Slow Baja - Matthew Schnitzer Changing Lives With Barbers For Baja

Episode Date: October 30, 2022

Matthew Schnitzer is a barber in Dana Point, California. Today's Slow Baja Podcast discusses how he formed Barbers for Baja. After organizing two immensely successful holiday toy drives, Schnitzer made a dramatic and ambitious pivot to focus on sending kids in need to college. "Barbers For Baja began at The Kings Club Barbershop with a toy drive for La Mision, Baja California, Mexico in 2019. We were shocked at how quickly our little community rallied together. Our shop was overflowing with toys for these children in no time! We decided to participate in the La Mision toy drive once again the following year. Only this time we reached out to our friends at surrounding barber shops asking them to get involved. Once again, we were shocked at how quickly everyone rallied together to help. In 30 days these barber shops raised over 7K in toys and funds for the children of La Mision. The generosity these barbershop communities had was truly overwhelming! Our hearts were filled with immense gratitude following that event, and we were eager to figure out how we could continue to help. So here we are, combining our barber shop communities to help children all across Baja California have better access to food, education, and medical supplies." Learn more about Barbers for Baja here. Follow Barbers for Baja on Instagram. Buy your box set or donate to Barbers to Baja here.

Hello, hello, Ola, Como Estas, lo, Baja, amigos. My heaping dose of gratitude today goes out to Christopher Kaiser. You've heard that name before. He edits the show. He makes it sound better than it should. And recently Christopher and his wife moved to Huntington Beach, and that is just a damn convenient spot to spend the night when you're driving an old land cruiser down from San Francisco

down to Ensenada for the Nora 500. And on my recent trip, Christopher put me up, cooked me a fabulous meal, let me drink up all of his fortulays of still strength. And in the morning, well, he's a coffee freak. Fired up an espresso machine, slung a couple cappuccinos at me, got me all jacked up for the day and for the drive. And I got down the PCH and was having breakfast with my son and his girlfriend in Corona del Mar. And I realized that I had just forgotten these ice packs, these vital pieces of equipment.

I've got two broken elbows. And Christopher had picked up a couple of old school ice packs for me, and I left them in his freezer. Sent him a taxi. He jumped on his motorcycle. hustled him on down and I can't thank him enough. I liked him so well that I spent the night there on my way back. So Christopher Kaiser, thank you. I've got a couple other folks to thank.

I recently checked in on the iTunes reviews and Garple Stumple. I've been listening since day one. Thank you, Garple Stumple. Ryan and Baja, the only podcast I listen to. Come on, Ryan. Well, don't go changing, Ryan. It's a good podcast to listen to. HFA. 24.

Hands down. My favorite podcast. I see what you're doing there, Hfe 24. Hands down, my favorite tequila. Hands down my favorite podcast. Yeah, I like that. HF.A. 24.

Love this show, the great fuzzy henhouse. The Dirty Obie Hippie says, Mary McGee episode, an incredible story that should be made into a movie. Well, I saw Mary, and I agree 1,000%. She was down as the Grand Marshal of the Nora 500. And she was traveling with a documentary filmmaker, Haley Watson, who is shooting a little documentary on Mary. I kind of believe that Mary's story is so good, it could be like a feature length.

Maybe Nicole Kidman plays Mary McGee. Busted Knee Adventures, he loves the old-timers. And you know what? Busted Knee Adventures? Me too, Amigo. Me too. I need an old-timer sponsor that just lets me bring a steady stream of old-timer content. Folks who are in their 80s who can laugh at themselves and laugh at all the silly things they did in Baja in the 60s.

