Jorge Meraz: Folks, today on "Crossing South," we get to hike on a dormant volcano, and we visit an Old West attraction all coming to you right now.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Jorge: You know, a lot of people don't know this, but Baja California's geology has a lot of prominence in regards to volcanic activity.

It's part of the Ring of Fire, and look at those plumes over there.

Those vapor plumes you're seeing there, that's a geothermal power plant.

For many years it was the second largest in the world.

It's since then been displaced to number three, but that's still pretty big, right?

Baja California has that.

In fact, there's areas in Tijuana called Agua Caliente because of the hot springs that emanate because of the region because it's very rich in volcanic activities, albeit dormant, but it's here, it's here in Baja.

And I'm on top of, right now, of a hill, of a mountain called el Cerro Prieto, which means the dark hill.

And the reason why is because of, it's full of volcanic rock.

As a matter of fact, standing here on the edge of it, you'll see what this is; it's not just a hill, it's actually a dormant volcano.

You know, when we first started doing this show, I met my friend Aldo here.

How you doing, my friend?

Good to see you again.

Aldo Gutierrez: Nice to see you again, too.

Jorge: Made me do the single most scariest thing I've ever done this show, rappel down a building that's no longer existing, right?

Aldo: It doesn't exist anymore.

We're the lucky ones.

Jorge: Man, I'm scared, I'm terrified of heights, and look at where we're at right now.

So, Aldo, tell me about this volcano.

What's the history behind this place we're at right now?

Aldo: This is Cerro Prieto Volcano, and this is a place that we can bring people to hike around.

This is where people train when they do trail running or they just wanna-- Jorge: Oh, yeah, it's a training ground to go hike other places?

Aldo: Yeah, exactly, it's a training ground.

And also there's a lot of schools that come here to show the students what we have in Mexicali, which is one of the biggest power plants of electricity, geothermal, like you said before.

Jorge: This top view of the thermal turbines bellowing out steam are truly a sight to see.

The steam from the volcanic activity below is used to spin turbines that, in turn, spin the electric generators.

The resulting electricity is then converted into the correct voltage and passed on to the grid.

What I didn't know is that this resource is finite, and it must be extracted with the utmost care.

They can't just dig holes indiscriminately, lest they ruin the entire region's natural resource.

Nothing from what's extracted is wasted.

Even the unused liquid is channeled into reservoirs where new animal habitats and ecosystems have formed.

It becomes a geothermal oasis in the desert.

Standing on top of the rim of the caldera of this sleeping giant comes with a feeling all its own.

However, I couldn't help but notice the giant rock art shaped like a bird down there.

So that buzzard that you see there, that rock formation, it's not something that the Kumeyaay did, that's more modern, right?

Aldo: Yeah, exactly.

This is modern.

Aldo: It was built on 2016-- Jorge: Okay.

Aldo: By Juan Hernandez, which is-- Jorge: Pretty well done, I mean, somebody could have, you know, the layman that doesn't know could think that this is something that was done by some ancient people.

Pretty good work.

Aldo: Yeah, he got help from the students around.

Aldo: So he was doing a really, he did a really good thing.

So this work of art has some meanings.

The, it's 200 meters long and 100 meters from wing to wing, and the wings are located or pointed at some things really important in in Mexicali, which is the Sierra Cucapah.

The Sierra Cucapah is on the way, on that way, which is very important for the first loc-- habitants of Mexicali.

Jorge: Settlers of the region.

Jorge: Is that the Kumeyaay or-- Aldo: The Cucapah.

Jorge: Cucapah, that's a different tribe?

Aldo: Uh huh, Cucapah tribe was the first established here in Mexicali years before Kumeyaay.

Jorge: Kumeyaay I think are more towards Ensenada, right?

Aldo: Yeah, in between Tecate and Ensenada is the Kumeyaay.

Jorge: So, Cucapah, from this region, that's the tribe.

Aldo: Yes, exactly.

They were nomads from these regions who were, who hiked the mountains in summer and then came back on winter time.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Aldo: All the cave paintings that you see in La Rumorosa, they're painted by the Cucapah.

Jorge: Was it, was this for, like, temperature reasons, to like avoid the cold and so on?

Aldo: Yeah, exactly.

Jorge: Wow, such wisdom, right?

Jorge: As interesting as this was, I didn't come all the way here just to see this volcano from the top.

