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Good morning all. Anyone been down to the Baja in the last couple of weeks? How are things down there? News reports do not paint a good picture right now.

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Good morning all. Anyone been down to the Baja in the last couple of weeks? How are things down there? News reports do not paint a good picture right now.

So we can gain your perspective, please post a couple articles about what you've read.

If you read OUR ride reports, you'll find out everything you need to know. Do a little bit of research and you'll see that a group of SDAR types just returned from another great ride.

You're welcome here, of course, but perhaps you can check out the "Is Mexico Safe" thread on ADV?

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Also, if you are on facebook, check out "Talk Baja". They have had some good local information about what has been going on down there.

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So many successful rides there. Plan accordingly, be a good moto representative, have fun.

Check advise given I guess.

Thx for checking in.

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My 2.5 cents:

Personally, I have always felt safer in baja than in the US. Particularly on a street bike.

Yes, on our longer rides, we are a long way from medical care, tow trucks, or any other assistance. But, I have always felt that the chances of something happening are much less in baja. It's desolate in a lot of places. Many of us have ridden a full day and not seen another rider. But that's what makes it safe. I don't feel like anyone is going to clip me or pull out in from of me, simply because there are a lot fewer people there.

Plus...something that is important to me....when we are off road and see a local, they wave a greeting. You don't see that much on our side of the boarder.

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Cannot comment on how things were a week or two ago but this is an article that talks about the present.

http://rt.com/usa/244109-mexican-farmworkers-strike-grower-negotiations/

Thank you haywood for the tip on the facebook page; it appears to have almost hour by hour information on the current state.

I would 100% stay clear of the farmworker protests at all costs. Do you currently plan on riding through San Quintin? One option is that you could always head south on the eastern side of the peninsula and completely bypass San Quintin yet have a great Baja ride to Gonzaga Bay, Coco's Corner and Bay of LA.

I would imagine the protests are occurring along Hwy 1 where the demonstrations would be most visible / get the most media attention. You can ride along the beach through San Quintin (literally on the sand / water's edge) and I would think that you should be able to bypass much of the protest. You may come across fishermen but I doubt fieldworkers would be protesting on the beach (imho, ymmv, ride at your own risk). It might be worth calling Pirate's Cove in Camalu, Quatro Casas Hostel in Colonet and/or the Old Mill in San Quintin for live feedback and possible safety recommendations.

This being said, I plan on visiting Coyote Cal's in Erendira (north of the above/reported protests) soon and am not anticipating any issues on my trip! Baja is a great place for moto adventure!

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I say there is reason for legitimate concern right now. The mob mentality that seems to be occurring right now is no joke. And I got news for you, if you get in over your head, the police very likely will not be there for you in Mex.

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Google "TalkBaja" they have a facebook page and blog with info. Apparently the Facebook page is quite up to date but I do not have an account so I cannot access it.

http://talkbaja.blogspot.com/

I did pull this from ADVrider, posted 7:51 pm tonight:http://advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=26461906&postcount=391

"I was in San Quentin the day it all started. TalkBaja on FB has good up to date info. I found this posted today:
SAN QUINTIN: The highway is open between Colonet and Camalu this morning with gasoline/diesel available throughout the San Quintin Valley region. No reports of any problems, major crowds or demonstrations today. No talks are scheduled today between the growers and farm workers as the 15% offer from the growers will be put out for a vote to the farm workers in the region to gauge if the majority wish to accept this offer or continue the strike, pushing for a better offer.

Meanwhile, BerryMex has now negotiated directly with the new Alianza, who has lead the recent negotiations with the growers, apparently reaching an agreement that reportedly exceeds the 15% offered by the growers representative at the talks yesterday. The exact amount of that increase has not yet been announced. It is estimated that 75% of BerryMex's work force has now returned to work in the fields today...
"

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We were at Don Eddies Friday March 20 when we pulled into SQ ....all the gas stations were closed and the Mexican army were everywhere ... no check points per say but guarding places like gas stations, electrical power station ect guess town was shut down from Monday till sat am the 21. We left don eddies sat around noon pulled into SQ all gas stations were open again very lite mex army presents ....

We didn't have any issues until outside Ensenada with drunk driver.

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Thanks everyone for your assistance. We made the decision to go for it and just pulled into Ensenada.

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Thanks everyone for your assistance. We made the decision to go for it and just pulled into Ensenada.

Which hotel are you guys staying at?

