th" we visit Rosarito Boys and Girls Club, and we visit the passion food truck project of a San Diego chef.

And it's happening right now.

(upbeat music) (orchestral music) You know what?

There's a lot of self-sacrificing people in Baja, in this case in Rosarito, where in Rosarito, it's a place for underprivileged children.

It is the boys and girls club in Spanish, it's the club de niños y niñas de Rosarito.

And we're gonna talk to the president right now.

Her name is Rosy Torres, and she's the spearhead of this effort.

How you doing Rosy?

Hey, (speaks in foreign language).

- Thank you, Rosy.

Thank you for having us.

Well, we wanted to see what you're doing here.

How long have you been here and starting this endeavor of the Rosarito boys and girls club.

- Well, we've been here for exactly a decade now.

- [Jorge] Wow, okay.

- So yes, we started the...

The city donated the land.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- So it was a mountain.

- [Jorge] Yeah.

- We started grading it, compacting it.

Then the multipurpose room, we started creating it and then we were able to start with the kids in 2012, cause it was a complete necessity back in 10 years ago when the kids, all the drug cartels, everything started the bad things.

So we created the good things.

- [Jorge] Yeah.

- [Rosy] And even though-- - [Gorge] Let's get the kids a venue quick, right?

- Yes, and even though we started the well, I call it the peso per brick.

So we did fundraisers one peso one break fundraiser, one peso two breaks.

And that's how we kept going.

And we still continue to grow like that.

- [Jorge] How much have you accomplished already?

- [Rosy] We had so many success stories.

I could be here all day telling you the success stories.

- [Jorge] Exactly, that's the amazing, wonderful thing, right?

- Oh yes, we don't stop with the kids and the don't let us stop.

So, every time we have a new instructor, a new activity, all the kids have to try it because you never know we can have the next Beethoven composing the music.

We have three main goals in this club, bilingual kids, all my kids need to be bilingual.

All my kids need to be sports, athletes have some form, they have to.

And thanks to my sponsors and my vice president.

All my kids need to play a musical instrument.

- That's fantastic.

That's fantastic for any children.

I think anyone, even someone who's not underprivileged would want for their children, right?

- We know every child has a talent or a hundred talents.

- Exactly.

- So we give them the tools here to develop those skills and to find what they love.

- So nice so then well, can you gimme tour of the place?

- Oh yes, of course.

- Okay.

- These are part of the offices for the instructors, the sports, arts, music, English, volunteers.

- And, and the name is literally, (speaks in foreign language) Is it an official boys and girls club affiliation?

- Yes.

It's fabulous how it went about because it started all in Tijuana, with this man called Enrique Gamboa.

He viewed the necessity for hosting our kids, giving them something to do so that they're not on drugs or delinquency or whatever.

- Right, an activity.

- And he saw the boys and girls club, you know, you have it in the US for 150 years.

He brings it to Mexico.

So now we're 13 clubs in Mexico.

- [Jorge] Wow.

- This is the only one in Rosarito beach.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- But we worked hand in hand with the boys and girls club of America.

They gave us the supervision, the tools, everything, the knowledge, the-- - [Jorge] The knowledge of how to keep kids.

- That it exists and how it, it works.

- [Jorge] Like what requirements do kids need to meet to be able to join?

- Well, it used to be two requirements.

One, that they're six to 16 years of age, and that they go to school.

- Okay.

- So now the only requirement is that they're six to 16 cause there's no school.

- [Jorge] Yeah, exactly.

- We're basically open to everybody.

I love this area, this is my favorite part of club.

- Yeah, it would be for me too.

- This is the theater it's called the AMC theater.

AMC helped us build it a little bit.

- Oh really, okay.

- And also, music room, music classes.

We had a fabulous sponsor who donated most of the musical equipment.

- You have guitars, you have fiddles.

- [Rosy] Yes.

- Keyboards.

- [Rosy] The equipment started coming in and we started getting instructors for them.

- [Jorge] Yeah.

- [Rosy] And now we have a couple of children that are in the Baja California Orchestra.

(orchestral music) You wanna play the guitar or violone?

- I don't know how to play the guitar.

Like I couldn't, I could never.

