Slow Baja - Zihul Martinez Whales Cave Paintings And Knives

Episode Date: September 6, 2023

Zihul Martinez is the man to know in Guerrero Negro. He is a highly-respected wilderness guide who can show you the whales, the cave paintings, the pronghorn, or, as he says, "the magic of the central desert."   Born in Chiapas, Mexico, Martinez moved to Mexico City at fourteen to attend school. Later, he joined the Mexican Army and had a twenty-one-year career, eventually retiring in Guerrero Negro --the location of his last post. He says he loved the place and the people and decided to start his retirement "doing only things that make me happy."   In addition to his guide services, Zihul operates a hunting supply shop that carries a large selection of his handmade jewelry and knives. His tidy workshop is next door to the shop, and his home, campground, and secure parking lot are located across the street.    Zihul Martinez is Slow Baja Approved.   Calle Pedro Altamirano E Mz 64 Lt 5 Colonia Fundo Legal CP 23940, Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, México. Abierto de lunes a viernes de 1000 hrs a 1600 hrs Teléfono: 615 1554106 | Celular / Whatsapp: [phone] Enjoy this Slow Baja Podcast conversation with Zihul Martinez, powered by Baja Bound Insurance. Get your Baja insurance here: https://www.bajabound.com/quote/?r=fl9vypdv2t Watch this Slow Baja Podcast on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqjVYiP-L_A Learn more about Zihul Martinez here: http://www.zihul.com/ Follow Zihul Martinez on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zihul.martinez More information on Slow Baja Adventures: https://www.slowbaja.com/adventures

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. You know, I've long said it, ask your doctor if Baja is right for you. Well, I want to say hearty thanks to all those folks

who are coming on the Slow Baja Vintage expedition. They got the okay from their doctor, and they're going to have a great time exploring Baja Norte with me. Hey, folks, selfie stand up here from Slow Baja HQ. Breaking news. Over the Labor Day weekend, we had an entry transfer from the 2023, Slow Baja vintage to the 2024 event.

So if you've been hankering on going with us, now is your time. Do not delay. Hit me up. Use the contact button at SlowBaha. If you've got something 1993 and older or something that looks like in 1993, I'd love to have you join the fun and come to Baja with us October 15th through the 20th, San Felipe to San Felipe, one night in a hotel on either side, four nights under the stars with chef prepared meals, serviceria trans peninsula when we get into camp and probably a little tequila fordoliza by the campfire. So if this sounds like a little bit of the way you'd like to experience Slow Baja, don't delay. Hit me up right now. So if you want to get in on the 2024 Slow Baja vintage, this time in Baja sewer, you got to check out the Adventures tab at Slowbaha.com.

And if you have a newer rig and a lot of folks did inquire with newer rigs and you want a winner getaway, the Slow Baja rally is February 23 to March 3rd. It's a slow roll from San Diego down to Loretto and back. About 10 days long, we're going to have a couple of nights laying over in Loretto. I've got some ready-made adventures for you there. If you want to get off on a one-day mule packing trip or if the weather's good, you want to get out on the water, we're going to have a one-day water adventure. There's also going to be a one-day volunteer project for folks who might want to do that. And if you've got some stuff that you need to address on your rig, well, we're going to have some hand-selected, slow-baha-approved mechanics, whether you need a welder or a tire shop or a mechanic transmission, whatever it is.

We're going to have those resources for you, so it's going to be easy for you to get whatever you need addressed, addressed. You know, it's not the longest or the largest or the most miles. It's the slowest and the best miles and hopefully the most smiles. All right. For more information, check it out. It's a slowbaha rally at slowbaha.com slash adventures. Don't be afraid to ask questions. You can always reach me through the contact link at slowbaha.com.

Once again, that's February 23rd through March 3, 2024, the Slow Baja rally. Well, thanks for tuning in to the Slow Baja today. My heeping dose of gratitude is more of acknowledgement. My Baja buddy, slow Baja alum, Mr. Dune Buggie, Jim Chamberlain, the nicest guy on four wheels, just turned 80 years old. I want to wish him a happy, happy birthday. Jim, I can't wait until our paths cross again in Baja and I get to pour you a shot of Fortaleza. I know you'll have your Slow Baja logoed shot glass at the ready.

You always do your inspiration. I've got to tell you a deep inspiration on how to live and how to enjoy. So happy birthday, Jim Chamberlain. All right. Well, today's show is with guide and naturalist and the man to know in Guerrero Negro, Zeal Martinez. Zeal, again, he's an amazing, multi-talented human being. He's got a knife shop there where he's hand-crafting knives. He's a naturalist and guide.

