Slow Baja - Gabe Erivez Agave Expeditions Adventure Tourism Outfitter

Episode Date: April 8, 2022

Agave Expeditions Gabe Erivez is an adventure tourism outfitter who leads with his heart. With over a decade of professional guiding experience in Patagonia, Iceland, and Baja California, Erivez brings a lifelong passion for the outdoors to his work. He strives to be mindful in his travel, and "Be Here Now" is his mantra. "The human and cultural element gives exploring these wild places their richness, and I believe when we unite cultural heritage with adventure travel, we begin to have a more meaningful connection with the places we explore. Utilizing 4x4 overland vehicles as our mobile basecamps, we aim to explore the diverse culture and eco-regions of Baja California. We shift between remote desert camps, generational sierra ranches, locally owned eco-lodges, and coastal outposts. We work exclusively with local guides and outfitters, the true peninsula experts." -Gabe Erivez. Learn more about Agave Expeditions here. Follow Agave Expeditions on Instagram. Follow Gabe Erivez on Facebook.

Hello, hello, hello, hello, Ola, Como Astaz, Slow Baja, amigos. Today, my heaping dose of gratitude goes out to my podcast editor and my amigo, Christopher Kaiser. Christopher is the guy who makes this podcast sound like it's not nearly as amateur as it is. I appreciate him. He is my technical go-to guru. He makes the thing go. He makes it sound good. I call him with all my questions.

He's the guy that berates me for my lax. recording style. Christopher can't say enough about you. You've got them a lot more lucrative things to do than get this little show out, but I appreciate that you do it week after week after week. And I can't wait to have you down in Baja for the Nora Mexican 1000 and be part of that craziness. Okay, today's show is with Gabe Erives. Gabe is a tour guide, tour leader, Baja aficionado. he he's deep and i appreciate him and i just want to get right into that uh he and i had a chance to talk earlier on the podcast with pacific overlander but we did that by uh remote zoom uh we recently got to see each other for the baha bound um lifestyle expo and that was a lot of fun but we were both

busy as hell and uh finally we got to sit down have a couple beers and just have a good slow Baja talk about our mutual passion, Baja California. But Gabe's the guy who gets it, you know, we'll get you on the trail out and about, and he can take you in his four-wheel drive. He can guide you in your four-wheel drive, or you two can go together in four-wheel drives owned by Pacific Overlander, and he is the resident Baja guide. You can go on a beautiful catered excursions from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas or from Cabo San Lucas to San Diego.

Before he got guiding in Baja, Gabe was guiding in Patagonia and Iceland. He's a native San Diego kid. And, you know, he's in love with the people and the place. And that just comes so, comes through so strongly in our conversation. I just want to say, hey, welcome the Slow Baja. Today's show, Gabe Erives. Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja.

This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches and hands down my favorite tequila. Hey, I want to tell you about your new must-have accessory for your next Baja trip. Benchmark Maps has released a beautiful, beautiful Baja California Road and Recreation Atlas. It's a 72-page large format book of detailed maps and recreation guides that makes the perfect planning tool for exploring Baja. Pick yours up at Benchmarkmaps.com. I think we ought to just get right into it. Yeah. What did you say earlier?

You've had two beers, a cigarette, and you're drinking cold coffee? Yeah, two beers, cigarette, drinking cold coffee. It's about eight hours old, so I'm ready to go. Rock and roll. It's slowba. I'm sitting in Gabe Erives's pickup truck. We're in Spanish Landing in San Diego. Planes are flying over.

We're making friends with the folks who are sitting nearby. And we're just going to talk about Agave Expeditions. Gabe's lifelong love affair with Baja, his family, and we're going to jump right into it. Ola, mego. Ola. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here. It's been a minute.

We were going to try and do this over at Stone Brewery, and it was just too loud. Yeah, a little issue with the air traffic. But yeah, we're here, Spanish Landing. I guess it's fitting to start this conversation at Spanish Landing and discussing the original California, Baja California. And yeah, excited to dive into this. Well, look, the question that I just asked you before we started rolling here was the name of your company, Agave Expeditions.

Yeah. You said immediately, I'm an Agave nerd. Can you unpack that? Definitely. So, you know, I grew up in Ramona, California. For those of you who don't know, it's about 40 minutes inland from San Diego in the the Santa Maria Valley. We have some higher chaperal foothills and rolling meadows. It's really beautiful out there. But obviously it's a great place to grow cacti as well. So where I grew up,

I was surrounded by Nopal cactus, prickly pear, and agavees. So from an early age, I just kind of gravitated towards this plant. I just loved how it looked. I loved the different shades of greens and, you know, the shape of the leaves and everything. So it always just kind of interest. me like where did does this plant come from um so yeah my early trips to baha i just saw agave and down there the agave um yeah i forgot the scientific name doesn't matter but uh yeah and so i immediately kind of felt at home in a sense seeing this plant that i grew up with um being down here in this place that was foreign to me at the time and so yeah but the actual origin of the name in particular with the company agave expeditions you know the agave was an integral part of

the lifestyle for the natives spanning the Baja Peninsula. So I thought it was fitting to name the company Agave Expedition. It's kind of like at the core of Baja California, essentially, the agave plant. Yeah, well, you were talking about fibers and this, you know, hardening the stalks to make spears and, of course, distilling the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the pulped juices of, there's a, there's a host of uses of that. plant for the early people. What's going on with agave now? Do you have any sense of the agave use in the ranch life in Baja? Yeah.

So, you know, to my knowledge, I'm definitely not an expert. But, you know, from what I've... That makes two of us for the record, slow Baja fans. So, yeah, just speaking on my own personal experience with some of my friends in the Sierra, they're in Baja, you know, they don't really make the traditional mescal that they used to, you know, back 100, 150 years ago. However, I think it still does take place in certain ranches, scattered throughout the peninsula. But again, with Mexico coming down a little hard on the production of spirits, it's illegal in Baja now, I know, to make spirits like that in the Sierra.

