Slow Baja - San Ignacio Springs Resort With Paul And Bonnie

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

Today's Slow Baja Podcast is with Paul and Bonnie, the affable owners of Ignacio Springs Resort in San Ignacio, BC Sur. This was my third visit to Ignacio Springs, and I enjoyed a night in their ���new” motel-style rooms across the road from the main property. Located in the heart of the Palmera, on the bank of the tranquil Rio San Ignacio, Paul and Bonnie are warm and welcoming hosts, and their property is spotless. Originally from Canada, they have happily transitioned to life in Baja. The bar is always open, and the American-style breakfast was hearty and delicious. I strongly suggest that you slow your roll and spend some time under the palms, letting the tilapia exfoliate your toes.Bonnie is my go-to for information on many activities, and she will happily connect you with guides for whale-watching or cave-painting excursions. If you are interested in whale watching, I suggest that you make your reservations now. Ignacio Springs Resort is Slow Baja Approved!Book your stay at Ignacio Springs Resort here.Follow Ignacio Springs on Facebook.Follow Ignacio Springs on ⁠InstagramSupport 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. 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 LongitudeMaps.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 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 some. slowbaha.com slash adventures and you can check them out and if you've got some questions let's talk well thanks for tuning in to today's slow baha maybe you can hear from the sound of this recording i'm coming to you remotely i'm not in the shield man studios i am in guerrera negro doing some pre-running for the slow baha winter expedition and my heaping dose of gratitude goes out to Zihul Martinez, Slow Baja alum, Knife Maker Guide, Backcountry Guide, Cave Paintings and hiking, very vigorous fellow whale watching guide. And he had a traumatic brain injury, had a stroke a couple years ago. We almost lost him. I think he was in Mexico City for

almost a year recovering from that. And it's just terrific to run into him at the OXO and got him to give him a ride back to his shop and got him to open up. And we had to little chat and I was able to peruse the shop and pick up another knife and bought some wild honey that his rancher friends collect and just got a chance to talk to him a little bit about how the road to recovery has been and I would say he is 98 or 99% back so I'm looking forward to going to San Francisco with him and doing a mule packing trip to see the cave paintings and anyways Zihull is my heaping dose of gratitude today today's show. show is with Paul and Bonnie from Ignacio Springs Resort in San Ignacio, and they're just a

lovely couple, and Bonnie's been a go-to person for information for me for a bit now on Slow Baja, and she just couldn't be nicer. Put me on to Oscar for the best micheladas in all of Baja, and RIP to Oscar, sad that he's gone, but I'm glad that I was able to introduce many people to his fabulous, fabulous, fabulous micheladas and it will put me on to a quest for the next best mitchelada in Baja. All right, well, without further ado, today's show, Paul and Bonnie, San Ignacio Springs Resort in San Ignacio.

Hey, it's slow Baja. It's a beautiful day. It is a beautiful day. We're next to the San Ignacio. Would you call this the spring? What is this? Yeah, Nassio Springs. Arroyo, it's a river, kind of. We call it a river, but I think it's more of an arroyo, but it's always full of water it's spring fed it's about a half an hour kayak up the river to where it begins and the water gets a little bit warmer definitely not hot springs but a little bit warmer all right it's slow Baja and I'm with Pani

I'm with Pony and Ball Pony and Ball take two okay it's slow Baja good morning hey hello hi good morning hey it's slow Baja I'm with Paul and Bonnie at Ignacio Springs we've got the beautiful full Oroyo behind us and I'm just delighted to be here and I just need to start the show by saying hey thanks thanks you took care of me I got to stay in your new place across the street yeah our new new little motel we just purchased in January we've been working slowly on getting it fixed up but the rooms are ready just the outside needs a little a little attention I've traveled a lot in Baja this is my 40th year of visiting Baja since I was a whippersnapper college

kid in my first semester it's one of the best beds I've slept in well that's good that's a great bed really great bed so thank you for that Paul go ahead so I hope so it's all they're all new yeah well again it's Slow Baja approved folks so it's what it's March here end of March yeah the end of March getting near the end of the whale season but there's still whales out there we still have tours going on we can help you to arrange the tours and you know we're with any company, there's three companies in town that do, or at the Laguna that do day trips. And then there's about three or four that do longer term, four to five day, all-inclusives. So we can help direct you in any, anywhere you want to go.