I happen to organize a whale watching trip with him and took out 20-some people to do some whale watching. and when he's not running whale watching trips, when it's not whale season, he can get you off to the cave paintings or to see the antelope or any multitude of the things that the central beautiful Baja desert has to offer Zeals, your man,

and without further ado, Zeal Martinez, today on Slow Baja. We're rolling here. We are in Guerrero Negro. It is Slow Baja, and I am with the famous Zul Martinez, And you are a guide extraordinaire, but you're also well known for being a knife maker. Yes.

So let's talk about it. Where are you from, Amigo? Well, I was born in Chiapas in the south of Mexico, but at the age of 14 years old, I decided to move to the capital to study the high school. And then I get enrolled in the Mexican army, and I've been traveling around my whole country for 21 years. 12 years ago, 15 years ago, here was my last military assignment, and then I decided to get on a former retirement and settle down here. So tell me about your town. Tell me about Guerrero Negro. Well, Guerrero Negro is a small community and, of course, nice.

It's a small town that you can't know every place. in only 20 minutes but also the history of their habitants in two hours it's a friendly community that used to be considered as a gas station area and continue the trip but there are more that only whales here we have many activities to do and every person who travels to this area at least I recommend to stay here four to five days to enjoy the central desert, the magic of the central desert. Let's get into that. So your guide, your well-known guide, maybe a famous guide, and the central desert. Tell me about it. It's an amazing place. Yes, it's far some everywhere, in the middle

of nowhere, but just in the heart of the peninsula. And here we have the very best from different way of life from many other people around mainland Mexico, for example, and plenty of historical places. For example, Guerrero Negro was founded in 976 because of the saltworks. And here we have the biggest saltworks in the world, but also in this area, in central desert, we have another town is called El Arco. And El Arco used to be a mining town, a gold mining town in the first years of the last century. And so El Arco, known to many is the halfway point of the Baja 1000. You made it to El Arco, you've done something.

You felt like maybe you take your first exhale. You've made it, El Arco. But getting back to the central desert, when you, what's, you say four or five days in Gros Negro, most people would say you're crazy. Why would I do that? So tell me. Why? What is here that people should see?

The cave paintings. Let's start with that. Usually people think that Guerrero Negro Negro means only gray wells. No. The people who look for my services, for my company in their travels, usually tell me that, hey, Seul, I will be in Guerrero Negro Negro for two or three days, four days. Please prepare all my activities and all the... the places you want us to go to visit.

So here we are very fortunate because, of course, we have the central desert. And in the central desert here, we have the very best of the cave paintings, for example. Here we have the great mural style of the cave paintings. Consider among the big five in the cave paintings around the world, like Tanzania, in Africa, Spain, France, with the Aborigines in Australia and proudly in America, in Mexico, in Baja California Peninsula, the great mural style that is considered as the very best. Not for the size, but for the composition. There are many clues.

For example, when you are observing stars, stargazing, you have to know some keys to what observe. In the great mural style of cave paintings also, we offer some clues, some keys to enjoy the cave paintings of Baja California. So you're able to break it down a little bit, but there's still a lot unknown about the cave paintings, yeah? Yes. What's the consensus on when the cave paintings were made? Well, cave paintings is one of the most famous tourist traps in the peninsula in Baja. People wants to know something. Actually we know who painted, when painted,

how did they paint it, but we still wondering one question. Why? Why? What the purpose? What's the message? What's the meaning? Usually people want to know some answers to the question. To visit the cave paintings is not in the pursuit of that answer.

It's more to open a place for more questions. And sometimes people return with more and more questions that in the next days you will be wondering, hey, what happened to these people? Why only from 10,000 to 5,000 years for the great mural style? What happened to this people? was the same environment, the same landscape was here when these people arrive. Does anybody wants to get in the desert to suffer or to get thirsty or hunger?

Many, many other questions. So many questions. Yes. So many questions. We need to consider that the people who paint these caves were stone-aged people with no tools, but maybe with some interesting knowledge that we don't have right now in modern times. Hey, folks, I just want to say we are recording here in Zuel's knife shop. We've got some knife making going on in the background that you can hear the scraping and the polishing.

And there's a small construction project going on in the yard that's adjacent. And it's just, it's a beautiful day here in Grosanegro, and we just got off the water. And we had such an extraordinary experience. whale watching. So I think we should talk about that for a few minutes. Tell me about the history of the whales and maybe the history of the whale watching and your your thoughts on what happens every day, day after day in the whale season. It's amazing. Yes. The most of the advertising for whale watching is for San Ignacio Lagoon. But in the peninsula, we have three major sea lagoons. One is

Ojo de Liebre here in Guerreo Negro. The other is San Ignacio Lagoon and the other Magdalena Bay near to La Paz. The largest, the biggest lagoon is Guerrero Negro here. And we don't offer too much advertising and more. And that is because more of the tourist operators are local. But for me is one of the very best places to have the opportunity of special and close encounter with those giants and more emotional

and intimate with that specimen. 200 years ago, great whales were considered the devilfish because they're aggressive behavior. And it makes sense. It makes a lot of sense, yeah.

