Baja Trip :: Thoughts After the Adventure

I've had a week to think about the trip to Baja. I'll have another formal written piece coming out soon on a different publication. However, I'm sharing some informal thoughts about the Baja Peninsula. There were 4 of us. We all share the same energy. That makes for a good trip no matter the destination. 

It was intended to be a surf trip. However the swells that ultimately arrived were beyond massive. Too big for anybody in our group. Nobody felt too bad about not paddling out because nobody wanted to get drilled that bad south of the border. 

It turned into a trip of exploration and adventure. We managed to travel down the coast quite a ways before exploring inland. The inland area of Baja is a jewel. The wine country there is the best kept secret in North America. No joke. The Guadalupe Valley is the vast wine producing region that is growing by the month. At the time of writing this piece there are 88 wineries in the area. 

The top winery for us was Xecue Vinicola. Run by husband and wife Jose Luis and Alberta, this winery is tucked away far from the road. It's worth the trip just to go here.  Xecue means "love" in a local indigenous dialect.  It's pronounced "juh-kway". Of all of the tasting rooms I've found myself in over the years, the Xecue tasting room is by far the best. See photo my photo below of the garden surrounding the tasting room.

For food we went to Finca Altozano for our big meal. It was a recommendation from a friend who implored us to go. We are so glad we did. This restaurant is out in the middle of nowhere and people are dressed to the 9s and it is crowded nonstop. Make a reservation. Trust us. See photo below I snapped of the octopus ceviche. It was the best ceviche I've ever had.