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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just dancing through life
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Baja, where are you going?
Thought I would share this with all of you...
Baja, where are you going?
Most of my post here have been simple attempts, on my part, to share the Baja I have known over the past 45 years….Those memories have never been
clouded or ruled by the laws of man but much more often by the common sense of the Mexican people and their guests.
Over the years many of us have chosen to place our hearts in Baja for assorted reasons. Some we understood but others we can only marvel. One of the
overriding reasons, I believe, is/was the desire to escape the cluttered and highly regimented life in the United States. A place where common sense
no longer prevails and one that is ‘ruled’ by judges and attorney’s—I didn’t mention politicians because saying that would be redundant.
Many recent threads have convinced me more than anything else that the end of a naïve and simple era is over, done, and for all purposes gone. I am
must thankful that so many of us have been allowed to experience the simple pleasures of Baja and its wonderful people. That we were allowed to
wander around this paradise at will—stopping to savor its quietude, the hot winds of her deserts, the sun and waves of her seashores. The hurricanes
that thunder ashore around the Cape, the bounty of the Sea of Cortez and so much more.
We have been allowed to sip of a culture that has taught many of us that time really has no meaning unless it is spent with friends or its passing has
added to our understanding and enjoyment of life. We were blessed to see a blending of the two cultures and the emergence of a third that somehow is
more than the sum of the two.
I understand—but do not appreciate the fact that many of us ‘visitors’ do not feel comfortable without our definitive laws and rules that control
most of the functions of our lives. Those very things that have driven many of us into her arms are now engulfing Baja and changing her forever! Her
simple and free pleasures are, more and more, forced to conform to a more orderly society where folks require the security of the much more complex
society that we had thought to leave behind us as we escaped to Baja.
I am sure that one day soon the lovely towns and villages of Baja will mirror such cities as Tijuana, Cancun, or Acapulco where the free life of
the individual is sacrificed for the ‘good’ of the many. These changes will end up swallowing up those folks who would ‘march to a different
drummer’—or in the case of some—dance to a piccolo player.
Watching my footprints being washed away by the tide has always been a magical moment for me and I just hope that my passing will be washed out to
sea as were my footprints in the sand—rather than being held captive in a slab of concrete.
Yes! I know that ‘progress’ is good—but losing the freedom to roam around mi Baja is not progress and may not be so judged by anyone’s standards.
Bernie Swaim—August 2007
No, no! I am going nowhere—yet.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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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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i can show you some places that will never submit to progress.......
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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Hang in there, Bernie. Good to see you.
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Skeet/Loreto
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4709
Registered: 9-2-2003
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Yes Bernie. Very well writtin, I feel very much the same.
Except TAMBEBECHI Don,t think there are enough Adventure Types to enjoy itOR FIND IT.
Skeet
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mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
Member Is Offline
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This story makes you look back...
Notable change on the Sea of Cortez side really hit me hard when I realized that those mound of white rocks meant change in the future. There was
mound after mound stacked and painted, all the way to Coco's
Yes Skeet....it be a good new post to see who's the Adventure Types here....
| Quote: | Originally posted by Skeet/Loreto
Yes Bernie. Very well writtin, I feel very much the same.
Except TAMBEBECHI Don,t think there are enough Adventure Types to enjoy itOR FIND IT.
Skeet |
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Bernie,
Remember Dad's story about throwing the beer can from the car to mark the spot where civilization ends? I still hold true to that theory. You just got
to get off the main roads and Baja is still there for Ya. See David's latest pictures by BajaTripper.
And that said from someone who got all peey and left in "75" when they paved the road.
Sure am glad I got over it and came back.
Do I think I could today repeat the feat of coming home with $3,000 DLLs., no knowledge of building and from that creating by far still the finest
Construction Company in the East Cape? Perpetuating myself here for the last 21 years? Nope? But, I couldn't have done it before the year I did
either, it was a dumb luck, perfect catch the ring on the carousel moment.
Viva Baja! It has given me a great life! Hope you come see me sometime. Maybe we can visit Auga Caliente, the old way of life is still there.
[Edited on 9-17-2010 by Eli]
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Phil S
Super Nomad
Posts: 1205
Registered: 10-28-2003
Member Is Offline
Mood: After 34 years. Still in love w/ my wife
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"to Coco's corner". ???????? Am I missing something here? I remember this trip to San Felipe just to say I'd been there. Then on south stopping
along the way to each little village we came upon. Including a stop to meet Coco, and drop off some oranges for him, as I'd learned to do when I
became a 'Nomad" member. Then on south then west of hwy 1. Then on to Rattlesnake Beach to spend the winter. What's changed since those earlier days
of the 90's?????
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
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Bernie, to get completely filled back up, get rid of that empty, freeway feeling you need only arrange for a small plane to fly you around the
mountains of Baja, slow and low enough to see the thousands of ramals and seeps and camps, and ranchos where time stands still, frozen,waiting for
those who tire of sitting by the pool with a good book.
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mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
Member Is Offline
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Well.......(!).....a paved road being constructed. And bridges. No McDonald's yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIj8nxRb9AU&feature=relat...
| Quote: | Originally posted by Phil S
"to Coco's corner". ???????? Am I missing something here? I remember this trip to San Felipe just to say I'd been there. Then on south stopping
along the way to each little village we came upon. Including a stop to meet Coco, and drop off some oranges for him, as I'd learned to do when I
became a 'Nomad" member. Then on south then west of hwy 1. Then on to Rattlesnake Beach to spend the winter. What's changed since those earlier days
of the 90's????? |
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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knuckles
Nomad
Posts: 140
Registered: 9-15-2009
Location: I am never sure anymore :)
Member Is Offline
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You nailed it Bernie, then and now.
