Mexico or border run stories

[gene west]

Tell you what Bob...I'll hoist a couple of Noche Buenas for you when i get out of the water, I'm off to get wet, hope your doin' the same....geno

[rooster]

We were comming back from Costa Rica and it was pouring rain on the drive from Tammarindo to San Jose Intl. our board bags got flooded. We had packed most of our towels and clothes around our boards as padding, then we had to sit on the tarmack waiting to take off for an hour and a half.

When we got to LAX we were directed to an inspection area, where they opened our board bags, due to excessive weight, they were suspiciuos

Apparently the heat and humidity had cooked the 14 day old odor of unwashed clothing and wet towels

When they opened the bags they almost threw up over the smell we laughed all the way to the passport stamp section

[Bintang Bob]

This would have been early to mid 70's.... we'd been surfing/camping at San Miguel, Baja Norte, Mex. for a week or so and were headin' back state side.... we burned the last of the "Mota" going past Rosarito.... we were drivin' a rusty VW bus and we all had beards to our nipples and hair just as long (ZZ Top before ZZ Top), so secondary was a forgone conclusion.... we'd driven from Rosarito to the border with all the windows slid open so we thought we was cool... into secondary we go and up comes this inspector with a german shepherd sniffer dog... we slide open the side door on the van and the dog jumps in, stands up on his back legs nose in the air and spins in circles.... the inspectors head snaps around to us and he sez "have you been smoking dope in there?".... three surfer/longhairs with blood shot eyes, shakin' our heads to the negitive sayin', "no way man, but we saw somebody doin' it and we ran them off".... the inspector just stares at us with one eye closed, shakes his head and sez, "be careful", then waves us on.... you know, I look back on all this south of the border stuff and wonder why I'm still not locked up down there somewhere....

[Bintang Bob]

now I'm on a roll.... There was this map shop up on University Ave. in SD.... so, whenever I had a few spare duckets I'd go up and get another topographical map of the west coast of Baja. I ended up with the entire coastline plus the east coast down around the tip.... We'd spend hours planning "surgical strikes" (in a rusty VW bus) into Baja for specific swells we deduced from weather maps... all with the help of uncle dubie & annie green springs.... we didn't do to bad either.... even if we missed on the surf, we always had tons of fun... well, not having ever had kids, I guess you lot are the "grandchildren" I'll be tellin' all my stories to (whether you wanta' hear them or not)... congratulations to one and all....

[surfhorn]

In the 70's we'd drive from Santa Cruz County and stop at our friend's place in San Diego. He was in the Navy so he would get us the latest maps & weather forecasts.

[red]

Got stopped heading south after a big night in Rosarito and an almost empty case of Laguna Niguels in the back from the day. Sat with beers between our feet as Federale asked if we'd been drinking because we'd been speeding. He looked at our passports (one Irish, one UK) and told us to follow to the station.
It being really late, my buddy goes over to the car and says we only have $50 for a "fine" but don't want to go to the station. The federale refuses it and takes us to the station where he fines us $30 and gives us change and a receipt!

[Kauaikneelo]

I guess this qualifies as a "border run":

Early 70's and I'm 16 with the crew going on our (every) weekend camping trip to San O, they still let you camp on the beach back then and we would throw everything that did't break off the cliff, which saved going up and down the trail. Basically just boards and cooler got saved.

So we start burning on the way, and burning, and burning... and by the time we got to San Clemente from OC we were sure K38 was going off and we were on our way to be there for the swell. I had a 65 Chrysler Newport, you know the kind of car made from left over tank steel and felt like you were riding a sled on train rails. Five guys, ten boards, mega gear in the trunk, and nobody crowded!! Still burning we decide to put it out just past the last exit in Chula Vista (doh). When I pull up to the crossing going IN the border agent stops us and I roll down the window (just like Cheech and Chong "..am I driving OK?). He asks for ID and says "well boys it looks like no FUN town tonight" and I say " no man we're going to K38 man..." He signals us to pull over to the office area and of course we start to fill our pants. After lots of guestions I don't remember they start to search the car. Well thank Lee Iacoka for the secert map compartment below the glove box, which my family never knew was there and we found only when we were wiring the 8 track ,
but those guys and dogs were going crazy. That compartment was a god send and even fooled a red neck trooper in Texas, but thats another story. After several hours they finally let us go and sent letters to our parents saying we were trying to cross the border, as a matter of fact I think I'm still on restriction for that Well we turned around got on the freeway, fired up a fatty for each of us and went to San O. I think we got waves too. Must be the luck of the Irish.

