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Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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The Kindness of Strangers
"Baja is a bad place, yada, yada...you are in deep doo-doo if you go there."
Well, whatever. We were returning home and the G*D shock absorber fell off on the road. Please pardon my ire; we had the whole under-carriage checked
out just this last month.
As we pulled over, some people walking by asked us if we needed help. I yanked up the Rottweiler to make him be civil.
The strangers were good guys and they and the hubby looked under the truck and figured out a fix to the problem that would let us get to the mechanic
in the morning.
Is Baja a bad place? You can ask me.
“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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postholedigger
Nomad
Posts: 189
Registered: 1-6-2008
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During one visit, I went out for some tacos and a run to the store. After tacos, my car wouldn't start. All I would hear is a
rapid "click, click, click, click". After opening the hood and hitting
the battery terminals a few times with my shoe, the car kicked over.
After my next stop, same thing. This time, though, no amount of jostling
would make the car start again. Just as I was hunched over the engine,
looking at the battery, a guy came by with his 2 kids and suggested that
the battery terminals were corroded (at least that's what I understood
from my beginner knowledge of Spanish). We tried removing the cables
from the battery but without tools, we could only get one side off.
Another guy (who happened to be parked right in front of me just
happened to have a tool box in his trunk and helped us take the other
side off. We cleaned the terminals with screw drivers and water,
reconnected the battery and the car turned right over. They both took
off with a jolly "Orale!"
2 complete strangers (plus a 1 wife and 3 kids between them) took time out of their day to help a stranded foreigner in the parking lot of a Calimax.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by postholedigger
We tried removing the cables
from the battery but without tools, we could only get one side off.
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Look no further, you've found your two problems. Loose cable and no tools. [the shoe doesn't count] 
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wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21152
Registered: 8-9-2009
Location: Mission Viejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
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Must say I have had the same experience... down in Baja.. if something is not right and you need help.. people just come over to give a hand... used
to be that way in the states many, many moons ago..
But, rather have a flat down here in my current condition than the States.... would have to wait for AAA, Highway Patrol or something like that, down
here, open the hood and you got people around... don't usually know what they are saying but, it always works out ok... and I like that a lot... need
a ride you got one.. need something, they will help...
Nice.... from my standpoint too...
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
"Baja is a bad place, yada, yada...you are in deep doo-doo if you go there."
Is Baja a bad place? You can ask me. |
Let's say, for the sake of conversation, that Baja is unanimously declared safe for tourists. The crime statistics and death in the streets still
don't add to the vacation ambiance. If three people each week were brutaly murdered in Disneyland, would you still think it was the happiest place on
earth? I doubt it. I'll bet you wouldn't even go there.
Vacations are supposed to be fun and carefree. Driving through military roadblocks with everybody carrying bigass automatic weapons is far from that.
I know the Army is there for our safety, but it's not a decoration. It's a necessity.
Baja is a war-zone. That can't be denied if your mind is in the real world.
Jan..tell us more about your Rotty. Does the security it gives you ever enter into the equation?
Let's support Baja and promote cautious tourism, but let's not lose sight of the fact that there is a dangerous criminal enterprise in our midst.
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
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once about 20 miles south of El Ros we could see a car on the side of the road a couple miles ahead. two cars in front of us passed and when we got
close we could see mom, dad, and 3 kids standing at the roadside. i stopped and Bia asked what the problem was. they needed gas. no one had a hose to
siphon my tank so we had dad hop in. we dropped him at the station in ER and offered to take him back but he refused.....
i hope we left a good impression.....
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
Member Is Offline
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I beg to differ Dennis...........I once made it quite away back to Bahia from Las Anaimas with only a handy dandy rock, my cable was also loose and
it kept popping off, over and over again. Finally my friend and leader stopped looking for that dang lost mission and realized I wasn't behind him
and came back with "real" tools. I of course had real tools, but, for some unknown reason had left them at camp.........that will never happen again.
I can't count the times people have stopped for me to help, and I for them. The un-written law is that you never pass anyone by in the desert. Talk
about trust and love of the people on Baja........several years while traveling with the Humfreville's we came across a man with 3 kids in school
uniforms, truck hood up, we stopped and ask if he needed help.....he told us he had a tow truck on the way but would be greatful if we would take the
kids with us to San Quinten (we were probably about 2 1/2 or 3 hours away).....Can you imagine that happening in the states? No way! I sure wouldn't
turn my kids over to some strangers 
Mean people suck!
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by woody in ob
i hope we left a good impression..... |
Of course you did. How not?
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Debra
I beg to differ Dennis...........I once made it quite away back to Bahia from Las Anaimas with only a handy dandy rock, |
Oh Lord...Now they'll be selling them at Pep Boys.
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
Member Is Offline
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Mean people suck!
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
Member Is Offline
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now you've got me spitting tea on my lap-top!
Mean people suck!