I wanna go down there.

I wanna walk around inside the cauldron, the barrel of this geological bazooka.

Still, that sense of survival makes me ask him more about how safe it is.

What about the history of this caldera?

Like, do you know like when it was last active?

I mean, does that-- Aldo: It was thousands of years ago; this volcano has been inactive, it hasn't erupted for thousands of years.

Jorge: Thousands of years?

Aldo: Yeah, so what the expert says, it's an inactive volcano.

There's no worries, that it's not gonna explode.

But there is activity below, so-- Jorge: Oh, my God.

Jorge: Don't drill, don't drill.

Aldo: Yeah.

Aldo: Well, the power plant, they drill really long distances so they can use all the activity below.

Jorge: Right, all the steam coming out, coming out.

Aldo: Exactly.

They use the steam to make the electricity for Mexicali and also to the States, to the United States.

Jorge: Okay, so, the rich volcanic activity, they drill holes, steam comes out, they probably put engines there, you know, move to generate electricity, right?

Aldo: Yeah, and they convert it, and then-- Jorge: So you're saying that it's so plentiful that Mexicali sells electricity?

Aldo: Exactly.

Jorge: Oh, wow.

Jorge: Like it exports electricity.

Aldo: Yeah, it exports it.

Jorge: To the States, too?

Aldo: Yeah, to California.

Jorge: So then the activity doesn't go all the way to the States, there's like a like a limit.

Aldo: No, whatever we have more, that we use electricity to power Baja California, and then there's some extra.

Jorge: Right?

Aldo: We sell it.

Jorge: So there's no, like across the border, Calexico, there's no geothermal.

It doesn't reach all the way over there?

This is the region for it.

Aldo: Yeah, yeah.

Jorge: Okay, wow, fantastic.

Jorge: So, is it safe to go down to the caldera without like, you know, a world ending, you know, eruption?

Jorge: Vaporizing, you know?

Aldo: Yeah, it's very safe.

We should go.

Jorge: So let's hike down, and it's "Crossing South," we're going down to the caldera, and you're seeing it right here.

Jorge: So, time to trek down.

I see why this is a gateway experience to other hiking adventures.

Although some exertion is needed, it is a very safe and relatively easy hike.

It's just hard enough for you to feel you're truly in an outdoors adventure, but also not too difficult where special equipment is required.

This is a safe hike, the kind I like.

I would not consider this dangerous.

So that right there is the geothermal power plant, third largest in the world.

And it's right here in Mexicali in Baja.

Aldo: The feathers of the bird represents the Rio Colorado branches.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Oh, wow, so art with a purpose, right?

With a meaning.

Aldo: Exactly.

The two wings will represent the Centinela Mountain and the Mayor Mountain in Sierra Cucapah.

Jorge: Prominent mountains in in the region, right?

Aldo: Exactly.

Centinela, it's just by the border with Calexico, California.

So it's also a training point for people who likes mountains, and they wanna train for something bigger.

They go first here, and then the Siempres, then Centinela.

Jorge: Right, if you can endure this one, okay, move, next level up, right?

Jorge: So, all those letters, can anyone just come and change something like that?

Can somebody rearrange rocks and put "Crossing South" in that little corner right there?

Aldo: Yeah, that's possible.

The only thing we ask for people is just to maintain the bird, the work of art.

Jorge: Maintain the bird intact, that's it?

Your terms are acceptable.

You know, walking this thing at ground level, you truly get perspective of the sheer size.

You can't even make out the art formations or the edges of the caldera.

It's not until you start climbing back up its ridges that you can see them again.

We're here in October right now.

I feel, honestly, really fortunate because, if you've never been here, you know, in the summer.

yeah, you probably, maybe Arizona or, you know, different parts of the desert, you know, Mojave, will probably give you an idea of the Mexicali, the Valley of Mexicali.

It gets pretty hot.

It's lower than sea level, right?

Aldo: Yes.

Jorge: So it's almost like a frying pan, you know?

When you come down La Rumorosa, I always think about the frying pan waiting for you, to flip you.

But, you know, it's early October, and temperature is not bad right now, right?

Aldo: Yeah, we have, we are starting the good weather, so, to do every kind of activity.

Also, we said we know we have hot weather, but everywhere in Mexicali, they have air conditioners.

