we explore a music event, meet a restaurateur/Baja evangelist and explore Rancho Tecate.

All coming to you now.

(upbeat music) Today's journey takes us to the south end of Rosarito.

A special music event is being held there to help feed the hungry.

We wanted to check it out.

You know, it's a well known fact that Baja is a beautiful landing place for expats, who shut off the engines and glide to a very, very, very harmonious and peaceful lifestyle.

But it's not only that.

Many of them are giving back to their communities, making the region where they land a better place, with charities, with volunteer work.

One such person is right next to me.

Her name is Rachel and her last name is Pack.

How you doing Rachel?

- I'm doing real great.

- (laughs) Nice to meet you.

- Likewise.

- Talk to me about this particular effort you're making.

I mean, you're partying, you're playing the blues.

We saw you up there with your guitar, but you're doing something else.

As fun as it is, that's not all you're doing.

Talk to me.

- [Rachel] No, it's a party with a purpose.

Actually, we have an organization called Blues Against Hunger.

It's an organization that my husband and I put together.

It was 2013 when we started.

- Wow.

- And we had an organization that lost their space, and it was a food bank.

And they said to us, we hear you guys are playing music.

Let's do a benefit and we'll do a food drive.

And we said, sure, why not?

Our first time out playing together, ever.

And we filled the place.

- No way.

- And we raised about, I think we had it that day was about 500 pounds of food that we raised that day.

- [Jorge] And that became the first of many- - That was Blues Against Hunger.

And so now, it's not just him and I.

Now we have chapters.

So we have a chapter here in La Salina, Rosarito, San Felipe, one in San Diego and Yuma, Arizona.

- You aren't kidding.

So, these chapters have become like the permanent bases where they play.

This is the Salina chapter.

- Yup.

(jazz music) ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Bebop Bob ♪ ♪ Hey, cool cat ♪ (jazz music) (people cheering and applauding) - [Jorge] What's the name of the organization again?

- We're called Blues Against Hunger.

And you can find us bluesagainsthunger.org.

- If anyone wants to give food, they can go literally to any of these chapters?

- Any of the chapters in any of the cities.

If you go to bluesagainsthunger.org, then you can find out where the chapters are and where each one of the concerts will be.

If you can't make a concert, you can donate directly online, which will go directly to whichever chapter it is you want it to go to.

And then that stays right in that community.

- [Jorge] How often do these events occur?

- Well, we do concerts every week, depending on where we are.

So like today, we raised almost 400 pounds of food.

So every single week, we raise that.

And then that gets distributed within the region that we're in.

- [Jorge] I was gonna ask you, where does that food go to?

- Well, we have food banks and then we have churches.

And also, we'll have orphanages that we work with.

Here locally, we have La Mision Food Bank and Helping Hands, which are two organizations that help feed the community throughout.

Weekly, there's about 200 families up in La Mision.

And then every month we have 150 families here in the La Salina area that we feed every month.

- [Jorge] How has the local population reacted to this effort that you guys are making?

- [Rachel] Wonderfully.

I mean, wonderfully, from the musicians that come out to jam with us, to the families that are in need or the families that we even wanna come help.

We've had families that would come and help.

during the show so we give back to them, also.

- So the locals are taking- - Absolutely.

Super fun.

- Well, I'm sure the local population appreciates what you're doing.

Rachel Pack.

- Thank you so much.

- You're packing a punch.

- So husband come in here, get in here.

(Rachel and Jorge laughing) Is there anything maybe you'd like to say?

- Music and meals heals.

We've been doing it for about nine years now.

We do this in every community on the entire peninsula and every single March.

This is our ninth tour.

And we go down and we do a jamboree like this in every single city for a 16-day tour.

And it's a come along, which means that you can just come along.

Everybody's invited, we've been giving hunger the blues since 2013, and you can do it with us too.

- More "Crossing South" coming your way, folks.

Don't go anywhere.

(jazz music) Part of being down here is meeting interesting people.

Many of them that are creating different venues, different forums to educate expats on what things they can do and avoid boredom.

And for that, we have the originator of The Boredom Report, which is JT.

How you doing my friend?

(JT speaking in Spanish) (Jorge laughing) - Good, JT.

- Yeah, man.

Talk to me, what's your background first of all?

Where do you come from?

- I'm in the restaurant business in the States and now live full time in Mexico.

- [Jorge] Full time Baja resident, huh?

- [JT] Heck yeah, man.

(Jorge laughing) Heck yeah.