Well, I always say that guides need guides, and you've been my San Ignacio guide. So I do need to acknowledge that immediately and say thanks. But you really, I asked you some questions about whale companies. You're very diplomatic because you have relations with all three, Pachicos, Antonio's, and Coima. Coima. I never know how to pronounce that. Coima. Coima. And it was quite an experience to go there and camp on the lagoon and get out.

And we did have a couple of friendlies come right to the boat, which was an amazing experience. Yeah, yeah. How do you explain that to folks who just, it's, unfathomable to me and I'm just going to say it life changing it is so many people say it's life changing and you know when you don't know what to expect on your first trip and then the whales start coming and they start coming up to your boat it's it's brought grown men to tears you know just the well so case in point I'm providing whale watching for my entire group so we're out on two different boats but you know I had most of my group in my boat and one of the guys almost

didn't come on the trip because his family bakery in Los Angeles had a car got driven through the front door and they ransacked the place and wrecked the place and all that and he's and this only happened a couple weeks before the trips he's like I can't go I can't leave my dad with this problem he comes to the trip he gets it sorted out he comes to the trip and the whale came right up the side of the boat and I don't know if they pick out the people who need a little love or what but they came right to him and he's a proud Mexican dude and Ruben, I hope you're listening, Ruben's Bakery, but tears. There are tears. He couldn't believe.

Yeah, it's, it's amazing. People love it. You never know what to expect. You know, it's a whale watching tour, but if you get to touch one or if they come that close to the boat, it's, you know, that's the bonus, the special part of it. Yeah. Yeah. So real bonus here for me, and I'm just going to pay you a compliment right off the bat, this place is so clean. I mean, listen, you had somebody raking the beach. beach this morning before I got here. It's like this place is clean. Yes, we have a great staff.

They're all locals. They're all from here, live in San Ignacio. I think we have about 14 staff, 13, 14 staff during our high season. And they're just as proud of this place as we are. You know, they want to, they know what it takes to keep it clean and keep it running and they do their best, you know. Well, I've told the story before on Slow Baja, but you know, that was a couple years ago.

There's been buried under 100 plus episodes between when we spoke last. Paul, can we put the microphone in your hand and kind of, can you tell us a little bit about how you got here and how you found this place and what had happened in your life and the motorcycles and all that? Can you just kind of recap your journey to changing your life from living in Canada and coming here? Yeah, it was a motorcycle trip with some other people from Canada in 2017. In the winter, because everybody gets away, right? February and, well, first part of March. And, yeah, so I've never been to, never been here before. But anyway, we were riding down here.

We stopped here, just had a beer, didn't stay. Big adventure bikes, right? BMWs. BMWs. And so I knew it was Canadians that owned it. But, you know, just had a beer. and we carried on and we went to San Javier Mission and on the way back the shock broke on my motorbike so the sudden stop I wasn't expecting and I ended up laying it down and broke my leg so about a month

a month and a half later we had I ended up flying back to Calgary and we drove down about a month and a half later to La Paz to pick up the bike and and on the way down we stopped here and and spent the night and just got talking, and they mentioned about wanting to retire. They were getting tired, and they were on to do something different, and we weren't looking for anything. So we went to La Paz, and we talked about it, and stopped on the way back.

And, yeah, and then, what, a month or a couple months later, it was, you know, we called them up and asked how serious they were, and I guess they were serious. And what was the temperature differential between here and home? That time of year, probably. 80 degrees. About 80 degrees difference? Maybe.

