Baja California is unabashed desert. Stark, dry, and beautiful from a lunar landscape point of view. Pine forests pretty much stop in the upper 20%
and services in those higher altitudes are zero. WiFi exists where there are folks with money, land line telephones (no Banda Ancha here), etc.
I am halfway down the peninsula on the Pacific side at the moment. No Wi-Fi. I have a friend who owns a large market and I tie into their Wi-Fi daily.
At the market.
Food is not cheap out here in the wilds. Figure on 20-40% more expensive than USA discount market prices. For example russet potatoes are around .50 a
pound. Chicken is a dollar a pound or more depending on the cut. All the food travels hundreds of miles and tropical fruit from the mainland scoots
thousands of miles to get here.
The nearest ATM from where I am is a 150 mile round trip, and if it does not work, up the mileage to a 225 mile round trip.
Suggestions: EL ROSARIO, GUERRERO NEGRO, BAHIA ASUNCION, BAHIA TORTUGAS, PUNTA PRIETA, LA BOCANA, and southbound on a dirt road to other villages.
Over on the gulf side housing is a lot more expensive – you won’t find a decent place for 200 dollars. Not furnished at all. It’s too popular with
gringos.
Housing is not abundant. Gringos illegally rent gringo homes for high prices, but on a whim kick a person out when someone comes along and offers them
50 dollars more a month.
Be prepared to do the Chinese checkers thing from house to house, upgrading as a home is built or becomes available.
Here’s my advice on strategy: Drive south to GUERRERO NEGRO, hole-up at a cheap place like the hotel MGM next to the supermarket LA BALLENA next to
the huge aerial orange water tank (tower). They have a weekly rate. Start asking around. Then migrate to Vizcaino, make a right toward BAHIA TORTUGAS
but 50 miles down the road make a left and head to BAHIA ASUNCION, 22 miles. All excellent road. There are a couple of cheap hotels here. You will
have passed the dirt road turnoff to LA BOCANA and PUNTA PRIETA. Mind you fifteen dollars a night = 450 dollars a month – you’ll need to find a place
fast to stay within your budget.
I’m going to be leaving within the next several months to migrate to TECATE so I can get operated on. If you want, you can have the place I helped to
fix up. Probably your dream home. Furnished with large refrigerator, stove, pots, and pans, too much furniture, bed, table, and a ton of appliances.
2500 pesos a month + water and power. The landlandy does my laundry and housekeeping for 600 pesos a month. New small wooden house. Concrete floor,
do-it-yourself shower but a great toilet. It’s really not a bad place. Asuncion has a population of around 1,500 and very little crime. One nice
market but four others somewhat smaller, a gas station, several water plants. no land line telephones, and no WiFi. The commercial Wi-Fi here is a
joke – it does not work for weeks at a time and when it does the baud rate is around 6. About two dozen gringos, but I do not mingle. My friends and
family are Mexican. Once my surgery is done I’m going home to my family in Michoacan.
This July marks 50 years since I first visited Baja and Mexico…
Desde Bahia Asuncion.
[Edited on 10-17-2014 by vandenberg]DENNIS - 10-16-2014 at 03:14 PM
Is this a recent note? Haven't heard from David for a while.David K - 10-16-2014 at 03:40 PM
How about some detail... Where did you find this post?
Some may assume it is from vandenberg and not the infamous David Eidell (aka David E or Dah-veed)...DENNIS - 10-16-2014 at 03:43 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Some may assume it is from vandenberg and not the infamous David Eidell (aka David E or Dah-veed)...
You, of course , mean famous. Infamous is nasty.David K - 10-16-2014 at 04:03 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by DENNIS
Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Some may assume it is from vandenberg and not the infamous David Eidell (aka David E or Dah-veed)...
You, of course , mean famous. Infamous is nasty.
Have you ever been in a van with him for a week? Dah-veed knows... we are
amigos...
Here he is as my guest at my Viva Baja events and a guest passenger of Amo Pescar and my Viva Baja Tour piolt trip (2001)...
Oct. 2000
May 2001 (with El Jefe)
At BBBB-1 with Paulina and El Jefe. July 2001
The Viva Baja Van and P.O.T. (Poor Old Truck) gang at Rancho Santa Ynez, for lunch. Seated: Sarah, Miguelito, Chris, Mary Ann, Travelpearl, Desert
Rat. Standing: David Eidell, El Camote, Mike Humfreville. July 2, 2001
July 4, 2001, Valle la Bocana:
Neal Johns uses his years of desert expertise to render aid to David Eidell, the victim.
VIVA BAJA 3:
Heather with the David Eidell donated prize,
Gene Kira's 'Unforgettable Sea of Cortez'. Feb. 2002
(David E gave me the book to donate when I visited him at his Tecate CA home)rts551 - 10-16-2014 at 04:35 PM
He sure did not look like that when I saw him last year.David K - 10-16-2014 at 05:34 PM
I am sure, those pics are 13 years old... and his health was not great then. He did have a great mainland Mexico adventure before he returned to Baja
and Nomad. There's a guy who has a home in Mazatlan that sure tried to find him way back then!vandenberg - 10-16-2014 at 06:21 PM
Found it on "Peoples guide to Mexico"
He was giving advise to a lady interested in retiring in BCSDianaT - 10-16-2014 at 07:55 PM
I do wonder if he is still in BA --- was treated very well by some, and not so well by others.sancho - 10-17-2014 at 08:36 AM
He was some of the 1st Mex info I ever read, Peoples Guide
1982, as I remember a post here, not from DE, mentioning
Veracruz as a possible place DE has relocated?David K - 10-17-2014 at 08:45 AM
He was a big fan of People's Guide and wrote a nice article after that week he spent with us in Baja, in 2001.
Paulina made a beautiful banner of the People's Guide logo and the Amigos de Baja logo, as I recall... used in the group photo of us at BBBB-1,
Cielito Lindo.
This is not a very good image, but here is that photos with Paulina's banners:
Thanks... seeing this reminding me of another time David E traveled with me and friends... to Guadalupe and Ensenada. I rode with Fishin' Rich and
Dah-veed rode with elgatoloco (Matt and Barb)...
Dah-veed knows... we are
amigos... 