- [Jorge] If you have to pitch Baja, elevator pitch, what would you say?

- The elevator pitch for Baja is man, it's so freaking beautiful.

The people are unbelievable.

The food is unbelievable.

And if you can get off the beaten path.

I mean, there's tons of awesome stuff in TJ, Rosarito, Ensenada Cabo, and the mainland like Toro.

But if you take one second and get off the beaten path and open your eyes at something that's totally different, like something you would not typically go to.

- Of course.

- That's my goal, man.

- That rusty, crusty place, if you go to a sit down restaurant in San Diego and one in Baja, you being a restaurateur, how would you put it into words, that difference?

- No, I would say it's twofold.

Honestly, simplicity.

Just deliciousness, man.

(Jorge laughing) Like seriously.

And the third would be take the rules out of it.

The things that we have to deal with, the hoops that we have to jump through, the red tape.

Man, I had to pay $150,000 for a hood to go above my grill.

Down here, you can put a grill out, (Jorge laughing) you cook, you make elotes, you make tacos, tamales.

- [Jorge] Simplicity is important.

- Simplicity is important, but it's also, down here is more like the soul.

Like I think in the United States, I feel, I don't know if it's true or not, but I feel in the United States in the restaurant business, we strive to make money.

Down here, when you're in the food business, you strive to survive.

- Wow.

And that makes a difference- - Serious, man.

- [Jorge] In the product you're creating?

- Ah, the product is so much different, so much better, so much fresher.

And there's love.

It literally is.

The love that goes into it is based off of the stress and strive (Jorge laughing) that they need to put into- - That's so cool, man.

- Nah, it's true, man.

So if, as a restaurant, if I want to buy 20 pounds of sea bass, I have to go talk to my distributor.

They get it from someone, it ships through, it comes through, it gets to me.

It's 20, 30 days old.

Here in Mexico, I can go to- - [Announcer] A panga guy.

- Ah, the Mercado Negro.

Mercado Negro in Ensenada.

The big boys in the (speaking in foreign language) where they're getting their seafood from, is coming fresh.

Their urchin is coming off.

It is fresh, man.

- So maybe the lack of oversight which is something maybe in the States, a health organization department would cringe upon, the lack of that makes it freer and able for you to like just pick it up from a guy in a boat, basically, if you wanted to.

- 100%.

Why would you not like the (speaking in Spanish)?

Why would you not, like the (speaking in Spanish), right?

- With that said, you're talking about simplicity and rules.

That's what's keeping it- - Simplicity rules and then price.

Why is my sea bass, why is it 20 bucks a pound?

Well, because it's going from A, B, C, D, E, F. And then back to me at the C - [Jorge] For sure, for sure.

Well, thank you for putting it into words, JT.

- Thank you, man.

- Thank you, man.

It's good to have that both point of views and there's pros and cons to everything, but, hey, we like the pros down here, right?

- [JT] And we love the pros.

We love the pros.

- The Boredom Report.

- Awesome.

- Thank you, JT.

- Hey, thanks brother.

- Good job.

- I appreciate it.

- Good man, that JT.

That sure gives us a new perspective on food in Baja and why it's so good.

(chuckles) We kinda knew it, but it's good to hear it articulated.

We now head away from the ocean and move inland to a place called Rancho Tecate.

I'm standing right now at a vantage point atop of one of the areas in Rancho Tecate.

This is what you get to see.

You stand here above and you see just a fraction of what this development includes.

But people are investing in pretty significant homes in the middle of the mountains.

So if you just see the houses that are all around the development, it's a significant area.

We're exploring Rancho Tecate and you're doing it with us, folks.

"Crossing South."

Don't go anywhere.

(gentle music) Sometimes, people think Baja is only about beaches, but Tecate really shows another side of nature.

This ranch has a hotel, property development, horseback riding, wines, and yes, delicious food.

I'm sitting here inside the wine cellar.

It's a pretty cool place.

Temperature's nice.

It's a cool place to have lunch, dinner.

Apparently, it is available for anyone who comes.

Any patrons can choose to have lunch down here but we're waiting right now for the food to be brought.

So, it's "Crossing South."

(gentle music) Empires rise and fall based on their food, as far as we're concerned.

And by their food, they shall be judged.

(gentle music) Oh, thank you.

So good stuff.

You've got here your charbroiled octopus, which is always good.

This is an aguachile shrimp dish, but it's also drenched in beet juice.

I'm not too crazy about the aguachiles personally, but I'm always open to try them.