Jorge: Right, right, right.

Aldo: Whenever it's, people say, "I'm going to Mexicali," you can come in summer, you will be hot just from the, your-- Jorge: Your car to the building.

Aldo: Exactly.

Jorge: But also, you did mention that there's a specific season for your activities, right?

Otherwise, it'd be unbearable.

What's your season?

Aldo: From October to May or June, that's-- Jorge: So, we're getting right the, you know, beginning of it?

Aldo: The beginnings of the activities in Mexicali outdoors.

Jorge: Nice, we didn't plan it, but I'm a happy we did.

Because otherwise right now I'd be crawling, "My precious," you know, for a bottle of water right now, I can see how this is popular, you know, especially in the time period that you frame it, because you're getting all the, you know, the desert without all the intense suffering.

You're out with nature, you know, you're breathing right.

It's, yeah, it's super wholesome and fun.

Nature and hiking enthusiast, the Cerro Prieto is surely a place to bookmark for a future adventure.

I'm glad we got to see it.

You know, I've bagged Munros in Scotland, but now I can say I've bagged a volcano in Baja.

More "Crossing South" coming your way folks, don't go anywhere.

Jorge: As we move away from this geological guardian, we travel north towards the city of Mexicali and back in time to a place that pays homage to the Old West.

No, folks, this is not the back door or the back room for Antiques Road Show, even though it could be.

No, we're actually in Mexicali at a place that, of all things, is a menudo restaurant.

No, not me personally, I'm not crazy about menudo.

But it's pretty popular.

People from the States, from many parts of Mexico come to this place just for the menudo.

So I gotta take their word for it.

But the reason I'm here is because, around the menudo restaurant, the owner built literally a cowboy town.

Don't go anywhere, folks, this is it, el Museo del Valle, and it's a high street of a cowboy town.

I really wanted to get into this place's vibe, for sure.

But, before I do, I really wanted to talk to the owner.

What was he thinking when he made this place?

How do you go from a menudo restaurant to this obviously tremendous undertaking, an endeavor that must have taken years, a great deal of planning and collecting, and a crazy amount of resources?

[speaking Spanish] Ezequiel Benitez Diaz: [speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [Jorge speaking Spanish] [Ezequiel speaking Spanish] [Jorge speaking Spanish] [Ezequiel speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] Jorge: The purpose of this place becomes clearer as you get to know him.

You get the feeling that it's somewhat of a gift to his patrons and to his community.

He wants to share his passion for collecting antiques and may have gotten a little carried away.

Before he knew it, he was too deep and just could not turn back, and, voila, he got Dodge City next to a menudo restaurant.

Pretty cool.

From stage coaches, to saloons, to hotels, to the balconies all around, got a couple of rifles pointing at you at every rooftop here.

Like, if you were like a stickler about it, maybe there would be some inaccuracies, but this is a bona fide cowboy town.

This is the high street, the, you know, main street of it.

And, I mean, tell me, doesn't this feel so authentic?

He took great care, picking out every piece of wood himself, bringing it to give it that rustic feel.

And he was a collector; for years he was a collector.

So, from across Mexico, different parts, wherever he would have a find--I think he would love "Antiques Roadshow" if he ever saw that show.

He never saw an antique piece that he didn't buy, he didn't think he could use for his museum here.

So it's a pretty neat experience; families love it; and we're happy to be here.

Let's keep exploring, folks.

"Crossing South."

[Jorge speaking Spanish] [Ezequiel speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] Jorge: Well, seems like you did a good job there, pardner.

That's a horrible John Wayne expression.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know; it's well known within my circle of friends how awful my John Wayne impression is.

But so what?

Although I sound nothing like The Duke, I did feel like him as I was walking the streets of this here cowboy town.

So grab my trusty old sidewinder and start sheriffing, like a dusty old cowboy cap, this town under my care.

Look at this thing; wood's all cracked.

I wonder from what year this is, like, it looks pretty old.

Is there a year anywhere?

Look at the keys.

Holy smokes, it works.

Oh, wow, hey.

Oh, you got your, you got some ponies here.

How you doing, little guy, huh?

You friendly, friendly, huh?

Gonna let me pet you a little bit?

He was reluctant, but he can tell I'm a good guy, right?

Pony, the kids must love you.