(Rosy laughs) In Mexico, it's not common for like a typical school to have a musical program.

That's not common in Mexico?

- No.

- So this is pretty, pretty cool to have that here, right?

- It's awesome, because they've told me in Mexico since 1932, there has been no more our music in the public school system.

- [Jorge] Wow.

- So that's one of our goals here, we-- - [Jorge] How about pushing that for the rest of Mexican schools, so they all have it?

- We've tried and and we've actually given some free classes.

When we host a big event, we give free musical classes to our kids.

- That's so nice.

It feeds the spirit, the soul.

- Oh, the kids love it.

As I mentioned, we have a couple kids in Baja California Orchestra now.

Some have future scholarships for the music class.

- [Jorge] And they started playing here?

- [Rosy] Like the harpist in particular.

There's only one harpist in Baja, California.

- [Jorge] And it's her?

- And it's her.

This is my infirmary and psychology room.

- Okay.

- So the idea is to have, always a doctor.

- Okay.

- A dentist giving free clinics to my kids.

- That is so nice for who is I most fitted, you know, this kind of club?

- [Rosy] It's technically directed to the underprivileged.

- [Jorge] Underprivileged ,okay.

- But we don't stop there because there's some kids who both parents, they have both parents and they either work or they can't attend to their kids.

- Correct.

- So instead of them watching TV all day.

- [Jorge] Yeah.

- They come here and socialize and learn.

- And learn something and socialize.

- This is our public library.

- Okay.

- Not just, not just for the kids, but everybody in town or out of town, they can use, we're getting more books of course.

So that they know the importance of reading, the importance of learning new words, to be able to succeed in life.

Because if they just continue with the same words that they learn in school, they'll be very limited.

- [Jorge] Limited vocabulary.

- [Rosy] Yes.

- So I can see that it's, you know, pretty scarce.

So, you probably need more stuff, right?

What kind of books are you looking for?

- Well, anything that will activate your imagination.

So pretty much anything for kids and for adults.

- Okay.

- So that we can continue having this, a public library.

- Mostly Spanish, right?

- [Rosy] Spanish, a few in English is welcome also.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- Because another of our goals here is to give English, all my kids need to be bilingual.

- Very nice.

- Because of the importance of...

In Rosarito, 70% of our economy is American tourism, so... - It is.

And what are they doing right now?

They're painting the frame, the painting and the frame, yeah.

- [Rosy] And all types of material.

If you gimme guitars, I'll get a guitar instructor.

If you gimme paint, I'll get a paint instructor.

So we need all sorts of material also all the time donated.

- Anything anyone can donate.

- Yes, we will use it.

- Okay.

You will get volunteers to help instruct the kids.

- Yes.

Volunteers or pay the instructors also.

- Wow, very nice.

- So we work in many-- - So where do you get your funding right now?

- Wherever we can.

We get it mostly from the US.

Hardly any Mexicans...

Here is a little cartoon.

- Oh yeah, you do have things in English here.

- Yes.

So it's some form of inspiration for our kids to be able to not just see inside the box, but to go outside of the box.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- And see all the possibilities of success that there exist.

It's a sad thing sometimes that we ask them, what would do you want to be when you grow up?

And unfortunately, many of them, if most of them say they wanna be a drug dealer.

- [Jorge] You're kidding.

- So that's what we try to do here to give them other opportunities, other views in life.

- Wow.

- Instead of living inside the box and watching the drugs being consumed or sold.

- It's what they're seeing, right?

So-- - That's what they see every day.

Unfortunately, Rosarito, we have a high index of drug consumption, starting with kids from eight years old.

It's not fair to have the kids on the street or by themselves.

They need a center like this, to be able to develop their skills, to see what else is out there.

One of our logos is "Great Futures Start Here."

- Yeah, very nice.

And what are those?

Are those classrooms?

- Yes, this is the west wing over here.

(orchestral music) - [Jorge] What are all of those surfboards?

- Oh, this is fabulous.

In this case is resurf.com.

These guys are from New York.

They contacted me and now thanks to them.

We have surf lessons, cause the beach is right here.

- [Jorge] Really?

- Surf lessons, and they teach the surf, how to swim in the ocean, how to take care of the ocean, They'll, everything.

