Baja4Rnr
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El Vikingo
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.
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KurtG
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| 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.
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Kerry left Mulege several years ago. He was indeed a character. He wrote an interesting book on Mulege, its people and history.
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David K
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This one?
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David K
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This guy?... 
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Baja4Rnr
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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.
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David K
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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!
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Cardon Man
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Kerry was quite a character. I visited the sites aforementioned with him as guide. Those were fun trips!
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KurtG
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| 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.
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Mexray
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We met Kerry...
...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! 
According to my clock...anytime is \'BAJA TIME\' & as Jimmy Buffett says,
\"It doesn\'t use numbers or moving hands It always just says now...\"
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Baja4Rnr
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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.
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David K
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GREAT! I will look forward to that thread!!
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desertcpl
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this is an interesting thread,, MORE..love it
[Edited on 1-30-2010 by desertcpl]
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KurtG
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| 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.
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Barry A.
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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
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Hook
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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.
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Cardon Man
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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.
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Gypsy Jan
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Didn't Fred Hoctor Do a Story on El Vikingo?
"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.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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SunnyDay
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Vinkingo
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.
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