Here's another view on travelling in Baja:

I'm getting ready to head south for what is probably my 15th (or 
maybe even 20th) trip to Baja. I'll no doubt make at least two trips 
there this Summer in my '90 Vanagon, as always, looking for surf and 
camping in various places up and down the peninsula. This year I'm 
taking my 13 yr old son for his first Baja surf trip - a rite of 
passage of sorts for San Diego surfers. Yes, I've heard plenty of 
horror stories about the dangers involved. Maybe I've just been 
lucky, but I've never had ANY problems down there that I didn't make 
for myself (such as driving south across the border in my ex- '71 
westy with a clunking CV joint, telling myself it was probably just 
my loose muffler bouncing around again...or, peeing against a wall 
in the parking lot outside Hussong's Cantina just as an Ensenada cop 
walked around the corner: and that only cost me $10 in 'mordida' to 
avoid a trip to jail. Its actually a reasonable judicial system, if 
you don't expect it to be like the US, Canada, northern Europe).

What I have had in Baja are countless fantastic experiences, both 
with the place and the people. There's a little place called Santo 
Tomas, in the hills just south of the Ensenada-Maneadero 
urban/suburban mess, where I always stop for a beer and a meal, and 
I swear I can feel my blood pressure drop dramatically. This is 
where the 'real' Baja begins, IMHO. A quick trip to Enseneda, an 
overnighter at San Miguel (a great surf spot, by the way) can be 
fun, but you have to get south of there to get the real benefits the 
place has to offer.

I've made trips in a number of types of vehicles, including big 4wd 
trucks, and my preference is clearly for a VW van. (I only wish my 
'90 was a syncro Westy...). On balance, I'd even say that a tight, 
well-maintained air cooled version, with a good tool kit and the 
right spare parts, is the best bet. Once you leave the mostly-paved 
main highway, the roads can be a challenge, and you have to be ready 
to fix just about anything on your vehicle. The locals live that 
way, and believe it or not, you can usually count on them to help 
you (not rob you) if you have a problem. There is no doubt that I 
feel much safer travelling in any part of Baja than on the surface 
streets of most of the City of Los Angeles.

If there's interest in a list trip to Baja, I'm definitely 
interested, too. I'd be happy to recommend some beautiful, remote 
beaches for camping sites within 4-6 hrs of the border.

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Steve Reilly
'90 carat

E-mail: steve@caliban.ucsd.edu 
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