Recently, I shared some of the photos and stories of our experience traveling in our Bronco to Baja, Mexico. I know that some of you are highly interested in more details about how we negotiated the border crossing, tips and tricks to improve safety, and other things that were totally new to us and might be to you too.
Spend very little time in the border towns
Most of the criminal activity that happens in Baja occurs in the larger cities and border towns. Just use your common sense, you wouldn’t linger in certain areas in Chicago either. When crossing, have a plan and your route mapped out, and don’t linger. We were very successful in using Gaia on airplane mode (after downloading the area maps) to plan our way and see our location. If you wander around looking lost, someone might be tempted to “show you the way” and you end up getting robbed. We crossed in Tecate, not a giant city, but we still followed the lead from our group, staying together, fueling up, and getting out.
Get your FMM card
The FMM card is a document that is required if you’re spending more than seven days in Mexico (if crossing by land). Apparently, this CAN be done online but it is not intuitive or easy for a non-Spanish speaker, so after wandering around on the website, we elected to just get this taken care of at the border. When we crossed the border, we told the border guards that we needed immigration. We had to find a place to park and then enter the building where the guard directed. We needed our passports and cash to pay the fee, we had to pay per person, not per family. The cost was around $40 per person, we paid in pesos. We extended the dates on the paperwork to make sure it didn’t expire before we were back in the U.S. You can get the card for up to 180 days.
The immigration agent let us know that we needed to keep it and produce it on demand, but not turn it in when we left the country. We were never asked for it while we were there but we were told if there was an accident or police investigation, we would be in trouble if we didn’t have it.
Get your Mexican insurance
If your Bronco gets broken into, or you have an accident in Mexico, you must have Mexican insurance. There are several insurance agencies that offer it, and your regular car insurance will not be honored if there is a problem. We elected to pay for full coverage, not only for accidents but for theft or partial theft of our Bronco. I kept picturing coming out of our hotel one morning to discover missing parts but realized that I probably had a higher risk of losing my Bronco in Albuquerque or Denver than I did in Baja. Our guides made sure we had secure parking and we never had an issue.
Travel during the day
Try to have a good plan that will allow you to get to your destination well before dark. Not only are many roads narrow, but darkness just increases your risk, it’s easier to get turned around, and easier to run into problems. Also, the scenery is so great you don’t want to miss it by driving into the night.
Get Mexican Pesos
One of the differences between Brian and me is carrying cash versus carrying plastic. He always has some and I almost never do, even though I admit, it’s a good idea. But, if you’re traveling to Baja, credit cards are not always an option. Many spots, including gas stations, are cash only. Many places will accept American dollars but you’ll pay a poor exchange rate the further south you go.
We ordered $500 worth from our local bank, and this turned out to be about the right amount. There are also ATMs and money exchange places at the border but we were unsure about fees, so just took care of it at home.
While we were at the bank, we also notified them of our travel to Mexico, so our debit and credit cards wouldn’t be declined. We only used our cards at gas stations, hotels, and larger restaurants to try and avoid any fraudulent activities. We didn’t have any problems.
Top with fuel regularly
We were frequently up to 200 miles between fuel stops because well, we were often traveling off-road and on the Baja 1000 route. We own a two-door Bronco and with our smaller gas tank, we fueled at almost every opportunity. I say that because, occasionally, you would see a guy in a truck with a barrel of gas, offering it for sale. We chose to avoid those “gas stations”.
Curt’s extensive travels in Baja, has him not only current on where gas stations are but also, which towns struggle with fuel issues. He would say, “if they have fuel here, we’ll top off”. Luckily every place had fuel on this trip, but he said that’s definitely not always the case. Our Bronco likes to drink the good stuff but a couple of times, premium just wasn’t available, so we had to go with what they had.
Going along with topping with fuel was topping with bottled water. We never had any issues with water born illness but we took every precaution, even brushing our teeth with bottled water. It’s easy to forget and just use tap water, but when I asked, our leader highly recommended use of bottled water, so that’s what we did.
Consider Traveling with a Group
The larger the group, the less likely someone is to hassle you. It’s also a lot more fun and we really enjoyed meeting everyone and sharing the experience. Curt created a What’s App chat and lots of videos and photos were shared after the trip that we really appreciated receiving. We also had some fun activities like a 60’s night and a pajama party, group dinners, and creating our memory jars.
Go with an expert, like-minded guide whenever possible
When we heard that Curt LeDuc had organized a trip, a lot of the anxieties of traveling to Baja went away. Having someone else that not only knows the area but is passionate about the places and people there, enriched the entire experience. We felt very safe in Baja but beyond that, Curt knows everyone. When we entered a hotel or restaurant, we were warmly welcomed, he and Kimmie took care of every detail. We loved hearing all the stories and funny events that happened to Curt in the past when he was in Baja racing. It brought the desert to life, and you could picture how a hill, or a curve could be so pivotal in a race’s outcome. His story about spectators pulling up their legs to avoid their toes being run over by Curt taking a bend at who knows how fast, was just crazy.
One morning, when the sea was too rough for a fishing trip, a plan was set to find some Cave paintings. I especially love rock art and was so excited that this was part of the day’s plan. Curt admitted that he had raced by the area many times but hadn’t directly been to the cave. He did have the coordinates and asked me if they meant anything to me. This is in my wheelhouse with Rebelle Rally navigation and I said yes, quickly plotting a route to the cave on my phone. Curt let me lead the group to the cave, which we found easily. I was thrilled to help and for him to trust me.
We’re already planning another trip with Curt.
Conceal items when approaching checkpoints
There are checkpoints positioned around Baja with armed soldiers checking out cars. Curt knows where they are and can avoid many of them but a few make sense to save time. The guards may just ask your destination and look inside your vehicle, or they may search the vehicle, asking you to get out. When we passed through them, Curt would reassure us and would notify the guards, as he was the first in line, in how many were in the group. Since we were communicating by radio, so we would put them, along with our wallets, or anything of value, into the glove box until we were through the checkpoint. Don’t make things tempting to the soldiers to easily “search” or take.
Don’t post your itinerary online
If you’re traveling with a big group, don’t post your itinerary online. There are some folks in Mexico that search the internet for schedules and are prepared to block your route or demand fees to let you proceed. Curt purposely leaves the schedule vague, not only to be able to call an audible when needed, but to avoid advertising where we’ll be and when.
Don’t pay bribes if you can avoid it
These are some of those “weird” rules that cause some of that anxiety in traveling to Mexico. If the police pull you over, most of them will tell you that you can pay a fee or basically a bribe, to avoid going to the station or being arrested. I kept thinking this would happen to us, but it never did. Curt was clear to not pay a bribe but call him on the radio and he would deal with it.
Pay attention on the narrow highways
I’m not kidding on this point. Driving in Mexico requires that you pay attention. The roads are very narrow, often with no shoulder or a very steep immediate drop off. Semi drivers often cross the line to avoid dropping off, especially on curves. Passing zones exist but seem to be suggestions, just like the speed limit, so you constantly need to watch your mirrors and drive defensively.
Summary
These are a few of the watch outs that I suggest in your travels to Baja BUT, we did not have any trouble and felt very safe. Often, we were out on trails with no one around and the few people we did encounter were hard working ranchers, either friendly or at least indifferent to our presence. We saw other groups out there, enjoying Baja like we were.
Baja transformed us and we fell in love with the area, the scenery, the people. We will go again soon, with much less anxiety than before, but with an awareness of the differences that make this trip an adventure.
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