70s. That would be awesome. Hey, today's show is with Matthew Schnitzer, Barbers for Baja, and Matthew cuts hair at the Kings Club Barbershop and Dana Point, Southern Orange County, and got together with some of his fellow barbers and they did a big, big toy drive, and they loaded up an entire sprinter van of toys for the holidays a couple years ago and made a whole bunch of kids happy. And that process really made him think, like, hey, what more can we do? what can we do that's really like seriously life-changing, just, you know, much more than just a toy at the holidays. And it got them on to an idea that for not very much money, they could be, relative to here anyways, they could be sending kids to college in Baja, and they figured it out, and they got the program started,

and they're sending a bunch of kids to college now. But one of them that really stands out to me is they have a young woman from San Juanico who is studying to be a dentist. and when she graduates from dental school, they are actually going to build her a dental clinic. And then she's going to do some work, have some community days where she will pay it forward or pay it back or pay it however and take care of some folks in her own community

that just don't have the means to afford dental work. So I think that's just an amazing story. Jesse and his wife, there's no overhead. They make these amazing things happen. Barbers for Baja, check them out, And without further ado, today's show, I'll be back with something fun next week. But Barbers for Baja, you've got some change jingling in your pocket. You can pick up one of their gift boxes.

You can make a donation. They're going to be a 501C3 soon. And again, no overhead. Every dime you drop goes straight into their projects in Baja. So without further ado, Matthew Schnitzer, Barbers for Baja. 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. Hey, it's Slow Baja, and I'm in Beautiful San Clemente. At Matthew Schnitzer's home, we're going to talk barbers for Baja and the great work you're doing there. I'm sipping a little Fortaleza reposado, and I just can't get, I can't wait to get into

the great work you guys have been doing and share your story with the Slow Baja world. So Matthew, say hello. How's it going? Thanks for having me. Well, thanks for inviting me. It's good to see you finally at your house. We've been talking about doing this podcast for quite a bit. Yeah, it's been a long time coming and I'm excited. Yeah, me too. Well, let's just jump into it. You're from San Clemente. Yeah, well, San Juan. We're in San Juan, but either way, San Clemente, San Juan, it's a little triangle here. Close enough. It's the nucleus of the Slow Baja world, I think. This is where all the Slow Baja listeners are. Good. So, yeah, we're here in South Orange County. Yeah, I grew up in Laguna Nigel, born and raised in the area. And I've been a barber now for 11 years.

I work in Dana Point at the Kings Club Barbershop. And was it just you couldn't get into the firehouse? Was that the problem? You got the mustache. No, I just... You know, I don't know. It kind of just came to me when I was in high school, and I was like, I loved the barbershop and everything about it. and I jumped right into it, didn't waste a day.

I'm sorry, I shouldn't be a smart ass right off the gun, but I always say that the nucleus of the Slow Baja listener, when I'm thinking about who listens to this show, the four people that I can think of are firefighters in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. It's that, that's the core. These are the people who have the windshield time who are driving to Baja every other weekend, it seems like.

And anyways, let's get on. to more serious subjects. You're a Southern California, a Southern Orange County kid. Yep. So let's talk about how you first got going to Baja. Well, yeah, growing up in South Orange County did a handful of trips south with the family growing up. Pretty much nothing south of Encinada. We would, you know, run down to Rosarito, do a couple trips to San Felipe as a kid. Occasionally had a baseball tournament close to the border in San Diego. we would, you know, after the tournament, jammed down for tacos and parents would be drinking beers and doing that, you know, occasionally a couple times a year.

But really didn't start traveling down south until I met my, now my wife. But yeah, when we started dating is when I would say, chapter one for me is when Baja really started taking off. Her parents have had a place down in Mexico on and off. before they had kids they lived down there. You know, when she grew up, it was, she'd come home on a Friday. Note with the parents, 20 bucks. Hey, order some pizzas. We're down to Mexico for the weekend.

So she's grown up. Every birthday celebrated down there. That's always been, you know, her family has had a second property or rented something down there for forever. So when we started dating, yeah, it started going, you know, whether it was once a month or every other month, we started going down to see them or hang down to Mexico. So that's where I would say things kind of got started for me. So was there any part of your dating where she needed a guy with Century and you needed a gal who wanted to get a surfboard into the water? Yeah.

