ESCAPING WINTER in BAJA CALIFORNIA // Hasta Alaska // S04E06

Baja California, a 55,000 square mile adventure playground. To some folk Baja is the last place that they'd ever visit, but to others it offers a welcome opportunity to escape. Thousands make the annual pilgrimage to these desert lands, some searching for adventure, some for solitude, some just to escape the season. This year we're joining the movement, skipping winter and writing our own story. We honestly don't know what to expect, but then who comes to Baja with a plan anyway? This is our story, the discoveries that we'll make together, the lives that we'll touch, the problems that we'll overcome and the price that we'll pay. This is the Baja Diaries. Before I could head to Mexico I needed to find a new combi crew, but I was struggling to find someone willing to drop everything and head to Mexico without a plan. Answering the call on our Facebook page, Tara stepped up to join the adventure. This is all I have. That is it. Tara is practically standing up in the combi. Do you want to put this up in the safe? Yeah, sure. Oh ----, you're American? We don't accept Americans. So we're just getting ready for our Baja trip. We will try out our new shower. Apparently you can pressurize the shower, so we've just filled it up with water. We were pretty stoked to have added the road shower to our roof. Those of you who have followed our journey since Chile will have seen a variety of homemade showers, none of which were able to withstand the demands of travel. The road shower is made of aluminium and holds five gallons of water and can be pressurized up to 20 psi. Don't, no, no. Go on then, test it out, aim it that way. Let's have a go. Holy crap. This was a serious upgrade to van life and just what we needed for the desert. How much fun can you have in a road shower? I'm imagining quite a lot. I think this is French toast. Eggy bread. No way, I've never heard of eggy bread, no matter like, nowhere. If Tara was coming on a surf trip through Baja, she would need a board. Welcome. So we visited Jared, one of numerous Americans in northern Baja who lived in houses made up of vehicles. It's nice, there's salt water and a little bit of wax. Ready to catch some waves, Tara? I'm ready. I'll have to be able to actually carry this, right? It works. For this trip, we had a lot of trouble finding a crew on both sides of the border. Fortunately, we had a friend who was always up for an adventure. David seems to have his priorities right. He moved to Mexico to set up a surf house, which ultimately allowed him to spend more time doing the things that he loved doing. Everybody seems to be working and barely having any time for their activities and I just find ways of doing as much of these activities as I can while finding ways of making money on the side. Unfortunately, the majority of society I've been raised around thinks that being rich is living rich but money definitely doesn't provide happiness and from what I've seen, it actually does the opposite and creates a lot of problems for people and it's a constant struggle that they don't really necessarily find any happiness at all. Whereas living rich is the concept based on being happy and living the life that you want to live and not following certain paths that you're told to go on and finding the path yourself. but after a few months of camping restrictions, it was awesome to be back in Mexico and feel truly free. How was the ride last night? Bumpy. It was like the worst Asian massage you've ever had. As your whole van just squeaks and yells at you. But we made it. It's a great spot though. I think we're gonna find a wave around the corner. Pretty sick, huh? So sick, holy moly. Can't wait to be over there. Let's do it. Let's go. I'm not sure we can drive on that, to be honest. Where's he going? It's not smart. No? No. No, no, it's not. Oh, ----. All right, that's him. He found his camp spot. What a plump. You think I'm coming in there to tell you out? You can think again, mate. I've been driving on a couple beaches these days. Building up my confidence in beach driving but this one, this one was different. And I saw these other tire tracks and I was like, if I just go as fast as I can, I'm pretty sure he'll make it. And then I'll be laughing at them on the other side, park my van right on the water, get to just go surf right out of the van. So I'm not gonna leave my van on a hill across the beach. So I picked it. I got lucky. We walked up to a 76-year-old man who's a generous dude. Pulled me across the beach. I got to the firm sand, he let me go and told me like, I'm not gonna pull you across the other way. Just go drive until you're stuck and we'll see what happens. Okay, so I'm pinning it around the hard, firm, wet sand. Get a nice like 40 mile an hour run in. Up the hill, through the sand, get stuck like 10 feet away from where I originally got stuck. The opposite direction and then comes back around, tries to pull me out in reverse. Takes me up the hill and almost sends me off the side of the bank and rolls the van the first time. It's not really a Baja trip until you've been stuck in sand, but getting stuck in such a remote place can be a real challenge. We were lucky to get out of this one with only a loss of time. Happy birthday. Yeah, happy birthday old man. It seems in these first days of our southern expedition, we were all making mistakes on the road. I forgot to shut the water in and it just basically flew off that shelf and went everywhere all over the floor. So after searching for water, finding water, that's built exactly the same level as it was at. This is not the first time that I've made this mistake, but here in Baja, it was particularly frustrating as making a supply run to the nearest town can involve a long drive. Yeah, come on Capito. The sand here is like literally dust. So easy to get stuck and obviously we have got stuck. Oh, we haven't got stuck. We. Stephen's got stuck. So now, brave Capito is going to pull out David or get himself stuck in the process. Probably far more likely. Ready? Pretty far from help. That'll be a no then. What a dry bottle, yeah. Let's give it another go. We spent the next hour and a half digging out Burgundy with a machete. Welcome to Baja. Yeah, we made it. For those of you who told me to buy a Toyota, Burgundy over there, this is the third time that we've had to wait for her. Twice stuck in sand, now once. What's going on? I'm going to see if I can fix this. What's happened? I don't know what's started. Brand went stuck. Troublesome Burgundy. Burgundy. Burgundy troubles. We should have a, for once I feel pretty confident because my van's working better than another vehicle. I think this is the first time. It'll work better once it starts. We really enjoyed our little convoy with David, the efforts that went into finding those waves and the rewards that they gave us. That was the best wave I think I've ever rowed, yeah. Not everyone will understand this, but that's a good thing. It means we can have more of it to ourselves. From here it would just be Tara and I for a while. Paris discovered a whole new room in the convoy. We'd be saying goodbye to David and his infectious positive vibes. We're heading opposite directions and further south into the desert to discover the rewards of remote Baja at its best. But for that, you'll have to wait until next time. Next time on Astra Alaska. We're settling into the rhythm of desert life and we're put to work in a remote fishing village. Make sure that you're subscribed so that you never miss an adventure.