Slow Baja - Rancho La Bellota With Raul And Caroline

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Raul and Caroline warmly welcome guests to Rancho La Bellota, their 2,800-acre guest ranch located in Tecate, Baja, California. Nestled in a valley of mature oak trees, thirty minutes on a dirt road from the Ruta de Vino, Rancho La Bellota is located very close to the border but feels so very far away. Since my first visit in 2022, Rancho La Bellota has become my second home—and my first stop in Baja. Every Slow Baja Adventure begins here. Honestly, I usually linger a day or two after each trip, recharging and resetting before heading home.There’s no cell service at the ranch, and the wifi—available discreetly at the Starlink cabin—is easy to forget. Guests quickly fall into the rhythms of ranch life: coffee is ready at 6:30 AM, and after enjoying a cup on the porch, everyone gathers in the sun-washed dining room for a hearty breakfast.After breakfast, it’s time to ride. The ranch’s horses, all retired from working cattle, are thoughtfully matched to each rider’s ability and experience—Raul deftly distributes them with the practiced hand of a Vegas dealer. At lunch, longtime guests playfully debate who drew the best mount and scheme to claim that horse on their next visit.After lunch, a siesta beckons, followed by perhaps another ride or a friendly round of horseshoes. As dusk settles, the candlelit dining room fills with laughter and lively conversation. Raul presides over the table, sparking gentle debates about the news of the day. Later, we retreat to the bar, and Raul pours and imparts his tequila knowledge. The evening winds down by the campfire—bedtime comes early at 9 PM, affectionately called “Baja Midnight.”Raul is a passionate overlander, piloting a custom pop-top 1969 Chevrolet Suburban he designed himself. He frequently welcomes fellow overlanders journeying along the Baja Peninsula, though he gently reminds guests that Rancho La Bellota isn’t a free campground. As a proud Baja California native, Raul enthusiastically shares his wisdom and stories, helping travelers get the most out of their Pan-American Highway adventure.Rancho La Bellota is Slow Baja Approved!Book your stay at Rancho La Bellota here.Follow Rancho La Bellota on Facebook.Listen to the 2022 Slow Baja Podcast here.Support the Slow Baja Podcast here.Buy Baja Bound Insurance here.

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. Well, if you've been listening to me for a while, you know I'm an absolute minimalist when it comes to Baja travel, but the one thing I never leave home without is a good old paper map. And my favorite is the beautiful, and I mean beautiful, Baja Road and Recreation Atlas by benchmark maps. It's an oversized 72-page book jam-packed with details, and now you can get it from me at slowbaha.com. That's right. You can get it in the slowbaha shop and in fact you better get two, one for your trip planning at home and one for your Baja rig. And if you love

maps and you can't get enough of them like me, let me tell you about two sites I am absolutely obsessed with. Eastview MapLink and Longitude Maps.com. Whatever you're looking for in maps, it's there. From the entire benchmark collection to Baja wall maps to custom maps, you'll find it all at longitudemaps.com or EVmaplink.com. You know I've long said it, ask your doctor if Baja's right for you. Well, if you've been hankering to get down to Slow Baja with me, you've got to check out the Adventures tab at Slowbaha.com. All my trips are there, from my famed fall vintage extravaganza to my winter and summer expeditions which are open to trucks of any age. You know, on a slow Baja expedition, your meals are always included, which really does take the sting out of camping.

And when we get off the trail, let me tell you, we have the happiest of happy hours. If good dirt roads, private campsites, ranch stays, great food, and great people sounds like you're kind of fun, well, you've got to check out the Adventures tab at slowbaha.com. But don't delay. These trips are small, they're highly immersive, and they will sell out. And folks, just so you know, I am always here for you for your Baja trip planning questions. One question, 100 questions, the easy way to get me is slowbaha.com slash contact. And if you'd like to go to Baja and you don't want to go by yourself, you don't have a vintage vehicle,

my winter trip doesn't work out for you, I am happy to talk to you about organizing and leading a private guided tour. I've done it. I've loved it. The pictures are over there at slowbaha.com slash adventures. And you can check them out. And if you've got some questions, let's talk. From the Shilman recording booth at Slow Baja Studios, thanks for tuning in to today's Slow Baja podcast. My heaping dose of gratitude goes out to Raoul and Caroline, the affable owners of Rancho, La Biotta and today's show is with Raul and Caroline and Rancho La Biotta. It's a pretty rare thing that you get to be the recipient of my heaping dose of gratitude as well as the subject of the podcast.

