So what is it that makes me long to be back in Baja? I have lived in the desert before and while I have liked it, I have no particular feeling to go
back. I liked living in Arizona, I also enjoyed living in the Pacific Northwest and yet I do not have the same desire to return to either of those
places anywhere near as bad as I want to return to Baja.
Could it be that I just ?visited? and that is normal to want to return to places that are associated with good times? I have visited other places
such as the Mexican Mainland, most the western US and the select portions of the East and Southeast along with a couple of weeks spent in Italy, yet
none of those place can compare with the pull Baja exerts over me. Almost all of these trips have been for fun or a combined fun/working trip and all
are special to me and yet it is Baja I long for.
Perhaps I need to spend more time in Baja and the novelty will wear off? After several trips and all of them lasting from 6 to 26 days one would be
hard pressed to consider it a new experience. While not quite the experienced traveler as many of you are, I am also not a first time visitor either.
Baja is in my soul and where I wish to be.
The ocean, could that be it? Growing up in California and spending most of my adult life in California, Oregon and Washington has given me ample
opportunity to visit the ocean and I have had a few years to explore the Puget Sound. It would appear the ocean itself doesn?t have that much of a
pull on me, not nearly as much as Baja does.
How about the people? Sure they are nice but I am not really a people person and I am just as happy camping on a deserted beach with my family and
friends as being around other people. Come to think of it, outside a small group of friends and family I can do without crowds of strangers. Even a
couple of strangers can be too much at times. So people should be crossed off the list. When people get to be too much, Baja is the place I dream
about.
Maybe it is not one thing or even one overriding theme? It could just be the right combination of things. Each aspect brings its own magic to the mix
and that is what makes me want to return time after time. Like a recipe that brings together individual ingredients that each alone would have little
or no interest, yet, when combined in a certain manner creates something mouthwatering. While I have little desire to eat spinach or slice up some
Ricotta Cheese to snack on, they take on a completely different life when made into Lasagna. Baja has so many places and sights I long to share with
friends and family, hopefully, to make it special for them also.
What is it? The quiet, pristine beaches? The beautiful sunrises over the Sea of Cortez with the equally stunning sunsets over the Pacific? The
lonely back roads that beg to be explored? The old ruins, mines and missions to walk among and wonder? The snakes, the lizards, the birds, the bugs,
the fish, the octopus, the coyotes, the rabbits, the whales, the dolphins? The clear blue skies with the wide-open vistas of the desert? The brief
and infrequent rain showers that bring out the flowers and colors of the desert? Snorkeling with our son? Beachcombing with my daughter? A ribbon of
blacktop stretching before you as far as the eye can see?
It is all of these things and more. Much more and the individual moments add up to create something stronger and richer. Reading our old journals
of past trips, surfing the web for Baja related items makes me long for more. Looking through our stacks of Photo albums and visiting forums such as
this one help to keep the memories fresh and alive.
So what is it that makes you long to be in Baja?
[Edited on 12-9-2005 by Fatboy]TacoFeliz - 12-9-2005 at 10:50 AM
A fish taco is always so much better with Baja wrapped around it.
When I think about it (which seems to be fairly often) everything seems better with Baja wrapped around it, whether it's just a moment in time or a
special place or being with a friend or meeting someone new or just looking around and being amazed.
Fatboy------
Barry A. - 12-9-2005 at 11:01 AM
-----I cannot add anything to what you say here---you nailed it, at least for me. And you did it eloquently, and with style.
Very nice!!!!
Now, for some trivia:
(Do you know that your "name" here, "Fatboy", is the same name as the "bomb" dropped on Nagasaki by the B-29 "Bocks-Car"?)
(I own a used canoe that was, and is, named "Enola Gay", which is the name of the B-29 that dropped the "bomb" on Hiroshima)
------both just coincidences, I am sure.Cincodemayo - 12-9-2005 at 11:14 AM
It's also a Harley Davidson...
Great writings by the way fatboy.
[Edited on 12-9-2005 by Cincodemayo]Fatboy - 12-9-2005 at 11:25 AM
Quote:
(Do you know that your "name" here, "Fatboy", is the same name as the "bomb" dropped on Nagasaki by the B-29 "Bocks-Car"?)
