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DrTom
Nomad
Posts: 183
Registered: 6-17-2007
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common sense for driving down baja
ok, with all the nitetime incidents in TJ crossing etc, you always hear about using baja "common sense". For those of us that dont have a lot of
experience driving baja, would those of you with useful advice post on this "common sense" thread. Like first: only cross during daylight, cross at
tecate, etc. I know bits and pieces are throughout the site, but lets try this ok? I try to answer peoples animal questions which a lot seems common
sense to me but thats because im familiar with it. thanks in advance
DrTom
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Sunman
Nomad
Posts: 400
Registered: 6-22-2007
Location: Oxnard
Member Is Offline
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Don't blindly trust the guy in front of you signaling it is safe to pass. Use that as a signal to carefully move over and take a look for yourself.
Use your own judgement.
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
Member Is Offline
Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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be friendly and courteous to everyone but don't trust anyone.
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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Buy lots of insurance and don't trust anybody, even God.
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
Member Is Offline
Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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the friendlier they are the more they are going to rip you off.
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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gnukid
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4411
Registered: 7-2-2006
Member Is Offline
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Don't bring anything and drive a crappy car and make sure its dirty and you look dirty and you wont lose anything.
Generally get in the flow with other cars and don't drive too slowly. Get into a group right away on the toll roads and whatever they do, yuo do. Cars
in mexico move like sprockets on a wheel and they fit together, if you go too slow you will get picked off or hit by accident. At stop signs, do a
hollywood stop and keep going or you will cause an accident.
On the toll road people drive fast, it works because the bad guys can't move quick enough to catch you. And the real police are ordered to stand down
and not ticket the private toll road. There should be no real police only bandits. Do not stop on the toll road for cops, just don't do it, not right
now. Keep going with flow or faster and don't let them pass you.
In pueblos, if a pedestrian cop whistles at you to stop, dont stop. If a cop waves you over, ignore them. If you get pulled over by real policia or
federales be polite and do what they say.
If someone accosts you and claims you hit their car or did something or they need help, do not repsond, just keep looking forward and keep moving.
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
Member Is Offline
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Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.
Zac
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The Sculpin
Nomad
Posts: 401
Registered: 9-3-2002
Location: Back in the Saddle
Member Is Offline
Mood: Riding into the Sunset, looking for a sunrise.
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Don't put your cash in your wallet - put it somewhere else. If you're ever pulled over, be very friendly but act real stoopid - do not speak spanish -
only english (except for below) - have the officer repeat everything - repeatedly show him your empty wallet - be patient. Naturally, if the stop is
legitimate, get the ticket and pay the damn fine.
Do not under any circumstance keep your rig in a neat and tidy order. Keep it real messy and cluttered. The boys at the checkpoint will lose patience
very quickly.
Don't shave - you're on vacation
Don't shower - see above
Don't feed the dog for at least 2 days before starting the road trip. At the checkpoints, or when being pulled over keep repeating "malo, malo, malo".
They'll understand.
Whistle alot and keep a stupid grin on your face- they'll think you're crazy.
Enjoy!
Whoa there, Cowboy - pull back on those reins!
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
Member Is Offline
Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by The Sculpin
Don't put your cash in your wallet - put it somewhere else |
.......
.....Including your credit cards.
Have an "extra" credit/ATM card and
make color copies of your drivers license, passport info page, SENTRI card, FM-2/3 info page and vehicle registration/insurance including Mexican
insurance in a secure/secondary location. If you can keep it on your person, so much the better.
Get a "throw away" wallet and put about $40 in small bills in it, and keep a color copy of your drivers license along with a copy of vehicle
registration/insurance Mexican insurance in it. Only dispaly and/or give up the throw away wallet.
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Hook
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9009
Registered: 3-13-2004
Location: Sonora
Member Is Offline
Mood: Inquisitive
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Common sense tells ME it's time for a large scale boycott. I had already unofficially begun one when I stopped going to La Salina and Ensenada over a
year ago. I used to make 4-6 trips a year. No mas!
Yes, I know how much anguish a large scale one will cause persons who have invested in Baja and the locals who work in Baja. There is collateral
damage, in any conflict, that is unavoidable.
But it's time to use the only tool available to us. We cant fight fire with fire. Not when the druggies and the cops are aligned against us, to some
degree.
When thugs can pull off a kidnapping in broad daylight at a restaurant in P.N., then the idea of simply not driving at night is not enough.
Spare me the "comparisons" to inner cities in the US. I dont go there, either.
Mine officially starts today.
And I am rethinking the size of my investment in the mainland, too.
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Paulina
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3810
Registered: 8-31-2002
Location: BCN
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajaguy
| Quote: | Originally posted by The Sculpin
Don't put your cash in your wallet - put it somewhere else |
.......
.....Including your credit cards.
