The growth of this online community from just a few dozen close friends to a half million followers, subscribers and group members requires that we rethink the way we address the needs of the increasing number of people who continue to reach out to us on a daily basis, seeking assistance.
Our History
While building our Forever Home down here in a small fishing Village outside of San Quintin, I started Talk Baja as a stand alone forum nearly 15 years ago for a small collection of my like-minded friends to share stories, pictures and experiences of a common love we all shared – the mystical and amazing Peninsula of Baja California, Mexico!

I never even dreamed back then that our “small group of friends” would grow so quickly and I will never forget the support and participation of several of those founding group members, with some of their forum “handles” including Marty Cortez, Bajafun777, Dennis, Nighttrain, BajaGuy, Longlegsinlapaz, oladulce, Jack Swords, Gruñon, Msterieus, DurrellRobert, J.P., Diver, BigWooo, Curt63, Soulpatch, Docrey, Churro, DianaT, Larry, TJSue, DavidK, Bajahowodd, PaulDavidMena, Wessongroup, SargentoDiaz, rts551, Bob H, SOD, Blowhole, Beachbum, cdn_johnny and Bwall, just to name a few.
And my own handle – “BajaGringo”.
It’s hard to believe how quickly the time has flown by and even harder to accept that some of those quite memorable personalities are no longer with us today. By the grace of God I didn’t join them a decade back, but that’s another story for another time.
In 2013 I moved the forum to Facebook and the new group quickly established its roots in helping travelers and the local communities during the hurricane and aftermath of Odile. Those of you who were here back then will remember and can attest to the noble efforts made by so many here in our small group back then.

In the coming days we will surpass 70,000 members on our Talk Baja group on Facebook alone and with all of our other groups, pages and websites today, our online community is a half million strong – an amazing achievement that also represents an equally amazing opportunity to make much more effective use of this resource to help others as we move forward.
A Tradition of Helping Others
Over the years and throughout all of that growth, this group has never stopped responding to the call from members requesting help for themselves or others; be it to simply help plan a road trip, answer questions on border crossing requirements, help find a local business or service, relay an auto part down the peninsula to a member who suffered a mechanical breakdown, a local charity, etc – I could go on all day.
And a percentage of those requests for help are directed to my inbox.
Why they chose to message me directly? I never asked but perhaps they felt uncomfortable sharing publicly in the group for one reason or another, but the questions and requests started coming in just shortly after Odile.
Over the years my inbox has steadily gone from only 4 or 5 messages per day from members of our Talk Baja community to something that more closely resembles Grand Central Station, with anywhere from 80 to 150 messages on normal days to so many I can’t even begin to count on big news/events days.

In fact I don’t even dare activate Messenger notifications on my phone as it is difficult to even carry on a conversation with someone – my phone dings a few times each minute and would probably drain my battery in a matter of hours.
Some of the messages are simple questions that are easy to answer, a few more with comments ranging from compliments and expressing love for what I am doing to accusations of me either being a flaming liberal or a Nazi pig… telling me I must be doing something right as both political extremes seem to hate me nowadays.
The vast majority of the messages lately however, are simply looking for some type of help/assistance and/or guidance.
I get questions on where to find a local mechanic, dentist, Baptist Church or Kosher Food? What to do if a friend or family member is in jail, missing or (God forbid) found dead? Some ask how to apply for phone or electric service, get a cell phone unblocked or sign up for an INAPAM card along with a long list of other questions from residents and travelers alike.
The Need for Better Structure
It’s probably to be expected – I originally built this online community around the idea of helping others South of the Border and our rapid growth as a group has naturally brought with it an increased demand for assistance.
But please don’t misinterpret this as a complaint about people reaching out to me for help – however even now with the full time help of another bilingual person to assist me, it’s still overwhelming on days and so it’s time for me to reach out and request some help from you, our members.
I have been kicking this around in my head for a long time and even made one attempt to put something like this together a few years back, as some of you may recall. That attempt was thwarted by some technical issues but largely because I was simply trying to do it mostly on my own.
During the pandemic these past two years, I spent a lot of time locked down here at home with Cristina and I began pondering on a better version of that idea. And now after finding the right platform to build the database to house what we will need, the time has come to share my concept with you for your input and feedback, as well as consideration to participate with me.