So sometimes, they're good.

This is just the kid in me.

I actually ask for a strawberry shake and they aim to please, so.

(laughs) Mm.

Perfect.

Exactly what I wanted.

That's a rib eye with sauteed vegetables and mashed potato.

So Baja is close to Sonora.

Sonora's always provided cattle for Baja.

Baja itself was a cattle region way before Mexicans here learned how to use seafood.

It was literally, that's what you had for food.

So we're going old school.

We're doing it the Baja way.

We're at Rancho Tecate.

Let's see how this goes.

Gonna try the aguachile first, the shrimpage.

Let's see what the beet juice does to this.

(gentle music) Wow (upbeat music) It is very good and it's not spicy at all.

I like this.

'Cause I've always used to just too spicy.

Now this one's not.

I don't even know if it's spicy at all.

So it's almost like a ceviche.

But ceviche normally is like mashed up.

Either shrimp, either shark, fish whatever.

It's cured in the lime.

So it's almost like raw like crude oil but not crude because it's cured.

And the lime actually cooks the food, the raw fish.

So when you have ceviche, which is delicious, you have that sort of taste.

This aguachile, it's almost like a heartier ceviche because since it's not mashed up, you can taste more of the meat immediately.

You're biting into a heartier piece of fish.

You can find value and little tweaks to traditional dishes.

So that was pretty good.

They asked me to try this ginger beer that's apparently made in Tecate.

It's the Colibre brand.

I've never seen it before, but we'll try it.

But they said that it pairs well with the aguachile.

So let's try it with the beer.

(gentle music) It pairs perfect.

Very nice.

So I don't know if I'm supposed to put this slab of rock on top of the plate, but I did it.

I love that.

And you see that crunchiness in the octopus?

I love that.

Let me just try it before I mess it with and try anything else.

Let me just try it as is.

Hmm.

It's crunchy, mm.

The octopus is very good.

Surprisingly, I think I would place the aguachile above that.

It's just very traditional.

It is what it is.

Octopus is just good.

It's good.

It's just not surprisingly good, if you know what I mean.

Like the aguachile, for a guy that's not a normal aguachile guy, I was surprised with that aguachile.

It's like, whoa.

Surprised me.

I am an octopus guy.

So I'm literally getting what I'm expecting.

So in the surprise category, the octopus would maybe not live up to the aguachile, but it's still very good.

I would order this.

I would order this and I could continue eating this and I would be completely happy.

So in that sense, it's very good.

Let's try the next one.

Okay, so they brought me this chicken dish.

It seems to be like a seared or charbroiled piece of chicken.

They accompany a lot of their dishes with mashed potatoes.

Nothing wrong with that.

Mashed potatoes and vegetables, some potatoes.

And let's try it.

(gentle music) Hmm.

(chuckles) Wonderful.

I'm the type of person that likes sweet dishes.

So if you don't, it's up to you whether you would like it or not.

But me, I tend to like the sweet and sour.

And that's what this is.

It's some sort of tamarind sauce on the chicken.

Let's add a piece of mushroom.

I'm gonna pair this with a lager, which are the lighter type of beers.

And let's see how that pairs with this very tasty chicken.

So.

(gentle music) Beer is good.

But standalone, this chicken, if you like sweet, I would recommend this chicken.

It's very tasty, very tasty.

So far, it may be number one right now.

Maybe number one the chicken, number two aguachile, number three, the octopus.

So, okay, so now I've been brought their champion.

This is their main dish.

It's a rib eye.

Big old chunk of meat right here.

Now I don't guarantee this will be the best one.

Sometimes, this happens where the restaurant will bring what they feel is their best, but it was in my list, maybe at number three or number two.

We'll see.

My expectations for the chicken was very low and it jumped to number one.

So, I don't know.

We'll see.

And remember, taste is very subjective.

So you guys are trusting my taste and we'll see how this is.

I like that it's got the fat right there.

You see that?

Fat glistens and shines and brings joy.

A steak like that, it's a kind of medium rare, which is good.

It has the pink there so we're doing good so far.

Fat is good, fat is good.

Let's try this.

Mm.

Very good.

Hmm.

Let me get into the middle of it.

Let me give it a chance with all the rest of the stuff that the chef has brought with it.

Mm-hmm.

Let's get some fat from here.

We're actually cutting a piece of fat into it, right?

Okay, so there's a reason of not giving the verdict.

I'm trying to see if I'm missing something.

It's a good meal, just a bit underwhelming for a rib eye, in my opinion.