It does happen. It only happens to the best of folks. And I'm glad to be bringing you another show with Raul and Caroline. You know, since Raul first spotted me about four years ago and I got a chance to come to the ranch and get to know them a little bit and record a slow Baja conversation with them aired in May of 2022 so in the three and a half years since that podcast has aired you know Rancho LaBayota has really become my home away from home we've got camp slow Baja there now a beautiful camping area and barbecue and bathrooms raoul does such a nice job and that ranch is absolutely

spotless. But on my last trip, the Sal Fish Slow Baja Vintage, we did horseback riding for everybody on the trip. We came straight from the border, got down there mid-morning, and everybody had a chance to ride before we sat down for lunch. And then, you know, got a chance to throw some horseshoes, sip a cold one, get a little time to set your tent up, get your camp set up before that slow roasted lamb that's been going on a spit for about 12 hours. It's just a spectacular dinner, a spectacular, spectacular dinner, Raul and Caroline do it so well there. Then we all just kind of sip a little tequila and sit down in the campfire and get to know

each other. And I think that's something that is deep in our DNA to sit around a campfire and talk to your new friends, your fellow man, be human to the humans. And it's a great getaway. I'm going to host a Slow Baja four-day trip there. I'll tell you more about that in the coming months. But today's podcast, without further ado, my dear friends, my home away from home, Raul and Caroline at Rancho La Paiota. It's a Slow Baja podcast. I'm at my most favorite place. place in all of Mexico. Ranch of Labayota with Caroline and Raul, and I can't believe I'm here. A huge group just left. They were on the VIP Cattle Drive.

The annual Cattle Drive. The annual Cattle Drive, because this is a still legit thing. You're moving cattle from one place to another. Yeah, yeah. That's the fall cattle drive, which we prepare the cattle for winter with vitamins, de-warming, and whatever needed. Real ranch stuff. Yeah? Well, here I am, Rancho Labayota, Caroline, and Raoul. It's my second podcast with you, but I've been here a hundred times, it feels like,

since the first trip. And I want to say thank you again for inviting me and thank you for making your home, my home away from home. Yeah, well, thank you for coming and doing this for us. So we're going to jump right into it. I'm here pre-running for the Slow Baja vintage, and that may have passed by the time this podcast airs. Tell the Slow Baja world what happens here, Ranch of Labayota. It's a guest ranch.

Yeah, it's a guest ranch. I mean, but everything is in base of a real working ranch. I mean, we didn't build this to receive guests. we build this because it's our cattle ranch. Then we welcome visitors to experience our life, you know. Carol and I, you know, so we are always here. That's why it's called guest ranch. You know, people come here for horseback riding, hunting, you know,

gull hunting, dove hunting, and to have fun, to live the experience. And did you both have experience as riders when you met so many moons ago? Were you a horsewoman? Well, I wasn't a horsewoman, but I did have experience in riding. I've been riding since I was about 10. And then during adolescent years, I kind of left it by the wayside, and then I picked it up again when I met Raoul. And Raoul, did you grow up riding?

Did you grow up ranching on, do you have that experience? I know you grew up in Ensenada, but did you have experience with cowboy stuff? Yeah, yeah. I mean, my grandpa has two cattle ranchers. We skipped a generation because my father didn't want. want to do that for living. So he ended up selling the ranchos. But my father's younger sister, my Tia Celia, marry a cowboy cattleman. And that's how we went back into ranching since we were kids, you know. I mean, of course, on summertime, Easter vacations, because during the school

season, we're in Ensenance in the city. But yeah, we always been attached to ranching, you know, basically third generation. Can you tell me the story? of when you two met, it's a pretty funny story. When my wife and I. Yeah, when you and Caroline met. Thanks to my dog. Yeah, you were in Los Angeles, yeah? Yeah, I was to set that up for me because, again, we're recapping, folks.

You don't need to come back and watch the, listen to the previous podcast. We're going to cover a lot of the high points on this one, but a very funny story. Yeah, that's a good story. You know, I was in the exporting Mexican tiles, you know, the papers. They were very famous in California. The big square red tiles. you know, uneven, you know, rustic looking. So, I had a big truck driving the material to Los Angeles.

I was selling it to some tile companies. And I needed a place to live my truck and to have a base in Los Angeles. I didn't want to rent an apartment. Living in the open spaces, you know, I cannot be in an apartment. So I ended up renting a small section in Chasworth, California, similar to this. with oak trees and horses and so I was I felt at home really and a week or two weeks after that Karen a week after that it was a week yeah Karen rent and a acre in the back property for boarding stables so that's how we actually met you know and and I had a very hyper

blue healer that my dog met her first blue killer no no a border call border collie we have blue healers now so a border collie his name was tequila yeah and he's the one who met caroline first oh he's a smart dog yeah yeah yeah so one day i come to the place to you know i don't know why but i i had a small like a mobile home there so i come back in the afternoon and the dog was missing from my place and it was with her so that's how we met actually I walked to get my dog right in the middle of the arena. And, you know, the rest is history. We married a year and a half later.