So fortunately, we actually didn't get qualified for Century until after we were married. So that's why I knew it was worth her. She wanted to keep me, you know. It wasn't just using me for Century. All right. Well, so you're decided to become a barber. You've got an affinity for Baja to start with your girlfriend and her family and their passion for the place. When did you decide that you could do something?

I mean, not everybody decides that they need to affect change where they're going on vacation, essentially, where they're hanging out. but since our very first meeting, I've been astonished at the passion and the persistence of the work that Barbers for Baja are doing. So when did you decide like, hey, I'm going to do something about XYZ and then put that plane into motion and then rope in your other barber buddies into creating this loosely knit. I'm sure it's loosely knit in the beginning, but I think it's becoming a real thing. thing now for sure so yeah things happen very fast um all in a good way um but i would say you know kind of the maybe the first thing that kind of set things in stone when we so we got married in viala lupa um in 2016 and one thing that we really were looking for was having a uh mexican owned and operated uh winery be home you know we didn't want it we wanted to keep the money in

Mexico. So I think whether I even knew that or not, that was, I think, maybe something that stuck with me. But, you know, as we spent more and more time down there and, you know, one thing from whether it was taking a pair of shoes or some leftover clothes or new clothes down to a family or a friend down there, one thing kind of just led into another with how our project grew. And so then. So, yeah, so 2019, we kicked off a toy drive at the Kings Club Barbershop. And how many barbers are in the Kings Club? So we've got four of us.

My boss is Mike. He started the shop. It's been there for 16 years now. Avid Surfer, avid Baja lover himself. We've been, the last five years, we've traveled down to San Juan Eco together. And that's become kind of a big trip we do. And then, yeah, two other barbers, Scotty and Tanner. So there's four of us there.

So, yeah, 2019. We did a toy drive during the holiday season, collected toys. We took them down to the town of La Mision, which is just touched north of Ensenada, kind of the hub where my in-laws live now full-time right there. So that was where things kicked off. 2020, we included a couple barbershops, and it kind of got silly. We almost got too many toys where we loaded up a big sprinter van. We were stacked to the brims.

We had to pay all these import fees on toys. and we're kind of like, hey, this is awesome, but what are we really doing here? We had a little bit of money left over that year. We had, I think, $2,000 that we decided to stop buying toys. We're like, okay, we did it. We got too many toys. We donated some to a school. And then one of our local families, his daughter wasn't going to continue community college.

It was during COVID. Things were slow at work for him. It was $300 for her to finish out her schooling. So we were like, hey, let's pick this up. And that's where things clicked, where I was like, okay, we can do a little more than whether it be toys or clothes or this or that. It was, okay, we should, let's focus on some education. And let's back up for a second. Basically, you're leveraging your fellow barbers and their clients to say, hey, we're doing this and somebody can flip you an extra 20 bucks or an extra 50 bucks or somebody's generous.

They give you $100. And you're buying toys. Yep. So that's, or they bought in toys. Yeah. Vice versa. Yeah, whatever. And then you are successful enough that you have a sprinter van full of these toys.

And you had the great experience of crossing in and then having to pay import duties and all that go through that process. Yep. Which is a whole other side of Mexico. I've recently had two experiences in that arena, which we won't go into, but that sucks. Yeah. So, and that was the other thing is, yeah, what are we, all this time and effort, whether it's our clients, whether it's us, we decided, hey, let's brand. mansion to something else. And further, I think, like I said, into the education stuff.

So that was 2020. 2021 is when we made our box sets that we sold over the holiday season. And that's where things went kind of bananas a little bit. And let's talk about the box sets. Who reached out to whom and how did that, how did you get the, the companies involved to donate their products to create these box sets that then you then sold to your clients and put the money? So the box sets consist of a shirt that's printed by Stucie, a pair of socks that are made by Stance, which is a local company here, and then the Pommade's Uppercut, which is a cool Pommate company that's in the area also, based out Australia, but they're set up in Oceanside.