But I know a couple of ranches still do. But it's kind of a dying art, essentially. One of the things I hope to find someday is agave moonshine. someday you'll know that slow Baja has made it when I have a guide guiding me into Agave Moonshine. Hey, well, I'm delighted to be here. It's a beautiful Friday. I'm in town for the Baja Bound Baja Expo, and Gabe is in while a resident of San Diego, larger San Diego County. He's here for the same event, so I was thrilled to get him in person because I really love your approach

to what you're doing. I know I had you on the show with Mason and Pacific Overlander, and we were talking about some of the trips that you run for Pacific Overlander as a guide, and you got to work for him because basically you're trolling him online, or at least he says it laughingly, smilingly, that you were trolling him online. You really have a passion, in my opinion. You have a passion, and you're not afraid to come out and say, hey, I think what you're doing is, you know, I don't want to say wrong, but you're not afraid to express your opinion online with folks who are out there pontificating about the Baja.

Yeah, yeah. Unpack that for me. Yeah, I mean, you know, I will say, you know, I've kind of gone through a little personal growth period, I think, the last two years. You're not as angry and you're moderated? Not as agro, yeah, I guess, or salty, I guess, I would say. You're spending more time in Baja and you've relaxed. Yeah, just embracing that inner, you know, that Baja Zen, you know, and trying to carry that light with you everywhere you go and kind of bottle that up, you know, and draw on those reserves.

But, you know, really it just comes down to trying to educate others and, like, share what I know or what we all know, really about Baja and try to bring that into a positive light as opposed to being, you know, combative or divisive or argumentative with other people. So really now at this point, yeah, I just think, you know, if I see something that is worth bringing to light, or not calling out in a negative sense, but maybe challenging and proposing a different way to look at something, then I will, you know. But ultimately, it's just all about teaching and growing collectively as a community, as a Baja community. Well, let's get on to Agave Expeditions.

you're an adventure tourism outfitter. Take me back to your childhood. Did you wake up one day and say, you know what, dad? Screw refrigeration. I don't want to be a pipe fitter. I want to be an adventure tourism outfitter. How did that come about? Because I'm joking a little bit because we have gotten to know each other.

Sure. But your father is a pipe fitter and, you know, refrigeration guy. Yeah, you know, that's the path that you started. Union. Then you ended up saying, screw this. I'm going to go to Patagonia, Dad. Yeah. Iceland, Dad.

I'm going to be a travel guide. How did you tell me about your childhood a little bit, Ramona. Let's circle back to that. And then just get on to how did you become a guide? Excellent. Yeah. I dig it. So, you know, growing up in Ramona, it's a very rural community.

There's a lot of hiking, a lot of public space located to the east of Ramona, endless amount of hiking trails. I really owe it to both my parents, for sure, from an early age, but my mom was really into running and hiking and love the outdoors. So from an early age, yeah, I just remember going on hikes with my mom and walks, and she'd throw me on her back, and we have a local mountain in Mount Woodson, so she'd take me up and down there. And that was, I have some memories of that, but, you know, there's just a lot of photos.

She has scars on her knee from when she fell hiking with me on her back. have all those stories to draw off of. But I really just grew up outdoors. I mean, as a kid, I basically just remember wearing shorts in the summer and that was it. I mean, I'd be barefoot for. And in San Diego, of course, summer is really like, you know, from May through November almost sometimes. So like almost seven months. So I was just saying, not really wearing clothes, cruising around, exploring climbing trees.

You know, my best friend, I met him when I was five. years old in preschool so he grew up on four acres and they have a big chaparral hill behind their house so we got adventuring for hours during the day and then his grandmother and aunt they have like 120 acres in the corner of Ramona so we'd go and explore there and I mean you know from a very young age those are all incredibly transformative experiences you know being so immersed in nature and you know being able to tune in to nature science you know know, and be able to, like, orient and kind of just pick up these instincts, essentially, at an early age that have, you know, built and, you know, really been the foundation for where I'm at today. And getting on to your actual work as a, I'm assuming as a young adult, getting on to travel and becoming a travel guide.

Where did that come from? Yeah, so actually it has a direct tie to refrigeration, which is pretty neat. So my dad is a retired refrigeration pipe fitter. He's in the trade for about, yeah, 40 years or so. In the mid-90s, when I was in elementary school, my dad was the foreman for the refrigeration startups for Price Club down in Central America. So I had a couple of trips to Costa Rica at an early age. I think I was like eight to like 11 years old.

We had a couple of trips to Costa Rica where he'd take me, you know, down to Costa Rica with him. We'd all go down and he'd be there working on the job site and I had an early exposure to travel and I travel in Latin America in particular and you know during those moments I just you know really keenly remember you know getting off the plane in San Jose and Costa Rica and smelling like the diesel and like the hustle and bustle of the streets, you know and that is something that you know Baja always brings those memories back to me but you know through that I was able to travel a lot within Costa Rica and go on adventures to see crocodiles and go to remote beaches and try surfing and kayaking and things like that. So that's kind of the origin of like where I had this idea of like adventure on those early trips. And then, you know, graduating high school, I had a job

with a union company working for the same business as my father. But there was just always a strong calling, this magnetic pull, like this gravitational force that was pulling me. me to the outdoors. It was pulling me to try to find a way to engage people outdoors and share these transformative experiences with others, essentially. So that's kind of where it started. And yeah, I kind of keep going. But yeah, so basically I worked for several years, save some money. And then I just saw this, you know, article on Patagonia on Google late one evening. I didn't even know what Patagonia was, like the Fitzroy, the climbing. all like this prestige around traveling in Patagonia and Dora's alpineate.

I had no idea what it was. I just saw that. It was on the southern tip of the South American continent. And I looked at its location on the map. And I saw the fjords. And I saw the glaciers and the Strait of Magellan. And something just told me like, I want to go here. And I want to work and move there and try to make a living.

So that's what I did. Dropped out at a college. I was at community college. So I dropped out. And I moved there, essentially, on a whim. Broke your father's heart. I don't, you know. Just got you into the trade, son.

Do you realize what you're throwing away here? Yeah, exactly. I mean, at the time, I think there was a lot of that going on. You know, I was young. I was 21, 22, 23 at the time. I didn't feel like a ton of support on that end. I didn't know if he didn't understand what I was doing or if I was just trying to escape or, you know, just going for a good time.

