From my sunlounger on the top floor of our hostel I can see over the sea for five miles in each direction. A steady four foot swell rolls into the hightide cliffs where dolphins and pelicans fight it out for scraps in the kelp. The temperature is about 35 degrees and it's about time I got out of the sun - but a few more minutes never hurts. Coyote cals hostel is just past Ensenada - around 100 miles south of the US boarder in Baja, Mexico. Myself and two uni friends; James Peacock and Dan Thompson decided to reward our yearly studious effort with a months road/surf trip down one of the most undiscovered areas in central America. Baja is a 1000 mile finger of land that runs parallel with the Mexico mainland - tucked under California. Stories of Hi-jacking and ambush could not deter us from the promise of endless, empty point breaks and super hot weather - although our trusty Lonely Planet Guide suggests a vigilant eye is needed for the dangers of snakes, scorpions, jellyfish, random pot holes, storms, sunburn and flash floods. A more serious concern was always going to be transport - the rest we figured would just happen or not regardless of what we did. As three twenty year olds, renting and buying were going to be difficult - hitching was definitely out of the question. So following our bibles advice we flew to San Diego, just north of the border - and despite all our concerns we got a rental from California Rent-A-Car, who seem to be the only ones who rent to the under age and want to go to Mexico. Though for $270 us a week and 18c per mile over 100 a day you can see why they do. After stocking up with travel essentials - torch, water and stuff, we where ready to get out of San Diego. It seemed to have a layer of smog all day whereas just a mile outside was bright sunshine! A short drive to the border put us in illegal immigrant hell, makes you realise how lucky you are. To get into Mexico for more than a few days and further than a few miles you need a tourist visa and Mexican car insurance -but this isn't really a problem since every man and his dog will try to sell you their own brand at the border. It cost us about $21 for the visa and $127 us for three weeks fully comp, which is the only way to go. Almost straight away you're in Tijuana. Our first sight of Mexican surf was about 3 miles of perfect offshore 4-5 foot barrels - it was so tempting, but the lack of people in the water and an unpleasant odour confirmed our guidebooks warning of seriously polluted water. The best thing to do is drive up to Ensenada at least before you can be sure you wont get every disease under the sun, but after that it's really clean all the way down. It also became immediately apparent that there is no green cross code in Mexico - these guys just made it up as they went along, in a who ever gets there first goes kind of way. We'd seen this hostel called Coyote Cals advertised in SD, and after some guy tried to break into the car after five minutes in an Ensenada carpark it seemed the safer bet..... Lots more to come about the surf at the hostel and the beautiful drive down there, we should find some incredible surf spots.

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