Talk Baja Support Group/Council/Board?
The “remodeled solution” that I came up with is to put together a team of our members here on Facebook that would communicate via a private group, consisting of some of our most active members and representing a cross section of residents, seasoned travelers, locals, young professionals, retired expats, business owners and off-roaders, from all over the peninsula, Mexico and abroad.
I understand that for some of you, this group is simply just a resource for information and not much else.
But I also have come to understand that for many of you, this group is much more than that with some of you having shared with me this is the only group you participate in. A few of you even claim it’s the only reason you are on Facebook today and you love the sense of community we have all built here, together.
And it is to you that I direct this invitation.
To be clear, I am not proposing that we become involved in any direct fundraising efforts at this point – we won’t need a treasurer. We will be focusing our efforts on improving what we have been already doing up until now; directly connecting our members and followers with individuals, families, non-profits and other organizations in the local communities that have been properly vetted and need assistance.
My vision of this new group would be tasked with a few different, important functions:
- Our first task would be to create a group organizational chart, a mission statement and a project list for the remainder of this year.
- The first project I would like to see on that list would be to help me put together a step-by-step, self-help directory to point people to, with the more common questions/requests and would include local resources / contact information (hospitals/mechanics/dentists/parts stores/etc) applicable to each municipality and larger towns on the peninsula. I will be responsible for creating an online database (the directory) with the consolidated information built with a user friendly access point.
- I would suggest that each of you serve as a liaison type of contact on some level between Talk Baja and your local community / activity / association that you are connected to / represent, ensuring that we keep our members aware of important news and events as well as a voice and resource for legitimate charities and the truly needy while helping to filter out any opportunists/scam artists in your communities from taking advantage of our resource. This is the main reason why I have been hesitant up until now to post GoFundMe and other similar type requests – I simply did not have the means or time to properly vet them. I believe that as a community we have a responsibility to help others in need and working together, we can discuss the requests for help and make Talk Baja become an even better resource to help those who truly need our assistance.
- I propose we include as one of our responsibilities a “Board of Review” for periodic analysis of our main group’s rules as well as means of appeal for ex-members who were removed/blocked from Talk Baja and who make a formal request to be reinstated. Our Talk Baja group is very large and extremely active; I recognize that there may be instances where perhaps we acted too quickly or failed to see/understand extenuating circumstances when making a call. By allowing blocked members to plead their case balanced against our Moderator’s input and experience, you would make the final decision whether to reinstate or not. This function would help settle any complaints of unfair treatment, personal bias, etc.
- It would be very helpful to me for you to offer ongoing feedback and suggestions on the management of the community groups and pages and their content as well as suggesting additional topics of interest and new ways we can put this powerful resource to even better use for travelers and residents alike on the Baja Peninsula.
- Conduct an annual review, identifying potential problems, success stories and needed changes to be be incorporated into the community strategy for the coming year.
I am not sure what to call this new, private group that would act like an advisory council for Talk Baja and we can even vote on what to call it once we get established. As we begin to share and organize, different community needs will be identified and some of you will step forward taking a more leading role, based on your interests and time resources, however I don’t envision this requiring more than just a few hours of your time each month to make this work and you would be able to review the activity at your own pace, on your own time – whenever it is convenient to you.
The value of your service and what we can build together will be much greater than you could ever imagine – this community has already proven that to me, over and over again. If the idea of being part of this next step is of interest to you, or if you simply have some questions, please respond by email to: community@talkbaja.com
In your email, tell me a little bit about yourself, your Baja experience, any other personal talents, experience or resources that could enhance our efforts along with any other information, questions or relative comments that you would like to add.
Thanks for your time and consideration, I look forward to working together…

Responses
Ron; I admire your passion for Baja. Your ideas and guidance have made this a great forum. I would Love to help, but I am not there enough to have input. I look to talkbaja for that! (My family had a house south of Ensenada when I was a kid and I have close friends connected to that- and my brother Paul Fabry lives in San Juanico). I visit Baja every few years. I live in Pasadena and my husband and I are connected to all the off-road racing people. That’s all I can offer. I wish you the best as you carry on your mission. If ever there is something you think I could help with- I would gladly try.
Thanks Laurie – there will be lots of ways to help and I may very well take you up on the offer to use your connections there at some point. Be well and stay safe…
Awesome ideas! Hope to be a part of it!
Send me an email to community@talkbaja.com and I will add you to the list. You would be a great rep for Rosarito!
Ron, watching this group grow so fast, yet still feels we are all for Baja is wonderful. I would be happy to help in anything or anyway you need
Barb
Thanks so much! I will add you onto the list and you will be hearing back frmo me in a couple of days – look forward to working together with you!
Talk Baja, This was a link from a childrens Baja heart page. My two Children were born with Cardiomypry. My 14 year old is on the heart transplant at 14. We are at UCLA Childrens Heart Transplant
LA, CA. She was born in Tecate her brother in Tijuana. If a child with Cardiomypry follows the System in Baja they can make it. What makes it so difficult are the little things like a co payment. $50 dollars here and there. These families need someone to help them through this jurney. Baby’s can grow up in Baja and can have long lives. Suguro and Popular have good heart services. But some of our Angles can’t afford $50 here and there and find it dificult to fight the system. Thoses families need more attention. With out a little more help…Just wanted to mention our Cardiomypry Angles. 🙏
Thank you,
Gary Wild