Very nice.

Remember, taste is subjective.

So it's very tasty.

It's just not surprising.

So the two dishes that surprised me, the aguachile and the chicken.

Chicken, number one, aguachile number two.

Now, number three is disputed between the rib eye and the octopus.

These are traditional dishes.

Right now, the thing is that we're evolving into trying very surprising dishes where people are experimenting.

but these are oldies but goodies.

This is a delicious meal that you will be well-served if you try.

It's "Crossing South," don't go anywhere.

Let's just continue hitting this up.

(gentle music) While we were down in the cellar eating, it began to rain quite a bit.

Instead of outdoor activities, we explore a bit of the history in the main building here at the ranch.

So we got ourselves a guide and decided to expose ourselves to the historicity of this old Rancho.

He's gonna show us the tour of this whole place.

So let's do that.

(gentle music) He's saying that in 1893, this used to be a home.

And you can tell.

You can tell there's older tiles, older woodwork.

It is so interesting to see homes like this from a more colonial era.

This used to be the family dining room.

We're traveling back in time as we get to see this area of the original house.

A lot of this stuff goes back to the 19th century.

So let's continue exploring this place.

I mean, you take a look at this hallway and you can literally travel 100 years or more.

I mean, look at the tile right here.

If you look at the tile on the floor, it's different than the other parts of the building that have been restored.

So if you see the walls and some of the furniture pieces right here, the ornaments on the wall, the fireplace.

This is basically a place, it's been frozen in time.

Some of these areas, they were telling me that they've had presidents from Mexico actually be distinguished guests for the original family here.

So it's very reminiscent of the Rosarito Beach Hotel.

If you've been to that, the decor is very, very similar.

This would constitute old money.

Back when the patrons had haciendas, owned crazy amount of land and hosted dignitaries as they passed by or were invited to do so.

Spanish influence fresh and evident.

There's some deep history to this area.

(gentle music) If we were to back up the clocks all the way to the 1830s, we'd find that a man named Juan Bandini who was granted the land that now makes up Rancho Tecate.

And just about all of Tecate for that matter.

He is the same man whose 12-bedroom home became the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town up in San Diego.

He had a large impact in this entire region.

As he was deeply involved in politics, in business, and had a very influential social life.

Among other things, he was responsible for creating large vineyards.

This wine making tradition was carried on by future owners of the area.

In fact, Tecate is the northern door that leads to the famous wine country Valle de Guadalupe in Baja, California.

(relaxing music) Our friendly guide took us on a little excursion up the mountain to a special place they wanted to show us.

This area is just beautiful.

I mean, I didn't realize this was even here.

It's hidden and it's within the property of Rancho Tecate.

So people that live here have access to a really wonderful natural resource, and just natural beauty.

This is an excellent hiking trail.

It's just a spectacular view.

I'm looking at the mountain ranges, the cloud formations, these huge rocks that are like the ones in La Rumorosa.

And it's stunning.

It's breathtaking.

Not only is this spot beautiful, but it's also functional.

Okay, so we know that Baja receives its water from the Colorado River, but you maybe didn't know that it passes here through Tecate.

And it's booming right there.

(gentle music) So this is what the water supply of a city looks like.

That's probably enough flush water for 1 million toilets to be able to execute their powerful vortexes of might.

I could imagine some crazy sports nut getting out there and kayaking, hitting those rapids.

The cubic tons of water that thunder forth from the Colorado River into Mexico are only surpassed by the cubic tons of hungry tourists who flow into Baja, California in search for food, wine, and a relaxed pace of life.

Rat Race Refugees is what I call them.

And they all find protection in this great land.

(relaxing music) This powerful torrent is feeding a dam called La Presa El Carrizo.

And that dam is a reservoir that gives water to Tijuana and parts of Rosarito.

So the water that those two cities enjoy comes from this.

And this water originated in the Colorado River in the United States.

Amazing, huh?

How this water just keeps making its way.

The life cycles that the earth has, keeps so many people alive on its way back to the ocean.

Amazing.

(gentle music) I just couldn't get over this unique scenery.

Look at this.

Wanted to get a closer look.

These boulders are estimated to be 100 million years old.

Wow.

Simply astonishing.

(relaxing music) (lively music) So after getting to meet some great people at the Blues for Hunger event and discovering the food and scenery of this old Rancho that bears Tecate's name, we eagerly await the next time we get to cross South.

(rock music) - [Announcer] Like to know more about the places you've just seen?

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(upbeat music)