BajaNomad

WHY I LOVE BAJA!

Oggie - 12-11-2011 at 03:00 PM

During our recent trip to Bahia de Los Angeles my wife, Diane, and I towed a friend’s 26’ Striper boat using his 2007 Chevy Duramax truck. The trip down was uneventful. We stopped at Jardines in San Quintin for the night and completed our trip the next day.

The road south was OK, only two construction areas, one south of Ensenada and the other south of Catavina. There were no problems in transit, as all that is necessary to do to arrive safely, is to just drive slow and pay attention.

We had great two weeks in Bahia fishing, seeing whale sharks, and driving our jeep to Rancho San Gregorio.

On our trip home we decided to drive straight through without stopping overnight in San Quintin, and cross the border at Tecate. We got up early and left Bahia around 7:30 am, and arrived in San Quintin for an early lunch at the Mission Santa Isabel restaurant. Before leaving, I checked the truck and trailer and found the strap from the winch to the boat had broken. There was a spare in the boat tool box, so my wife and I installed the new strap, and left there around 1:00 pm heading north.

Our luck changed pulling-up the grade, around the new road construction, while leaving Santo Tomas. I was following an eighteen wheeler at about 10 mph when I began to lose traction. So I engaged the four wheel drive. Suddenly, the truck began pulling to the left into oncoming traffic. I had the steering wheel turned all the way to the right steering lock without any change in the direction of the truck! I backed down the hill a short distance, and then started forward at a slow speed when the truck straightened-out, although the front right wheel was flopping around. We made it to the top of the grade and pulled to the left onto a large lot where the road crew kept the road work equipment at night. I got out of the truck and inspected the front right wheel and suspension, finding the connecting rod from the steering rack to the wheel had broken!

Looking around the lot I spotted a white Ford truck with five men about to leave work, so I flagged them down. They turned out to be the heavy equipment mechanics (Kismet!). My Spanish is very poor and their English was the same, but I was able to communicate our problem. In no time, two guys were under the truck and had removed the two pieces of the connecting rod. The welder had just left the lot, so two guys jumped into their truck and drove to where he was welding on a piece of equipment. They were back in fifteen minutes with the connecting rod welded! They then measured the track of the rear tires center to center, and then my wife was instructed to turn the steering wheel until the left tire matched the stationary right tire with that measurement. They adjusted the connecting rod, locked it down, and accomplished the alignment.

All of this work took less than an hour until we were back on the road. I tried to pay the five guys 500 pesos each, but they refused to take it. If they had not been there, our situation was not very good, needless to say; it was 5:00 pm, getting dark, and we were on the side of the road with a damaged truck and a large boat with a combined worth close to $80,000.00. If the mechanics had not come to our aid, we would have had to stay overnight with the truck and boat on the side road, and sort it out the next day. After some time, I finally convinced the foreman to take 1,000 pesos; he then took me to the mechanics to distribute the money, in order to make sure that I did not think that he was keeping it all to himself. When we got on the road, they followed us for about five miles to the end of the construction zone to make sure everything was OK.

On my next trip, a month later, I stopped at the Ensenada Costco and bought two boxes of those “mini doughnuts” that they make in the bakery department and two of those orange scented pump dispensers of mechanic hand cleaner. I pulled over at the equipment lot and two of the guys that had worked on the truck were there. I gave them the stuff from Costco, and they said were very happy and glad that we had made it home safely.

Now, I know that under the same circumstances in other countries around the world, we might have experienced a similar willingness to help out, but this is not an isolated experience for us in Baja. Many times the people of Baja have come to the aid of us and other strangers in dire straits. We have been so lucky and very grateful to have known the unselfish willingness of these people to do the right thing.

That is why I love Baja…. it is the people (la gente)!!!

woody with a view - 12-11-2011 at 03:10 PM

yes. the father you get from the border the better the people get! i've known this for 25 years and look forward to reinforcing my memories every trip.