So they're all clients. I mean, the Pommate's pomade, but the Stucie and Stance, they're all guys that come in the barbershop. So you're cutting an exec at Stucie. The guy, Frank, he owns the company. You know, he is the company. So, yeah, so I started, actually I pitched to Frank. I go, hey, will you print me blanks at cost? And I'll sell them and we'll take the money down there.

He goes, I'm going to print you a thousand shirts. Don't worry about it. Amazing. So that's where things started. And then from there, I go, okay, what else can I rally up? So I kind of created this box set and, you know, pitched it. And I told my buddies that I went to barber school with, hey, it's going to cost you nothing. I'm going to show up.

I'll drop them off. I'm going to package them. I got to do is try and sell them. If you sell, you know, one, that's one more than I would have sold in my shop. So we put together about 800 of them, and we sold, you know, through most of them. So we ended up raising just about 50 grand last year. And that blows me away. Yeah.

So things went from toys to 50K in a year, which is crazy. Yeah. So. And is that you and Jesse here piled up with, you know, putting the socks rolling them up nicely and folding the t-shirts? So I guess we should back story here. My wife is the backbone of all of that. She hand packaged pretty much every single one because I can't do it right myself. So I would like to say thank you to her for...

I don't know anything about that. Yeah, so my wife handles all the social media, all the back of the house stuff. I get most of the fame and the fortune in the front of the house. But yeah, she's the backbone and packaging up all that stuff for the barbershops. But yeah, so we crushed it our first year out. kind of no proof of concept. And so then it was like, okay, now we've got a bunch of dough. What does that look like?

Yeah, what do you do next? What a burden. A great, great success. Totally. Now let's do something really meaningful. Yeah. So from there, that first student that I talked about helping out with her community college, she was our first student.

So she's now in Ensonada becoming a nurse. Her name is Daniela. So she was our first kind of student of how things kicked off. at the moment we have seven students in our program a future doctor, nurse, two dentists, an engineer, a teacher, and a lawyer.

I think I hit seven there. And then as we move into 23, we'll have 15 in our program. So things are growing, which is really, really exciting. And I think the big thing is all 15 kids, we can cover for about $34,000.

So high level education, some of them being private schools that they're going to. So for listeners out there, the money goes a really, really long way. And coming from San Francisco, you can send your kindergartner to private school for 30,000 a year. Totally. I may be a little facetious. That number may be a little high, but that might not be too far off the mark. Certainly you can go to high school in San Francisco for 30,000 a year. So you're sending 15 students for the same price.

And living expenses and other, are you looking, how, what's the extent of the needs you're meeting? So, yeah, so things, you know, they've been loose. And now as we're, one, we've collected a lot of money and we're becoming more of a structured program. We're getting our nonprofit status, 501C should be knock on wood here before the end of the year. But, yeah, so we have covered schooling and tools. are supplies, depending on what they're in school for. Our dental students, we've helped them with certain things that they need for clinics and that sort of stuff. The doctor students, same thing. I think moving forward, it's pretty much just going to be scholarship-based, just the

schooling that we'll take care of. And I think in our last conversation, you were talking to me about some fairly ambitious projects, because, again, early students on, but building a dental clinic in San Juanico. Yeah. So, yeah, and we can get into the dental clinic. Two of the other things that we do, I work with a lady who runs Baja Bridges, which is a all things bomb arrows. So I help her out with getting stuff across the border as far as if she's getting a rig

across ambulance, et cetera. So when I met her, she's like, hey, you've got some dental. students. I know some dentists in America who built clinics in Mexico. Let's connect the dots. Fast forward, we're going to, yeah, the plan is we're going to build a clinic in San Juanico, and we're going to build one in La Mision, which is where both of our dental students are from. So they've got, they both will graduate at the end of 23, and then they have one gap year where they go, the school puts them somewhere in Baja, where they work for the school, basically, and then after that they're free to do what they want. So we've got roughly two years to figure out that whole

endeavor. But what's exciting is these gentlemen, they've built clinics in Mulehe. They have worked all through Mexico. So they're ambitious and they're excited about my program because they haven't done something like this in regards to the clinic will be built for a kid that lives in that town. So one, the town doesn't have a dentist. So that's huge. But two, you know, we're helping the kid get through school. And then after that, they will have a career set up. The town's going to benefit. The people are going to benefit.

