David K
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Posts: 64480
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Location: San Diego County
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Rancho La Miseria burns down!
Somebody read my 2017 Trip #4 Report and replied with this news:
"I went by rancho La Miseria early April 2021 and it has burned down. We rode by there in March of 2020 and it was still standing. The
swimming pool looked so out of place in that remote area. Great job helping those folks out!"
Here is Trip #4 if you don't recall that long long night I was helping rescue that couple: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=86376
Notice the hot tub/ pools.
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TMW
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Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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Wow, John M and I stopped and helped a man and woman there a couple of years ago I think in June of 2019. They needed a couple of truck tires inflated
and one plugged. What can I say stuff happens.
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TMW
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I did a trip report back in 2009 and it was a working ranch with several vaqueros.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64480
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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The man and woman you helped were the same couple I helped in 2017, from your description.
Quote: Originally posted by David K  | The abandoned Ford truck on the grade, trying to go uphill, with the window down and some items on the seat and in the bed was a hint of weirdness.
Coming to a barricade in the road a few miles later, including an orange construction cone and a handwritten note with the words AYUDA (HELP) and
COMIDA (FOOD) included.
The barricade forced anyone to a side road that dropped down to the wide arroyo plain and soon a good looking ranch came into view. This ranch has
solar panels, a swimming pool, and a hot tub!
Two people (a man and a woman) appeared and waved their arms as in distress. My mind is absorbing these fresh sensations and making quick decisions to
escape while I can or ...
I drive up to the front of the ranch which is on the right side of the road and lower my passenger window. A flood of sad stories begins to flow to my
ears: "We have no food", "My husband is out of his heart medicine", "You are the first vehicle we have seen in four months", "We have been stranded
here for 6 months". I learn that the Ford Ranger is her husband's truck and six months ago he was going for supplies when the distributor failed.
They are Leo and Lorena Durazo. They were hired in Tijuana to manage this ranch, La Miseria, for its owner, a man in Tijuana or thereabouts who owns a
taxi business in Rosarito Beach.
I let them know I can send emails or text messages anywhere in the world. They do not have a phone or email for their boss, just a Facebook address,
which I cannot do more than post on my own page with the inReach device.
I contact Antonio ('BajaCactus') via email and he responds!
Here is the exchange, in part, beginning with:
Apr 23, 2017 6:02 PM
Hola Antonio tengo emergencia with the couple at Rancho Miseria de Candelario. Their truck broke miles away. They need heart meds and food 2 months.
... Señor Candelario Aguire Arce is the owner. He has taxis in Rosarito. ... They have no food or medicine. ... Can you get ahold of him to bring
help to his employees stuck here? On the San Antonio road, east of Bahia Blanco. ... Leo y Lorena Durazo.
Antonio asks if they have a phone number for him.
Apr 23, 2017 6:25 PM No. They were hired 6 mos. ago and have not heard from him since. They have seen no one here in 4 months.
(I may not have heard the details correctly, they may have been there longer)
As it turns out, this couple knows of Antonio in El Rosario and know that Antonio's brother knows someone else who works for this Candelario guy.
Antonio (who is in Tijuana) cannot find any of the names Leo has provided, yet the connection between Antonio's brother and another is valid.
We are getting nowhere with getting the ranch owner to make an emergency visit to his ranch and hired help. So, as the sun is about to set, rather
than find a place to camp near the coast and drive out via the Chapala road (which Leo said is worse than the one I just arrived on, and it was pretty
bad), I volunteer my services as emergency evacuation. I make room in my truck for them both. They attend to their animals, including a little dog,
which Lorena says will be okay, and I tell them I will drive them to Santa Rosalillita (where they know people). It is only about 15 miles to the good
dirt highway at Punta Cono, then pretty fast driving the near 35 miles on to Santa Rosalillita.
I send this message to Antonio and also notify my wife and Nomad friends who are following me on the Internet.
Apr 23, 2017 6:44 PM I am taking them 50 dirt miles to Sta. ROSALILLITA. TONIGHT. THEY NEED FOOD AND HEART MEDS. Sorry about the caps, accident.
Apr 23, 2017 7:07 PM Ok, we 3 are leaving in my truck for Sta. Rosalillita now. I will stop to answer you.
Apr 23, 2017 10:07 PM At Sta Rosalillita now. They are trying to find someone that knows them.
The people they knew were not there.
The town was pretty dark on a Sunday night. They talked to someone by the church. They said they know people in Nuevo Rosarito. I was willing to drive
them to another place, but not south... I would even take them to El Rosario if necessary. They said Punta Prieta would work!
Apr 23, 2017 11:09 PM In Punta Prieta now, 11:09.
The south Punta Prieta restaurant (busses stop there) knew Leo and Lorena and they assured me they were in good hands. Lorena called me their angel.
It was her birthday tomorrow! While we were driving those hours, she requested 80s music (I have XM Satellite Radio) and she was a good singer,
Madonna, etc.
My need now was for gasoline... I could make Cataviña but probably not El Rosario. Would I have any luck at 11 pm in Punta Prieta?
YES! At the north store, on the west side of the highway at the Punta Prieta sign, they sell gasoline out of cans, similar to Santa Rosalillita. I was
lucky they were still up. I bought 5 gallons for 380 pesos (US$4.29/gal), very fair and again only 80 some cents profit per gallon for having gas
where it is needed.
Now, what is odd, is that I told the man pouring gas in my truck what I just did, and he knew them! Is it really that small a world or are these
people famous for getting rides? He even knew that Lorena speaks English pretty well (she told me she self-taught from watching Sesame Street).
Well, I was in good shape and Antonio said I had a room waiting for me at Baja Cactus, 3 hours away! What a day (and night)!
It wasn't over!!!
Apr 24, 2017 1:21 AM Was doing great and got a flat tire about km. 128. Just fyi.
It looks to be a puncture. I will plug it and fill it. No worries!
It wasn't as easy as I had hoped... it took two plugs, and a couple times refilling as it went flat again on me in the dangerous curve area around Km.
90.
I arrived at Baja Cactus at 3:40 am! SAFE at HOME, my home in Baja, anyway!
Monday, I sleep in... for a while!
Stay tuned... more to come!
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TMW
Select Nomad
Posts: 10659
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Bakersfield, CA
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Here are the couple we helped
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64480
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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The same couple as I helped... Leo and Lorena Durazo. Lorena spoke pretty good English, self-taught.
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BajaBlanca
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Location: La Bocana, BCS
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Oooooooh my gosh, what an ordeal for everyone.
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