe Guadalupe Vinyard and Inn has fared during the pandemic and what's ahead for 2022. Joining us are Claudia, who handles reservations and operations, and Mara, Tru's assistant and leader of vineyard tours. Enjoy this comfortable chat about one of my favorite spots in the Valle de Guadalupe. Check out Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards and I...

Michael Squier is a filmmaker and storyteller. In this podcast, we discuss his ambitious film project, The Baja Bug Movie. The project tells the story of the humble VW Beetle and the people who modified them for off-road use.  I met Michael on the NORRA Baja 500 while filming the movie. We recorded our conversation at the Cervezeria Transpeninsular in Ensenada during the NORRA Baja 500 awards...

80-year-old Pete Springer has been traveling to Baja for over 60 years. As a spectator, he attended the 1969 Mexican 1000, raced a home-built single-seater in 1970, and won his class in the 1973 Baja 1000. He shares tales from his many years of Baja adventures in this conversation. Highlights include; driving a 1940 Dodge Flatbed to Bahia de Los Angeles, running out of gas while flying a small pla...

Today you are getting a double feature on Slow Baja, the first is with Noel Morales owner, cook, owner and chief personality at El Refugio Mezcaleria in Todos Santos BCS. The second is with Noel, and his wife Rachel Glueck, discussing their beautiful cookbook The Native Mexican Kitchen : A Journey into Cuisine, Culture and Mezcal.  WINNER of the 2020 US Gourmand Award for Food Heritage! A Dee...

Lynn Chenowth is a pioneer off-road chassis and vehicle builder whose factory-backed and private Chenowth cars have taken many of the sport's greatest drivers to off-road racing's biggest victories. The list includes ORMHOF inductees Johnny Johnson, Ivan Stewart, Corky and Mark McMillin, Bob and Robby Gordon, Frank 'Butch' Arciero Jr, and Rob MacCachren. In the 1970s, Chenowth helped usher in the...

Today's Travel Talk with Slow Baja has me chatting with Paul and Bonnie, owners of Ignacio Springs Resort in San Ignacio, BC Sur. In the heart of the Palmera, on the bank of the tranquil Rio San Ignacio, Paul and Bonnie are warm and welcoming hosts with nine yurts and two casitas for your stay. Originally from Canada, they have happily transitioned to life in Baja. Let me be clear --they run a tig...

Today’s Travel Talk with Slow Baja has us on a ZOOM call with Keith Berkley, owner of The Black Bass Lodge in Punta Abreojos. As a child, Berkley grew up camping and exploring Baja with his parents. His dream was to create a lodge where his friends and family could gather to find some of the slow Baja lifestyle that he loved as a child. Remote, private, and completely off-the-grid, The Black Bass...

Craig Larson and Mark Pestrella have been surfing Punta Abreojos together for more than 40 years. Inspired by Bruce Brown's Endless Summer, they've been seeking waves and finding adventures along the way since High School. I met them when I stopped by to check out their well-evolved camp. I found Mark smoking a cigar and reading a signed, first-edition hardcover of Into a Desert Place by Graham Ma...

Mike Pearlman was a teenager growing up in Los Angeles when his father bought a used 1964 Toyota Land Cruiser. Ed Pearlman was a florist and an avid hunter. The utilitarian 4x4 looked like the perfect vehicle for the upcoming deer season and delivering flowers. 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...

In our second conversation with Chef Javier Plascencia, we discuss his restaurants Jazamango and Jazamango Cafe, and the bounty of Todos Santos. We go deep on his devotion to surfing, how he's happiest in a pair of trunks with sand between his toes, and his fanaticism for handmade corn tortillas from old-world organic corn. Check out his farm-to-table restaurant Jazamango. Follow Jazamango Restaur...

Today’s Travel Talk with Slow Baja meets Chef Mattia, pizza maker extraordinaire in San Juanico B.C.S. Italian-born Chef Matti crafts wood-fired pizzas in his custom-made pizza oven on a Russian UAZ-452 “Bukhanka” van. We recorded our conversation during our Slow Baja Summer podcasting trip in July. He was making his weekly appearance at “Big Juan’s” Las Malandras restaurant. Chef Mattia hails fro...

In our second conversation with Trudi Angell, we discuss La Recua, her tribute to a fading history and documentary film about the old-time mule-packers in Baja California Sur. The film follows Darío Higuera Meza, a traditional saddle-maker in Baja California Sur, Mexico, as he lives his dream of riding La Recua. Overcoming a life-threatening health scare, rattlesnakes, scorching days on dusty trai...

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 m...

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 &...

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 pro...

"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...

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 challe...

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....