Wow. We've been married for how many years, I think? About 38 years, going 39 in February. 39, yeah. Wow. And horses always been part of our life. Horses, kids, and dogs. So you're back and forth, back and forth from Ensenada to Los Angeles selling the tile.

You've got a business. thriving business, and you're in both places. Caroline, how did that feel to you to have a man half a life here and half a life there? Was that exciting, intriguing? It was exciting. Yes, it was adventurous, that's for sure. But I was very young. So I adapted quicker than if I were older, maybe in my late 40s or something.

But I was about 22 when we moved down here. And, yes, I adapted quickly, and I loved it down here. I was close to his family. We would go to the ranch. We have our house at Ensenada. And it just life evolved, and here we are now. So you have two children, Ricky, and Christina, and a beautiful granddaughter. Yes, yes.

Ricardo, Christina, and our granddaughter, Kalila. Kalila. Kalila. The little dinosaur. Yeah. Oh, she is the, how you said, the fire on the family. She keeps us moving. Keep us active.

She keeps everybody jumping. Yeah. So you've raised, your children are fluent in two cultures. Ricky's living in Southern California as a veterinarian, and Christina's living here. And I think it's a beautiful thing. I really do. Tell me about how you got to the idea of creating a guest ranch and how that idea evolved in the pitfalls, Raoul.

But let me just go back a little bit about the case. You know, we raise our kids to be, it's a very unique situation. Bilingual, but not just being able to speak the other language so-so. They speak Spanish like me and they speak English like mama. Binaational, they have both nationalities, and the most important thing, bi-cultural. They can be Mexicans here, they can be Americans over there. They don't have to be only one side, you know. So that's a beautiful thing.

Our son is veterinarian, horse veterinarian, and, you know, veterinarian in riverside california yeah and now going back to your question about the guest ranch this is what basically happened in 92 93 we went formally back into ranching carroll and i invested money in cattle in my uncle's ranch and that's what we were doing we had a good amount of cattle between my uncle my cousin and me and we that was our business but because we have friends in los Angeles area in California, Karen is from California, from Tarzana, California specifically. We used to invite them to the ranch for the roundups, and people love it. They say, man, this is like in the movies. And that's when we start talking about, maybe we can get

something out of this, you know? Yeah. So we start doing a research in those years, research means buying magazines or asking from brochures, not like internet right now, you know, where you get everything instantly. So we got a bunch of magazines, we got a bunch of brochures from people who were doing that, mainly in the United States. I mean, guest ranching is not so popular here. I mean, we have Rancho Melling, which is the pioneer of guest ranching in Baja. You know, it was run by Aida Melling. Now we are several ranchers providing services, but we decide to open a guest ranch as a

diversification from the cattle. So when we present the project to my uncle... And this is on his property. Rancho, yeah, Rancho Lamentada. It's 14,000 acres, something like that. Yeah, it's a bigger ranch. Beautiful. Beautiful. Bigger ranch, you know.

So I say, you know what, Thio, there is this business called guest ranching. Where people comes here, we entertain them with what we're offering what we do. You know, horseback riding, pushing cattle. you know just giving an experience of a ranch life and they pay for that then he said who's going to pay to come to this ranch

what idiot would come and do this and pay you for that which I mean we also thought about that in the beginning you know but he said you know green light let's do it and I partnership with his son my cousin Enrique and we create

a first guest ranch here in the area and by 97 we were very popular on the guest ranching i mean people were coming from mainly southern california to experience real ranch life right you know in a cattle ranch that's all basically was born you know and at what point did did you find this property and how did that come about because this is i mean just sitting here as we were getting ready and the rain was falling, I was just thinking, looking out, it's just so beautiful, this valley. You know, you come down, this valley, and you see these houses, and from the top of the hill, it looks like it's 100 years ago, you know, and then you get here, and it's just so relaxing. It's astonishing how my mind checks into Rancho La Bayota mode. You know, it's just,

it's just beautiful here. Well, it's been a cattle ranch that's 1938. But how we got here is because, well, my uncle passed away in 2002. 2001. And then we knew this is what we want to do the rest of our life. We knew that. So we started thinking, well, what should we do? And then the family made the decision to find a ranch. So in 2003, we started looking for a ranch.

