The Photo Issue

Anywhere But Here: Baja Blast

Photograph Baja, Mexico city from above

We’ve taken Gunner to Mexico before, highly recommend it. But left to his own wandering devices seems he made his way to the coast.

Over to you, amigo.

Gunner:

Can you really think about going to Mexico without hearing James Taylor’s voice in your head? I can’t. Although, he claims that he’s never actually been, and it really makes me enjoy it less. The song that is, not the country. I love Mexico. I’ve been quite a few times, once with the very magazine I’m writing these words for. I’m sure they’ll link the video I shot on our visit to the fine folks at Don Julio here. But that trip was to Guadalajara, in the heart of Mainland Mexico. These words are, on the other hand, about Baja. Not a different country technically speaking, but a world of its own, you know, like, Florida. Don’t @ me Texans. 

Looking through a dirty car windshield at an empty road.
Looking through the windshield of a car. Two lanes of traffic stretch ahead. Signs pointing to the the US Mexico border.
A statue of a human leaning back. Their head is missing.
A man holding a large double bass and wearing a cowboy hat walks forward past a parked car.
Blue sky fills the photo. In the lower half, a large state of jesus stretches their arms out and over a hill covered in houses.
A parked car in front of a small house.
A seated statue of death wears a black cape and rest behind bars.
A man with a painted face and boler hat gives a thumbs up toward the camera
A wide shot of docks and different types of boats from smaller vessels to large commercial cruise ships.
Three men stand together wearing cowboy hats. One holds an accordion. Another has a guitar against carried against his back.
Desert mountains against a blue sky.
Looking through the windshield of a car. In the background a woman wearing a mask and an apron rides her bike. Behind her are stands of arts and touristy goods underneathe the bridge.

The best single word to describe Baja is raw, though you’ll have to take my word for it, as these photos don’t fully encapsulate its rough edges. Most of these photos were taken in a Mexican tourist town, a few hours south of the border. For my first international trip post-pandemic, I flew to San Diego, commandeered my cousin’s car, and my cousin, and drove south until we found an empty right-hand point break. The rumors we’d heard about the border being closed for our re-entry were very much false but to be honest, I could think of worse places to be stuck as the world was still semi shut down.

A white sedan is parked next to a concrete wall decorated with graffiti and adorned by barbed wire. A man dress in black with a baseball cap holds a surfboard and is entering into an opening of the wall.
A limosuine is parked, back in, to an older blue and yellow house. The word "heartbreakers" is written across the limo.
Large color signs in English advertise a great breakfast by the sea.
Palm trees stand tall of low long houses against a blue sky.
Pedestrians cross a city street
A lone worker stands behind his booth with fish on display and for sale at a local wet market.

Oh, and a note on the “tourist town” I was referring to earlier. This was not an American tourist town in Mexico, like Cancun or Cabo. This was a Mexican tourist town, in Mexico. Very different. When I was in Spain I got lucky, picked a dot off of a map, and found a city full of Spaniards on vacation, with very few foreigners like myself, it was the best stop I made on that trip, there are photos of it in another installment of this series for the internet detective types. Ever since I’ve sought out similar cities in various countries and well, again you’ll have to take my word for it, but I suggest you do the same.

A large church or cathedral stands against a blue sky. Palm trees grow in front of the building. The church as arched windows and lots of crosses. In the middle is a large reddish figure with a beard.
A white sedan sits against a hilly desert back drop. The driver doors hangs open and the car is empty.
Photograph of a storefront with animal skulls hanging outside
Luchador masks hang together
black and white photograph of beach with lots of rocks. In the foreground small rocks are arranged in a spiral

 It’s 2022 and we’re still trying to convince Gunner not to take photos while driving moving vehicles—but the best-laid plans and so on. The Anywhere But Here series follows the exhaust fumes of somehow-unscathed photographer Gunner Hughes through adventure and misadventure across the country( and sometimes other countries). Usually finding the backwater towns, roadside religions, old-salt locals, cash-only dive bars, and much more character than you might see off the main highway.

The entrance to plaza geminis, a street market with booths of goods like jewelry, clothes and more
Photograph of a teal-colored Volkswagen car driving through the streets
Photograph of a mariachi band on the streets of Mexico
Photograph of a crashing wave on a beach in Mexico

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