BajaNomad

El Vikingo

Baja4Rnr - 1-27-2010 at 12:16 PM

Years ago I hired a guide in Mulege to see some of the rock art up in the mountains. His name was Kerry and he also went by "El Vikingo". He was quite a character and took us to some great sites. I was just wondering if he is still around there or if anyone knows what happened to him.

KurtG - 1-27-2010 at 02:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Baja4Rnr
Years ago I hired a guide in Mulege to see some of the rock art up in the mountains. His name was Kerry and he also went by "El Vikingo". He was quite a character and took us to some great sites. I was just wondering if he is still around there or if anyone knows what happened to him.


Kerry left Mulege several years ago. He was indeed a character. He wrote an interesting book on Mulege, its people and history.

David K - 1-27-2010 at 02:51 PM

This one?

books 023.jpg - 45kB

David K - 1-27-2010 at 02:54 PM

This guy?... :light:

books 024.jpg - 47kB

Baja4Rnr - 1-27-2010 at 03:21 PM

Yep, that would be him. He took us to see the San Borjitas and Trinidad sites but the real treat was staying overnight with a ranch family. I think the family's name was Lopez and it was quite an experience - like going back in time to the old west. The family was incredibly hospitable and the ranch had been in the family for hundreds of years. The highlight was sleeping outside - I had never seen a night sky like that before.

Thanks for the replies.

David K - 1-27-2010 at 03:37 PM

Awesome!

I would like to hear about San Borjitas sometime... We were on the San Borjitas road to Rancho El Perdido (km. 7.5) where we turned north to the old Magdalena mission-era ruins!

Cardon Man - 1-27-2010 at 05:49 PM

Kerry was quite a character. I visited the sites aforementioned with him as guide. Those were fun trips!

KurtG - 1-27-2010 at 08:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Baja4Rnr
Yep, that would be him. He took us to see the San Borjitas and Trinidad sites but the real treat was staying overnight with a ranch family. I think the family's name was Lopez and it was quite an experience - like going back in time to the old west. The family was incredibly hospitable and the ranch had been in the family for hundreds of years. The highlight was sleeping outside - I had never seen a night sky like that before.

Thanks for the replies.


I visit that ranch every trip, Jose Luis Lopez, his wife Elsa and mother Virginia. Wonderful people and Elsa is a great cook. Had Christmas dinner with them a couple of years ago, BBQ goat among other things.

We met Kerry...

Mexray - 1-27-2010 at 09:42 PM

...years ago in Mulege...

We were driving around, doing some exploring, and drove up to the top of the hill that overlooks the main part of town, to the north...

We had stopped and were taking in the view and snapping a couple of pics...when a fellow sitting on a 'porch' of a casa that was up a narrow drive above us to the west, yelled "come on up here - the view's even better!"

We got the old VW bus up the drive and introduced ourselves...we hadn't heard of Kerry before, but noticed an old Suburban with some tourist guide lettering on the side...

As we talked, Kerry told us about his 'former' life as a 'guide' and author...

We brought a bottle of tequila out for all to enjoy in the waning afternoon light...

As we were leaving he offered us one of his Mulege books that he still had stashed inside...

Later, we found his book to have been attacked by a bunch of real book worms, leaving their worm holes through most of the pages...proving our copy had a lot of 'character' like it's author! :lol:

Baja4Rnr - 1-29-2010 at 02:05 PM

David K - I would be glad to tell you more about San Borjitas. Let me get my old pictures and I'll post them later. As you may know, especially if you have read Harry Crosby's book, San Borjitas is known for it's "monos", several of which are pierced by arrows. The highlights for me though were an apelike creature and a large rock which appears to be polished.

KurtG - The Lopez family really is a wonderful family, especially Viriginia with her quiet dignity. Is their son still on the ranch? He must be around 15 now and they were worried that he would leave the ranch and not carry on the traditions. Also, do they have a picture of the old cook house displayed anywhere? My buddy did that for them when we were there.

David K - 1-29-2010 at 05:47 PM

GREAT! I will look forward to that thread!!

desertcpl - 1-29-2010 at 07:10 PM

this is an interesting thread,, MORE..love it

[Edited on 1-30-2010 by desertcpl]

KurtG - 1-29-2010 at 08:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Baja4Rnr
David K - I would be glad to tell you more about San Borjitas. Let me get my old pictures and I'll post them later. As you may know, especially if you have read Harry Crosby's book, San Borjitas is known for it's "monos", several of which are pierced by arrows. The highlights for me though were an apelike creature and a large rock which appears to be polished.

