Adventures of The Love Bucket a 1966 VW Bus & the Baja Trek scout crew

It was that time of year again, Independence Day or so we were told. Well you're probably thinking what does that have to do with much of anything in the land of Baja Trek. You see, everyone else was out grilling and watching fireworks while we were out working. It wasn't a bad job. Searching for new cool spots in Baja California never is unless you are subjected to breakdowns, being stuck in the sand or lost for hours on roads that are not even on the map.

We took the opportunity of the long weekend to boogie down the Pacific coast
in search of cool new camping spots. We found many including a wind surfer's mecca and some pretty friendly folk in a remote fishing village 100 miles from the nearest town.

In any case, you don't want to read my blah blah. Here's the video that Steve made of the ride in.

Somos todos Bajanautas!

Practice your Spanish and learn about Baja's wilderness areas at the same time! Check out this awesome blog (albeit a couple of years past its prime?) by and for Baja-lovers (or shall we say, "Baja-nautas"!): http://bajanautas.blogspot.com/

They've got all kinds of things listed in there, from why we shouldn't litter plastic, to what's behind the mystery gate in Punta China. They've even got video footage of swimming with the whale sharks in Bahia!

Nature in HD

Check out this cool perspective on the recent Sandy River flood up in Oregon by Tyler Malay and Alexandra Erickson "Nature’s torrent rendered beautiful with a Canon 60d and Canon 7d…"


Source: Open Culture


Also, this is a neat little collection of timelapses shot by Mike Flores in Baja California:

Baja California Timelapses from Mike Flores on Vimeo.

Source: Thanks, Armando!

Baja Trek's Vegetarian Pozole Recipe

Photo Credit: Eliza Wilmott

I'm posting this recipe by popular request from our recent trekkers! As I always say, the beauty is in the garnishes... Enjoy!

Vegetarian Pozole (serves 20)

Soup base:
-4 pounds cooked hominy
-2 cans pinto beans (or other kinds!)
-8 quarts water (with 2 vegetable bouillon cubes)
-1 whole head garlic
-1 whole onion, sliced
-4-8 dried red chilies (pasilla, ancho, guajillo, or any combination)
-4 Tbsp olive oil
-2 tsp oregano
-Two 14-oz cans of chopped tomatoes
-coriander, cumin, salt & pepper to taste

Garnishes:
-2 red onions, chopped
-1 pound radishes, sliced
-1 head of cabbage
-60 tostadas
-½ cup dried oregano
-½ cup chile pequin
-10 limes in wedges
-1/2 lb cotija cheese (or queso fresco)

Instructions:
Saute onions and garlic in olive oil in the bottom of a large pot.
Add the water/broth as well as the hominy, pinto beans, chile peppers (remove seeds and stems when soft) and tomatoes and simmer for 2 hours in large pot.
Add oregano and other spices and cook another hour.
Prepare garnishes. Serve soup in individual bowls & invite guests to add their own garnishes.

Excellent with freshly-picked mussels and grilled cheese sandwiches on the side!

Mexico Works for an Image Makeover

We at Gus HQ have been seeing tourist numbers steadily rising in Baja for a while now, and it's very encouraging. That's why I was interested to read this article from the Globe and Mail: Mexico battles ‘sun, sea and severed heads’ image. It says that the Mexican government is now trying to change its image - highlighting the country's safety and wonderful travel opportunities and trying to shake the stigma of violence. From the article:

Of 5.1 million visits in the past four years, only 20 Canadians have died while in Mexico, and almost all were accidental deaths, with alcohol playing a role in many (seven, he says, were falls from balconies).

This is the kind of thing that never shows up in articles about Mexico. All of us at Gus HQ have spent a lot of time in Mexico without experiencing anything but an incredibly beautiful country and kind, friendly people. And we know many people whose experiences have been the same.

We've seen a lot of news reports about tragedies in this country. But such stories never point out that, statistically, the country is actually not much more violent than many places in the United States. Nor do such stories describe what percentage of the people who've been involved in violence were directly involved in the drug trade. Nor do they point out that violence is actually highly localized in a few key areas, with most parts of the country remaining quite safe.

These days, it seems as though the media has decided that Mexico is an extremely violent place, and any story which can support that theme is splashed across the front page, while the stories of Mexico's awesomeness tend to fade into the background.

Meanwhile, those of us in the know will keep trekking through this incredible country, learning about its rich history and its incredible cultures, and meeting the millions of kind, generous, happy people who call Mexico their home.

Cabo Bob's Definitive Mexican Slang 101

We've just received the most delightful package in the mail: a short stack of the hilarious book: Cabo Bob's Definitive Mexican Slang 101.

Besides sitting here in our offices reading each other passages and giggling furiously (AND learning things too, of course), we're also thinking of ways we can get these books out into the wide world, where they belong.

These little books are for sale for $5 "Gringo Dollars" apiece.  We certainly plan to keep Gus stacked with this required reading so that you can take one home with you if you wish to update your rusty high school Spanish to street-smart Baja slang.