And then part of the agreement, the American dentist can fly in, let's say, twice, three times a year and use the clinic for those who can't afford. So they'll do free clinics. So Barbers for Baja will help pay for that as well. So a lot of good going on with that stuff. Yeah, a lot of good. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. If their website's fast and easy to use, check them out at BajaBound.com.

That's Bajaubound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. A lot of good is astonishing to me how a couple of, and I'm not putting this lightly folks, how a couple of barbers cutting hair and Dana Point can say, hey, let's do this, and then we're going to do that, and then it just, the dominoes start falling, and you're, you're really doing some ambitious stuff. Well, and I think what's so cool about it is, I mean, I don't know what I'm doing. We're just kind of, we're, exactly, you know, we're just doing it. But you're doing it from your heart.

Totally. And what's nice is the rules are loose, you know, I mean, obviously we're, like I said, our structure's getting more built out as we go, but I think keeping it fun, keeping it in that realm. and, you know, hopefully not saying no. That's kind of the big thing, too. So what's the plan for this year for the holidays? Are you doing another box? Yeah, so the box sets will be coming out November 1st. So we'll do same exact format.

November 1st to January 1st, we will have the box sets for sale. I think they'll be in about 20 barbershops this year, mostly from L.A. to San Diego. I got a buddy in Utah, a friend in North Carolina, and a buddy in New York that will be selling them this year, too. We're going to do online sales, which we didn't do last year, just because, like I said, it's my wife and I. I didn't want to overwhelm myself. But yeah, same program.

We have a new shirt with four different colorways. And then we have our own custom sock this year, too, which will be really cool. So the box sets will be coming out. They're $50. And I think the biggest thing here, 100% of the money gets donated. So whether you buy a box for $50, whether you give us more, whatever. that looks like, whether you give us $40, 100% of it's going to the cost,

which is, you know, I'm not taking any money out. There's no payroll. This is a 100% for-profit project. So I think that's, or not for-profit, excuse me, 100% donation. Exactly. So, yes, the box sets will be

coming out, or I guess we're closing in on three weeks here. Yeah, three weeks. So by the time this podcast gets out, the boxes will be dropping, folks. Yep. So, yeah, so you'll be able to, and you can follow on the social media and see where you could buy one, or you go to the Shopify page and pick one up there. But yeah, so the boxes will be coming out.

The other fun thing we do is being in South Orange County, we know a handful of surfboard shapers. They've been kind enough to donate their time. I think this year we'll have five surfboards in a raffle. So same thing, buy raffle tickets. All that money is going to the pot, too. We did 50K last year. It might be ambitious. I would be stoked on seeing six figures.

If we could rally 100 grand this year for the kids in Mexico, that would, I mean, whatever we do I'm going to be happy with. And it's going to be a positive movement. But I would, I'd be happy to double our efforts, which seems crazy. And, you know, we started out and this thing was crazy. So why not just keep it going big? Yeah, definitely. Dream it, will it into being. Yeah.

Well, tell me a little bit about the structure behind it. How many barbers are sitting here making decisions besides yourself? Um, well, so currently it's pretty much just me and my wife, honestly. Wow. Um, you know, and not to boast or brag or any of that sort of stuff, but it's, it's, you know, I, and I couldn't do this without the other barbershops. You know, our shop sold a bunch of box sets and a bunch of other barbershops sold a bunch too. So it's, it's definitely a spider web effect in regards to everyone's doing their fair share.

Don't get me wrong. Um, but as far as, you know, know, day-to-day, contact with the students, emailing, you know, kids applying and us going through everything. That's all my wife and I. Give me a little bit of background on the process. We've discussed it before when I saw you at the Baja Bound Expo. Tell me a little bit about the background of how the students get to you, how they apply for the program, and how that vetting works.

