A Surfer and His Dog Explore Baja California

This story was originally published in GrindTV.com which is associated with Yahoo.

The sun setting on Eréndira. Photo: Cyrus Saatsaz

When all's said and done, I've probably spent over a year of my life exploring Mexico. I absolutely love the country. And Mexico's crown jewel is its nearly 1,000 mile-long western peninsula known as Baja California and Baja California Sur.

It's a region that's relatively safe from banditos and drug cartels, especially when compared to the mainland. While driving at night remains highly unadvisable due mostly to unrestrained herds of roaming cattle, and various bad seeds that tend to wander the Mexican roads when the sun sets, Baja remains relatively free of cartels and the drug trade that has brought rampant corruption and violence to the mainland region of Mexico.

The last time I had visited Mexico was for a road trip from San Francisco to Los Cabos, located on the southern tip of Baja California Sur. Once you cross the border, it's a three day journey of over a 1,000 miles each way, in a world that is quite possibly the last vestige of the Wild West. It was certainly an adventure filled with many wild happenings. That road trip took up a rather large portion of my book Dogwild & Board: Stories, Interviews and Musings from a Surf Journalist and is featured in my personal travel blog.

I was excited to return to Baja. It's one of the appealing factors of living in the San Diego area, being so close to the adventure, excitement, affordability, debauchery and waves of Mexico. I didn’t have the time to drive all the way to the southern tip though. I wanted to go somewhere reasonably close, with some good surf and a cheap place to stay.

And unlike my previous adventure, this time I had my best friend Indiana (Indy for short) with me, a half-English Bulldog, half-Boxer bundle of fun and joy.

The drive from Tijuana to Ensenada is amazingly beautiful, with nearly the entire drive set right alongside the Pacific Ocean on a freeway that's in great condition, thanks in large part to the tolls that are affordable and highly recommendable. When you go beyond Ensenada, that's when the last remnants of the Wild West truly begin. Out here, and for the next 800 miles or so, with the exception of various small towns, it's desolate and barren.

Anyone who surfs knows the legends lore regarding the surf in Baja. And after searching various websites and surf travel books covering the region, I found a place that seemed natural to venture to: A small Mexican beach town named Eréndira.

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