Hi Michael,
    Have a passport for going further south than Ensenada or San
Felpie, Baja California, I don't know what is for the main land.
    Know how to survive a hundred and twenty heat when their Premix
fouls your fuel system?
    Know the proper technique for bribing the Federales.
    Know your firearm is illegal, but you may need it.
       God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
mailto:LWHughes3rd@aol.com http://www.billhughes.com/

Michael --

I have made two trips from SoCal to Todos Santos, which is just above
Cabo San Lucas in Baja California.  Once in a 93 Cherokee, once in a 05
Wrangler.

Each time I took off on unpaved, deeply rutted roads over mountains.  I
don't think you could call them trails, but each involved about 4 to 6
hours of driving at speeds ranging from a 4L crawl to maybe 40mph.  I
averaged about 12mph.  I think I saw one pickup on one of the trips.
There are multiple sharp switch-backs, many drop-offs, a few fords, and
of course, no guard rails or signs.  The occasional road off to a
rancho is easily confused with the "highway" and you pretty much have
to expect to get a bit lost, or at least uncertain where you are.  If
you want to drink a beer as you drive, no ones's going to stop you.  If
you want to do a bit of Baja Racer, no one's going to stop you.  Of
course, if you crash, no one's going to know it.

Both roads went by old (1700s) missions (Borca and San Javier) and can
be found on any map of Baja.

For someone throughly sick of the overcrowding of Southern California,
there is a deep pleasure in the miles and miles of open country, bad
roads, unmarked intersections, and clear skys.  The driving is not
technical, but it's a good use of a jeep.

I was just told by someone here in Todos Santos that there is some nice
country just off the highway from Tecate to Ensenada.  He used to go
quail hunting there.  I don't know of any specific roads there, but my
experience is that any road on a Baja map that is marked as poor is a
good road to take.

On the gas and gun thing: Pemex 87 has caused me no problems in over
10,000 miles of driving here.  There are plenty of well stocked
stations.  Leave the gun home.  Don't even think about it.

And the Federales.  I got stopped for speeding (I was speeding).  He
was like the guy next door.  No US-style cop intimidation.  We talked
about where I was from, where I was going, the weather, how nice Mexico
was.  Finally I asked whether there was any way to settle this now, on
the spot.  He shrugged.  I said, doscientos?  He shrugged.  I offered
docscientos.  He took it.  I said muchas gracias, he waved good bye, I
waved good bye, and that was it.  I'll take that any day in preference
to my last California chicken sh.t speeding ticket.  The cop was an
a.shole and I ended up paying around $500.  Doscientos is about $20.

Bob Brown

I hope you survive the trip. There are plenty of bandits down there who will
take your jeep and your life. These bandits sometimes where uniforms and are
sometimes called Federales.

Then again my friend went surfing down there and didn't have any problems at
all. One of his tips is to keep your bribe money in your wallet and hide the
rest of your money.