You know that is kinda funny, when I first came up with that screen name it was because our cat, A.K.A. Fatboy, was on the desk when I first logged
onto another site. Since then people have wondered if, perhaps, I am overweight. I am not, it least not by much..
Some people figured it was because I am into motorcycles and worked the Harley angle.
And now it reminds people of an atomic bomb, go figure...
I also noticed your location-Redding and here I am typing this in the sticks just outside of Anderson!
But back to the topic at hand, I really do not know what makes me think about Baja so much and how badly I want to return and share it with others.
Once at the store I manage a customer came in and the topic got on traveling and I told him about a recent month long trip our family took in Baja.
Camping and exploring up and down Baja with our, then, 2 year old daughter and 7 year old son.
I told him about the beaches and the local people. About celebrating Christmas south of San Felipe, New Years out on Malarrimo beach and our
daughters 2nd birthday on a beach south of Loreto.
He said that was so cool! He said he was going to go. Not thinking much about it he returned 2 months later and told me he just returned from a two
week trip south of the border and it was one of the best things he had ever done!
I cannot wait to return and once every 1 to 2 years is NOT enough!!!
[Edited on 12-9-2005 by Fatboy]
[Edited on 12-9-2005 by Fatboy]bajaandy - 12-9-2005 at 11:35 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by Fatboy
Each aspect brings its own magic to the mix and that is what makes me want to return time after time.
A nicely written description of why so many of us love Baja. Your sentiments are shared by myself and many of the other nomads here at this board.
I have often said that Baja has a way of getting into your heart, and once it's there you can't remove it. And everytime you return, it grabs just a
little bit more of you. Some have equated Baja with a mistress, a secret love, a passion... each to his own I suppose.
In any case, thanks for the carefully and creatively chosen words that evoke all the memories and reasons that each of us loves Baja.Price - 12-9-2005 at 11:41 AM
Baja gets in your blood !!! The first time we came down to San Felipe we ended up buying a house - that is really crazy - but - we are down here now
full time and loving every minute !!!!!! jerry - 12-9-2005 at 12:27 PM
perhaps i said it before. but i think that baja chooses you and you have nothing to say about it. so go with the flow and have a good one jerrybajarich - 12-9-2005 at 01:31 PM
Maybe its the grapefruit with 50 seeds in each half that taste better and sweeter than any grapefruit you can get up north.
Its the smell!
mcgyver - 12-9-2005 at 01:36 PM
Its that charcol,roasting corn, taco smell that lowers my blood pressure in the first two blocks as I cross the border.
Rich
jrbaja - 12-9-2005 at 02:47 PM
The pink grapefruit I am growing down south has only a fraction of that amount of seeds. And when I bought the property, I was planning on replacing
grapefruits with Papaya. Not anymore. I now love these grapefruit so that's not it.bajajudy - 12-9-2005 at 02:58 PM
I have ruby reds almost ready for picking. I also have papaya, guava, oranges, limes, guanabana, granada, coconuts, dates, mangos, passion fruit .
Have not had any luck with bananas nor avocados but heck, how can you complain
I love many things about Baja, my garden is in the top ten.
Baja grabbed me on my first visit, over 20 years ago and I worked hard to get back every year for many after that. It is really hard to explain to
someone who has never been here but once they come no further explanation necessary.
Arent we supposed to be keeping this a secret
Mcgyver------you just hit on a BIG part of it---
Barry A. - 12-9-2005 at 03:55 PM
-------THE SMELL -------I love almost all the smells of Baja, but especially the "smokey" smell-------- and the smell of the desert after a light
rain, or on a dewey morning-----and the smell of the "sea"------fish frying in camp, etc.
It is like the smell of campfire smoke in the National Parks-----wonderful smells that bring back so many good memories, but your right, that special
smell of the Mexican cooking fires is impossible to beat, and hard to duplicate.
For me...
Mike Humfreville - 12-9-2005 at 05:01 PM
It's the simplicity and the lack of fritter and hubbub. When we?re at our house in Bahia de Los Angeles I awake to thatched shadows dancing, gulls
squawking, tiny wavelets sparkling and the reflections of pelican vee?s drifting across the sandy beach. It?s total tranquility. The simplicity of
sky, sea, sands and soundsDanO - 12-9-2005 at 05:53 PM
It's funny, I've had many friends come down with me who could take Baja or leave it. They have scant time for leisure and little tolerance for
anything that's not the advertised image of the perfect vacation -- a Corona commercial (not that I have anything against staring endlessly at the
horizon on a tropical beach, with a cold one in hand and my bikini-clad wife at my side). They don't dig the dust and heat, or the cold and damp.