But during my time there, I mean, I underwent a huge amount of growth, just fully being out of my comfort zone. I mean, it was my very first big trip out of the country besides, you know, small trips to Ensenada and things like that. I mean, so going from, you know, San Diego and local San Diego mountains and maybe a trip to the Sierras to all of a sudden moving by myself all the way to Patagonia, you know, I definitely thought I bit off more than I could chew for sure for for a time there. Absolutely. But, you know, after I came back, I think my parents kind of realized like, okay, like you did it, you were living there and you were working and making a living and you have all these great experiences and interactions with other people and new forged friendships.

And I think they kind of saw a light in me that I brought back. And they kind of realized like, okay, like this could be a real thing for Gabe potentially. So let's let's let's let him do it and see where it goes. And so Iceland followed. So Iceland followed, yeah. So I came back for maybe two years. And then, yeah, I moved to Iceland. And the same thing.

And right back into work in the trade? Exactly. Yeah. So putting some money away easily. Exactly. Yeah. So quickly, rapidly, right? Like in a skilled trade, refrigeration, especially.

Well-paid work. Well-paying work. Yeah. Lots of overtime. I mean, summer, we're talking 90-hour weeks or the norm. Wow. So, stacking the money away and making mom and dad proud. And then you say, you know what, I'm going someplace else.

And that's someplace is Iceland. Yes. So Iceland is a little different. Well, you know, Patagonia and Iceland have a lot of similarities. I really fell in love with the fjords and, you know, the large granitic mountainscapes and the glaciers and just the element? And so I figured, you know, why not try Iceland? But the thing with Iceland is, you know, I'm a big Tolkien and, you know, Norse mythology geek. I always have been.

I'm a Lord of the fan. I'm a Lord of the Rings fanatic. If you ask my closest friends, you know, when I was in community college up in Santa Cruz, we would have parties. And I'd have some lit majors. Parties, they'd come up and ask me if I was a Tolkien major. Because, you know, after a couple beers, I'd talk about, you know, the origins of Gandalf. and why Gandalf would dominate Dumbledore, stuff like that. If you could just find the mescal loving girl who also loves Lord of the Rings here in heaven.

Exactly. Who wants to just chill in Baja? Exactly. So, yeah, so that kind of also drew me. I was like, you know, I want to see the land, like, of the Frost Giants and, like, the origin of, like, the immigrant song for Led Zeppelin. Right. Like, they wrote that song when they were in Iceland on tour. And for me, it's like, you know, I love reading, like, literature.

is such a huge part of my life. And I draw basically all my inspiration for traveling endeavors. I initially, like, that interest starts, begins with literature. And so I read a lot about Iceland and mythology and, you know, the Vikings, etc. And the founders of Iceland. And I just thought to myself, I need to see this place in the flesh. And not even travel to this place as a destination, but I want to get to know the people and the culture intimately. So couple that with an incredible landscape.

and that's kind of how I gauge, you know, my compass for traveling. So that's really what led me, yeah, to Iceland. So I got hired by a company Arcanum Adventure Tours, and we were working on the glacier and ice caps in southern Iceland. And, yeah, I was this, you know, tan kid from San Diego who had hardly spent any time on real, you know, ice caps and glaciers. So they showed me the ropes, essentially, for the next couple seasons. So, yeah, that's kind of weird.

it started. Well, let's get on to your philosophy as a guide, and then we're going to weave that into how Baja became the, I don't want to say the sole focus of your travel exploits, but it's fully consuming like mine. Baja fully consumes you, and it fully consumes me, which is why I relate to you so easily. Get on to your philosophy. You were talking about Iceland a little bit. I I think people have trophies when they travel to places like Iceland that they know from Instagram or they know from a movie they saw or a book they read or immigrant song or whatever, like if they nerd out on Led Zeppelin. Yeah. So how do you deal with getting rid of the trophies and getting into the mindset that allows you to sort of meet the people where they are? you know I think it's something that you can directly relate to and that's kind of just slowing your role

you know and like you always say right and for me you know a lot of times these opportunities to you know develop this intimate relationship to this land to Baja it's been you know on these solo trips right where I have no itinerary where I have the space to be very vulnerable right I think vulnerability is huge in our lives whether it's traveling or our daily interactions or just being, right? Like, you know, it's a good place to be when you can kind of break down those barriers. So for me, it's just allowed me to forge these really deep, intimate bonds with some of these locals in Baja.

And through that, I've, like, time and time again, that's when I'm shown these gems, these diamonds in the rough in Baja that you would have never encountered if you were just sticking to a guidebook or just following the hashtags on Instagram or following the reels on Instagram you know like it's just little places that are you know it's part of the land that they grew up on it's part of land that they've been stewards of for generations and then you know they're generous enough to share you know this this this you know this you know relationship with the land essentially with me which I'm you know eternally grateful for truly but I do think that's something that's very hard because not everyone you know obviously

has the ability to do that and it's a privilege to be be able to do that as well. And I'm very grateful for that. But it is difficult, I think, in today's modern age of, you know, fast-paced social media and travel media, you know, you kind of, you, there's major fomo going on out there, right? You see, like, the newest post or whatever about Baja at some, you know, these like pools, like salt flat pools, for example, or, you know, this huge phenomenon going on with, like, videos on, you know, Instagram and, you know, and you're Gero Negro and stuff like that, and now you get more people, you know, flocking to these regions. So I think it's hard to kind of stray away from that in a sense, because they're beautiful, but at the same time,

I think it just really can suck us all in at times, you know, and myself included. There's things that I see that I want to go check out, but I guess you just have to kind of like stick to your guns a little bit. Those damn drone pilots. I know. I know. I am one of them. I am definitely not immune to that for sure. Yeah. But I think it's just, yeah, it's picking and choosing 100%. All right.

Well, let's get on to picking and choosing culture, cultural heritage. Yes. And again, getting back to you where you're, you know, your adventure travel, adventure tourism. How do you connect those? That's a great one. And it's a question that I love. It's a question that, yeah, I've grappled with for the last maybe, I don't know, five or six years. Well, after really leaving Iceland, I think it was very, very clear to me there is a large gap, you know, between travelers and, you know, the culture of these regions that people are traveling to.