No, not quite, but yeah. No, I remember before Paul had got here, I got here before Paul did, and it was July, and we work in Celsius. So here we were at 40 degrees Celsius, and Paul was up north, northern Alberta working in the mines, and it was minus 40. So there was 80 degrees difference. Yeah, that's hot. It was hot here and cold there. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but that was after we made the.

made the deal and yeah a year later anyway after the accident we're so about as bad a thing as could happen i mean you survived you survived and tell me about the nuts and bolts dealing with insurance and somebody was looking after your bike i don't remember all the details of the story but yeah it worked out it worked out didn't well i i had purchased of course mexican insurance in the States and um i hope you used baha bound we're not going to ask actually it wasn't it was another one but i said we're not going to ask and uh but i contacted them and uh they they did the next day they had the ingester out from the mexican insurance and uh and my travel insurance called them right away of course too and and it all worked out really well i was quite surprised that

Mexican insurance like a month and a half or two later, they paid up and, you know, I got my bike back and it worked out good. So, so yeah. All right. Well, on to better subjects. Again, guides need guides. And Bonnie has been such a great help to me at Slow Baja and connecting me to people here. We've launched the Baja baseball project. And that really stemmed from the first time I sat down with you, meeting Honus here and talking baseball and our sons were both serious baseball players and my son's gone on to a professional career and his son is seven, eight, ten years younger and he's in the Dominican Baseball Academy, which is as great a step as you can take to finding the next step up. And it must be incredibly, must be so lonely for Honest not

to have his son and not be able to watch him play every day, but to see. him doing with what he's doing here. He said he's got about 40 kids in his program and they're playing on the dirt field right down the road from you folks and we delivered a eight 10 bags of gear to him and really lit these kids up like it was Christmas and that was all because I was sitting here with you and had a chance to be slow and talk to somebody and you know tell me about San Ignacio and the people of San Ignacio because I've again I come as a tour tourist, but I haven't met anybody here I didn't like. Yes, the people here are great, you know, like the culture and the people, and they're so caring.

And, you know, somebody like Honas, he, his, his whole family is into baseball. He doesn't work for us anymore, but his other son works for us. And he's a great person, too. Like, everybody you meet is so easygoing, so just helpful. And, you know, it's great, it's great. Do you attribute that to the water and the fruit and the date? I mean, what do you attribute to the easygoing nature here? There's nothing here in San Ignacio besides the water and the dates and the, you know, the tourism.

Tourism is the biggest economy here. And I don't know, it's just, it's just slow. It's a slow town. San Ignacio is known as the lazy people town. They call it the town of the flojos, the lazy people. The flojos. Flojos, yeah. So I'm reading a book from a 1910.

journey through Mexico, through Baja, and San Ignacio then was known for the most beautiful women. Oh, really? Oh. Paul, what do you say about that? I'm going to put you on the spot. I'm not going to disagree. You haven't noticed, but you will not disagree? Exactly. All right. Well, sorry to put you on the spot there. No, but it seems like, I don't know how to phrase this. So this trip that I just took, this little Baja winter expedition that you helped me so much with planning the whale watching portion, we put an eight-hour drive in to get to those whales. So that's a lot when you've got a group of 12 trucks or something following you. Yes. But to stop here in town, okay, we stopped at Guerrero Negro and we had the absolute best fish tacos in the peninsula.

I think, you know, tacos moye. Is that how you pronounce it? Tacos El-Moye. Yes. So fabulous. us. Guerrero Negro is a working industrial town. It's very industrial. This is gorgeous. So you come in, there's all the trees. It's an oasis, obviously. That's why it's here.

It's an oasis, a literal oasis. A true oasis in the middle of the desert, yes. And then you have this amazing stone mission in the center of the village. Yes, that mission is a big draw for a lot of people. I think this year they celebrated their 296. year of continuous services from the first service in February they celebrated 296 years so we're waiting for the 300 year that's going to be a big celebration here should I book my yurt now you should get in ahead of the rush yeah but it's such you know it's it's shady

it's slow I never knew that traffic was two ways I always thought it was just one way around the plaza but it was interesting last night to see that it actually goes two ways ways. Yeah. And the only traffic jam we have is when it's the cabagatas, when all the horses ride into town to do the blessing at the church. I need to see that someday. That's in July.