and we went Carol and I we went to see many different ranches and we always thought oh this is nice but we don't like this oh this is great but we don't like that you know so we always found things and in 2004 the son of the previous owner

we met him in the highway told us my dad is selling his ranch and I know you guys are looking for a ranch so we came immediately I still remember the first time we came my daughter Christina was with me and two of her friends we were following this guy

his name is Jaime when we drove into this valley I saw all this magnificent oak trees which means water you don't have to say where is the spring where is the well

you see the oak trees there is plenty of water and when I drove into this valley I felt so comfortable and I was eager to bring Caroline so we came back next following week and you can tell them

how would you impression there well that whole week before i saw even saw the ranch he kept saying oh it's so beautiful there's so many oak trees and just going on and on so the day we're driving out um i didn't see any oak trees you know it was pretty flat and we're driving up this the big hill here to get to the road that leads down into the valley and we're driving up and i still didn't see any oak trees but then when we got to the top and started down, my eyes just flew open and I couldn't believe it. It was beautiful. And I thought, wow, this is the place. This is just magnificent. And oak trees, lots of water, lots of firewood. It's the perfect place. It's isolated, yet it's not so isolated and it's private.

Yeah. I mean, it's 25 minutes from the ranch to the main road. And 10 minutes down the main road to the Valle Guadalupe. exactly yeah maybe 45 minutes to the border to tecate it's pretty ideally located to be that close and that far away i mean you really feel far away here exactly that's that's the beauty of this and we're only to the tecate border we're only an hour and 20 minutes amazing driving in a regular speed you know legal speed you know so it's not too far away to get here but when you are here you feel like you are in the typical expression in the middle of nowhere, you know. Yeah. We're going to take a quick break because I know if you want to get to here,

you're going to need to have Baja Bound Insurance, and we're going to take a break so you can hear from them. We'll be right back with Caroline and Raoul talking about Rancho La Bioti. Here it's a little Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruisers 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 of. Baja bound.com. That's Bajabound.com, serving Mexico traveler since 1994. Hey, big thanks to those of you who've contributed to our Baja baseball project.

You know, we launched our gear deliveries on my winter expedition. Michael and Matthew from Barbers for Baja, we're along for the ride, and we got to deliver that critically needed baseball gear up and down the peninsula. It was really, truly amazing. And on my last trip, I got to go to the state baseball championships and see some of our alums playing, some recipients of the Baja Baseball Gear Deliveries. And congratulations to Guerrera Negro and Mulejah, the Austenaros and the Cardinalitos won silver and bronze at the state championships. Big stuff. It's really fun to be there and fun to see them. All right, well, please help us continue this vital work. Make your tax deductible donation at the Barbers for Baja. Click, barbers for Baja.org.

click the Baseball in Baja link, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really do. It is so amazingly gratifying to be able to give these kids this chance to keep playing this sport, keep them on the field, keep them out of trouble. Please check it out. Baseball in Baja link at barbers for Baja.org. Thank you. I want to tell you about these new Rocky Talkie radios that I absolutely love. Heavy duty, beautifully made, easy to program, easy to use. We had 28 people, 15 trucks on the Slow Baja Winter Expedition. You can hand these radios to anybody from a 14-year-old kid to an 80-year-old, and they'll know how to use it. They are that well-designed. One charge lasted the entire week. We are never out of range.

I happen to upgrade to the accessory whip antenna for my radio and for my sweeps radio, the Donovan brothers. We were never out of contact. I can't say it's strong. enough. Rocky-talkie radios. Rocky-talkie.com. Check them out. Slow Baja approved. Hey, we're back with Caroline and Raoul. Beautiful day here, Rancho Labayota, my favorite place in all of Mexico. My home away from home, my good friend.

Thank you. Thank you. Before the break, we were just talking about how close this is as a crow flies, but how far away it feels. what was your what was your mindset when you started laying because this wasn't here when you built it I mean it looks like this has been here forever

so you've you've created something that's you know looks like it's from another era another time 100 years ago and you did all that by design and oversaw every part of this you lived in the buildings behind us as you were building everything and what was your mindset

when you saw this place and you started putting bricks in place? There is a reason why everything here was built the way it is. Number one, memories of my grandpa's ranch, Ranch of San Francisco, South Cloct to Santo Tomas. Number two, when I was a student in junior high, you know, Primera Street used to be the highway to the south and Ensenada.