You know, Iceland had a major influx of tourism, you know, around 2015 through, you know, 18 with, you know, several social media. campaigns on the behalf of several influencers online, you know, just showcase the marquee spots, right, the bucket list, the, you know, the checklist, itinerary. And, you know, through my relationship with, you know, the locals who are now some of my closest friends and mentors, you know, that's something they always talk about is, like, people are just have the blinders on and they just want to go from spot to spot to spot without like people engaging with them you know it always makes people are in a rush to get to the next place but yet people don't want to actually stop and take the time to get to know the people that

actually inhabit these regions because i personally believe that you know a lot of these landscapes were sculpted by the people who inhabit them but also the the people of these regions the culture of these regions is also sculpted from the landscape right it's this ever-evolving symbiotic relationship at play um So for me, I think I try to set the stage with storytelling, you know, with kind of telling the story of the land and the people and trying to create experiences that actually come full circle once you're immersed in them, right? Whether it's the Thres Viennes volcanic complex and, you know, talking about the Cochimi natives and their ancestors before them, you know, who travel these canyons, collecting the different minerals to use for their pigments for the great mural style of cave paintings in the Sierra San Francisco. Francisco and the Sierra Walalupe to the south, or whether it's just, you know, contemporary cultural heritage, you know, with my close friend Balan, he's a pangero and via Jesus Maria and, you know,

so stopping and taking the time to, you know, introduce friends to him and, you know, they get to know the local fishery and, you know, the change of conditions within the local fishery and marine environment as well, you know, so all those, all that information, all that, excuse me, all that information I think creates a very robust experience, right, where people not only develop an understanding of the landscape they're visiting, but also of the people, you know, of that landscape. I think it's just an overall rich experience. I think I'm not going to say it's the right way of travel

or not doing that as a wrong way of travel. It's just for me personally, that is what I find most meaningful to share with others who are traveling. Well, on that profound note, We're going to take a minute to talk about if you're going to Baja, you're going to want to go with Baja Baja Bound. So we'll be right back after this commercial break so we can drop a few tacos in our tank and keep having these profound conversations with people like Gabe Ereves. So hang on. Hey, do you wish you had joined us on the Nora 500?

Well, here is your chance. It's double the mileage, double the fun, double the parties, double the dirt. It is the Nora Mexican 1000. We're going to drive by day. We're going to party by night. I'm pouring Fortalese at tequila. April 30th through May 6th, 2020. We're driving the entire peninsula.

You don't want to miss out on this one. Again, if I can do it in my 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser, totally stocked, you can do it in any modern 4x4. The Nora Mexican 1000 is the happiest race on Earth. Check it out at nora.com, N-R-R-R-A. or on Slow Baja. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruisers out of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. The website's fast and easy to use.

Check them out at Bajabound.com. That's Bajaubound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. We're back here. Gabe Erevese, Agave Expeditions. Let's say that again. Agave expeditions. Gabe Edevez. Awesome.

Gabe Arrives. Arrives. Yep. Gabe. Hey, we're back. Hey, we're back with Gabe Arrives. And you know, my tongue just isn't relaxed enough. I need a couple of tequila, Fortalezas, to get that tongue loosened up.

But we are back. We're talking Agave Expeditions. And Gabe was getting pretty profound there before the break. I had to take a second and reset him. But, you know, it's mindful travel. That was the next. The next point that I want to discuss with him, mindful travel. You know, we're getting deep, deep, deep into Baja and travel philosophies.

And I think you are one of the purveyors of deep travel guiding. Oh, man, I don't know about that. So let's get on your thoughts on mindful travel. Is that even possible? Absolutely. I mean, I think it's relative. I mean, it's hard. You know what I mean?

because I think in order to be mindful, in and of itself, you have to have a certain level of self-awareness. You know, I'll be straight up. I mean, I've done a lot of therapy the last, like, six or eight months just regarding anxiety and, you know, other mental health things that I've personally struggled with. And so, yeah, I've developed, you know, certain practices that I can, you know, utilize to kind of calm myself down in moments where I kind of feel like I'm spiraling, et cetera. but through that, I've, yeah, I've realized, you know, being mindful and, you know, being able to slow your pace and being in the present moment. I mean, I definitely think it's possible in Baja, of course. I mean, it's possible anywhere, whether it's the city or, you know, a remote desert in Baja. But I do think the Baja Peninsula provides very unique locations spiritually for us as travelers to really engage those pathways.

whether it's, I'm not going to like get all, you know, mystical on you or anything, but, you know, personally, I do think, yeah, like the, the desert does contain, you know, certain energy that we can tap into and feed off of. So I think if we approach these places and spaces with that mindset of being open and, again, vulnerable to those, those opportunities, then I think they're there to engage with. Absolutely. But yeah, I think it's just like slowing down, like, looking at, like, the, you know, know, the wildflowers, you know, blooming out of a recent rain or, you know, just watching a vulture or an osprey, you know, skim, you know, above the water or, you know, catching thermals and spiraling up into the sky. I think it's even small things that don't necessarily have to be, have to be extremely profound. But they're just little moments where they're like almost like micro resets for us, you know, or watching dolphins, you know, just like swim and leap through the currents, you know, as the waves are coming in, stuff like that. Just little micro moments that I think add up and they accumulate, you know, throughout your time

in Baja that add to that greater feeling of like, you know, you're here and you're present and you're with the desert and not with, you know, everything else that's going on back home, you know. We were talking a little bit earlier about your passion for reading and you were discussing literature earlier. Can you imagine your passion for Baja, my passion for Baja, can you imagine being Harry Crosby on that book assignment and he's supposed to be shooting the El Camino Real? And all of a sudden, his guide, Tacho Ars, shows him these freaking cave paintings. Oh my gosh. Just blows his head open.

Oh, yeah. I was just discussing. And then there's like a whole bunch, hey, you need to check this one out. And just can you imagine coming back here and having that excitement inside you? I mean, to be honest, I can. I can imagine it. I think I've felt that maybe not on that. It's hard to say, you know, but I definitely can relate. Absolutely. I mean, yeah, but what an incredible story, you know, to. to touch on. I was just discussing that with my dad over coffee a couple mornings ago. But yeah, you know, essentially for Harry to roll into some of these arroyos and, you know, some of the bakeros, you know, point out some of these cave paintings and then like, oh, yeah, there's another one, you know, around the corner. That one's, you know, 200 feet long and 40 feet tall. Like, you could, you could fit a bus in there.