Because we hunt them. The bubble and the fat of the whales used to be like the oil in modern times. We can slow, we can't be a little bit of a little bit, see? It's good. It's good.

Oh, yeah, yeah, we're fine. Whatever, it's all good. Well, so we used to hunt gray whales, especially because their coastal habits is the only whale who descends from a single lineage, and that is considered a primitive whale. All the whales are relatives, but gray whales are different. They send only from fossils.

So that offers some special characteristics that, for example, they don't think, they don't have sonar or echolocation or nothing. They are completely visual to travel from the burying and Alaska to Mexico, So more than 9,000 kilometers in their journey. And there are two main reasons that they travel to these lagoons. First is for mating purposes, and then to give a bird their calves, because it's a 13 months of period of gestation. And the other is because they don't like, they breed air like us.

They don't like to get trapped in the ice in winter in the north. So they travel all together only for protection, but they are lonely animals. Usually when the mating process starts 10 seconds and they never create family groups. Also, the kids, when the mom give a bird their calves, they usually stay with the mom six months feeding from milk and then as soon as they learn how to get their own food from the bottom of the ocean, they split apart from their moms. Great Wells, to visit the Great Wells is more like an emotional experience here because from 30 years up to now we are observing that

But every day, more and more tours become whale painting. Maybe they want to interact with humans. And in this lagoon, in Ojo de Liebre and sometimes San Ignacio and Magdalena Bay, are the only opportunities that Grey Wells offers to the world to be so close from humans as a species. When they return, they don't have any contact with humans. You said something funny on our tour today. Gray whales, like what?

What do they like? They like drunks and... Oh, they like drunk people and kids. And it's because sometimes people, in my observation, that is my personal observation. goes very stressed on the boat. Sometimes people for the very first time travels for this experience and it's a little bit of anxiety, what could be happened.

And sometimes the tour, because of a misunderstanding information on social media that, hey, if you travel to Baja, you will toast the whales. No, the tour is whale watching on a safe distance. It depends on the whale if she decides to approach to the boat. And that high expectation sometimes turns into frustration for the visitor. Well, we are not sure to petting them. If they want it, for sure, we will do it. Yeah, it's not guaranteed.

No, it's not guaranteed. Yeah, of course, I was here two years ago, and nobody petted the whale on my trip, and that's life. Absolutely. And we say that Great Walls like drunk people, because sometimes when you drink a shot of tequila or something, it's an stress relief. So we are pure emotion,

and that interaction is what Great Walls wants. That stress relief and that pure interaction is what the whales like. That's what Slow Baja likes. We're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back with Zil Martinez. Here at Slow 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 Mexico travelers since 1994. Big thanks to my new sponsor Nomad Wheels. They stepped up and sponsored the Slow Bound. Baja Safari class at the Nora Mexican 1000, and I don't know if you've seen the pictures, but Slow Baja is running a set of 501 convoys in utility gray, and they look pretty damn sharp. They were a little shiny.

I will admit that they were a little shiny when I got them installed at Basil's Garage just before the Norah Mexican 1000, but after, I don't know, 3,800 miles from Baja dirt, they look perfect. They really do. Nomadwheels.com. That's right. Check them out, reflecting a minimalist approach to off-road truels. Travel Nomad Wheels.com.

Okay, Zeel, you were just telling me about drunks and babies and what whales like. You like people who are relaxed. They like people who are having a little fun. Yes. Do you have any theories about why the mama whales are coming to visit? It's not the males. The males never come? No, no.

Also the males travels, also juveniles. But the curious is the baby. And usually in the first days of a newborn, maybe a baby says, hey, mom, there is a boat. But as soon as the baby tries to approach, the mom, of course, wants to protect, hey, wait, allow me to scan everybody in the boat. And then if it's safe, you can approach. As soon as the baby continues his growth, the mom usually,

is taking a nap and the baby says, hey, mom, it's a new boat. Okay, go. Just like humans. And that interaction is what I really enjoy, especially in February and the very first week of March. Usually at the beginning of January is the mating and they are doing their stuff

and they don't want to be disturbed. And sometimes it happens on a wheel watching tour. and we feel a little bit embarrassed because we are interrupting maybe. You're interrupting the mating. Yes, something. As Sherry Bondi says, the Pink Floyd, the Pink Floyd comes out. Yes, it's a funny term, the Pink Floyd. But it's because Gray Wells only mate for when the female is ready to get pregnant.