[kidrock]

I've got so many raunchy Mex tales, I wouldn't know when or where to begin

BUT, I'll never forget fresh, hot Fish Tacos and ice-cold Pepsi (in a GLASS BOTTLE) after all those great Fall and Winter sessions between Calafia and Gav's.

[floyd699]

Hey Kidrock
We're still waiting to hear these "Raunchy" Mex tales

Fish taco's that good eh?

[kidrock]

Hey Kidrock
We're still waiting to hear these "Raunchy" Mex tales

Fish taco's that good eh?

yeah Floyd, the fish tacos were the best. The only ones that might have been better were straight from the Mercado at the Ensenada embarcadero.

These aren't the "raunchiest", but hopefully entertaining...

I've been going to Baja since I was 2, when my granddad would take me to the Mexican barbers for a fiddy-cent "razor cut". When I reached 15 (mid 70's), during the summer I would wait for my folks to go to work...and then misappropriate the 1972 Ford Courier pickup, load up 4-6 of my peer group, and immediately head to Revolucion for some reveling at the Strip's better locales, i.e., "The Bambi Club", "Sans Souci" etc. and allow the club's finer debutantes to school us in the ways of the upscale Mexican citizenry, all the while guzzling fiddy-cent Coronitas.

Once, in the early 80's a friend and I camped out on the cliff above K38's for the 4th of July. Later that evening, the cliff became overrun with other surfers with like ideas. At about 10pm, a bunch of Judiciales or Federales (I never could tell the difference) closed off the entrance to the cliff and proceeded to "inspect" every single person and their vehicles. My friend just happened to be in possession of some candy. Not wanting to have Mexican law enforcement find the candy, he quickly jammed his candy into an unsuspecting piece of trash on the ground, not far from my 1964 VW Van.

Of course, we were subjected to the same treatment as our other camped-out brethren, but the candy was not located. We decided to bail, right then and there. I think we wound up surfing BM's the next AM.

Later that year during the fall (October, maybe?) we again found ourselves alone on the cliff, checking the surf at 38's. It was a dire time indeed, as we had not much money, and there was a candy shortage.

We were reflecting on what had transpired several months earlier, when my quick-thinking friend had remembered the approximate location of where he had stashed the candy on that ill-fated night. He then walked approximately 10 feet from where we had parked, looked down and picked up a familiar-looking piece of trash. He opened it, and lo and behold...

The taste of Candy had never been sweeter.

P.S.---the surf was pretty good, too.

[Bob Gove]

During the last monster swell, Chris Coggan and I traveled south to a point we were sure would be cranking. Swell didn't come up until after dark, so we pitched Chris' tent in a flat area 20 yds. inland from a cobblestone rock berm that separated us from the ocean. After dinner and a few beers, we retired-me to the back of my pickup and Chris to his tent. At 3:45 am the next morning a tremendous roar woke me up, it can only be described as the sound a waterfall of rocks would make. Well, the swell had come up, along with the tide, and a large wave pushed over the berm (plowing pangas out of the way in the process) and flooded our campsite with about 18" of seawater. I popped open my camper shell window when I heard Chris yell Bob! Bob! His tent was literally floating, moving 90 degrees sideways and 2' from where he originally put it. All of our stuff-boards, food box, picnic table had floated away into the darkness. I assurred Chris that the water was receding, as I scrambled to retrieve our missing gear. I expected him to emerge with a soaked sleeping bag looking like a drowned rat, but he stepped out of his tent bone dry. "Keep that tent!" I told him.

[Mike Fernandez]

Anyone have a story like this?
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... idnap.html

[randiego]

Mike, stories like that have been keeping the lineup empty lately. The last 2 saturdays we have ended up at BM - even though we really don't surf it that much. The first time only one guy paddled out, and one other guy checked it. Last week nobody was out, and nobody checked it the whole time we were there.

That's rare for a weekday, and doesn't happen on weekends.

Also, the Gringo Gazette that normally is published and distributed in Rosarito has ceased publishing due to death threats. They covered the kidnappings, corruption and general mayhem better than anybody.

[Mike Fernandez]

I thought people talking about the stories on here were joking. Looks like the crime from Mexico city has migrated north. I wonder if the expats living in Puerto Vallarta are having any trouble?

[skansand]

mike im going to puerto vallarta this summer with some boogie amigos...ill let you know how it was....any waves i should check out that boogie friends can have fun on?