Yeah. And this wasn't even 50 years ago. Yeah. I mean, it's less than 50 years ago. Yeah. But I think that adds to like the mystique of the, peninsula you know because like we were talking about you know the online thing right of you know people commenting and have you know their opinions on on certain things regarding the peninsula everyone has an opinion of course about something and you know there's some people i see and they're like oh bahas is not what it used to be like oh yeah back when baha was real you know oh back when you know baha there wasn't a road in baha before the road before the road before the road After the road.

Abaha was ruined when they finished the road, etc. That kind of a dialogue, right? And, you know, I kind of got to thinking after a couple of these more recent trips I've ran. And, you know, it really came down. I was like, you know what? That's just a cop-out. I think people are just being lazy. You know, it's like holding on to these old threads of the past.

I think it's changed the guard. It's like the world is changing on a global scale. I mean, that's just the way that the world is moving. There's no going back, right? But if you ask me today, like, what the state of, like, exploration and Baja is today, I think it's alive as it's ever been, you know, you just have to put in more of the groundwork, you know, because it all depends on, like, what you're discovering, quote on quote, right? Like, discovering, like, you know, or you're a pioneer or whatever, this whole, like, colonist idea.

but, you know, for me, it's like exploration discovery is like whatever's new to you. It's like, and it's not even like an external discovery or an external exploration, right? Like this physical phenomena that you find or see. It's also a journey of like yourself, right, of the mind, you know, of becoming a different person or viewing the world a different way. But, I mean, I've found so many amazing geologic features and different little diamonds in the rough, like I said before, through engaging. with locals getting access to a ranch or whatever finding you know an artesian spring or an oasis or other cave paintings that aren't even in the books or an old route you know that miners used to take and where they're you know on on mules or we're hiking you know to hot springs and and volcanic fumarals

you know i i have yeah just so much excitement for what else is around the corner in baha you know not looking back in the rearview mirror but looking forward what's down the road you know What else is around the corner? Is that how you relate so easily to off-road racers? I hear that a lot. The old off-road racers just had this passion. Malcolm Smith had this passion for what's around that corner. Yeah.

Where does that dirt road go? Yeah. I was teeing you up a little bit right there. Yeah, yeah. But, no, I think that's that I really did want to actually ask you what keeps bringing you back. I mean, you've really devoted your life to, helping people, I don't want to say see the real Baja, but to see Baja that's not as easily seen.

Sure. When you're staying on the pavement, you're out there, four-by-four guided tours, remote locations, whether it's, you know, the Seven Sisters or Viscayano or the ranch lives or any of this that we've, you know, touched on a little bit. These aren't places that are just say,

there's a sign that says turn here for ranch life. turn sure you know you've got to you've got to work to get to some of these places yeah so what keeps what keeps you coming back you know oh well a first i'll touch on this because you mentioned in the name and because it's like a hot topic so i do not do trips to the so like seven sisters zone it's like you know you have a bunch of basically like white surfers from you know southern california The brown surfer. Yeah, and exactly. One less spritter van.

The Mexican-American surfer. And, you know, it's like this whole sense of ownership over this region that they have no claim to, and they're not really actually engaged with the culture and the local stakeholders who oversee this region. So anyways, yeah, I don't really go there actually that often anymore. If I do, I go by myself, but I think that there's just, and, you know, the Vigl Los Seos is an incredible ecological region, and I love hiking there and, and, going to like see wildlife and birds and different species of endemic flora. But as far as going there just to surf and like be around a bunch of other, you know,

people in sprinter vans and grumpy surfers who talk about how it used to be really uncrowded and stuff like that. It's just, it's not my scene. And now crowded as 12. Yeah, which is, it's whatever. It's just like, for me, like Baja is much more than surfing at this point. So like, yeah, I go get my waves. I get excellent world-class waves.

But that's just a little piece of the pie of. what I'm doing down here now. It's more about like education and and cultural immersion and stuff like that. But yeah, so what we were saying before that, after this, sorry. Sorry. No, no, and I appreciate you. No, I do appreciate you picking up that thread because there are three or four threads that were laid out right in a row, which is one of my, one of my faults laying out six questions. What keeps bringing you back? Oh, yes. Okay. On to the, yeah, the, yeah, the, important thing. So, you know, I think there are just, there's certain places in the world that call to us, you know, whether it's somewhere local, whether it's like we like to be a home body,

right, like your property calls to you and you love being a homebody or whether you just like San Diego or San Fran or, you know, anywhere. And for me, that place is Baja. Like Baja feels like home to me, you know, and I don't know, there are multiple, you know, factors for why that feels like home. There's some that I probably can't, I never will be able to identify. But I think it's just, you know, it's like reading a book that you love, like once a year, right? And each time you go back to revisit this book, something speaks to you a little differently. Or you catch something that you didn't catch before, right? Because, A, you're a different person.

You're not the same person you were a year ago. And so you have, like, a little bit of a different insight, you know, that you can draw from that. So I feel like that really relates to Baja for me, you know, the more I learn and the more I, I grow as a person, I'm able to view it in a different light than I was before. Even if it's places that I've been, you know, 15 or 20 times, there's always something different. But also I keep coming back because it just has everything, to be honest. I mean, you have sub-Alpine meadows, you know, Picacho Diablo, the highest peak in the Baja Peninsula, this granitic massif that just shoots up from the desert floor, you know, almost up to 11,000 feet.

You know, you have the Sonoran desert. I mean, it's the most biodiverse desert in North America, two rainy seasons. So therefore, you have, you know, plant and animal species that specialize twice as many times as other species in the other three deserts in North America. You know, all the activities you can do, you know, hiking, climbing, mountain biking, horseback riding, fishing, diving, surfing. I mean, it's endless. The opportunities are truly endless for outdoor recreation in Baja. And then you have the culture, too, and the food. And just the amazing people, you know, that are feeding off that energy in the peninsula as well.