The desert is boring and the wind drives them nuts. They don't trust the food or the people. They imagine banditos or a police shakedown around
every corner.
We Baja fools, on the other hand, like it hot and dirty (the desert, I mean). We love the smell of dust and way it settles on everything (except
brakes). We don't mind when the wind howls, and when it doesn't, we revel in the majestic silence of the desert, punctuated by the sounds of birds,
bugs, boots crunching on gravel, or the shout of a little kid chasing a lizard. We'd spend an entire day poking around at the tidepools -- wasting
time -- if the damn tide would just stop coming in. We like things that have strong, memorable smells -- kelp on the beach, taco stands, desert sage,
wood smoke, fish camps, even truck exhaust. We welcome the cold and the damp because they draw us together as we sit and talk around the fire
(instead of staring mindlessly at a TV).
We Baja fools are idiots who enjoy the challenge of a flat in the middle of nowhere, or figuring out how to fix broken suspension parts with pvc pipe,
pieces of inner tube and hose clamps. We think splitting firewood is cool. We like to camp. We are happy there are no power lines, because we make
our own electricity. We don't care if the water's not potable -- that's what beer is for (I'm still looking for a beer-flavored toothpaste). We
always have a pot of beans on the stove. Always. We dig being alone, but even so, we're hospitable and friendly with our neighbors, because that's
how humans act in Baja. We trust people.
Baja makes us this way because it triggers something in us that is attracted to and responds positively to extremes of sensation and situation,
instead of rejecting them or putting on blinders. I like the idea that Baja chooses us, but I think there's another element to it. People like us
are predisposed to become obsessed with Baja. It just waits, beautiful, stark and timeless, for us to wander into the trap.
[Edited on 12-10-2005 by DanO]
[Edited on 12-10-2005 by DanO]
What a Thread this is
Mike Humfreville - 12-9-2005 at 06:26 PM
DanO,
What a beautiful post you wrote.bajalera - 12-9-2005 at 07:18 PM
Somehow the newness never wears off.Ken Bondy - 12-9-2005 at 08:35 PM
I've always liked John Steinbeck's answer to Fatboy's question, "What is it about Baja?" This is from the "Log from the Sea of Cortez":
"Trying to remember [Baja] is like trying to recreate a dream. This is by no means a sentimental thing, it has little to do with beauty or even
conscious liking....there is always in the backs of our minds the positive drive to go back again. If it were lush and rich, one could understand the
pull, but it is fierce and hostile and sullen. The stone mountains pile up to the sky and there is little fresh water. But we know we must go back
if we live, and we don't know why."
He wrote that about 60 years ago.
++Ken++bajaandy - 12-9-2005 at 09:43 PM
This is a great thread.
Very nice post DanO. Your words hit home.rpleger - 12-9-2005 at 09:57 PM
The best about Baja is that it is easy to spell.Bajame - 12-10-2005 at 11:23 AM
How much better the simple life is! It is a precious gift and so over looked.
Where people are respected for thier love of the land. Yes sometimes I wonder why after I return my strongest desire is to go back and my next trip is
being planned day's after my return. Spending a month in Baja a few years ago traveling, camping and finding the perfect beach and no one else is
around waking up to the waves lapping close by and warmed by the rising sun is a gift that no one can put a price on. strolling the beaches I wonder
how I can go back and ever be the same. If this way of life draws you back then you have been so blessed!Skipjack Joe - 12-10-2005 at 01:33 PM
Good post DanO,
You're right about many finding the desert to be boring. I think people felt even more like that a few years ago. I remember when Disney came out with
"The Living Desert" and movie goers where amazed at the amount of life that exists in the desert. But I think you're right. People often feel
uncomfortable with the silence and the bareness of the desert.