Everything was end at Primera Street in the South, right? that was on the Highway 1. Prima Street will connect you to Highway 1. So we were in a junior high called Skual Amigoni. And right next to that, it was an old hotel, which in the 70s, they used it as a base for the Nora Races and all that. And they built, that hotel was built like in 1930, something like that. And they used a style where they put the bricks on top of the mortar,

and they don't cut the mortar. The mortar is still hanging. They whitewash it, you know, with lime or paint. And it just gives you a special look. So when we bought this property, I thought about it. I had to build this place so it lasts longer than me. And it has to give a special feeling. So that's when we took that technique.

My brother, Oscar, he's a civil engineer. he's the one who built everything around here he brought his people and it was so funny because mason guys they laid the the the brick and they cut the the uh grout immediately it's a habit they can't they can't stop it so we keep telling it's one fluid moment leave it like that you know so they did a rancher's house first so everybody gets trained to do that okay and eventually everybody knew oh this is easy of course you know but They had to get used to that. And inside, the extra grout, they plaster it.

So it has a wavy look. And then they cover with white clay plaster. So it's authentic for my memories. You see, for what I saw when I was a kid. I mean, 20 years ago, we started with the lighting here was kerosene lamps. Yeah. Everywhere. Yeah.

We used to clean and prepare every morning, I tell you, 24 inside and like maybe 16 more kerosene lamps outside. To refill them with kerosene, to clean the glass and trim the wick. Now we have a, I did a system with a solar panel and a 12-volt batteries, but it gives the same effect, you know, but it's not so much work anymore. And of course, nowadays, we have a Starlink for our guests in case they need to communicate. And it's not mandatory to keep it on. Some people want to disconnect. That's why they come here. And we can, I mean, they don't have to have the signal right away, you know, unless they request that, you know.

Right. Right. And you get to walk up to the shed. So there's a little mental disconnect. Okay, I need to check in with my family. I need to check in with my business. and then I come back to the campfire or I come back to

the life here. Yeah, we try to stay away from everybody. It's very subtle. Everybody has phones around the fire pit. You know, we tell you know, please, there is an office there, which is, you know, the okay corral,

right? Well, we have the Wi-Fi corral. Yeah, the Wi-Fi Corral. Everybody goes there to connect to the outside world. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, your light fixtures in the dining room and in the bar candles.

Yes. For many, many years, it was lit by candle, which is just a beautiful thing. We still have the candles. Yeah. We run them mostly in wintertime. But right now we have a, it's a 12-bolt LED light that is covered with a special glass that it looks like a flame, actually. You know, so nobody complains about it. Everybody feels comfortable.

You know, it's very harmonious for the area. And rechargeable. Two. Yeah. Solar. Reduce, reuse, reuse, recycle. Yeah, we have a lot of sun the whole year, you know. And it comes for free every day.

Exactly. We talk a little bit about the overland connection here and your, how the folks on I Overlander have reviewed and rated and, how the folks on I Overlander have reviewed and rated and. you know, fueled the fire of Europeans to stop here as they're going up and down the Pan American Highway. And I'll set this up. You're not a K-O-A campground. You're not looking for people to come here and their trucks to camp out and use your facilities as if it were a paid campground. You are providing a special service to people who are basically going up and down the Pan American Highway. Yes, exactly. Well, the reason we're doing that is because my car right now, we have a camper truck, an overland vehicle that on our vacation, whenever we can.

We're camping or going to mainland, and we always meet these people, you know, these Europeans, that they are long-term travelers, and they were looking for a place in the beginning of the entrance in Mexico, a place where they can get information, they can rest, you know, after crossing Alaska, Canada, and the United States. So Karen and I would decide to open the facilities for them And we receive people from almost every country in Europe It's crazy, you know But we welcome them basically to provide information to them You know, to understand the way things work in Mexico

Because we get a lot of bad publicity A lot of myths from people, you know, that make up stories, you know Yeah, you dispel the myths beautifully And I think you're at you're without unnecessarily flattering you. I think you're an amazing ambassador for your country and for your countrymen.

And every time I've been here, it seems as if there's always one or two Europeans, if not four, six, and vehicles and whatnot. And to have a place that they can land after crossing the trauma of the United States,

the hustle, the bustle, and then come here and have this moment where, you know, People can recharge, reset, figure out how they're going to attack the next part of their journey. And you've, I've seen trucks hanging around here that people have to go home and you'll look after them for them. I mean, there's fees involved. I'm not saying leave your truck at Raul's, but you really are an amazing ambassador for people who are doing these monumental journeys. We want to make sure they have a good time in Mexico, you know?