They don't have sex for fun. So that signs offers a pinky color, just like the color of your lips in the inner area. It's some kind of purple, red, pink coloration in the excitement of the moment. Penis talk, whale penis talk here on Slow Baja. We finally got there with Zil Martinez. Tell me about you've got a season here. So it's January, February, March, the whales are off by April, and what are you doing in the next season? Yes.

Tell me about the guiding trips and the rest of your year. From April to December, Guerrero Negro becomes like a ghost town because the road conditions. But now, more than ever, we know bad roads. brings nice people. So here in Rio Negro we can enjoy cave paintings, of course, the pronghorn preserve. The pronghorn preserve. Yes, that is an endemic mammal

originated in America and is the fastest animal on earth on long distances. We have the salt works, the biggest salt works in the world. We have the opportunity for sport fishing, also to float in the salt ponds with a highly concentrated waters in salt, like the Dead Sea. So you float easily. And of course, the food. Seafood is one of the best around the world here, fresh from the lagoon. And so you tell me, you were in the Army, and you've traveled all around Mexico, and your last posting was here in Guerrero,

and you decide to stay. Yes. That says a lot about this place that most people, as you said, just drive by and gas up and go. Malarimo is pretty close to the highway. Okay, maybe I'll stop there for a meal and then go. What do you really love about this place? Guerrero Nago.

Tell me three or four things that are your favorites. If people are coming here. In the first place, nature, of course. Nature, wilderness is one of the very best. Central Desert offers more than 90% of the native forests from the desert. In the second place, this area concentrates the very best of the people in the whole peninsula.

It's completely different behavior from the people from the border, for example, near Tijuana or Cabo area, with the party, spring breakers. Here in Central Baja, everybody wants, to help you, everybody wants to offer you some directions, some shelter, some food. If you are in trouble in the middle of nowhere, everybody is willing to help readily available. Can you unpack that? Can you explain that to me? Because, of course, people listening in the states often have a notion about Baja that, oh, I'm going to go, I'm going to get robbed.

If I don't get robbed by the cartels, the police are going to rob me. And really, it's, it's, I'm saying it week after week after week, but I want you to tell me about why, why are people so wired to be helpful here? What is it? Is it from the rancher culture? Is it from the Jesuit times? Is it from, where does it come from, do you think? No, I think that there is a combination. First of all, the geography, the highway number one, for example, is the only way to travel so far in the peninsula. And in the north and in the south, we have two militaphys. checkpoints that offers safety. Second one, here the people needs to be self-sufficient in many ways.

And we are shy people, but when somebody approach, we are like a mirror. If somebody approach angry, we becomes maybe angry. But usually the people who arrives here is gentle, kindly, well-educated people and very respectful people. So I think that it's human nature to be a mirror. What we are observing in front of us is that's it. It's not a magic and wilderness and nature do the rest. All right. So, Seale, you were telling me about, I was asking you about,

How does one get started making knives? Tell me about your process. Well, as a military and also as a scout in my early days, I use a knife. For me, the knife is the right tool that offer to the human species that advantage in their evolution. Without the knife, the humans were nothing. It wasn't capable to survive. So as a user, I try and buy, of course, many brands of knife. But pretty often they break, they fail, they suffer from many other things.

So I decide to make my own knives, my own trustable knives. And as soon as I start to make my knife, my own knife, a sense of proud starts to appear. Yeah, you have a sense of pride about, you made this. I made this. I made this, yes, absolutely. And some people, I start to offer to make for the Christmas gift for some other people, friends, compadres. And more and more people every day was telling me, hey, you should make, you should sell,

you should make more, make more, and you should, you should, okay, I will listen some advice. And 12 years ago, when I decided to get on a former retirement, from the army, I decided to enterpreneur in this kind of business. Okay, talking to the family, I will get on retirement and I will do everything what I love to do. So knife making was a joy for me. So we don't produce largest amounts of knives every year, but every knife is lifetime warranty. So we only use high carbon steel. And there is another curious thing.

We don't like to use stainless steel and we only use high carbon steel from the leaf springs from use cars. I see that. I see that, you know, as one who has leaf springs, I saw, I recognize where you're starting here. Yes. And that is the idea. To do the best we can where we are with what we have.