So a couple different ways. one we do have an application page on our website that the kids have gone on and applied and you know fill out hey I'm age school where they go where they're looking to go where they live so on and so forth family background but so yeah my my family is in the La Mision area so I've befriended a lady there named Brenda who has she's a elementary school teacher there but she has helped me out in picking through some of the best students for, you know, our program and what she sees fit to have kids, what students seem to be doing the best as they graduate through middle school into high school and then, you know, for our program. So she kind of picked our first three students out of the La Messian area.

And then the same thing for San Juan Nico, my buddy Nico that lives there. he's and he's been a middle man as far as with medical gear and other supplies i can call him and see what they need but um same thing with him he's helped kind of filter through some students that hey not only are these kids working their butts off and you know here's their grade reports to show that they're pretty dang perfect um but you know single mom dad works their butt off whatever may be you know everyone needs help but these are the real special kids who could who could use that extra bump of support so they've been nice enough enough to help kind of assist with that.

So you're building a good network for folks to vet the kids that are coming your way? Correct. Which has been super, super beneficial for me as an American, an outsider to come in. And it's not just in Mexico. It could be anywhere. Hey, I've got money to give. Everyone's going to raise their hand. So you want to make sure that it's going to the right homes.

Absolutely. So that's been a big, really, really big help there. and then we have another friend who lives in Insenada. Her name's Erica, and she's helped us with our program as far as some of the wire transfers and sending money to the schools because that's a whole other deal of sending money across the border and so on and so forth. So having some folks, you know, Mexican citizens that are on board to help us out has been really, really huge.

So thank you to everyone. Brenda, Niko, and Erica much, much appreciated. So if you're able to. to double your your um fundraising then you're going to double your students well we're going to double our students whether we double our fundraising or not so like i said the money even if we do the same we'll still be able to cover about double our students um i touched briefly on the uh bahaw bridges doing the the fire projects with her which i'd love to continue to keep doing another organization we work with is called Hansa Hearts. They're based out of constitution. They do life-saving treatment, CPR,

stop the bleed. They go into rural communities and teach people how to basically take care of themselves. As you know, traveling through Baja, there's a lot of areas that don't have a hospital, a clinic, and no medical, nothing. No cell signal. Totally. You have an accident on the road. That's that's that. Yeah. So we've worked with them a bunch too. So I think that's kind of, you know, like I said, we've got our medical avenues with hands to hearts and Baja bridges. But I think the big thing is the college scholarships. And we just want to keep that growing into more and more kids as possible. So Barbers for Baja is becoming a real force for good.

I think so. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. It's been a pretty killer project so far. And, you know, selfishly, I get to see firsthand going down there chatting with the students, you know, the families, having some sit-down dinners and stuff, and how appreciative everyone is. And I truly couldn't do this alone. You know, it is a community, whether it's all the other

barbers involved that are helping out. And the clients. I mean, it's a group effort, which is really, really cool. So we, last year, our biggest donation was a thousand bucks. So we raised 50K selling $50 boxes, which is pretty freaking sweet. Yeah, that's really saying a lot. Yeah. Really saying a lot. And shout out to Stusi for printing those thousand T-shirts. What a great leg up on that. And then the socks and the pomade and some additions to the boxes this year, I'm assuming. Yeah, a couple sneak items.

We'll have hats as well printed from Stucy. Some stickers will be in there. Much requested stickers. Everyone loves stickers, stateside and Baja. I ran out of stickers on this trip, you know, first time ever. It's an important part of the game in Baja. Totally. Well, where's the best place for folks to find out about what you're doing?

Definitely Instagram. I would say would be the best place to get a hold of us. Barbers for Baja is the handle. Pretty straightforward there. I'm in Orange County. Get a hold of me via online, my cell phone number, which I'll share. You'll share later. We travel down to Insonata.

my in-laws live down there full-time. We're there once a month, if not more. Yeah, get in touch. We can eat for tacos, whatever it looks like. You're pretty accessible is what you're saying. Correct. Yeah. So Barbers for Baja on Instagram is a good way to find you.