Yeah. And the thing is, there is, I mean, it used. don't understand why we have military checkpoint. You don't know, and you don't have those things in your country, you think we have a civil war here. But it's not like that. Number one, we're a separate country. Whatever you do in your country, it doesn't have to be done here, or vice versa. And I tell people, travelers, that why we have those checkpoints? It's, you know, a v-national problem between Mexico and the United States. So I explain. them why we have them and how to behave with them. I also tell them, of course, once in a

while we have a crooked cap. It's no question about that. I hope we got rid of them a long time ago, but it's still working on that. So I tell travelers how to behave with those type of situations, you know. Don't never start, try to establish a conversation in Spanish. I always tell them, speak as fast as you can to the police, to the cap. And always have a paper with the emergency phone numbers of Baja in when you are in Baja California which is the Department of Tourism and a Police Department and just show the cap hey I'm going to call them because I don't understand what you're saying it is okay if it was a legit stop they will give you a ticket

right there and they will ask you to call the number so they can translate for you if it was a crooked stop they will tell you keep going it's okay you know so little things that I can tell them that will make their trip better. And it's so great for us, right? Because we go and socialize with them at the campsite and the Slobaha campsite. Yeah. You know, we spend time with them.

We do barbecues. We learn the bread stick, right? Oh, the bread on a stick from Germans. Yeah. And that was a hit with my family. Yeah, let's tell me a little bit about the bread on the stick. This is something that I need to know about. Well, sometimes I make bread, and what I do is with the dough.

is I pull off balls and everybody has a long stick about, what, four feet? And I roll it out so it looks like a little snake. And then we take the dough and we wrap it around the stick. And it just, you pinch it together on the ends

and the sticks. And then you hold it over the fire like you would a marshmallow and it cooks. And you make some garlic butter and it's wonderful. Wow, I see a new chapter in Slow Baja. A little bread on a stick.

Yeah, bread on a stick. Terrific. Yeah, and this is an icebreaker, and also people love it because you are preparing your golden color bread and talking at the same time with everybody. It's a nice activity. And so last night, every night I'm here, there's a campfire.

And I sincerely believe this is what we're missing now in our lives. We watch the flickering of the television screen or the phone screen in our hand. Because I think we're wired for millennia to look into a campfire and hear your elders tell the story of the hunt. That's where we all came from, sitting in a cave someplace. And sitting around the campfire, you do that almost, well, you do that every time there's a group here. Basically almost every day sometimes. Yeah, it seems like, well, every time I'm here, there's a campfire.

It's a beautiful thing. The folks last night had a great time. And then there's a little fire this morning. We have our coffee. around the campfire it's a beautiful thing it's part of the ambient it's part of the things we do when we are pushing cattle in nighttime we do a fire hit out the burritos or whatever makes dinner so we're trying to offer all those little things and we have done it for many years also little things to people to feel like in the great outdoors in the you know to transport

themselves in the great outdoors with the great conversation exactly you know just a good old-fashioned. I was talking to a fellow from the Netherlands last night, another fellow from Belgium, and then we had a number of people who are serious horse people from Southern California. Yeah, they came for this particular group, they came for the cattle drive. The cattle drive is a real thing that we do. It's not, we don't move cows from one corral to another one to entertain people. Yeah. No, this is, this is a drive. And they enroll or register for the activities since a year ago. Yeah, they have to test in as well. You have to

be recommended by a serious horse person or you have to have ridden here many, many times so that you can say, okay, I'm not, I'm, I'm okay with you taking this difficult, this difficult and risky task. Yeah, yeah, we screen people because it happens one time when we took a lady that she was asking me, you think I can do it, you know, and she kind of put me between, how you said, between the knife in the wall. The rock and a heart spot. Yeah, yeah. I had the expression, you know, and I started thinking, I said, what should I tell her?

And that weekend, we rode around here, and no means she was an expert. I knew, but she convinced me that she can do it. All halfway on the drive, she regretted. And the thing is, we're in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. It's 30 miles into the mountains where we have a campsite there. And that's when we wound up the, the, cattle in order to bring it to the corrales and do the doctorate.

It's not a joke. It's not a joke. It's for people who have to commit. Who has experience on horses. Yeah. That they can last. The first day is eight hours riding. The second day is like nine hours.