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
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Perhaps I didn't explain my view properly. I'll try again. The Baja you remember is still there but you expect to find it right alongside Highway One.
The Old Baja is waiting for those of you who want to see it badly enough to get off your asses and go look see. Anybody agree with that?
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Yep Osprey, I get it. I think it is the same thing I said in my own way.....
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mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
Member Is Offline
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100%
| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
Perhaps I didn't explain my view properly. I'll try again. The Baja you remember is still there but you expect to find it right alongside Highway One.
The Old Baja is waiting for those of you who want to see it badly enough to get off your burros and go look see. Anybody agree with that?
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Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
Member Is Offline
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Well, Osprey, you are right, but even in the back country, I see little incursions of progress. I was at one of the rancho's way back in about
halfway between Mulege and Scorpion bay and camped for the night when a friend said he had to run because he did not want to miss his favorite TV
program, "Dancing With the Stars", and I had to just kinda shake my head and wonder.
I recently got back from a great trip over to Asuncion where some of the "Old Baja" is still alive and well, but was told by everyone not to drive
main street without having your seat belts fastened and secured and I had to reflect back on a trip to Kino Bay in the early 60's when on the road
between Kino Bay and Hermosillo when I hit a bump and the muffler fell off of my old Chevy Pickup. I had picked up 3 or 4 hitchhikers who were loaded
with Tecate and we were going down the road singing, passing beers back and forth, and generally having a great time. We sure were not going to run
over anyone due to the load noise that preceded our arrival. Those guys who I gave the ride to became good friends and we shared many experiences
over the years following that trip.
Kinda like that old Waylon Jennings song where the cowboy is now working in a feedlot selling cigarettes and beer on the weekend at the convienience
store.
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 19932
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Hot n spicy
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change is good. while many of you pine for the days of yore, perhaps the people that have to go to work and earn a living like to have devlopment and
an expanding economy...
you are sad the rancho has TV, but maybe the rancho likes having better access to food, medicine, water, power and TV and internet ??
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toneart
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4901
Registered: 7-23-2006
Member Is Offline
Mood: Skeptical
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Well said, Bernie! And Osprey, yes, I agree with you. Pescador has added part of what I was going to say.
I used to cross the border at TJ with a girlfriend, unbuckle our seat belts and pull into the first liquor store on the left, just after the offramp.
We would buy a six pack of cerveza and head for Rosorito Beach. The intention was not to get drunk. It was to get an instant hit of feeling free!
Now, I am not suggesting that you would express your freedom in this way, but the way I described above, was symbolic of launching the trip into a
radically different culture and escaping from another culture. We soon found the real difference in culture by encountering the sweetness of the
Mexican people. Freedom!
The "old Baja" that is in our memories and hearts still exists but is harder to find. It is more than a geographic location; it is a feeling. The
feeling is this: Freedom! So, yes, you have to go off the highway to find it. The "wildman" in us still seeks the time-gone-by Old
Wild West. Many of you Baja pioneers know what I am talking about.
Mexico has learned from us that there is revenue in the kind of law and order we have. They have observed and they have learned. The feeling is
repression and intimidation. To further evoke this feeling is that one cannot depend on a uniform interpretation or enforcement of the
laws in Mexico. So you could say, "we brought it with us".
Oh, you will quite possibly take many trips down the highway and hanging around in towns without incident, but that old feeling of Freedom is not the
same. Obviously, there are laws in place to prevent people from getting hurt or hurting others. Admittedly, I live by a double standard: "Freedom is
OK for me, but not OK for you (if you can't handle it or if you abuse it)." I am confident in my discretionary conduct that I won't get myself in
trouble. But there is that feeling just around the corner, or sitting on my shoulder, that it is no longer entirely up to me.
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Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
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There's no shortage of out-of-the-way places in Baja, even on the coasts and a whole lot in between. No water, no power, no people.
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
Member Is Offline
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Last time, I promise. You are all right about the place because it is not one thing, it is many. I live off the blue highways so my perspective is
local, hometown. Baja is not a place, it is an idea, an attitude. Living small town Baja evokes words like rustic, simplistic, antiquated, unmodified,
basic. Not a day goes by that my life doesn't rub up against the bare-bones backward, lovable, forgiving, common sense non system of how people
tolerate each other where it's too windy and hot and humid and unbelievably wonderful.
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toneart
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4901
Registered: 7-23-2006
Member Is Offline
Mood: Skeptical
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Cypress
There's no shortage of out-of-the-way places in Baja, even on the coasts and a whole lot in between. No water, no power, no people. |
This is true, but you are speaking only of geography. There is also your security to consider, now more than before. Can you really feel free camping
in those places? Some can. Others can't.
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toneart
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4901
Registered: 7-23-2006
Member Is Offline
Mood: Skeptical
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Osprey
Last time, I promise. You are all right about the place because it is not one thing, it is many. I live off the blue highways so my perspective is
local, hometown. Baja is not a place, it is an idea, an attitude. Living small town Baja evokes words like rustic, simplistic, antiquated, unmodified,
basic. Not a day goes by that my life doesn't rub up against the bare-bones backward, lovable, forgiving, common sense non system of how people
tolerate each other where it's too windy and hot and humid and unbelievably wonderful. |
Yes! The key is to live local, be local and love local! (Local intentionally used as a noun instead of an adverb). 
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