I'd say so, yeah. And you just got back from San Juanico. How was that trip? It was awesome. So we were there during the Tormenta. Exactly. Yeah, we skirted into town a day early. So got in, got a little, snuck a little surf before the storm hit, hunkered down for a couple days.

And we actually scored surf on the back end and couldn't leave because the roads were all washed out, but didn't have anywhere to be. So surf was killer and our time was always, always good in San Juanico. Had a killer dinner with Matthias at the pizza spot. Yeah, I was going to say you saw Maddie. You got a great wood-fired pizza in his pizza oven. Yeah. So that was incredible experience to go to his house and have a full sit-down dinner. We did that our last night before we split out of town, which was really, really killer.

That's honestly, in my opinion, that's probably the best pizza I've had in Baja. There's a couple good ones. The La Mision and Loretto, the hotel there is kind of a famed wood-fired oven pizza. But being at Maddie's place, like when I had his pizza, it was out of his mobile pizza truck, this crazy UAZ four by four vehicle, but now he's got that permanently set up at his house. And I think that's the beautiful thing about Baja's that you can really get astonished by whether it could be

just roadside machaca burritos or an Italian who loves to surf who built a pizza oven into this house. Yeah, and that's the beauty of Mexico is having incredible, incredible meals like that. So yeah, San Juanico was a blast, as all. We always have fun there. And then we headed south down to Cabo from there. And my wife, our daughter and my brother's wife,

flew down there and met us for another week in Baja. So we had a killer, killer trip. And so when you're flying people in Dmitian, San Juanico, tell me a little bit about that. How does that play out? So we met them in Cabo. Uh-huh. So it was pretty, you know, straightforward for us.

They were all in Ensonada at my in-laws house. house so father-in-law took them to the tj airport domestic flight yeah easy easy yeah pretty pretty simple so to our flight door to door so that was that was easy and probably not very expensive no definitely yeah we saved a couple bucks going through tj yeah so um i think and i did if we can backtrack for a second um we were talking a little bit about the application process with the students um one thing that i think I thought was special to me about it is the some of the stories that we heard were I'm not going to share all of them you know hey what makes them scholarship worthy effectively whether it's financial help their long list of accomplishments at a young age two of them being which

come to find out you know was this is after the fact they didn't write this in their application You know, we met one of the families, dad's working seven days a week, works at one of the wineries in the VA, does that during the day, runs a hot dog cooking business at night, watches a family's house for security, doesn't even sleep at home. So, you know, come to find out that we're able to give him a couple weekends off has been a big, big, you know, that's what this whole thing's about to me. So, you know, hearing stories like that were, and they didn't write that out. You know, as you get to know these families, they're letting us a little bit into their lives. That was a big experience. And then one of our other students, Bernardo, his dad had a heart attack. He's alive still, but was completely out of work for a little bit.

They didn't even put that in the application. And, I mean, that would be a, hey, your family's not working right now. So that's what this whole thing's about. and, you know, come to find out later on that they share these stories with us. And that's how humble these people are of, yes, they're excited and, you know, we're supporting them. But they're very prideful in, you know, accepting help, but also, you know, they don't want to be considered takers. So I think that's a big thing for listeners to know out there is how truly appreciative everybody is. And Matthew, do you see this going on?

I mean, you're a young guy. Yeah, 31. Yeah, I was going to say you're in your early 30s. So, I mean. Do you see this going on as you, you know, the next 30 years? Hopefully. Yeah. I think so.

I mean, I'm not going to be legacy guy or anything like that. But yeah, it would be awesome to keep this thing going for as long as possible. And who knows? I mean, maybe my daughter will take it over one day and it'll be even bigger than what it is. You know, and whether it stays through fundraising at the barbershops or we branching. to different avenues. But it's fun. It's been a killer project.