Say that a little. Say that one more time. The first day is eight hours riding. Yeah. Yeah. Eight hours. Then the second day is, I believe, almost 10, including the roundup that we do over there. And we're pushing cattle.

everything gets slow because like they all say the fastest way to move cattle is going slow you know so maybe that'll be another bumper that'll be another bumper sticker coming soon sponsored by ariot so it was a success you know i mean it was great so this group that you met yesterday they left this morning they were here for the cattle drive for the annual cattle drive annual cattle drive awesome we don't do that every weekend i just want to mention that every weekend or every week is basically horseback riding around the ranch and so this ranch is 2,800 acres yeah 2,800 acres exactly yeah plus we are allowed to use our neighbor land we they have 6,000 acres wow you know and then that's our neighbor to the north then there is a ranch to the west that they are another 3,000

acres so all together we have miles and miles of trail riding I mean I mean, and we have very good horses. Very good. You gave me a V8 with an automatic, I think, the last time I rode. Automatic transmission. Yeah, it was a V8 power steering, automatic transmission. And it made me look good. One of your guests complimented me.

I hadn't ridden since I was 10, so it had been quite a while. And one of your guests said, oh, you've ridden a lot, haven't you? You know, our horses, now that we're talking about horses, it's something special about our horses. Every single horse that we have is been previously owned. by a working cowboy. Yeah, the horses are legit. A guy who pushes cattle every day,

a guy who doesn't make a lot of money, and a guy who needs to sell his horse once in a while because he runs out of money, you know? They are not, my horses are, and we know offense, okay? My horses are not from weekend cowboys. That they, they pampered them. I mean, we, basically. They're not pets.

They're not pets. I mean, our horses are tools. Basically, we abuse them in a good way, which means we put a lot of hours of work chasing cattle and all that. Which that translates into safety for our guests. Our horses are good for a kid that never rode before or for a working cowboy that wants to chase some wild cattle. Yeah. As simple as that. And I think Caroline and Raoul, I think your special gift is sizing up which person gets which horse. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And people come back time and time again to ride their horse.

Their favorite horse. And then sometimes their eye is wandering and said, oh, my friend is on a better horse than my horse. He happens all the time. And I want to graduate to that horse. How can I lobby Caroline or Raoul to get onto that horse? We have a dear friend. I don't want to say her name. But as soon as we give a better horse to one of her friends, she said, oh, I want that one next time. Mm-hmm. Exactly. It's a little bit competitive. So I just want to touch a little bit about all the things you do here. So I know I've hunted here. It's a separate thing from the overlanding from the guest ranch, all that. But you have quail hunting in season.

Yeah, quail and dove. And you have the guest ranch, which is coming here, it's typically, you tell me, typically, is it, it's four days? Your trips are three days, four days. Yeah. Normally for the horseback riding weekends, people arrives. There are four days, three nights. That's the regular package. And that's including four outings on horseback riding. You know, the activities of the ranch, we do clay shooting, clay shooting with shotguns, you know. Our trail rides are really adventurous.

We go through some beautiful mountains, trails, you know. Kenyons, you know, we go through water ponds and all that kind of stuff, you know. They're very adventurous and we have all the gear that people need from good saddles to all the regular tack, you know. We have chops for everybody to protect their legs, you know, because we go through brush. Those are not pre-made trails to entertain people. These are the trail that we use for to look for cattle or the trail that cattle uses to move. move around you know yeah then we have besides the so the trail trail horseback riding is four days three nights that's a regular package then we have well hunting and dove hunting which starts in

september the dove and the quail starts on the first weekend of october the same scheduled four days arrival on the first day then we have two outings on friday in case they come on the and two outings on Saturday. We provide everything that you need for hunting from the best, the baseball cap with fluorescent orange cups for safety. We provide the shotguns, the shells, licenses, the permits, and the tags, everything that you need for hunting. Cleaned and cooked and eat them here or take them home.

I hope you shoot many because we don't buy groceries, though. Just kidding. Yeah, it's been very good for us. We have created a clientele that comes every year, you know, and visit. They feel familiar with the ranch. They know the canyons. They know where the quail is. So it's just a great thing.

Well, as we wrap up, what have I missed? What would you like to talk about that I've missed? Caroline, anything? No, I think you covered it all pretty well. Very good. You know, I have to save it. for just a second, thinking back when I brought my son here and we hunted with you and we had the quail that the two of you had just shot, the food here is really amazing. You do an amazing

job. When we come from my slow Baja trip, you have, you can hear the lamb in the background here. You have a lamb slow roasting on a spit, which I just think is such a beautiful way to start the trip when you come in and you see this lamb that was walking. on the trip. I don't think I have any vegetarians on this next slowball. I think everyone will be enjoying that. But the food here is really amazing. It's

something that I think you must take an awful lot of pride in. I know in the beginning, you were doing all the cooking. The two of you were cooking for your guests and doing everything that needed to be done, the two of you were doing it so you didn't have to hire somebody or pay somebody else to do it. The best Mexican food cooked by an American

lady. I make great beans. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the guests who come here, they always rave about the food. They love it. And I think there's something very special, too, now in this era where maybe at home, many of the people are eating, they have a screen, you know, they're watching something on their phone, they're scrolling something on their phone, they're watching something.