KurtG - The Lopez family really is a wonderful family, especially Viriginia with her quiet dignity. Is their son still on the ranch? He must be around 15 now and they were worried that he would leave the ranch and not carry on the traditions. Also, do they have a picture of the old cook house displayed anywhere? My buddy did that for them when we were there.


Virginia is a lovely lady, needs a walker these days but still puts in a lot of time making their great cheese. The family that I have known for about 10 years is her son Jose Luis and wife Elsa and their 3 children. Jose's brother Romero married and moved to another ranch. Jose Luis is about 40 and Romero may be a bit younger. He is very proud of the ranch and is always studying cattle and goat raising. Jose is a very bright guy. Jose and Elsa's oldest is Christian who is around 14, nice young man but don't know if he wants to continue the ranch life. Elsa still uses that old adobe kitchen and puts out some wonderful food. Rancho San Isidro has been in their family since 1850. If you u2u me your email address I will send you some recent photos.

As to San Borjitas, well worth the trip. Like the other cave art sites I have visited it is in a lovely setting.

Barry A. - 1-29-2010 at 08:52 PM

Ran into "Vikingo" bar tending and serving food in a local restaurant in Mulege way back when (????) and he talked to us for over an hour. He was a great fellow, and ended up giving each couple (2) a copy of his book. We still have that book, and it is a very good read, IMO.

Nice guy, and we thoroughly enjoyed all his stories that day. We were camped at Punta Chivato, and were in Mulege just for the day.

Barry

Hook - 1-29-2010 at 09:13 PM

I met him a couple times in El Candil in the early 90s, I think.

Seemed to be a very thirsty individual....................I liked him. :lol:

Cardon Man - 1-30-2010 at 09:39 AM

Yeah...he was "thirsty" to say the least. We knocked back quite a few c-cktails at Candil with Vikingo! He was a real raconteur. Though, I'm not so sure all the tales of him being a Navy Seal in Vietnam were true. A classic Baja character to say the least. :lol:

Didn't Fred Hoctor Do a Story on El Vikingo?

Gypsy Jan - 1-30-2010 at 07:04 PM

"Friends" borrowed my copies of his books and columns and never returned them, so I can't say for sure.

I seem to remember a great, classic profile about a very interesting, eclectic person who loved and embraced the local culture.

Vinkingo

SunnyDay - 1-30-2010 at 10:15 PM

I/we knew Kerry for years as we traveled in the Mulege area since 1990 -- (but 15 years prior to that camped/kayaked
/rented/drove San Diego border to San Quintain and El Rosario areas if you need credentials.) We knew him in his time of his being the inspiration for various restaurants to get in on the JP energy ("JP" or Jean Paul, a French guy who ran the Hacienda back when, anybody remember?) and Kerry ran promotions for few restaurants/bars competing (Anna's on Serinadad as an example) to get everybody to go out -- and they did! Every restaurant had their own "party" night or a special deal -- all distributed by hand-done flyers distributed to passers-by or posted at the beaches and in-town by walking/driving around . Boy, those were the days! This was 1990-1995 or so. I just looked and we bought Kerry's book in 1993, published in 1992. One year, right after xmas, there was a big Baja flood (not in Mulege), that left standed any body driving north, and everybody was, it time to go back to work. An "island" was formed by two flooded rivers on the north/south ends of San Quintain. Endless first hand stories (this was pre Internet, or in Mulege anyway) confimed it all. For most people it caused extended vacations but everybody was still having fun - Mulege was a party town back then, and especially so, with all the "caged tourists." What fun! We eventually had to give up and drove to Loreto, parked the camper-car, flew to LA, then flew back in Feb (long President's weekend and a couple days) and then drove/camped north/home. Started an annual routine that's lasted all these years -- best flood we ever had! So, back to Kerry/Vinkingo, he ended up married to a gringa fire-fighter's widow who found her way to Mulege, they had a lovely house over on the river near Serenidad (he got his teeth fixed, had "boy toys" and enjoyed the good life for a while.) But, he's not been around Mulege for quite a few years as I've seen/heard. A while back (2001 or 02?) a group of 15 or so gringos hired him him for a few days jeep "tour" to a San Ysidro Ranch (north of Mulege) a so-called 100+ year old centential ranch. The trip can only be described as a version of a Gilligan's Island trip. But, good times and adventure all the same. That trip is one of my many great Baja memories/stories.