Page 80 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL WINTER SPRING 2022

Over the years, thousands of Baja adventurers
have made Meling Ranch a mandatory stop on the
way to the heart of the peninsula. On the evening
we were there, a dozen “Baja bugs” came to a
screeching halt in the dusty driveway. Most had
roared south into the unpaved wilds of Baja be-
fore dawn. One high-end group came with its own
caterer, as I learned from a private chef hired for
the occasion, who was filleting a slab of fresh
salmon under one of the ranch’s venerable trees.
I left him at his grill to mount one of the ranch’s
steady-paced horses for a ride around the prop-
erty. A young vaquero, cowboy, led us past tree-
lined fields, across a stream gurgling through the
boulder-studded countryside. Was I in Baja or
California’s Carmel Valley? The ride did much to
shatter my idea of the Baja Peninsula as a barren
landscape.
My gentle steed and I returned to the stables
just in time for me to head for dinner in the barn-
like dining-room where the flames of a roaring
fire lit up diners gathered around picnic tables. A
fresh salsa prepared by two young women man-
ning the wood stoves in the adjoining room added
a bright touch to our plates of thinly-sliced
chicken breast and sautéed zucchini. The head
cook, Maria de La Cruz, flashed a row of braces as
I entered her domain. She directed her fragrant
orchestra while feeding the flames of her wood
stove: “Pues, I learned to cook by watching my
mother-in-law!” explained the unflappable cocin-
era, chopping and dicing an onion, trimming a slice
of carne asada, and flipping a home-made tortilla
atop a burner. “Eva, my assistant, and I, we have to
feed a dozen ranch hands three times a day.”
The next morning, after breakfasting on Maria’s
warm corn tortillas, a flavor-packed machaca
scrambled eggs, and generous mugs of hot coffee,
we headed back to sea level.
Our destination was Cataviña and its millenary
cave paintings located just off Federal Highway 1
in the heart of Baja’s Desierto Central. The moun-
tain greenery gave way to an otherworldly land-
scape of giant boulders interspersed with prickly
boojums and saguaro cactus, their limbs pointing
heavenwards, others clenched like menacing fists.

80 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE WINTER/SPRING 2022