And like you said, yeah, I'm young and hungry and we just plan to keep it going. You're young and hungry, but I'm going to be honest with you. I see a tiredness in your eyes every time I see you. I don't know if that's having a two-year-old. That's the two-year-old for sure. Yeah, or what. But you're in great shape. And I wish you well.

And I am just astonished at how much you've gotten done in the amount of time that we've been associated. It just blows me away. Well, I appreciate it. it. I definitely, and on, um, I think part of that being is we are small in regards to the, you know, our board, now we do have an official board because we are a not, we will be a 5.0.1c. Um, our board is myself, my wife, a good friend Nick and our tax lawyer, Cass, who's one of my clients. So it's like when it comes to making a decision, it's pretty quick, which as you deal with

these huge entities, it could take a week, a month. Who knows how long for making something happen. So what's exciting as if we want to jump on something, we jump on it, which is, which is pretty cool. I can't wait to read the Guide Star rating of Barbers for Baja as a top charity doing great work in Baja. Well, folks, it's Barbers for Baja on Instagram. You can find out about their great works. You'll be able to buy their gift boxes this holiday season from your Southern California Barber, your Southern California Barbershop. Probably they're going to be in the slow Baja store if I can twist Matthew into letting me put them in. So keep an eye out for those. Matthew Schnitzer, it's been a great time here sitting in your backyard. We've got a little

highway noise going on. I need to roll on up the highway and I just want to say, hey, thanks again for telling me a little bit about the work you're doing in Baja. Barbers for Bokers for Baja, Baja folks, check them out and do what you can to help support the great work that they're doing. slow Baja approved. That is a strong, slow Baja approved barbers for Baja. Awesome. And thank you, Michael, for one, having me

and let me share our story and kind of how we're growing things. But as a Baja fan, thank you for what you're doing. I mean, this has been a fun project that you're doing, but it's cool because if there's a place in Baja

that I haven't been to and it's on your podcast, it's been funded to add things. to my list too. So thank you. All right. Well, I can't wait for our paths to cross down there, whether it's La Mision or San Juanico or someplace else. But I hope the next time we see each other, it will be in Baja. So thanks again, Matthew, and we'll see you again soon down the road. Definitely. Thank you. 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, the horseman will get you on a ride that'll just change your life. The food, the setting, the pool, it's all spectacular. Adobe Guadalupe.com. For appearing on Slow Baja today, our guests will receive the beautiful benchmark map 72-page Baja Road and Recreation Atlas. not go to Baja without this, folks. You never know when your GPS is going to crap out,

and you're going to want a great map in your lap. Trust me. Well, I hope you found that conversation inspirational. I certainly did, and it really is moving me to get my Slow Baja Foundation ideas moving forward. You know, Matthew and his wife, Jesse, I don't know if you heard the flub in the intro where I mentioned Jesse and his wife, Matthew and his wife, Jesse, and their beautiful daughter. they really have a deep affinity for Baja. Obviously, Jesse's parents are down there full time.

They spend an awful lot of time there. I strongly suggested that they take a year while Logan's still in preschool and move down there full time. But it touches me that people can have these ideas, that they can act on these ideas, and then they can really make significant, stunning changes in several people's lives. I mean, sending kids to college is an amazing thing, having just put three through college myself. And I'm really touched that they figured it out and they did it. So barbers for Baja, if you can help them out financially buy a gift box, make a donation. You heard all the locations to give there.

So if you like what I'm doing, well, you can give to me too. Not too proud. You can drop a taco in my tank, folks. The Slow Baja store is closed. and it will be closed for a bit. I don't know if I'll get it open before Christmas, sadly. That's all due to my move. All that stuff is in storage,

and I am not where that stuff is, so I can't get it out. But I've got some stickers, and if you drop a taco in the tank, I can certainly send a sticker out and send you a note and say thanks, and I really do appreciate it. So, well, I'll be back next week with something fun.

And to paraphrase, Baja lover, Steve McQueen, Baja's life, everything that happens before or after is just waiting.