Herb
Nomad
Posts: 202
Registered: 11-6-2003
Location: Torrance, CA
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Bahia de Los Angeles
First of all, my apologies to germanicus for hijacking his thread with comments on this topic.
But I remain curious as to what it is that makes people so defensive about this place? I suspect that deep down inside, the people who love it there
are so concerned about where it is headed that they don't read other people's comments about the place clearly.
I never said the town was crowded. I merely mentioned that it had a high concentration of gringos relative to local residents. And, no, it cannot be
explained away as just college students there for the summer. I did not see any college students (unless they've been in college a loooong loong
time).
And the comparison to Los Angeles was taken way out of context. It was meant to be a tounge-in-cheek play on the similar names. My comparison to LA
had nothing to do with the size, I know it is a small town. My point was that it is MORE like Los Angeles than SIMILAR size towns in Baja Sur (Places
like San Luis Gonzaga, San Bartolo, San Juan de la Costa, El Cajete, or El Triunfo as JR mentioned, or even San Javier).
Fact is, folks, that the Bahia village has changed and continues to change as the influx of gringos increases. (Don't have to be smoking bamboo to see
that  
)Think about it... A place that, until recent years, had no telephones now has multiple internet cafes?
Once again, I believe it to be a pleasant place. It's just that I did not find it different enough from what I can find much closer to my home that I
would ever consider it a destination in its own right again. It does not mean that I would not stop there again as a more "civilized" location to get
cleaned up and gather supplies. Better yet, it would be a great place to stop and send an e-mail or a Baja Nomad post or U2U since it is the only
place for miles in any direction that you can do that. 
BTW, my observation on the relative influence of outsiders is also not new or unique. Check out this quote from John Steinbeck found in Moon Handbooks
Baja by Joe Cummings:
But novelist John Steinbeck, who sailed into the bay in early 1940 with marine biologist Ed Ricketts, described his feeling of resentment at finding
"new buildings, screened and modern, and on a tiny airfield a plane . . ." Even then, Steinbeck wrote, there were Americans in Bah?a de los Angeles.
[Edited on 8-4-2004 by Herb]
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4baja
Super Nomad
Posts: 1339
Registered: 9-4-2003
Location: morro bay ca
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they have a paved road and they are near the water and those two fact will bring the people. avoid the hollidays and the place is like a goast town
except for a few fisherman. 
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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Herb...
I'm no authority on Bahia de Los Angeles. But I can say what it has meant to me from my first observation of it, late in my experiences with the Baja
California Peninsula.
Bahia de Los Angeles was, in the early '70's when the transpeninsular highway was all dirt, well off the beaten path. When I finally got there, in
1974, I was sorry I had bypassed it for so many years.
My new wife and I encountered a small village with a number of Gringo families, small in percentage to the locals, just like today.
There was and is limited electrical and telephonic support, no running water as gringos think of it and all the idiocyncracies of rural Baja in the
sense of tradition, governmental management, etc.
And I don't know that some folks are protective of her or not. She's just a place. But a special place to a few of us, mostly those families that
have lived there lives there. And a few of us so badly wanting to spend more time in her environment.
While I haven't been to all the remote places you list in your post, I have been to some. I have often posted that, when, in emotional upheaval, I
would drive my 12 hours to visit Gonzaga Bay for just a few minutes to recover and then drive 12 hours home again and have won. It's true.
But Bahia de Los Angeles is a different animal.
I discussed a similar issue with a friend of mine at work yesterday. He's originally from Columbia. He's an American now, very much so, and wants to
understand where he will retire. He can go back to Columbia and build a great wall and gated grounds where he is protected from his (poorer) peers
and defend his children from kidnap and other nasty stuff.
He also likes Baja California. I described to him what life is like in Bahia de Los Angeles, very little confrontational crime, etc.
We discuss for a few moments what the differences of our individual visions of retirement are, me being a gringo and he coming originally from
Columbia.
He says "I want to live out my life with the comforts I have earned." He is woried, he explains, that his relative wealth will pit him against
marauders. As I know him well, I recognize him as a genuine human and not showy, but just wanting to live out a life style he's accomplished in U.S.
space biz.
I respond "what I want is to integrate into a small community where I don't have to fear my neighbor and where, in retirement I can continue to have
value and know all of the community, no gates, no social fences and clearly there are many differences in our ways of thinking, our incomes and the
things we enjoy talking about over a beverage of our choice, thank you, but I want no fear from or of others and to be able to walk into a gathering
and be appreciated because no one has been mistreated by me, or me by them.
My Columbian amigo understands, thinks for a moment (I know him to be a considered person and know he will review his thoughts and my words for days).
He has years before his decision must be made.
You can be born into an impoverished community, strive to shake it off and go on to a richer life.
You can be born into an impoverished community, strive to shake it off then return to improve it.
You can be born into a relatively wealthy community and look down on those who live benieth you.
You can be born into a relatively wealthy community and take pity on those who can afford what you can and try to find ways to help them live to your
standards.
Or...you can be born into a relatively wealthy community and have the strength to recognize that the strengths of relatively poor folks form the
bases, the fundamental building blocks of all our lives.
In my life I find that in times of need I always return in my mind to those who have little to help themselves understand where to turn.
Thus, they are always prepared.
But the bottom line is what would you do in Gonzaga or so many other remote places if you were there for 6 months/year? Bahia has so much stuff with
the off islands and local points of interest and limited social interactions with the tiny but gently structured society etc.
It late, so I'm rambling. We're each looking for something unique to our own needs. I know we'll find it.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64520
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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There's no debate that Bahia is busy at Spring Break (Semana Santa), July 4th week, and Christams/New Years with out of towners. But, as 4baja says,
it is as quiet as a ghost town most of the rest of the year.
What I like about it:
Beautiful location with its island (angel) filled bay.
Central location to so many Baja historic attractions (Las Flores, San Borja, Montevideo, El Toro, Yubay, that 'lost mission' I am trying to find, and
more) and that great museum too!
Good People, like Doc and Sylvia, Raquel and Larry, Reuben Daggett, Beach Bob, Herman, etc.
Being with Baja loving friends at Camp Gecko, like 4baja and Whiskey Girl, Bedman and Emma, Debra, FrankO and Katie, David A and Yvonne, Marla,
Paulina and Dern, GeoRock and Pete, etc.
Conveniences like restaurants and Taco stands, 3+ food stores, ice, the Internet (for giving you guys updates), two gasoline vendors, and it's only a
day's drive from the border.
What don't I like? Well the wind, but since I started camping at Gecko instead of La Gringa, that not a problem (the last several times), sting rays
in April (mating season) though I have not been hit, and not much else I can complain about... So, the positives greatly out number the (maybe) two
negatives.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gonzaga Bay is a great place with a superior beach and one big island in the bay... Lot's of interesting historic and geologic sites nearby, including
the Camino Real... However, only one store, ice is a maybe, gas is a maybe. There is tire repairs, great food at two places, no taco stands, no town.
A whole lot more Americans than Mexicans, unlike L.A. Bay... So it lacks the Mexican atmosphere I enjoy at Bahia de L.A. But, it is my second favorite
beach camp spot (after Shell Island).
Well, I feel much the same warmth for Bahia de los Angeles as does Mike... Gonzaga is just a lonlier place.
[Edited on 8-6-2004 by David K]
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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David, somehow I knew you would mention "Shell beach", I just knew it.
Mike Humfreville summed it up perfectly... "We're each looking for something unique to our own needs. I know we'll find it."
Audrey and I have only visited Bahia de Los Angeles once, but we do look forward to going back and meeting more people and exploring more places
around there.
Bob H
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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