So I just, it's somewhere that I'll never get tired of. Can you talk a little bit about the people? Yeah, sure. I mean, yeah, it varies, right, from, you know, the binational border region, you know, here, you know, right, south of San Diego, Tj, you know, Tecate, Mexicali, you know, down to Cabo San Lucas. It's the second longest peninsula on the planet, you know, so the culture is pretty diverse. But, yeah, I mean, just based off my own personal relationships in Baja, I mean, just some of, and it sounds just so like, yeah, like generic and patronizing, but truly, I mean, just

some of the best humans that I've come to know and. come to befriend on the planet. I mean, people who have been there for me when I needed help at the drop of a hat, you know, even though they may not like have all the resources that I do or, you know, other other people up here in the U.S. side. And just like people who are like happy with with what they have, you know what I mean? And don't need like that extra level of comfort or like material, you know, material goods, etc. And it's honestly, it's just like I was talking. I was talking to my dad this morning about how fishing culture is pretty different in Baja. You know, if you have a good fishing spot here in, you know, San Diego, California, wherever

in the U.S. Fresh water or salt water, you know, it's pretty hush, right? Like, let's say you and I'm at a bar, right? When we get to overhear my conversation and we start talking about fishing, you're not going to go right off the bat and say, hey, you know, you need to go to this spot of the jetty at this tide with this wind and use this kind of bait. And on top of that, I'm going to give you the bait you need to fish it. And in Baja, I mean, there's, I can't even count the times that's happened to me.

You know, where they say, go here, this is the spot. And I'm going to give you a lure that I made in my garage. And you can have it. And it's my only one, but you're going to take it. You know? And I think that's so representative of, like, the culture. And how do you explain that? How do you explain?

I want you to enjoy here and be happy here. here and here's the ticket to that, whether it's a lure, a beer, a fish that I caught, a meal, Machaka burritos. How do you explain that? Well, here. Here's a little path behind my ranch and it goes to a hot spring and there's cave paintings. Yeah, I mean, I was just on this trip with my, you know, buddies and their old motorcycles and, you know, one bike broke down and we had a terminal.

It was an all-day sort of thing. There was a little restaurant right there where we broke down, but it was closed. Yeah. But the guy came there at whatever. We were there from noon till five, and he came at five. And, you know, oh, it's too bad, you know, I didn't know you were here. I would have made lunch for you. And he was serious.

Yeah. He would have made, had he known. Had he just known that we had broken down in front of his place, he would have run right over and made lunch for us. But he was serious. How do you explain that? Where's the philosophy of helping others? You know, I think it really stems from. it stems from culture in my opinion at least this is just my opinion um i think it comes from cultures

that develop in harsh environments because they're very reliant on the that those strong bonds of community you know and it's not about me it's not about i it's like something my mom always says right it's like living or like your profession or whatever it's like it's not about you it's not about i it's like about and she always says it it's like how and that's something that i've really learned from her it's like how can i be of service to others you know and i see that every day in baha you know what i mean like how can i help you you know like always extending the arm to help someone not to like step on them and i feel like in the u.s it's like we're trying to like step on each other to get like higher and better and get more publicity or whatever it is whereas in baha it's like how about like let's

join arms and like walk this path together you know all right let's walk this path on out of here tell me a little bit about um pacific overlander so that's how we first spoke yep um what do you do for them and tell me a little bit about the company and what it's all about yeah so hopefully i uh i don't botch this too bad mason um yeah so pacific overlander they are a company um that my Yeah, partner and, yeah, good friend now, Mason, he started. They rent overland camper vehicles here in the U.S. They have a depot in Las Vegas. I think that's their main hub.

But, yeah, I was their guide for the southbound and northbound Baja trips. So we drove from the border of Tecate, and we drove all the way to Los Cabos. And then the return trip. I was down in Baja for about two months. I had a couple of other smaller side trips that I ran. And then, yeah, we returned Cabo to Takate as well, 10-day trips. So, yeah, I basically, yeah, and the guide for those trips, essentially. And these are new-ish, fully-kitted.

Yeah, fully-kitted out. Four-by-four vehicles. Yeah, four-by-four-four-Runer Jeep. Tacoma, Four-Runner Jeep. Some gladiators, yeah, are doing some other builds. The big trio. Yeah, exactly, yeah. All-kitted with rooftop tents and you got the fridge.

And so you're the guide explaining where to go, follow me, cultural, decoding what people are seeing. Yes. But Pacific Overlander also provides a chef, correct? A cook. Yes. Yeah, we had Jenna. Yeah, super amazing, human and culinary wizard. Yeah, she does, her company is Paracalo Provisions on Instagram.

A little shout out, low key. But yeah, so, yeah, Jenna was with us doing all the breakfast, lunch, and dinner things. So we ate super well on these trips. Yeah. All right. So that's the Pacific Overlander. You got to meet Mason by trolling him online. He was happy to report on our previous conversation.

That's right. You can check that out, folks, in the archives, at Slowbaha.com. Back when I wasn't as woke as I am now. Well, you know, I mean, you see his setup, you see the beautiful photography, you see it all, I'd troll that guy too. Mason, I'm only saying that because I love you. And then you've got your own offerings here at Agave Expedition. So tell me a little bit about where people can find you and what sort of trips you run or what you can do for people who are interested in going to Baja with you. Absolutely.

So yeah, you can find me. I'm very active on Instagram. I try to engage a lot of, you know, photos, drone photography with, you know, storytelling. I love just, you know, everyone's stories down in Baja and the different characters and the, you know, cultural heritage, ecology, anthropology. So I try tying everything into like an educational platform there. So, yeah, you can find me at Agave Expeditions on Instagram. And then I have a website, Agavexpeditions.com, where you can look at some of the itineraries.

and yeah, book the trips. But yeah, I basically do, you know, I run adventure, travel, you know, trips, expeditions, however you want to call it, down the Baja Peninsula, you know, so whether they're five-day trips, you know, down to, you know, Volcan 3 Virines and back, or hanging out in central Baja for a couple days, or if people want to fly down to San Jose del Cabo, I also can run trips out of there as well. I have a lot of flexibility.