Try to find this place for some well renowned grub! http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g150770-d3205917-Reviews-La_Guerrerense-Ensenada_Baja_California.html

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The Union Tribune requires subscription to view some articles online, so I pasted the recent front page report below. The article says the farm workers were in a bus caravan to the capital of Mexicali. We drove through Mexicali to San Felipe and there is no sign of any protest or unrest. Weather is perfect on the Sea of Cortez and the fish tacos are fresh! The spring break crowds that used to flock to San Felipe are non-existent. Looks like the Americanos are still afraid to come here. I am with the family and feel perfectly safe.

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***********************

Baja farm workers push for more pay San Quintin farm workers launch bus caravan as they seek higher wages, benefits
By Sandra Dibble8:10 p.m.March 28, 2015
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Farm laborer leader Fidel Sanchez lifts up the contract he refused to sign which included a 15 percent raise in wages for farm workers.

— Misael Virgen / UT San Diego

SAN QUINTIN, Mexico — As thousands of farm workers headed for the strawberry fields of these low coastal valleys early Saturday, hundreds of others prepared to ride buses across Baja California, continuing the campaign launched this month for higher wages and improved working conditions in the region’s export-oriented farms.

Nearly two weeks after the launch of a farm workers’ strike that led to road blocks along the Transpeninsular Highway and threatened the output of one of Mexico’s most important agricultural regions, calm has returned to Colonet, Vicente Guerrero, San Quintin and other communities that grow strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes and other produce.

As the protesting farm workers made their way north Saturday, Baja California Gov. Francisco Vega de Lamadrid and top Cabinet officials gathered at state government offices in San Quintin with local business and civic leaders. Authorities reported that most striking workers were back on the job, despite the breakdown of talks on Friday between strike leaders and the growers.

Strike leaders are looking for new ways to keep pressure on the growers that are the region’s main employer, and are an important source of supply for U.S. consumers. Several hundred workers joined a 10-bus caravan aimed at generating support statewide, while a new alliance with the United Farm Workers was launched to provide visibility for the issue in the United States.

Throughout the conflict, the large growers have maintained a low profile, expressing their point of view through cautiously worded statements, saying they respect labor laws and are limited in their ability to raise workers’ salaries.

Following days of negotiations, the main growers group, the Agricultural Council of Baja California, on Friday offered a 15 percent wage hike, a percentage they said is unprecedented in Mexico — but far short of the increase demanded by the strikers, led by the National, State and Municipal Alliance for Social Justice.

The talks, mediated by the Baja California government, collapsed Friday when the growers’ representative, Alberto Muñoz, walked out after reading a statement. The wages paid in San Quintin “are superior to those established nationally by authorities charged with setting them,” the statement said. Raising them any higher “would lead to economic collapse,” it said.

On Saturday, a few dozen farm workers waited by an unpaved road off the Transpeninsular Highway in the community of Vicente Guerrero, preparing to join a caravan of buses that would take them to Ensenada, Tijuana and finally Mexicali, the state capital.

Though the most sensitive issue has been wages, the workers are making a number of other demand of the growers: that they recognize seniority, offer paid holidays and three months pregnancy leave, give workers social security benefits and ban sexual harassment of female workers.

“The truth is, at times we don’t have enough to buy shoes,” said Maurilia Ventura Jose, 37, a mother of three who said neither she nor her husband have worked since the strike began on March 17, surviving with the food they had in the house.

Ventura and other farm workers, many of them from indigenous communities in the southern state of Oaxaca, say the going rates paid by the growers, ranging from $6.50 to $10 for a day’s work, have left them struggling to pay bills and put food on the table.

Strike leaders originally called for establishment of a minimum wage for farm workers in the region of about $20 per day, or $2 per box of strawberries, but in negotiations this week, they lowered their demand to $13 per day, or about $1.30 per box of strawberries.

Strike leaders refused to change their final demand: “If it’s necessary to appear before Congress, we’ll do so,” said Fidel Sanchez, one of the main spokesmen, who has been sharply critical of the Baja California government and accused officials of siding with the growers.

Pablo Alejo Lopez, the state’s main negotiator, said the farm workers’ demands for $20 a day, “perhaps is just, but one has to understand that for a company, this generates a sharp increase, puts their finances at risk.” The government “is also concerned that the sources of jobs are not lost,” said Lopez. “And this should also be of concern to the workers.”

Jose Zavala, a researcher at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, said the strike is the result of poverty and injustice that have long festered in the region.

Public institutions have been weak, he said, and the large growers are the “de facto authority in the region,” said Zavala, who has studied San Quintin for two decades. “The depressed living conditions have persisted for decades, we can say for generations,” he said.

Figures on the numbers of workers affected by the decision vary widely. Strike leaders say there are close to 80,000 agricultural workers in the region, though state officials say their tally shows that there are between 25,000 and 31,000 in the southern part of Baja California, with the total depending on the season.