We also hope to run a few down to our friends at the hostels down the Baja coast, from El Sauzal to Cuatro Casas, so they can show them to their guests.


In the meantime, let us know if you'd like one!

Protecting the Wild

It's infographic hour!

This infographic to the left compares all kinds of wilderness metrics in North America.

Mexico wins on the Ecological Footprint front, but loses on the Wildness front, surprisingly.

And that's something we've been concerned about over here at BT for years... We'd love to find a way to funnel some funds into supporting Protected Areas in Baja. We've got a few National Parks already, San Pedro Martir and Parque Constitucion being two you'll recognize if you've been on a few treks, and also some Marine protected areas, both in the Gulf of Californias and on the Pacific coast of Baja.

But that's not enough! Not for us. We know (and you've probably seen) some of the incredible wilderness areas that Baja has to offer, and we certainly think there needs to be more resources put towards protecting them. Don't you?

The map also highlights Mexico's water problems. Although we've got the smallest per capita consumption, we've also got the smallest availability and the least margin for error! That's why innovations like Cuatro Casas hostel's passive solar water distillation system count with every drop of water they help us save.

Anyway, check out the party responsible for this cool image, The Big Wild, which is based in and focused on Canada and has all kinds of fun ideas going on.

Next, check out this awesome new interactive map of Marine Protected Areas in North America, part of the North American Environmental Atlas. They also have this hilarious, soundtracked promotional video of their map. Look for Baja!

Julio the Sewer Diver's Story

This story alternates between incredible and horrifying -- but either way you really have to read it... It's the story of one of only two sewer divers in Mexico City.

Check it out here!

The Oaxaca Project

Our friend and fellow Gusketeer Beth just told us about this awesome project down in Oaxaca that is the brainchild of her colleague Deborah Miller.

As an EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) practictioner, Deborah works with kids in a hospital cancer wing in Oaxaca to help them tap into their emotions and create a positive frame of mind. She uses teddy bears called Tappy Bears as confidants for the childrens' worries and emotions.

Here are some of her words: "I’ve felt absolute joy, delight, pleasure, peace and pure love as I interact with these children on a daily basis. We have FUN feeling better, while learning how to feel better, learning that it’s ok to feel better, while choosing to feel good and to heal. The peels of laughter that come as we tap, visualize and joke around fill the hospital room with the delight of life. That is pure healing in my eyes."

Beyond helping the individual children in her hospital wing, Deborah has reached out to the doctors and hospital community and his helping to raise awareness about the benefits of practicing EFT: "Although Dr Quero, the head oncologist, has from the very beginning been very open to the work I do with EFT, usually the doctors are a little reserved or skeptical. Even though Dr Quero was observing results in the children and parents it was months before he actually tried EFT with me. When he did try it, he found it very relaxing and refreshing. He recommends that the use of EFT be continued in the hospital and hopes that other hospitals will do the same soon."

How cool! Way to go Deborah. We believe in what you're doing!

Check out her website here for more info: http://www.oaxacaproject.com

Glasses for Mexican Children

I just heard that Yves Behar, a fancy-pants designer and a partner with the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project, is beginning a new project that is surprisingly down-to-earth! It's goal: to provide a solution to the need for glasses among low-income kids in Mexico. Apparently about a half million children entering school down here in Mexico each year need glasses, and few of them get a pair. Even fewer get cool ones...

Fuseproject says: "Currently, the percentage of children in need of lenses at or above .75 correction [...] can be as high as 60-70% in some schools in states like Morelos, Sonora and Chiapas. The average classroom need percentage is 11%. Additionally, the wearing of glasses is looked at as a handicap, this social stigma adds to the resistance to correct the problem," (taken from here).

Behar's group has apparently gotten the manufacturing cost of a pair of these glasses down to 10 bucks.  The glasses come in five styles, three sizes and seven colors and apparently are designed to look cool.  The project, called "Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor", is being co-funded by the Mexican government, Augen Optics, and the non-profit created for this program. Their aim is to produce and give out 300,000 pairs of glasses a year.

The idea is that school children will receive eye exams from their local optometrist, or from a visiting one if none is available, and their prescriptions will be sent off to create the glasses, which should arrive back to the children within a few weeks.  The coolest part is the design of the glasses, which pop apart hot dog-style when you need to replace the lenses with a new prescription. Behar talks a lot about valuable design: "What I'm always trying to demonstrate is that you can get high-quality design at a low price point when a low price is just one of the criteria you are using in creating the design," (taken from here). He's an interesting guy!

Learn more about the project here.

Since I mentioned the OLPC project in passing, I'm going to indulge and include it in today's post! If you've done some traveling/volunteering around Latin America, you may have run across one of the signature little green laptops that OLPC distributes (at left).

Their mission: "To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning." Yeah! Joyful, self-empowered learning is something we can all get behind, right?

The OLPC Mexico wiki is a good source of info on what's happening with the program within Mexico. Check it out! Contribute or just feel good about it!