Wow, I mean, all the way from the wood floors, old cowboy boots here, look at this little piano.

Look at this thing; this is probably like a toy from a different era.

An "Antiques Roadshow" person would tell you, you know, a child from what era was probably using this as his, you know, cowboy, but-- Look at the wood; he selects the wood, you know, personally for everything.

Just putting in props left and right.

All these spurs.

♪ I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle.

♪ And look at the bar here, like, this probably is from another era, who knows, maybe 1920s?

I'm guessing here; historians will correct me.

The wood is so thick and so heavy.

Look at these; many of these as he was building it, he had to use cranes to put them together.

You know, you've got props all over the place, for sure.

But it still gives you that vintage look.

Now, this bad boy, look at this cash register machine.

What'll you have, weary stranger?

Let me pour you one right now.

That'll be a nickel.

Oh, these things; you do not wanna be on the business end of these; that's for branding.

I know because my dad had a ranch when I was, we were growing up, and I remember, poor cows, whenever they got branded--wasn't a pretty sight, I'll just say that.

You got probably a yoke here.

Ice chest machines from different eras; this is probably, this is obviously 20th century.

This could be, this is an ice chest, right?

This could be from a bygone era, maybe 1800s.

I think I remember there's an old old cowboy song that, you know, even Wyatt Earp I think would play for his patrons when he had his establishment there.

And I think it goes like this, ♪ You shake my nerve, ♪ ♪ and you rattle my brain, duh, duh, duh, duh ♪ No, I don't think that was, I think it's a different era, so.

So the fact that he built like even the two stories and, you know, set a couple of rifles there, you know, set the perimeter.

I got a couple of, I got cowboys pointing rifles at you at every rooftop here, you know, so it just adds to the atmosphere.

It's so cool.

[Ezequiel speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] Jorge: This is a labor of love for Mr. Ezequiel, that's for sure.

He has a deliberate and concerted effort in tailoring this very specific and enjoyable experience for families.

It takes a determined man of action to put a place like this together and keep it that way and to lead it.

But, all of it, all of it, is subject to the goal, the ultimate goal of pleasing his guests.

You know, he was mentioning how he takes good care of the fact that this place remain a family atmosphere, and it's become a very popular place.

For sure, the cowboy experience is really something that everyone loves, right?

We all love Westerns, and it's just a romantic era of history, and, if somebody can embody it in an experience like this, I think, you know, all the more for it.

But I think he's just a kid himself; it has a lot to do with it, this is a passion project for him.

Labor of love, and cares for his patrons and wants to give them an experience.

This place, they don't charge to come in here; it's free; you can come in.

You don't even have to stop at his menudo place, which is the real business that he has.

It's truly something that he wants to do for the community, so, so cool.

[Jorge speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [Ezequiel speaking Spanish] [Jorge speaking Spanish] [Ezequiel speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] [Jorge speaking Spanish] [Ezequiel speaking Spanish] [speaking Spanish] Jorge: Communities are well served when they count among them generous and giving people like Mr. Ezequiel, as well as his western museum cowboy town.

We're happy we met him.

Listen here, bar man, when you live the life, the cowboy style--it's not really a cowboy hat, it's a charro hat, but it'll do.

You know, this place is, it's a sweet endeavor for Mr. Ezequiel.

And I think the thing that I can say about it is it has all of the spirit of a Western town.

It may have inaccuracies in that has the decor, you know, interlapping multiple eras and things that weren't contemporary to each other.

He's got some things, you know, from the '40s, '30s, '20s, '10s, 1800s, you know, sometimes in the same room, right?

But the, 99% of it, it's just got this, the feel, the spirit of an old Western town is down pat.

He just wants, you know, to provide that, an old cowboy town feel, and he accomplishes that 100, a million percent.

It's so cool to be here.

Well, Mr. Ezequiel, thank you very much for the tour, and I can see that this is a labor of love for you.

You have a giving spirit, and I think that goodwill is coming back because of the appreciation you have for your patrons.

So we thank you very much for what you're doing over here.

Ezequiel: Okay, thank you.

Thank you for you coming in here.

This is your home for all time.

Jorge: Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it very much.

Jorge: So, after hiking the Cerro Prieto volcano and walking its prehistoric caldera, and getting to role play in Mexicali's own Old West town, we get to wonder what other experiences await us the next time we get to Cross South.

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