El Otro Lado or "The Other Side" started the way any good surf trip always does. An idea is sparked, the initial stoke is spread through the crew, anticipations grow insurmountable and for better or worse you just go! This summer adventure had the upper echelon of talented friends. 6 surfers, 3 of whom are also incredible photographers, 1 comedian who doesn't have a passport and one girl tough enough to hang with the boys. By the time we made it back state side we realized that there was no way to narrow down all the great images we collected. So to tell the story accurately we are breaking it up into three parts. one part for each photographer. Lauren Beitel will be seen in Part 3, Drew Martin in Part 2 and we will start now with Tim Mendez.
Words and images below by Tim Mendez.
By the time we made it back to the border we were zorched; covered in dust, & mostly thrilled they let Matt back into the country without a passport. A big victory for us, between the long hall through Northern Baja, missing the fast toll lane, almost running out of gas, and having numb nuts follow us with his brights on for hours. It’s likely this is a pretty common sight at the Tijuana border. A dirty van, pilled with surfboards, slogging through border traffic… I’d bet it’s even more likely to drive by a van like ours & see everyone grinning ear to ear, like a bunch of fools.
There’s something very special about Baja that does that to a person, that turns all that toil into laughter & all the good times into great times. I guess it’s true what Waylon Jennings said, “that border crossing feeling makes a fool out of a man.”
Sincere thanks to Dark Seas and crew for having me on this trip, reminded me that when your with good company in a place like Baja you don’t have to go far for adventure.
¡Viva México!
-Tim