And I just think, again, the warm glow of the lighting is beautiful to start with. So you're setting a beautiful scene. You have these two longish tables where people are really in close. You're in close, close conversation. You're practically touching the person at the table on your left or on your right. No phones. When I sat in your chair, Raoul had his hand on my knee the whole time. I knew it.

I knew something was going on. You feel my hand there? It's just a habit. I do it unconsciously. Yeah, yeah. No, but I think that's a beautiful thing really to put people together. who are having the shared experience and having just this time

that, again, we've done this for millennia. We've had this time at meals to share and to talk and to not have the modern distractions of our regular life. It's really beautiful, and I can't say it strongly enough. You know, what you just say is true. The reason we have the long tables

versus memories in the old times. I mean, you finished the day, working cattle or whatever. We all got together in a long table at the ranch, you know, and all the workers and exchanging experience, the Cowboys exchanging experiences of the day. And that's what we're trying to, we're recreating here. We want people to feel that way.

I was going to mention something else about the demographics or the people that comes here. Mostly our families. They are also a group of lady friends. We have many groups of ladies that ride horses and they get here once a year group of couples you know so it's a it's it's it's like a what we did basically is create home away from home that's the way i feel about it yeah and and and that feels very good when people say you know let's go home when we're riding on the hills yeah you know it feels very rewarding and uh

that those type of comments keep us going like you know what what we're doing people like it so let's keep doing it you know yeah all right well i think that's a good place to end it what's the best way for people to find out, besides me talking about it on every podcast, what's the best way for people to find out about Rancho Labayota and contact you if they want to come and stay? You know, in the internet, you just click Rancho La Bejota, Baja California, and boom, it shows.

Because there is another Rancho La Bejota in Sonora, another Rancho La Bejota in Chihuahua, cattle ranches. So what we did is we just put, you just click Ranch La Bejota in Baja California and that will do it, all the information. that people need to. You're very active on Facebook and WhatsApp and Ioverlanders where all the foreigners find you.

Yeah, and Ioverlander, it's kind of cool to see the common, not like our head grows, you know, but they feel very comfortable here. Yeah. And they always tell us, thank you for the information, thank you for the time. We are ready to keep going.

Yeah. You know, we give them tools to make their journey into Mexico a little more pleasant, you know. Right. All right, well, Raul, Caroline, thank you for making my journey into Mexico so pleasant. You're very welcome. From that first trip when you invited me down, now you can't get rid of me. You are, yeah, you're good, you're good.

I have my Airbnb regular camper that I, Frank and I, Frank gets so excited when he turns down the dirt road and he knows where we're going now. He gets so excited and he's got his dog friends here and Rambo. Yeah, he feels comfortable, right, walking around here. He feels at home. That's a good thing, you know. He feels at home. Yeah, all right, well, we did it. Thanks.

Well, I hope you like that conversation with Raul and Caroline. Again, I can't tell you sincerely enough how much I enjoy staying there. Take a moment. Book a trip for you and your family, you and your gal, you and your pals. Ride some horses, be in nature, be in silence, throw some horseshoes, break some clays, plink a few targets read a book take a hike take a nap and alive that place is special um if you like what i'm doing 170 plus podcasts now 170 plus podcasts drop a taco in the tank support the show support the show like pete and peg peat and peg came on my winter expedition this year lovely lovely

folks and they just became monthly supporter. So thank you Pete and Peg for your support. Really does help and I got to tell you that's slowbaha.com slash donations. You can drop a taco in the tank. You can slide a tray of tacos in the tank or you can

support Slow Baja monthly which really is appreciated and is much needed. And I'm going to tell you if you don't have any tacos, I get it. I get it. I'm going to let you off the hook. If you do me solid. Go to Apple or go to Spotify, drop a five-star review. Tell people why you listen to Slow

Baja. That's supposed to help, and I will take any help that I can get. So drop a five-star review and tell people why you're listening to the Slow Baja podcast. All right, without further ado, I'm going to tell you about Mary McGee. She's a Slow Baja alum, and because she was on slow Baja you know she got to be a off-road motorsports hall of famer that was kind of cool and she was a subject of an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary called motorcycle Mary and you know she had a friend Steve McQueen and Steve loved Baja Steve really loved Baja he said to her you know Mary you got to come down and ride with me and uh Mary said and what get dirty Steve yuck Steve has said, you know, Mary, Baja's life.

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