BAJA California, Land of the Free.

Review: Trip to baja to go surfing and camping.

We departed on friday morning early. We had my Subaru and a VW bus to caravan down. As I was rolling through the border my clutch suddenly began to make a weird sound. Kind of like a dying giraffe if you know what I mean. It got worse and worse as the trip went on. Around Ensenada we got separated and lost each other. Since it is Mexico, we were never able to meet back up. Lack of planning made us not sure where we were going to meet up. We drove down to San Vicente to get lunch and visit a mechanic. Of course, as I am trying to communicate the problem to the mechanic, the problem completely stops, the clutch worked perfectly with no noise. So we left the mechanic telling him that we would be back if it worsened again.

So with my car we went down to Punto San Jacinto that night. We enjoyed some perfect longboarding waves and beautiful sunshine. It was nice to ride a minute long wave as my first ride ever on my brand new board.

In the afternoon we packed up to meet the others at Punto San Jose where they were supposedly camped. Problem was, we took a wrong road that led us to the craziest deserted area on the planet. The road was so bad there were holes that could flip the car over if I wasn't careful. The whole time we didn't think we would make it out, from either getting stuck or the car breaking down. I was extremely stressed out. Luckily the trusty old Subaru got us through it. Getting off that road led us to some mining complex with no one around, and by now in total darkness. We just kept driving along the coast going up and down extremely steep valleys and ridges each time praying we would make it up the next one and that the clutch would not die. Next we got to a locked gate dead end with no where to go. Luckily it looked inhabited and there were so many dogs barking at us driving in circles that someone came out and unlocked the gate and showed us how to get back to the main dirt road. To get back to the highway was 20 miles of wash board dirt road.

By that time we just wanted to make it out of Mexico, the car was making more and more funky noises and we had no place to camp, so we unanimously decided to shoot for the border. After getting lost in TJ because of the terrible street signs, we were stopped at the border for having firewood and fruits in the car. An hour later, we crossed the border... unscathed. We had made it!

Trip Analysis: Looking back I would not do that again. The situation we got ourselves into was irresponsible, dangerous, and just plain stupid. Next time we won't separate from the group, and maybe bring radios to communicate. We will also not take any road we are unsure of and stick to the guides. We will be back but will be extremely careful and prepared.