One of the things I like about it is it's openess. When I lived on the east coast all the highways were bordered by trees and you seldom saw anything
far away. I missed the broad desert landscapes where you could see forever. I like seeing the land from horizon to horizon like that. It gives me a
sense of peace.
skipjackSkeet/Loreto - 12-10-2005 at 02:20 PM
The first sighting of the Mar De Cortez, The sea covered with a mile long School of Yellowtail feeding, a School of Giant Mantas that can be seen from
5,000 Feet above,Sharks feeding on an injured Dolphin, A wave of SkipJack 3 feet High a 1/4 mile Long.
The Pacific Side so lonly and Isolated, Sandy Beaches, Shell Beaches, Losters ,Turtles,Dolphin and no one around.
The Mountains known the to the old timers as "The Grand Tetons of Baja" with multiple Waterfalls after a Summer Rain, the old road to San
Javier,where you wonder about the old Father and his Flock who walked and rode to build the Missions of California
The Pearls of La Paz where you can watch the "Pearly effect of the Sunset over the Bay.and Finally:
Best of All---The People of Baja-Their Laughter and Happiness as they leave their Cardboard Huts, their desire for,their children to speak English.
Their Habit that you must share a Beer after making a Deal. The fisherman who Know and Love the Sea of Cortez, their ability to Fish those Rough
Waters to bring Home the fish!
Oh! so many things that make Baja a wonderfull and exciting Place.
I hope all of you can enjoy it as muchas I did.
Skeet
DanO
Baja Bernie - 12-10-2005 at 05:50 PM
Right on the money! Thanksbajarich - 12-11-2005 at 11:10 PM
When I cross the border at Tijuana, I am suddenly cast into an adventure. Every trip presents something new, and you never know when it will pop up,
hopefully not in front of you driving Highway 1. Traveling the baja by myself, I have made friends with soldiers at checkpoints, met and swapped
stories with many other baja travelers, and made a whole bunch of new friends, American, Canadian, Mexican, & German.
I have camped by myself in some of the most beautiful places and watched birds dive after baitfish for hours just a few yards in front of me. I have
kayaked with Grey Whales, not knowing where they will come up around me, snorkeled with sea lions, and had the thrill of catching Dorado and
Yellowfin. I once had the experiece of rescuing a beached dolphin (a story I would like to tell some other time) and watching it swim away toward its
pod.
I have had flats, been stuck in the mud 10 miles down a wash by myself, and spent hours digging my van out of the sand. Once, down a long wash, I met
a panguero who had one the prettiest little girls I think I have ever seen. I still remember her smile.
I too have friends who would only see the poverty, the trash, or the tp on the beach, and I thank God that Baja is not for everybody. I'm glad their
afraid to go down there because if everyone went there it would not be Baja as I know it.
DanO
BajaRob - 12-12-2005 at 07:55 AM
You nailed it. You described exactly why we are here. You put into words what had previously been feelings. Thank you.
DanO you got it,buddy!!
eetdrt88 - 12-12-2005 at 10:16 PM
"People like us are predisposed to become obsessed with Baja. It just waits, beautiful, stark and timeless, for us to wander into the
trap".....although your whole post pretty much sums up how I feel I have to say that last sentence will be stuck in my brain for awhile...thanx bro
Bajarich, For a newbie you have got it!
mcgyver - 12-13-2005 at 11:08 AM
Long after we are all gone Baja will still be there! The tides and winds will clean the beaches, time will crumble mans paltry attempts at altering
the landscape and all the majestic , stark mountains with their mysteries will be waiting and the waves will still be grinding out sand from the
rocks.
Early Passings
DanO - 12-13-2005 at 11:31 AM
I want to add my voice to those expressing their sorrow and condolences for the loss of J.R. I only knew his virtual persona, and from what I've read
here, that was only one aspect of the man. What I took away from even that limited view reminded me of the big brother who loves to tease, but who
always has your back. No matter what. Peace to you, J.R.
I also want to say that writing the post earlier on this thread, and then learning of J.R.'s passing really crystallized something for me, something I
hear people say all the time but never really think much about. Life is too damn short. We may pride ourselves on our resourcefulness and
resiliency, but we're all just a heartbeat from moving on. There's a saying -- plan for the future but live in the moment. Amen to that. And
there's no place like Baja to make you live in the moment. If you're not there already, start planning now.