You'll have to come in July for the Fiesta of San Ignacio. There's huge parties. They have bands. They have rides, amusement rides. They have stands all around the plazas. It's just, it's, and then the horses come in on the birthday of St. San Ignacio. and there's hundreds of horses.

They ride all the way from Bonfiel in Sierra San Francisco, and they meet here in the plaza, and it's just beautiful. Well, that plaza is something. And again, we went down and camped out at Cuima and then came back the next day and stayed nearby. You were obviously fully booked. Yes. We checked in.

And we really had a lovely time where we were just able to slow down, and the pace of this place is conducive to that. Yes. Yeah, the, you know, I don't. think San Ignacio has changed much in probably 40 or 50 years. You know, it's all the same plaza. There's no new buildings going around the plaza. Sometimes they change. Sometimes it'll be a, I think we have a little wine tasting area now. I haven't gone in there yet. I saw that. I saw that. I think the fellow who I spoke to there said his folks run Coima could be. Could be, yeah.

Could be the fellow who was pouring wine the night I was here a couple weeks ago. I didn't partake just because, you know, I was doing other things. And there's a few little souvenir stores, but nothing really changes. We're going to take a quick break here to talk about Baja Bound Insurance. And we'll be right back with Bonnie and Paul from Ignacio Springs. Here at Little Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. And when we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use.

Check them out at BajaBound.com. That's BajaBound.com, serving mass. 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 alum's playing, some recipients of the Baja baseball gear deliveries. And congratulations to Guerrera Negro and Mule Ha, the Austenaros and the Cardinalitos won silver and bronze at the state championships. Big stuff. And 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.com. Click the Barbers for Baja.org. Click the Baseball and 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, talky 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 strongly enough. Rocky, talky radios. Rockytockey.com. Check them out. Slow Baja approved.

Hey, we're back with Paul and Bonnie, and we're sitting just next to the Arroyo. It's such a beautiful spot here. And I wanted to jump in. When I came in a couple weeks ago on my Slow Baja winter expedition, you guys were hopping. This place was jammed. We talked about earlier before we started rolling about the new campground that's just near town. That place was popping. The town square was popping. We had to wait in line to get an ice cream with Edson's parents. What is the high season here, the whale season? When does it really kick off? And it seems to be winding down now. We're recording at the end of March. So tell me about your high season. Oh, for the whales. The high season usually starts around the mid to end of January when the

whales arrive. The whales, they normally start arriving first week of January. And we're Once they get in and get settled, then the tours begin. And all through February and March, usually the first week of April is pretty good for whale watching, too. They do start heading north in the end of March, February. The males start leaving in February. Then it's just the females and the babies who stick around. So it's a calmer experience once the males leave. Interesting.

Good to know. Yeah. And if somebody wants to come and stay with you, and I will highly recommend that, Louis Baja approved, again, spotlessly clean. Your yurts are stunning. You've opened this property across the road, which we're going to talk about in a minute. How far in advance, if they want to come and go whale watching, how far in advance should people be booking? Oh, if you have specific dates, I would say at least six months in advance, if not more than that.

I think my online booking, I open it up about three months before, but if you'd like to book before then, I prefer if you, you contact me through email or call, and we can get it set up that way. Important news just drop there, folks. If you want to get here during the height of whale season, and you want to stay right here, which is highly recommended, Slow Baja approved, you need to email Bonnie and get on her secret calendar before she opens it to anyone else. That's for Slow Baja listeners only. Well, I really enjoyed the new place.

We're going to talk a lot more about that, but in a couple of minutes here, you've acquired a property across the street and you've got a few rooms over there and it looks like there's going to be an office and it's as clean as a whistle, the beds are great. Paul, what do you want to say about it? Yeah, it's a work in progress. Yeah, it's a work in progress

and the rooms are the important part and we have, like I said, new bedding and hot water tanks and just to have our guests comfortable. There's Wi-Fi over there, and it's a work in progress, so a little bit at a time. Eventually, I want to put in the water and electric for camping, and then also a dump station, you know, and just, yeah, try to, you know, spruce it up, but it's not going to happen overnight as much as I'd like to. How many rooms? There's six rooms, and then, And there's the Palapa, which is basically our office for now.