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wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21152
Registered: 8-9-2009
Location: Mission Viejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
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Me too... good one
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BAJA.DESERT.RAT
Senior Nomad
Posts: 980
Registered: 11-5-2009
Location: BAJA SUR
Member Is Offline
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Hola, another tale or two.
i ran out of gas going north about 20 miles from el rosario and pulled over and held my gas can, which was empty, of course, up for people to see what
my problem was. for about 45 minutes, noboby stopped. then, i heard what was to be, a dump truck with four mexican men driving down the arroyo behind
me. he stopped, pulled across the road about 200 feet and they started shoveling sand into the truck.
about five minutes later, one of the workers came over and asked what my problem was. he took my gas can to his truck, siphoned out two gallons and
just gave it to me. glad it wasn't a diesel !
he wouldn't take anything and walked back to his truck. i went over and gave them a six pack of pacificos, a quart of tequila and some cokes that i
had. they wouldn't take any money.
to this day, i wish i would have gotten their names and addresses as i try and carry a lot of used clothes across the border going south that i could
try and give them later and also to see what else they could use.
same thing happened again in the same area a year later and i stopped by three parked cfe trucks. they siphoned five gallons and wouldn't take
anything for it. i did have a five gallon can that i put in earlier but it wasn't enough.
i now carry ten gallons going north and south and i drive a LOT slower pulling a trailer. sure sucks the fuel going fast.
yeah, it's really dangerous here ! NOT !!!! JUST WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL PEOPLE !!!
BIEN SALUD, DA RAT
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DanO
Super Nomad
Posts: 1923
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: Not far from the Pacific
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by postholedigger
We tried removing the cables
from the battery but without tools, we could only get one side off.
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Look no further, you've found your two problems. Loose cable and no tools. [the shoe doesn't count] |
No tools, indeed. It boggles my mind, but more than once I've pulled over to help locals with a flat and they didn't have a lug wrench. Mine gets a
lot of use.
\"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.\" -- Frank Zappa
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Woooosh
Banned
Posts: 5240
Registered: 1-28-2007
Location: Rosarito Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Luminescent Waves at Rosarito Beach
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We were surrounded by armed carjackers on the via rapida in TJ last month. Good Samaritans yelled and screamed at the thugs and they took off. So is
Baja a bad place, you tell me? 
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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monoloco
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6667
Registered: 7-13-2009
Location: Pescadero BCS
Member Is Offline
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Every time that I have had any kind of trouble here someone has always stopped and offered to help. Once, many years ago, I was driving with a friend
to the East Cape to go fishing, it was a Sunday morning about 6 AM, driving east from Cabo San Lucas with the sun in our eyes we hit a large rock that
had fallen off of a dump truck blowing out 2 tires on the car and 1 on the boat trailer. We were standing by the side of the road trying to figure out
what we were going to do when an elderly gentleman and his wife stopped to see if we needed help. Since it was 6AM and there were no llanteras open
they took us to their home, a shack in a poor barrio, fed us breakfast then drove us around Cabo to look for a tire that would work. The hospitality
that these poor people showed to two clueless gringos really made an impression on me and I have tried to pay it forward by following their example.
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El Comadante Loco
Nomad
Posts: 274
Registered: 6-12-2004
Member Is Offline
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One more tale.. Many, many years ago before Baja Nomads, late 70s, I was returning from Loreto during Spring Break with the wife and two small kids.
Everything was going well, no problems in fact we stopped at the road side campgrounds along the way which were part of old El President hotels.
How many of you remember those days????
Well, going north about 10-15 miles south of Colonet my truck blew a head gasket, of course we were stuck on the edge of the road without any type of
shoulder.. Within minutes the Green Angels show up, we discuss the problem and decided that they would push us into Colonet.
They were true angels once we got to Colonet they stayed with me, help diagnose the problem and take head off.. Once we were sure it was just a gasket
and no other damage done they set off to return to their base in Ensenada. Well what was I supposed to do with the head off the truck and no gasket
they had the answer. The Angels stated they could return the next day with a gasket and help me put it all back together. They made an offer I could
not refuse so I gave the money for the cost of new gasket.. I did not know if I would see them again or not but one must have faith and trust in these
situations.
By 10:00am the next day they were there with the new gasket and by early afternoon we had the truck running and back on the road.. I offered them
money as a sign of appreciation but they refused to take and only after I insisted and told that I was offended by their refusal did they agree to
take the money.. VIVA LOS ANGELES VERDES!!!!
BTW this is for Dennis I have been pulled out of the desert and helped by those military guys with big guns.. I am so glad they are there.. Once
while they were lifting the back door of the van to inspect all of the stuff poured out onto the pavement. They guys were so apologetic and quickly
picked it all up repacked it and sent us off on our way..
You know we who live along the border on this side also live in an occupied zone. The only difference is that our checkpoints are manned by the Border
Patrol.. In fact I have been scrutinized and hassled more by the BP than the Mexican Military.. Must be the dark skin.. I am sure there is no
profiling going on here
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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OK....Let's hear it for "The Green Angels." We don't want to leave anyone out.
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
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rarely see green angels anymore. hopefully if i need 'em they'll show!
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by woody in ob
rarely see green angels anymore. hopefully if i need 'em they'll show! |
I think they changed the color of their trucks for political reason.
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