Ateo - 12-11-2011 at 03:11 PM

Awesome. People are always so helpful down south.

shari - 12-11-2011 at 03:54 PM

Oggie, you must have pretty darn good Karma to break down where you did amigo! great story and a classic baja adventure.

***Just a little cultural note here...people generally refuse cash but if you stuff it in their pocket and say "para la soda" o algo para sus ninos ...or something like that, it is more exceptable for them to accept it...but ya pretty much have to put it somewhere like a coat pocket or in their car or somewhere obvious.*** It's not that they dont want to accept it...they deserve it and culturally, one needs to put it somewhere other than in their hand***

Ken Cooke - 12-11-2011 at 03:58 PM

In Ensenada, a group of amigos walked into the restaurant at La Quinta Motel and each of them said, "Hello" to my Wife and I as we ate at our table.

Here, in the United States, people rarely greet others who are already eating at their table. It's the American culture, more than anything else.

woody with a view - 12-11-2011 at 04:04 PM

good point Shari!

why i LOVE baja!

woody with a view - 12-11-2011 at 04:09 PM

nyme sayne?:light:

rsz_1jan_2011_with_regan_100(1).jpg - 39kB

shari - 12-11-2011 at 04:42 PM

OK...one of the kazillion reason I love baja....today


dont get me started....

Oggie - 12-11-2011 at 05:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by shari
Oggie, you must have pretty darn good Karma to break down where you did amigo! great story and a classic baja adventure.

***Just a little cultural note here...people generally refuse cash but if you stuff it in their pocket and say "para la soda" o algo para sus ninos ...or something like that, it is more exceptable for them to accept it...but ya pretty much have to put it somewhere like a coat pocket or in their car or somewhere obvious.*** It's not that they dont want to accept it...they deserve it and culturally, one needs to put it somewhere other than in their hand***


We were very lucky it broke there and not on a turn at 55 MPH.

[Edited on 12-12-2011 by Oggie]

DENNIS - 12-11-2011 at 05:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Ken Cooke
In Ensenada, a group of amigos walked into the restaurant at La Quinta Motel and each of them said, "Hello" to my Wife and I as we ate at our table.

Here, in the United States, people rarely greet others who are already eating at their table. It's the American culture, more than anything else.


In the more casual restaurants, it's the unusual Mexican who doesn't say Buenos Días as he walks in the door
, and have it returned by those who heard him.

You're right, Ken. It's a cultural thing. Some cultures do.....some don't.

Barry A. - 12-11-2011 at 05:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Ken Cooke
In Ensenada, a group of amigos walked into the restaurant at La Quinta Motel and each of them said, "Hello" to my Wife and I as we ate at our table.

Here, in the United States, people rarely greet others who are already eating at their table. It's the American culture, more than anything else.


In the States, when, and if, you catch their eye, people almost ALWAYS say hello in Restaurants to my wife and I---------at least that is our experience. This has been pretty much true all over the world.

Barry

norte - 12-11-2011 at 06:14 PM

just a cultural note. Money is more important to some than others. Glad you gave the gifts.

sanquintinsince73 - 12-11-2011 at 06:30 PM

Oftentimes when you are dining at a restaurant and people leave, they will glance over at you and say "Buen provecho".

When I first lived in Baja I was told that by some guest's leaving a restaurant and I started to get up thinking that they had hurled an insult my way. My wife explained it to me.

[Edited on 12-12-2011 by sanquintinsince73]

Excuse the grammar...too many Tecates.

[Edited on 12-12-2011 by sanquintinsince73]

absinvestor - 12-12-2011 at 08:09 AM

Oggie- my experience also. A couple of months ago I had a flat tire on a side street in Mulege. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared. With the standard short jack handle and with the flattened tire leaving the car low to the ground I couldn't get enough leverage to loosen the lug nuts. Within a couple of minutes I had 3 seperate bystanders helping. I had a similar experience in the early 80's when I ran out of gas near Mazatlan. The locals go out of their way to help.

BajaBlanca - 12-12-2011 at 09:14 AM

Oggie - what a great xmas story !!! good to get us all in the spirit of Christmas !!! you were indeed very lucky.