So we're not sure what it's going to happen with that yet. But I know the plopper roof needs to go. All right. Well, it's right on Oscar's back door. I was wondering if I could knock right on the back door here and have him pass a Michalada over the back bar. He probably will. He told me last trip that he lives right there and I can come by and knock on his door anytime and he'll make a Michalada for me. Hey, Paul, tell me, buddy, I came in, you're running a bobcat or something here.

You had a loader going. It seems like you're doing something all the time to keep this place up. Yeah, it's made life much easier having a piece of equipment for, you know, putting in new water lines and electrical lines and just cleaning up. And, yeah, just doing some outside work. This past year, I just bought a boom lift for the trees to make a... For trimming the trees? For trimming the trees.

The one gentleman that we have working is 70 years old. He can still climb the trees and he doesn't mind doing it. But at some point he's going to want to retire. So I bought this machine and the young lad got running it. So it makes the job much faster, much safer. And yeah, so there's always there's always something going on. Have you learned to thatch roofs yet with all that thatch you're cutting down? And thatch is not, is a no go for me.

It's interesting to see how people weave that together, that ancient art of making use of this natural resource that is a nuisance to so many can be sheltered to, you know. True. But yeah, for us, it's not something. We cut them. If somebody wants to take them, they can have them. But other than that, they go to the dump.

Yeah. So besides the whale watching season, you have cave paintings nearby. Can we talk about that? a little bit. Paul, I don't know if you want to handle that or Bonnie. So, yeah, so there's the cave paintings at San Francisco to Sierra that offer just a day trip. It's just, it's an easy hike up some stairs. And it's about an hour, hour, 15 minute drive, beautiful, beautiful road. It's all paved now to the little village. They also offer multi-day hikes or tours down into the canyon,

and you can do from three days minimum to however long you want. And there's more cave paintings down there that are, from what I understand, quite spectacular. There's also cave paintings by Santa Marta, the Pomerito. That one, you can do a day if you're in. into a good hike. It's an hour and a half drive there. It's an hour and a half hike both ways to get to the Piquet paintings. And so, yeah, you can do it all in a day if you're interested in want a good workout.

Again, you'll need a guide. And they do offer mules or donkeys if you want to take a ride instead of the hike. And, Bonnie, you can help people arrange all of that. yeah i can i can direct you in the right direction or i can organize it i can organize if you want transportation or give you directions if you want to drive yourself um both of them are really easy to get to and i have some of my staff have family up there so if you wanted to rent a mule just call me and we can get it arranged and that was for the day trip yeah and again uh i don't want to be in a make work situation for you but you really are dialed in and you really i think by nature

are very helpful. Yeah. And you've been extraordinarily helpful to me. I reach you through email, and you've been extraordinarily helpful. And again, I personally would like to come back and see the cave paintings. The cave paintings within an hour drive, hour and a half drive of here, they're, you know, they're both World Heritage Sites, so they're protected. So they're, you know, you need to get a permit.

You need to have a guide, which you go to the office, you get your permit. They give you a guide, you know, you go up and see the paintings. Of course, the baton in Sierra San Francisco is much easier to get to. It's more if you don't, you know, if you don't want to do a four-hour hike to up and down to see them. Because that works out to about a six to eight-hour day by the time that, the one in Santa Marta, the Pomerito. By the time you've done that, that's a good six-eight-hour day. And you'd want to do that earlier in the year. You'd want to start early in.

Earlier in the year rather than the hot season. Yeah, you don't really want to go too much in the middle of the summer, but you could. Okay. Tell me a few other things about what brings people to San Ignacio. Just the river itself to relax. We are, I always say, we're the belly button of Baja. We're right dead center, north and south, east and west. You know, we're a good halfway point if you want to drive the whole peninsula.

