Sponsored by [insert favorite Mexican beer here]

Perhaps I'm obsessed with signage. You may have noted in one of my earlier posts that I found some of the highway signs fairly amusing, my favorite sign being the one that said "Obey the signs!."


Or maybe I'm obsessed with symbolism. I have a fascination with the things that dot our landscape, like buildings, signs, trash - you name it, because, in some ways, they define who we are. And our landscape tells us something about us, too. When we travel to other places, we look to them to understand the people who live there.

I say this because traveling through Baja has been a unique experience. As much as I should have read more about Baja California and Baja California Sur before I left, I didn't. I'm lazy, I'll admit.

In a way, it may have been blessing. It gave me the chance to see the peninsula through the eyes of a naive Baja traveler. It certainly made me aware of the misconceptions and, certainly, biases that I brought with me.

At the very least, I knew little about the flora here. I had some ideas (desert, cacti) based on Baja native plants I had seen in Los Angeles. Before I left, my friends and colleagues at the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants in Los Angeles gave me Baja California Plant Field Guide as a going away gift. I've been something of a native plant zealot for ten years, so it made sense that I would want to get to know the natives here. (By zealot, I mean that I throw seeds, not stones.)

Driving down from L.A. with a colleague gave me a chance to see the length of Baja close up. It's amazing what plants you can identify driving at speeds ranging from 40 to 70 miles per hour.

In northern areas of Baja, I saw several native plants that are familiar to me in Los Angeles: monkey flower, matilija poppy, mexican elderberry, etc. Sadly, I also saw familiar plants that have the potential to destroy the natural environment here and in California: invaders like castor bean, mustard, etc.

While parts of the northern most areas reminded me of home,  the deserts were a wholly unexpected visual experience. Jaw-dropping beautiful. I had preconceptions of Baja and one of them was that the peninsula was flat. Wrong. Completely wrong. Mountains, mesas, desert, cacti and much more. My colleague, Chris, and I cursed in exclamation every time we rounded a bend and found ourselves looking out at stunning mountains and mesas, miles of cactus and the Sea of Cortez. 

The cacti most common to Baja and the ones that can be seen in the links I included above is the Cardon. It is the ultimate symbol of "the Baja" as many people call the peninsula and the two states (Baja California and Baja California Sur) the cover it. Some are believed to be up to 200 years old and weigh up to 10 tons.

There are other cacti and plants that inhabit the deserts here, some with interesing names: chain link cholla, pipe organ cactus, old man cactus, teddy bear cholla, candelabra cactus, prickly pear cactus and more.

These and other beautiful native plants, cacti, succulents and otherwise, have come to symbolize the beauty of Baja and its uniqueness.

Of course, there are other symbols that stood out on our way south: beer signs. Perhaps the best signage to be found, outside of more commercial areas in the bigger towns and cities (think Walmart, banks, etc.) are the signs that promote various Mexican beers, including Tecate and Pacifico, among others. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that Baja California is a sponsored by Mexican beer manufacturers. Or Coca Cola.

While these human made signs have made an impression on me and my understanding of Baja, nothing can override the emotional impact of seeing Baja's desert landscape and the Sea of Cortez. In my mind this is how I see Baja now.

The Baja is more than Tijuana, more than Ensenada. It is beyond the misconceptions of border violence and the twisted paternalistic view we often take with our Mexican neighbors. It is an understanding rooted in its stunning landscape and what Baja is and can be if we protect it. 

Baja California: Sponsored by Old Man Cactus.