So I have my set five and 10-day trip itineraries that I put together. And they try to, you know, I include all the elements of, you know, adventure sport, you know, is what they say. But really just like, you know, surfing and hiking and exploring, essentially. But the thing is that, you know, through that format, I always incorporate local guides. I'm not going to say I'm the guide, you know, because I'm really not. It's just that, you know, I try to put the pieces together to link, you know, different guides in different regions to create a really awesome trip that I think showcases, you know, what Baja is to me, at least.

So, yeah, like surfing, kayaking, hiking, climbing, work with some really awesome local guides who helped me put these trips together. And, yeah, I'm also open to, like, custom itineraries. And, you know, again, like I said, if people have their own vehicles, but they just don't know where to go. go essentially or they want to kind of get off like your traditional Baja path and engage more with the locals and get, you know, access that you can't really just show up and get, you know, right off the bat. Then, yeah, I'll kind of work on those kind of trips.

Well, it makes sense if you've got the rig to, and the means, frankly, if you have the rig and the means to have somebody like you who can really connect. the north of the border with the with the guides in the south of the border who you're not going to find on instagram you're not going to find the dude who's going to lead you on the hike that's going to change your life or welcome you into his ranch you're not going to find that dude on instagram advertising or on trip advisor or whatever yeah these are these are still the old-fashioned um resources of person-to-person connections exactly and i love that and you know for me it's like it's taking years of just going down to Baja Solo and literally just, you know, pulling up to a ranch,

pulling up to a fishing camp, getting out and just, you know, chopping it up with these guys or women and just, and before even having an idea, that's the thing, it started organically. It was before even I was like, oh, I want to run trips down here. It was just like me being me. Like I was telling you earlier with my dad, just like, you know, talking to everyone on the street, you know what I mean? That's how I am. Your dad's one of those guys who will talk to anybody anywhere.

Yeah. for any length until your mom grabs them by the ear and says, let's go. And I'm kind of like that person now. Like, you just saw me next door with a dude in the diesel ranger. But, uh, so I started organically, you know, and then after their relationship was kind of established, I kind of like got there, like, I asked them like, okay, do they want even to, like, have, you know, tourists in this region or like, are they licensed or whatever to operate and that kind of stuff?

And, you know, once we kind of got all that cleared up, they're basically like, yeah, you know, let's work together to do this. You know, so it's always been like the relationship first, like the friendship first, and then the business always comes second, you know. So it's like helping them out, of course, like running trips. And then they can, you know, generate more tourism coming through their region. And then also, you know, you can work together to put really unique experience, put together really unique experiences. So I think once you get out of the real tourist zones, that is Old Californi-O, old

Baja to a tea. You got to come in. You got to put the time in. You got to have the coffee. You got to establish the relationship before we can ever discuss doing anything else, business or anything. Exactly.

Gabe's nodding his head. Yeah. Do you know how many instant coffees I've had? Do you know how many Neskafees I've had with these guys? Yeah. And if you ask any of my friends, you know, people like their espresso, they're pour over, this and that.

Man, I will do Nest Cafe instant coffee and burnt Folgers all day long until the sun crashes into this earth. Out of chipped cups, lit by a single bulb hanging on a... The little red plastic chair, plastic tablecloth. Hey, can we lightning round three, four, five favorites that maybe people haven't thought about? We talked earlier about Keith's place at Puntau-Abrillo's Black Bass Lodge. Yeah. That's a pretty cool spot. Oh, it's awesome.

And maybe people don't know about Ponto Abrioos or other things. So without revealing, you know, too many of Gabe's secret spots. Totally. Which there are none. I'm all open doors, you know what I mean? It's not, I'm not the gatekeeper to anything by any means. No, we talked a little bit about the trophies before. Totally.

But on that three places that somebody ought to figure out how they can go there and maybe you're the way they go there, you know, if you were going to say, don't go to San Joseo Cabo or don't go to Cabo go to San Joseo Cabo or don't go to San Joseo Cabo or don't go to San Joseo Cabo go to Santiago. Yeah. You know, where are you going to say, hey, I can't wait to get back to X, Y, and Z, if you don't mind. Okay. Well, let's start from north going south. So from north to south, first off, I would say you got to check out Villes-Maria, which is like everyone always just usually flies past there on the way to Guerrero Negro.

It's about 20 minutes north of getting a me included. Next stop. Yeah, you got to stop there, but you got to stop and if you go to put gas there, you have to stop at the Viejo Cactus. It's an orange building on the south side of the gas station, the Pemex there. And it's ran by my really close friend. He's like a brother, Valan and his wife, Jocelyn. It's some of the best sea, like fish plates and tacos I've had in the peninsula,

Balanza Pangero, so he knows those. local waters like no one else. Yeah, he's been fishing there for years. And a super cool cactus painted on the side of the place. Actually, on my January trip, I photographed it. We had food to go that was picked up. When we were there, they were actually closed. But we had our dude, our local fixer had picked up a bag of takeout before they closed up.

But at a cool spot. Oh, yeah, awesome. But yeah, it's incredible food. And, yeah, they've actually done, they did dinners for us, both trips. for the Pacific Overlander trip. I had him do us a, he cooked a whole yellowtail, marinated with a bunch of veggies and shrimp over the coals,

over mesquite coals out on the point there at the Fado. So yeah, awesome. So you guys got to stop there truly, and he's just, they're epic people, best of friends. And then number two, number two is like a place that's become super close to my heart. And I've been going back there like several times.

since my first trip. It's the Volcan-Tres-Virgines Eco-Lodge, which is the volcanic complex, and there my close friend, Oscar Castaneda, and his wife, they run the Eco Lodge there.

So they have six really awesome, rustic, clean cabins that are up on stilts on this hill overlooking the volcanic plateau and the stratovolcano, La Virhan, which is almost 7,000 feet tall.

It's a place on like, anywhere else in Baja. I call it little Iceland, but it's not even little Iceland. It's just, it's like a desert Iceland, essentially, with all the geologic features and all the hiking. You can summit the volcano. I'll be doing a volcano summit trip at the end of April, actually. It's going to be a four-day trip where we summit the volcano, and we camp along the way as we do the ascent. In the summit, you can see the Sia Cortez and the Pacific Ocean, which is pretty outstanding. So yeah, there, it's, I can talk, I can do a whole freaking podcast on that region to, yeah, alone.