And two days, you can stay here. We're the gateway to the San Ignacio Lagoon Whales. We're, you know, the gateway to some of the cave paintings in the area. Yeah, it's just an all-around perfect midpoint stop. And a beautiful one at that. Yeah. Paul, do you still ride? Not as much as I would like to, but...

That equipment you've bought, keeping this place tidy? That and also, I need new boots, I need a jacket. So let's put a stop on riding at the moment. But I did ride my old bike from Canada down here back in June. last year and so yeah other than that not a whole lot and there's lots of riding whether you're hang on there is we're going to let this wind pass there's lots of riding to be done whether you're on a harley which i've seen plenty of harleys it seems like a lot of mexicans want to come cross on the ferry and then ride the roads of baha the highway we do get a lot of mainland mexican

yeah we do get a lot of motorcycle groups or people from mainland Mexico and and that are just out for a ride and want to check out Baja and, yeah, it's definitely a different place compared to mainland. So from hardcore dirt bike riding to adventure bikes where you're carrying your camp gear to the folks who are doing it on the road with probably stopping in at a hotel or staying with you, it's pretty nice riding. It is, yeah. Definitely lots of twisties and curves and, you know, lots of little challenges.

And that's just on the pavement. You know, once you get off-road, you know, there's all different levels from, you know, to pretty, fairly easy back road riding to your hardcore off-road rocks and sand. A little something for everyone. Exactly, yeah. We're going to wrap it up. I've got to get down the road. but tell me about you've had some challenges here recently you had the fire here and it's all back together the kitchen looks like it was popping last night i missed breakfast this morning unfortunately wavos rancheros which i had the last time i was in it was so lovely but i got here a little late and missed that but um you it's all back together yeah we've uh from the time of the fire in june 22 to well i guess we had our our

official open house the first part of November so but we started using the kitchen in September I think and yeah just and then got our tables and finished up but you know there's a few little things that still need to be done but for the most part everything's up and running and we may do my my my garage my shop turned into the kitchen a year ago and for almost a year and a half I guess for for dinners and breakfast and my shop and bar and we made it work yeah and so you said something there that I think is so important you may do yeah yeah we just kept focus on yeah made it keep you know just keep things rolling keep things moving I mean we we the rooms were still available so you know it was just a matter

of a makeshift kitchen and people are still coming yeah people were still coming but I think there's something in the Baja spirit about making do last night had a nice dinner in town Thank you for recommending a restaurant. Sorry, I didn't get to go to the one that I really wanted to go to. We ended up at Victor's, and it was on the town square. It was terrific. I got to run into a couple of slow Baja listeners, which was fun. I shared some Fortaleza tequila with the staff.

We had a lovely night, and I really had a terrific dinner there. After dinner, we drove over to the campground. So half the group walked, I drove over with one of the people that I was traveling with and move some luggage that needed to be moved. And at 10.30 last night, my car didn't start. I turned the key, and there's absolutely nothing. No rur-r-r-r-r, no nothing. As it turned out, young Dylan sorted it out and managed to jump the solenoid. It's the solenoid of the starter, managed to jump it, and it fired up. But it took 15 minutes. And I really thought, like, oh, this is going to be a problem. But in the morning, I'm going to call Paul.

And Paul's going to recommend a mechanic, and the mechanic's going to come over with some Mexican technology, or we're going to tow the car with a strap to the mechanic's shop, and the mechanic is going to put a little button under the hood, and he's going to just wire in a little something something and a little button, and I'm going to press the button under the hood, and the thing's going to fire, and I can get it fixed when I get back. But there's that Mexican technology. There's the make it work that has.

