Viva La Mexico!

Baja has serious Borderlands vibes. Scattered across the arid landscape are funky places like Coco's Corner, Mike's Sky Ranch, and Coyote Cal's. Outposts run by notorious proprietors where one can find safe harbor, and perhaps a little trouble.

I spent a night at Coyote Cal's, where after dark an incandescent glow emanates from the compound, illuminating the dune buggies and rust buckets parked haphazardly around it. The brapping of single cylinder engines in the distance and headlights gliding across the horizon portend the arrival of battle hardened dirtbikers. In the cantina, they recount the day's adventures, their boisterous chatter spilling out into the otherwise desolate night. For some reason, the kitchen serves authentic Thai food - must be the objective of some sidequest.

I can't shake the feeling that every person I meet is an NPC. Their eccentricity and the richness they add to my environment is just too good. From the inquisitive soldiers at checkpoints to the human trucknutz at the bar spewing conspiracy theories at anyone who will listen, I want to press X to skip through their dialogue faster, and sometimes B to melee.

My favorite interaction was with a kind man, a real American octogenarian whom I'm just certain has dragged his nuclear family to all sorts of national monuments in a wood veneered station wagon. He addressed me as young man and offered to buy me a drink, berating himself for clumsily spilling much of it on the way over. The best animators and voice actors just couldn't have done a better job. Don't feel too bad for him; a minute later he was telling another guy he didn't give a fucking fuck that he wasn't hungry, it was time for dinner.

After Cal's, I camped in what I thought to be an empty stretch of untamed desert, but a real ass cowboy appeared at dusk and informed me that this was his property. He was happy to let me sleep there, and I was just relieved not to have to go get him Thai food.