But yeah, number three, the number three spot, I would say, it's a large area, really, but I would say, you know, if you're down in San Jose or Tos Santos, Los Cabos, you need to get up into the Sierra Laguna. It's just such a unique, ecological region. There's a ton of endemic plant and mammal species, a lot of wildlife. But the coolest thing is there's a lot of water there year-round. So, you know, when it's cooking, you know, coastal. In the summer, you can go up there and get a little respite from the heat and go check out some of the water pools and go, you know, rock jumping. And there's a lot of hiking up there as well.

So I would say those three without giving away too much, I guess. I got a lot of other ones in my back pocket. That's a lot to give up, but we're going to wrap it up on this last point here. Gabe, let's talk about our mutual affinity for being here now. I pulled that right off of your website. Be here now. I always say Slow Baja, be where you are when you're there. We got together at 10 o'clock today, and now it's almost 3 o'clock.

We've had a couple of beers, had some time to talk, get to know each other a little bit. And I think that's really Baja and slow Baja. But tell me a little bit about your philosophy on being here now in travel. Absolutely. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, actually, I got that phrase from a book. I forgot who wrote who was the author or the title, but it was my AP English teacher senior year, Christy Holt, who is an amazing shout out, Christy Holt.

Yeah, shout out Christy Holt. Love you, you're the best. But yeah, it was a book about being here now, about being present in the present moment. And I wrote that down in one of my journals, and I still have that page from the journal today. But, you know, I think just, you know, with, well, I'll speak for right now with COVID and the whole Russia thing and everything else going on externally and also within our own lives. We all have a different story. and, you know, tightrope to walk essentially at times it feels like. It just feels like it's kind of spiraling out of control.

So I think, you know, that philosophy, how it applies to Baja, I think it's just, yeah, just be present, you know, every morning. You know, I can enjoy that coffee, like, look out and, you know, see what the wind's doing, like, just gaze out, you know, into the desert and let your mind just be still. I mean, I know it's easy to say, of course, then easier to say than it is to actually. put that to practice. But I think, yeah, it's just about like simplifying, you know? Simplify our lives, simplify the way we travel, you know,

what we think we need when we go on these trips to Baja, you know, we don't need to go, like, carrying a whole house. What did you say earlier when we were having a beer? These guys go to Baja like they're going to Desert Storm. Yeah, exactly. Which is laughable, right? Look at me. I mean, we're in a big ass camper on here.

We were in your mobile podcasting vehicle. No, exactly. It's like a part of, on wheels and I have a lot you know that I don't need for sure and it's kind of hypocritical but yeah you know I mean it's like we don't need all the things you know ultimately I think it comes down to just like be a good person love others and you know try to give back to wherever you're traveling and always try to you know leave more than you take well on that profound on that profound um thought folks I'm going to say Slow Baja approved. Agave Expeditions with Gabe. Did I get that right, Gabe?

Yes. I'm still working how to loosen my care. Yeah, Arrives. Arrives. Yeah. Arrives. I don't need to roll it, he says. Agave Expeditions with Gabe Arrives.

Check him out on Instagram. He is a prolific writer. You send him a note. He'll get back to you. He's got lots of information, and he will put you on to stuff that you're just not going to see. So check it out. Slow Baja approved. Gabe, thanks for me.

making some time for me. Hey, no problem. It was a pleasure. And, yeah, hopefully we can have another space to chat down the road. We'll dive into some other topics. I can't wait. And some mescal. Absolutely.

All right. Cheers. Cheers. Well, I hope you enjoyed that. It was very cool to be able to sit down and have a good hang with Gabe, drink a couple beers, get to know them a little bit before we turn the microphones on. again that was all sort of in in search of a quiet recording environment but we eventually just did it in the cab the ample cab of his his truck the agave expeditions mobile big big old Ford

F-250 and I you know he's just he wears it all in the sleeve he's deeply passionate there's no hiding it and I just appreciate that about him so if you are searching for a guide if you need somebody to take you to to Baja I can't say strong enough slow bahra approved he's your guy and again if you want to get into the whole overlanding thing without making the full investment to buy a rig build a rig whatever hey pacific overlander's going to have a rig for you and gable lead you and there's going to be catered and beautiful and you get a chance to drive around in the dirt and somebody else's fabulously appointed vehicle and check it out and see if that's for you before you make the leap on your own so again can't say enough

good stuff about those two uh the business of Pacific Overlander and Gabe as the guide, whether it's Agave Expeditions or check him out at his own Instagram because there's a lot of great info there. And he's a deeply passionate erudite fellow who just wants to share, just wants to share the whole place. So, all right, enough about that. If you like what I'm doing here, please head over to slowbaha.com. Things are slowly trickling back. We've got all the hat styles back in stock. now. It's been well over a year and a half. We've got the green and white modern trucker, the gray and white modern trucker, the black and black modern trucker, the old school trucker

in green and white, and of course my favorite, the dad hat in black. So they're all there. There's a couple of other of the one-offs that were done during all those supply chain woes. There's still some knit caps. If it's cold where you are, if it's cold where you are, I'm so sorry. Get yourself a slow Baja knit cap. Shirts are on their way. I keep telling you that week after week. Dang it, they are on their way. So keep an eye on the website, and if you're looking for a large, they'll be here shortly. We're counting down. It's only a couple weeks now for the Nora Mexican 1000.

Again, if you're hoping to get one of those, ask your doctor if Baja is right for you, sticker. The only way to do that is see me in person in Baja or make a small donation or a large donation to Slow Baja by dropping a taco in the tank. You can do that through the Instagram link, or you can do that at Slow Baja. and that is always deeply appreciated and terribly needed at this time. So, hey, thanks. I'll be back next week at the fun show to borrow for my old friend, Baja lover,

motor vehicle lover, Steve McQueen, Baja's life, anything that happens before or after is just waiting. Have I told you about my friend True Miller? You've probably heard the podcast, but let me tell you, her vineyard, Adobe Guadalupe Winery is spectacular. From the breakfast at her communal table, bookended to an intimate dinner at night, their house bred Azteca horses, Solomon,

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