Are there any model springs that you like the best? Well, maybe it's difficult, but mostly toiuras from gyps, the old gyps from the 60s, 70s is high carbon. And of course, modern vehicles sometimes offer some vanadium tungsten alloys. Your old leaf spring guys, watch out. Zeal is going to take your, going to take your springs. loose and lost. He's coming for you, loose and lost. Leaf Springs party harder. If somebody wants to, that we build a batch from a special leaf spring, you can bring me

all the springs, and for sure, the steel will be in your knives for your team. That's right. I can go over to Ensnada and pick up the leaf springs that have been replaced off of Slow Baja and have a little knife series. Look for that coming soon. The leaf springs made from the knives made from my old. Leaf Springs. All right, Zeal, you've been terrific. Thank you. What's the best way for people to reach you? Well, usually we don't make any too much advertising, but on the social media on Facebook, we can found Seul Knives. Yeah. Also, in my personal cell phone number with WhatsApp,

is plus 52, 615-15-973-442. One more time on that number. It'll be in the show notes. 152, 61515-95-97342. All right, well, I found you on Facebook and you are very responsive on the messages. I put together a trip for 11 people and it was a lot of fun. We had close contact with the whales, the weather was spectacular. We're going to head out for some tacos.

You gave us a beautiful burrito lunch, breakfast. We're going to head out for some tacos. Tell me about your favorite stop for tacos here. Is it Tony's in the truck or is it? Is it? Undoubtedly, Tony. Tony is considered, also that is a friend, is considered according to the trip advisor,

as the very best fish taco in Baja. I know that it's a challenge, but you have their last word in that. All right, the challenge is on. Ziole Martinez in Guerrero Negro, Slow Baja approved. Find him on the internet, get them to guide you on a cave painting

or come out for whale watching. We had a great time, and thanks again, Amigo. Oh, thank you. You very welcome. Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Zihel and Martinez. It was kind of fun hearing the ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-of the knives being sanded in the background. He's really a good guy to know.

And again, he's got a secure parking lot. If you're going out whale watching, you want to leave your rig. He's a guy that you can go out with, obviously, and you can leave your rig securely in his gated yard. And obviously, you can stay there as well if you've got a tent or a vehicle that you can sleep in. So great spot, great guy to know. Zeal Martinez, Slow Baja approved. All right, well, hey, if you've got some tacos still jingling in your pockets, I really

implore you. Drop a couple in the tank. Come on, man. Come on. I'm out here talking Baja week after week after week, after week, drop a taco in the tank. You can do that right through the donate tab on Slowbaha.com. And it really, really, really does help keep this show on the road. while you're at slowbaha.com, you know, I've got a whole bunch of hats now in the Slow Baja shop.

Check them out. All the baseball hats are back. So whatever one you've been hankering for, if you need a freshie, they are there while they last to help yourself get yourself a Slow Baja hat, buy one for a friend. And hey, if you don't have any tacos in the tank, I get it. If you're not jingling any tacos, how about dropping a five-star review on Apple or Spotify, whatever platform you listen into? Write something nice. It really does help people find the show, and that's supposed to be super important. I don't know. It's supposed to be.

All right, well, I'm going to be back soon with something fun. And to quote Mary McGee's pal, Mary McGee, who is almost a Hall of Famer, she's been nominated, but she hasn't been inducted yet. That's going to happen in September. Mary McGee's pal, Steve McQueen, he loved the desert. He loved Baja. You know what? He said, Baja's life.

Anything that happened before or after is just waiting. You know, I'm a minimalist when it comes to Baja travel, but the one thing I don't leave home without is a good old paper map. My favorite is the beautiful, and I mean beautiful, Baja Road and Recreation Atlas by Benchmark Maps. It's an oversized 72-page book. It's jammed with details. It brings the peninsula's rugged terrain into clear focus.

Get yours at Benchmarkmaps.com. In fact, get two. One for your trip planning at home and one for your Baja rig. And while you're at Benchmarkmaps.com, You got to check out all their other atlases. I think they're up to 17 now, including British Columbia. They've got folding maps. They've got digital maps.

They've got giant wall maps. My favorite, and I've got it up on my wall right here at Slow Baja HQ, is the 30-inch by 46-inch Baja wall map. It's so great to just look at one thing, see the entire peninsula there. I love it. Benchmarkmaps.com. Slow Baja approved. Huge news out of Encinata, huge news, folks. Cervasaria Trans-Penensular has Slow Baja on Tap all summer long.

That's right. I saw it for myself. Heck, I tasted it for myself. You got to get there. You got to check it out for yourself at Cervasaria Trans-Peninsula. It's right there next to the Hotel Corral and Marinas in the Playitas neighborhood. Get yourself a frosty cold slow Baja on tap, but don't delay. It's for limited time only this summer.