If the large growers have strong U.S. connections, the striking workers have forged their own cross-border relationship, with the United Farm Workers. The UFW launched a petition this week “standing in solidarity with the workers from San Quintin” and naming one of the region’s largest growers, Berrymex, which supplies Driscoll’s, a major U.S. berry distributor.

Response to the petition “has been overwhelming,” with more than 25,000 signatures in three days, said Erik Nicholson, vice president of the UFW, which sent representatives to San Quintin to observe the negotiations. “We’ve been reaching out proactively to retailers to let them know of the situation,” Nicholson said.

Driscoll’s issued a response from Soren Bjorn, executive vice president for Driscoll’s of the Americas. He said “our contracts clearly state growers are required to follow all laws that protect employees … each and every grower is aware that non-compliance could result in termination of their association with Driscoll’s.”

The strike began on March 17, and over the next two days protesters established blockades along the Transpeninsular Highway, the Baja California peninsula’s main artery. Violence erupted at the initial stages, with rock-throwing incidents and the vandalizing and looting of local stores.

Baja California’s Public Safety Secretary, Daniel de la Rosa, said that about 1,000 police from various agency and Mexican soldiers converged in the region to establish order.

By Wednesday of this week, as strike leaders negotiated with the growers inside the salon of a restaurant in San Quintin, groups of farm workers continued to gather by the side of the road well into the night. Protesters held up signs, and asked for contributions, but waved vehicles through without incident.

On Thursday, as negotiations grew increasingly heated, some 2,000 protesters joined a peaceful 14-mile march to state government offices in San Quintin, heavily surrounded by police in riot gear. But many other workers reported to work, some picked up in company buses escorted by police patrols with flashing lights.

The strike has put workers on edge — both those who have been striking and those who have continued to work.

“I am a bit nervous that there’ll be retributions, that they’ll see us as problematic,” said Isabel Cruz Santiago, a 30-year-old mother of three who joined the strike.

Erick Jesus Peto Fuentes, 30, said he was forced to turn back twice from his job at Berrymex when the company bus was pelted with rocks. “I have a 9-year-old daughter and 7-month-old son. They don’t ask if there’s a strike, they just want food,” Peto said.

Peto said Thursday that he had seen his pay for picking raspberries rise from 91 cents per container to $1.18 since the strike began.

© Copyright 2015 The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC. An MLIM LLC Company. All rights reserved.

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I was in Mexicali saturday and sunday am and didnt see any protest either

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Also good news (for us dualsporters) from Tim Morton from BajaBoundMoto as posted on ADV yesterday morning:

"That story is a couple weeks old, and things died down after a few days.

We've been thru the area a couple times since it started and all was fine, no worries."

Kato what were you doing in Mexicali? Guadelupe Hot Springs ride?

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Plus, many amazing deals to be had! SPRING BREAK SPECIAL!!!... free tequila shot with every bong sold!

tequila_zpsokwsirc3.jpg

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Kato what were you doing in Mexicali? Guadelupe Hot Springs ride?

I had a work related event so I turned it into a ride. Took a few pics maybe i ll make a post later amigo

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In San Felipe. The crossing into Tecate was eventless, spent a night in Ensenada, then a night at Mike's Sky Ranch, and now at Motel Caribe in San Felipe. Only come across two Military checkpoints and no problems.

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Spent a night in Bahia Los Angeles and now in Santa Rosalia. No problems; Army waved us through each time. Connected with some BMW guys from San Franciso then a couple of German fellows on Harleys. They Harley guys said they rode to Cocos and apparently Coco told them it was the first time Harleys have come to his place. Check the log and verify.....haha.

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Spent a night in Bahia Los Angeles and now in Santa Rosalia. No problems; Army waved us through each time. Connected with some BMW guys from San Franciso then a couple of German fellows on Harleys. They Harley guys said they rode to Cocos and apparently Coco told them it was the first time Harleys have come to his place. Check the log and verify.....haha.

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On our way back leaving Loreto this morning. Was in La Paz Sunday night when there was a gang hit and the next day the Federal Police and Army were all over town. This can happen in Vancouver.

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Just spent the last week in the heart of San Quintin...

It was Baja as usual

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Nice ride through San Quentin this afternoon; ran into a "Stop Child Labour" fundraising stop far to the north but no problem. In Ensenada tonight heading across in the morning. Thanks for all for the input and hope it was of benefit to others as well. If anyone is riding to BC (Canada) and needs anything do not hesitate to write.

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On our way back leaving Loreto this morning. Was in La Paz Sunday night when there was a gang hit and the next day the Federal Police and Army were all over town. This can happen in Vancouver.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Army are called into Vancouver for gang violence?

Be safe.

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