happened here for centuries. Make it work. Yeah, it's amazing. You know, we're in the middle of nowhere, but they can fix anything, almost, almost anything. Yeah, they've, they've fixed, you know, people have come down with their trailers for racing and stuff, and they've welded back together axles, and they've, you know, just replaced transmissions and, you know, had them shipped down from the states, and we've had everything done in this town. It's a great place to break a frame on an old, old heavy-duty stuff. steel truck. I had a couple of kids on my Slow Baja vintage trip in October, and the frame broke on their 1973 Jeep Commando. We were just having lunch in El Rosario, and the amount of time it took

my group to have lunch at Mama Espinos, they were able to get their frame welded, buy a case of beer for the welder, and some tacos, and make a new friend. For $40. Yeah. When it comes to things like that. It's pretty economical and the know-how and just they figure it out. They figure it out. And that's something that I'm trying to always convey. You should not be afraid. The people are nice. The food is good. The weather is wonderful. Yeah. We're sitting here right now. I've got to get down the road to Mulahey where I have nowhere to stay, but I'm going to figure it out tonight and it's going to be fine. Even in Samana Santa, if I sleep on somebody's front porch, It could happen.

You never know. Yeah. How is being in Baja for this amount of time changed you if it is changed you? You learn to just wait for it to happen. It may not happen today. Patience. Patience. And it will happen.

Just be patient. And everything comes through how it's supposed to, whether it's the way you expect it or not the way you expect it. But everything, it just happens how it's supposed to happen. Well, I think we're going to leave it right there. Thanks. What's the best way for folks to? reach you? You can email me at Ignacio Springs at gmail.com.

Ignacio Springs at gmail.com. That's how I get a hold of Vani with alarming regularity. You have a website, Facebook. We do have a website, Ignacio Springs.com. There is online booking there. There is a contact form. You email, fill in your contact, questions, whatever, and send it to me. And I usually get back that day or sometimes if I'm out getting supplies. the next day. Paul and Bonnie, thanks again for taking care of Slow Baja. Highly, highly, highly recommended. If you're coming through the belly button and you have to, folks, there's no way around it. If you're coming through, book ahead, reach out. You'll really enjoy staying here in the yurts. You'll really enjoy just slowing down and being in San Ignacio. So thanks again from the bottom

my heart. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we did it. Hey, well, I hope you like that show with Paul and Bonnie. Lovely people, unfortunately, you know, that one got derailed for a bit. I was waiting on that video footage and this and that. And then, you know, one thing came up in another, and I got distracted with taking Sal Fish to Baha. Anyways, if you like what I'm doing, if you like me getting out and about meeting people where they are recording these interviews in their space, in their place,

I've got to ask you to support the show. Support the show. Drop a taco in the tank. You can do that at slowbaha.com slash donations. Drop taco in the tank. Really need it to keep this show afloat. And if you're over there at slowbaha.com, please, please go to the Slow Baja shop, buy a hat, buy a tea. It's time.

You need to rep Slow Baja. You have so many great conversations when you're wearing a Slow Baja shirt down in Baja or wherever home is for you. And somebody says, hey, Slow Baja, you know, I love that. Or tell me about what is. Slow Baja. Somebody once said, Slow Baja is like life is good if you like Mexico. I like that idea. Well, again, I'm going to wrap it up here and tell you about Mary McGee, Slow Baja alum, Offer of Motorsports Hall of Famer. She had a pal, Steve McQueen. Steve loved Baja. He lived riding motorcycles in Baja. He got Mary on a bike, got her to come down to Baja. And you know,

he said, Mary, Baja's life. Anything that happens before? Or after, it's just waiting. You know, people always ask me, what's the best modification that I've ever made to slow Baja? Without a doubt, it's my Shielman seats. You know, Toby at Shield Man USA could not be easier to work with. He recommended a Vario F for me and Averio F XXL for my navigator, Ted. His Ted's kind of a big guy. And Toby was absolutely right.

The seats are great and they fit both of us perfectly. And let me tell you, after driving around Baja for, over a year on these seats. I could not be happier. Sheelman, slow Baja approved, learn more and get yours at shieldman.com. You know, I'm all about keeping things simple, travel in light, and finding the really good stuff, and that's why I've been wearing iron and resin for years. It's not just clothes. It's gear that holds up in the dust, the salt, the spilled tacos, and still looks good when you roll into town. Made in small batches by folks who care, no flash, no fast fashion,

just the kind of stuff that gets better, the more you wear it. Check them out at iron and resin.com and pick up something that'll last the next thousand miles.