Baja Daze November 2004
(an incomplete history)

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Hope you enjoy these pics from the Green Tortoise’s Thanksgiving 2004 Baja trip. This site has been put together for several purposes: first off, to share my photos & memories with the 20+ other travelers aboard Max on that trip; second, to share my vacation with friends & family who wonder why I’d sign up for a third time; and finally as a resource for anyone considering a GT trip. If you’re here for the first reason, you can click here and jump past this stuff.

If you stuck around, then here's some background.

To paraphrase Bill Graham speaking of the Grateful Dead, the Green Tortoise isn't the best trip that does what it does, it's the only trip that does what it does. (My apologies to those in the GT organization who want to move past the SF hippy bus image.)

The Thanksgiving 2004 Baja Daze trip was the third I'd signed on for. I was seeking good company, time on the beach before the snow starts flying and my work kicked into high gear, and the chance to again visit Mexico in a safe structured manner. This trip offers a nice mixture of the above.

Tortoise riders make for an eclectic mix of people: a variety of ages, occupations, travel experience, nationalities, social status. One thing stands out...a desire to have fun and share in the process. Truly, lasting friendships are made on the busses through the interaction with the fellow travelers...sharing the cooking, hiking, snorkeling, exploring new towns or even finding the only other person onboard who plays cribbage. And we're all equals...there's no first class or coach, and everyone who has signed on knows they'll help pull their weight...that's one way that GT provides fun trips at the prices they do.

GT’s beach, Playa Escondida, provides a wonderful get away spot...a good mix of camping but with the basics for beach life covered. They have the system down for an environmentally friendly, sustainable camp. There's no electricity except when the generator’s fired up on margarita night, but the kitchen is well set up for serving good meals, the sanitation system is more than adequate, and without the distractions of television or nightclubs or internet or canned music one can really enjoy the beach setting to the fullest. Indeed, five days on the beach seems like it would be a long time, but by when Friday morning rolls around and you’re putting away the tent, one wonders where the time went to.

Then there's the bus...how do I explain to friends that I look forward to spending four days crammed onto a bus with people I've never met? Maybe the pictures here will help. On my second trip I remember pulling north in traffic near San Diego. I was stretched out on the back platform with my book and a beer with something like Neville Brothers playing on the overhead speaker and we were alongside your typical tour bus...you know the sit up in your assigned seat and hope we’re not late for the lunch buffet type...and I remember thinking just how fantastic a way to travel the Tortoise really is. No feeling stuck in one seat, knowing that there’s a bunk overhead to nap or a buddy seat by the driver or a game of hearts going on at one of the tables or just the book and beer and stretching out and leaving the driving to them. And you’re going to a good location without the pains of airport or train or bus station lines and tickets. It may not run on an exact schedule, but the Tortoise gets you there in style.

I guess that brings up the drivers...great folks, all of them I've met. Considering what they have to do...not just drive the bus, but play host, head cook, tour guide, food buyer, mechanic, deal with the federales or US border agents, and still keep up a sense of humor. They’re the ones who really make the trip & I have nothing but positive things to say about any of them.

So will there be a fourth trip? You betcha..see you onboard.

Bob White
Ketchum, Idaho
December 2004

Go look at pictures.