Have an "extra" credit/ATM card and
make color copies of your drivers license, passport info page, SENTRI card, FM-2/3 info page and vehicle registration/insurance including Mexican
insurance in a secure/secondary location. If you can keep it on your person, so much the better.
Get a "throw away" wallet and put about $40 in small bills in it, and keep a color copy of your drivers license along with a copy of vehicle
registration/insurance Mexican insurance in it. Only dispaly and/or give up the throw away wallet. |
Your mention of having a "throw away" wallet, or a Mexico wallet reminded me of when I used to wear a "Mexico wedding ring". I would leave my real one
at home and wear a Kmart fakey special.
P.
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
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I think the suggestion/offer Diver made on the other thread was a good one:
If possible try to join a group of cars and travel through this area as a caravan.
I would think that's 100% safe. Very inconvenient but very safe. May seem drastic but it maybe smart for all nomads to post their planned departure
dates on the board and offer others to hook up for the 60 miles or so from the border to Maneandero. Much as Diver has done. If we all did that we
could stand to benefit greatly.
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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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Good thread!
How about we organize a real protest and blockade the US side of the San Ysidro border crossing and shut down sotuhbound traffic into Mexico for a few
hours! Let FOX news and others when it will happen, why it will happen and how frustrated we Americans are that our safety and security concerns are
being ignored.
I'll bet you dollars to donuts that you will NEVER NEVER see a news story in the USA (or Mexico) about what has been posted here- specifically the
horrible family carjacking last weekend. It just won't happen. We need to act before we are all victims at some level, or even worse dead. If we
don't act- we're just allowing more American sheep to be slaughtered here- becuase they aren't getting the word and no one is safe from being a
victim.
And enough of this "if you stay dirty. dress and drive like trailer trash you will be safe". I didn't move to baja to be a lesser person in any way.
Having a second wallet/ATM card won't do you any good when they have you with them and a gun to your wife's side in the car. They don't just take
your wallet and your word that the PIN is correct. That's just stupid. Techniques like that worked in the old days when an "honest" cop just wanted
a quick $20 bribe- but the current security situation is nothing like that.
Drive in the daytime, don't stop for anyone in a remote area andyou shouldn't come down here at all if you aren't willing to physically defend your
family and posessions.
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pappy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 679
Registered: 12-10-2003
Member Is Offline
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i wear a small fanny pack in which i keep a few pesos, and $20 us, my license and passport. (each in a seperat zip-up compartment). i wear my shirts
untucked so it completely conceals the fanny pack. i leave an old wallet with fake stuff and a couple of dollars in it in the truck.
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Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
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"I'll bet you dollars to donuts that you will NEVER NEVER see a news story in the USA (or Mexico) about what has been posted here- specifically the
horrible family carjacking last weekend. It just won't happen."
As stated elsewhere on this board-----CNN and the LA Times HAVE picked up on this problem, and ARE giving it some attention------and now the Ventura
paper, too, I believe someone said------
We have to keep hammering away.
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The Sculpin
Nomad
Posts: 401
Registered: 9-3-2002
Location: Back in the Saddle
Member Is Offline
Mood: Riding into the Sunset, looking for a sunrise.
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WTF?!?!?!?!?!
That's the way I am EVERYDAY!
Who the hell are you to insult me and the way I dress? You thought I was being funny!?!?
Oh yea, I forgot the most important tip.....don't camp near any gringos...they always want to share a beer with you and then end up peeing in your
damn fire.....
Whoa there, Cowboy - pull back on those reins!
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dccf
Junior Nomad
Posts: 98
Registered: 10-20-2007
Location: S. Cal
Member Is Offline
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I posted on "the other RV" forum" this morning about all that has been posted here and they called me a "troll" and ran me off the forum.
They have their heads in the sand and refuse to even consider they could end up as victims. As long as we continue to supply the sheep to shear this
problem will never be solved.
[Edited on 11-20-2007 by dccf]
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
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Excellent Woosh.
A lot of Mexicans commute from TJ to their US jobs daily. The howl that would go up would be tremendous. That's a real attention getter.
But who could organize such a thing? Perhaps Baja Discover Club. Perhaps the Vagabundos. Their members could certainly be called on to participate. I
would take a day off from work to drive down from the Bay Area to support this.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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This is amazing. Sit back and make a list of the precautions mentioned on this thread, most very good although I think Sculpin should use some
deoderant, the kind that doesn't make you smell rich. [ just kiddin' Sculpin ]
Go back twenty years in your memory and try to imagine whether you would have made the trip if these considerations were necessary. probably not.
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Packoderm
Super Nomad
Posts: 2116
Registered: 11-7-2002
Member Is Offline
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Buy $500.00 U.S. in traveler's checks and keep it in your throw away wallet. That is a believable amount of funds to make the decoy wallet look real,
so they don't press for more if you get hit up.
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