Has anyone gone south beyond Tijuana?

Staying a week for vacation in San Diego I thought of heading down to San Felipe or Ensanada. Not sure if anyone has been down there and/or thought it was worth visiting. I thought it would be cool to visit somewhere scenic or interesting in Baja, ideally without getting murdered.

8/17/2015 3:21:32 PM

If you're planning on traveling via vehicle I'd recommend checking http://expeditionportal.com forums in the Baja section to see about recent trips, and up-to-date travel info. I would also make sure to get the Mexican vehicle insurance even if only going for a few days or a week. http://discoverbaja.com Also here's some general Baja travel info- http://www.expeditionswest.com/resources/Travel_information/baja_travel.html. And there's good recent info on [link]http://http://forums.bajanomad.com/[/link]. When I was there years ago, it wasn't bad, from what I've heard though, once you get some south of Ensenada you shouldn't have problems. Baja is quite Beautiful, hope you enjoy your trip!

9/3/2015 6:31:45 PM

There is a place called the blow hole just south of ensenada. Pretty cool place. I love the nightlife in ensenada. All the mexican girls say they are studying medicine.

9/3/2015 6:38:24 PM

how are you on dying of infectious disease?

9/3/2015 7:53:54 PM

be careful... i heard that mexico is going to become aggressive and forcibly take over that area.

http://www.brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=348253&page=3#16037876

9/6/2015 7:46:09 PM

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KiEMPy4P9nA

9/6/2015 9:19:04 PM

I'm beat and I don't know if I can explain my story on a message board.

But in 2003 I flew out to Orange County CA for 2 weeks of sales training with a job that I landed. I was 27 yrs old (but very immature for my age) and was VERY fortunate to land this job. It was my first "real" job with a great salary, a company car, and ridiculous expense account.

I flew out of RDU, connected through DFW to Ontario and arrived around 12pm on a Sunday... training started 8am Monday morning.

So I said to myself, "drive down to San Diego and check it out"... so I did. When I got there I recalled my old college buddy who sold drugs who told me that you could buy xanax in Mexico at a pharmacy without a prescription... he said you could get a 90 day supply.

So my dumb ass took his word and stayed on the 5 and drove into Mexico without telling anyone. Right when I crossed the border I tried to call a buddy... but my phone didn't work... bad sign.

Once I crossed the border, the freeway was confusing as hell. I finally got off an exit and tried to find a pharmacia. I think I was a few miles south of Tijuana. I walked into this store and asked for xanax and they looked at me like the idiot I was.

That shit didn't work. And I don't even think it was a pharmacia; it was some type of sundries store.

Right then I said fuck it and decided to get back in my car and go back to the US. I was able to get on the 5 north, but there was a traffic jam (Sunday afternoon is bad... lots of people heading back to the US for the work week)>

After 30 minutes of sitting in traffic and waving off street vendors trying to sell me shit, a Federales tapped on my window. This kid couldn't have been 19 years old, but he asked me for my license, registration and proof of insurance.

I was a walking LOOK AT ME sign: a gringo in a white Ford Taurus rental car. So I gave the Federales my license and rental car contract.

He looked at me and said with his accent, "You no have Mexican insurance?" Right then I knew I was screwed.

It was like the show Locked up Abroad.

(I'll post the rest in a few... gotta go do some shit.)

9/7/2015 9:31:42 PM

mexican insurance is just code for a cash bribe, right?

9/7/2015 9:34:00 PM

Yeah... I had to bribe him. Before I crossed the border, I stopped at an ATM and got $400 cash. I already had $100 on me... I put $200 in my back pocket and had $300 in my wallet.

He said that the magistrate wasn't available until later in the week so I'd have to stay in jail until then.

I begged him to please give me a warning ticket... I even asked if I could pay a fine and that's when he looked around and said "yes, you pay me the fine and I will take care of it."

I said how much is the fine? His reply was "how much do you have?"... I made it a point to pull my wallet out and get my money out. He raised his voice and said "you're not trying to bribe me are you???"

At that point I was like "fuck, I'm dead". He told me to lower my hands and fold the money and hand it to him, which I did.

He told me to pull forward... which at first thought he meant that he was still going to take me in. But he left me alone.

But there were other Federales and I was terrified they'd all try to shake me down. About 30 minutes later I finally got to the customs gate and the guy with his "Californians" accent told me I was cool to go.

Right when I got back in to the US, my phone alerted me with a voicemail... it was my mom. She called to check on me and said she was worried. I was freaked out.

Looking back I can't believe how fucking stupid I was do that. May have been one of the dumbest things I've ever done.

9/8/2015 10:34:25 AM