San Quintín sits about 200 miles south of San Diego near the southern end of the Valle de Guadalupe. The large bay there is ringed by inactive volcanoes; the main industry is berry farming. San …
May 13, 2015
Mexico
Surfers saved a whole lot of paddling in San Quintín
Mother's Day, unmeshed
Mother's Day at Friendship Park — on the rare occasion when the U.S. celebration of Mother's Day landed on May 10, which is the set date for Mother's Day in Mexico — was a particularly …
May 11, 2015
Baja zen: Guadalupe Canyon's oasis
It's midafternoon, and the hot sun beats down on a remote desert road laying before me. I'm deep in the Mexican desert, thinking of shinrin-yoku. Shinrin-yoku is the Japanese practice of "forest bathing" to enhance …
May 8, 2015
South of the border comfort food
Voodoo Stu probably could have gotten away with calling his cooking “Rural-Creole-Baja Cuisine” or some drummed up stuff like that, but he didn’t. Instead, the Atlanta-raised chef simply calls it “Southern comfort food,” and it …
May 5, 2015
Teachers' strike holds strong in Baja
My eight-year-old godson in Tijuana has been sending me various versions of sad emoticons on Facebook for more than a week now. He is unhappy because, after a lengthy Easter vacation, school did not resume …
April 26, 2015
Playa y vino: best bets for a Baja weekend
Like many other folks, my wife and I like tasty wines and panoramic ocean views, especially if they’re less than an hour away. So we often head out to La Misión, a tiny Baja village …
April 23, 2015
Baby whale bites dust
Mexican environmental authorities recently buried a juvenile gray whale that died after becoming trapped on the shoreline near the border of Playas de Tijuana and Rosarito Beach. The young whale, about 42 feet long and …
April 22, 2015
Get the TJ street dog that includes bacon
The news of dog meat in a Chinese restaurant spread like wildfire. I overheard people in every corner of Tijuana talking about it — while eating street tacos or just walking around. Social media was …
April 16, 2015
Lounging in Baja's San Felipe
Strung like a hammock along the Eastern Baja coast, San Felipe lounges along the sandy beaches of the Sea of Cortez. The town's vibe is as laid back as the lapping of its Caribbean blue–like …
April 14, 2015
Cheese dreams in Baja's Ojos Negros
It’s a holdover from Baja's Gold Fever days. A hideaway from the bustle of Ensenada. Drive an hour inland through curvy roads, past an ashram and a blue Madonna painted on a boulder, and eventually …
April 9, 2015
Rough country's rewards
There should be a sign, I say to myself every time I park at the end of Monument Road to go hike the Tijuana River Valley. Like the “welcome to our habitat” signs for rattlesnakes …
April 9, 2015
All was not well in Lo Yen City
Four employees and the owner of a Chinese restaurant in Tijuana were arrested on April 7 after food inspectors discovered the eatery was butchering and cooking dog meat. Authorities launched an investigation of the Lo …
April 9, 2015
Forget Tijuana if you need an organ transplant
Dozens of Tijuanans in need of organ transplants have died needlessly because public health officials have failed to maintain organ-donor programs at government hospitals and clinics, the president of the Association of Transplants and Renal …
April 2, 2015
Driscoll's and Berrymex, lookin' at you
Dry air and native plant life overlooking a bay are the gorgeous dress in which the mountains of Baja welcome anyone with the time and taste to appreciate the natural landscape of Ensenada. But the …
March 27, 2015
The Mexican government lies
The small San Ysidro group known as Fuerza Amigo de Aztlán invited family members of the missing students from the Mexican state of Guerrero to speak at Mount Carmel Catholic Church on Monday, March 23. …
March 24, 2015