IT’S STILL THE FRONTERA, GUEY! (Dude)

Originally Published the Week of Oct. 1, 2025 in Western Outdoor Publications

Maybe it was just me.

Maybe I was just in a “mood.”  Y’know…everyone gets in a “mood” every now and then.

Maybe it was just one of those days.  Just another day.

It was late morning, but already sunny, hot, gritty and muggy.

I was with a number of hotel guests waiting to catch their shuttle tour bus to somewhere to do something.  They looked like the type that would go zip-lining or ride camels or swim with the dolphins. The shuttle must have been late.

Didn’t really care.  Not my wheelhouse.  I just smiled. It’s what I do alot.

So, they were kinda milling out front of their hotel.

I just happened to be in the same spot within earshot.  Plus, if people are gonna speak out loud in a public place, I can’t help but eavesdrop.

They weren’t my fishing clients.  They were just regular normal hotel guests and tourists. On their way somewhere to do something.  Chatting.

I couldn’t help but hear the conversations.

I heard one lady tell the group, “I can’t believe I saw a lizard on the wall in my room!”

Another said, “Well, I saw a roach run across a hallway the other night.  It made me jump it was so big!”

Her husband chimed in, “I saw a cat at one of the restaurants and it had a mouse in it’s mouth!”

Ho-hum.  I kinda chuckled to myself saying “So what?”

Like I said, I was kinda in a mood.

Well, complaints are kind of like a big yawn.  One person yawns and it’s contagious and then more people yawn.

I don’t know why.

When someone complains, others seem to feel the need to bond and join in with their own complaints and experiences.

Another lady pipes up, “Y’know…I never imagined Baja would be SO hot and dusty!”  She seemed a bit exasperated.

“Dust is to be expected because of all the potholes and dirt roads.  You would think they’d fix all that and get things paved and make roads that held up to traffic,” chimes in one of the guys.

“I agree about the bad roads and dust, but I wish they would do SOMETHING about the bathroom fixtures.”

That got everyone to look at the lady for an explanation.

“The letter “C” on the bathroom faucets doesn’t mean “cold.” It means “Hot” in Spanish or something like that.  Oh, I think the word is’ CALIENTE’.”

“How was I supposed to know that?  I stood there waiting for cold water to brush my teeth and it never got cold.”

“As I figured out later, “F” means “frio” for cold water.  But, it’s never really cold.  It’s tepid. Not like home.”

“I even went down to the hotel reception to complain and they explained to me about the faucets.  I told them they should fix that instead of confusing the hotel guests.”

Another added in, “We were at a hotel down the coast last year and we booked because it was described as a beachfront ‘rustic Mexico.’”

We had no idea that meant that after 9 p.m. they turned off the generator so there were no lights at the whole hotel.  There weren’t even ice machines or TV’s.”

“I wanted a blended margarita at the little bar and they said they didn’t have a blender!

“Another guys spoke up, “Even if there were TV’s, all the channels are in Spanish. That’s crazy. There should be English channels.  Why is everything in Spanish?”

“Menus are in Spanish.  Signs are in Spanish! I mean, what do they expect?”

Lots of nods from the group and murmurs of assent.

Well, that one comment kinda got to me.

I was in a “ho-hum” mood to that point listening with amusement.

I thought to myself, “What do THEY expect?”  Really? What do THEY expect?”

I really had to grit my teeth from joining the conversation.

Actually, the pertinent question is “What do YOU expect?”

Folks come down and seem to forget two really important things.

The first of which, this just happens to be MEXICO!  It’s another country.

Like anywhere else, the country and it’s people have their own culture, customs, traditions, way of doing things and yes…(SURPRISE!)…even their own language!

Second, this is Baja.  It’s called the “Frontera.”  (The Frontier).  It’s even on the license plates the same way some U.S. states have license plates that say “The Peach State” or “The Vacation Land State.”

The Baja is a 1000-mile-long finger of desert poking into the ocean. It’s bordered by the Pacific one side and the Sea of Cortez o the other.

It is vast.  It’s rugged.  It’s even primitive. It’s the outland and the badlands and it’s a beautiful land.

There are huge areas of unpopulated space despite some tourist cities that sprawl.  Get outside the city limits and you’re pretty close to being on the surface of the moon.

For sure, there are many places that a human foot has never trod.  You could actually die out there and no one would ever know. It can still be very very unforgiving to the unaware.

It’s the FRONTERA, Guey! (dude)

So, yea, the roads can be bumpy and uneven.

And sure, there’s a bit of dust in the air and yes, you’ll probably run into a bug or critter or two.

You’ll eventually figure out how to get a hot shower and you WILL survive your vacation WITHOUT television in English or a handy ice machine.

The phones might not work so quickly and folks might not even move that fast themselves, but it is what it is.

Sorry if everything is in Spanish too.

I DID hear one of them say, “If this is Mexico, how come they don’t speak Mexican instead of Spanish?”

That one made me grin.

Viva la Frontera!  It’s changing daily and too rapidly for my taste, but I hope it stays the frontera for a bit longer.  At least until I’m gone.

…or out’ve earshot!

Thankfully, they loaded on to their tour bus.  On their way to somewhere to do something.

I didn’t much care.  I was in one of those moods.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

______________

Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004.  Along with his wife and fishing buddy, Jilly, they own and run the Tailhunter Sportfishing Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico  www.tailhunter.com .  They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront.  If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is: jonathan@tailhunter.com

Or drop by the restaurant to say hi.  It’s right on the La Paz waterfront!

_____________