- So that's part of the activities for the kids, learning how to surf?

Oh, that's amazing.

- That's awesome, yes.

- Bad, who is super bad.

(Jorge laughs) - Close.

- At least I hit the ring.

(dart thwacking) Oh!

You're good.

- This is our Martial arts and dance hall.

We're still missing the flooring.

- Yeah, you got tennis balls right there?

- Oh, yeah, we actually do have tennis after class - Oh, yeah?

- We take the kids to a club next door.

About a 10 minute drive.

- Uh-huh.

And there's an instructor that gives them-- - And they'll oh, that is man.

You have a lot of activities for the kids.

Are you teaching them to play golf too?

- [Rosy] We play golf as well, yes.

- Oh yeah, tennis rackets are there.

Tennis rackets, basketball, golf, little bit of soccer, biking.

Yeah, this is a lot of activities.

- I wish I was a kid growing up with one of these.

Cause you could do a sport every day.

I grew up in Rosarito, running around the streets.

- Of course.

- And no problem, and I developed everything with the neighbors, with the merchants.

Everybody knew each other.

- Exactly.

- And it was safe.

But now where do they go out the streets?

- It's dangerous to be on the street, you couldn't do that today.

- Unfortunately.

- But this is an environment where you can, right?

And they're doing everything, they're running around, they're-- - You never know because I've got the accomplishing-- - [Jorge] That's amazing, yeah.

- [Rosy] Athletes international, the musicians, the academics.

And they didn't know of their love or their skill.

Everybody try everything.

If by the same second, third time, they still don't like it.

Okay, you can do something else.

- That's the chance you're giving your kids here, right?

- Exactly.

Oh, I could tell you a fun story.

We had this chubby girl, the international athlete.

She did not wanna do any sport, she didn't.

She was seven, eight years old, she didn't.

But we make them do, that's my other goal here that every kid needs to do a sport.

- [Jorge] Nice.

- [Rosy] No matter what.

So this was another case like that and she loved it, which is the best part.

This was many years ago almost when we started and she got to live in the Tijuana Olympic center.

- [Jorge] Wow.

- [Rosy] She got to train for free, eat for free-- - [Jorge] You're kidding.

- [Rosy] School for free, live for free.

They let her travel all over competing for Tijuana-- - And it all started right here.

Rosy is a self-starter and places like this can only survive with an overachiever like her at the helm.

Look at her, as soon as I touch the ball, she went into competition mode, defending.

That's says lot about her.

(Jorge laughs) - Okay, you play football.

You know how to move.

- Oh, Rosie tired me out.

She's a good defender.

Staunch defender.

Oh boy.

Well this just like a warehouse.

Well, what is this room for?

- Well, it's a warehouse at the moment because we got a really big donation of all that you can see, chairs, tables, filling cabinets.

- Okay, people gave you all of this?

- Yes, we're trying to sell it.

So anybody-- - Oh it's for sale.

Okay, gotcha.

- Anybody who wants-- - So people can come here and shop some things at a reasonable price that will help you guys?

- very reasonable, yes.

And this is also called the multipurpose room.

Kids like to play ball against the wall.

Which everything is allowed, I consider this the Disney land of learning.

- Okay.

- This is our football slash volleyball slash baseball slash softball slash-- - [Jorge] Yeah.

- [Jorge] Track and field.

- [Jorge] It's the field.

- [Rosy] It's the field.

- [Jorge] For kids.

- [Rosy] It's a large area that we have a lot of activities.

So, recently one of our girls is now a state champion in the hundred meter dash.

- Kids don't even know what talents they have until you give them the opportunity.

- Yes.

- To actually do something.

- And the tools to be able to develop them.

Rosarito has a lot of Americans who come and retire.

And they help volunteering their time.

- [Jorge] Oh, that's nice, right?

- So that's fabulous.

Even though they don't speak Spanish is great for them.

Cause they interact with kids who don't speak English.

But our goal again is for them to be bilingual.

- Right, you're teaching them English and whatever skill or trade or you know, whatever that ex-pat knows how to do-- - Exactly.

- He's passing on that to the kids.

- And this is going to be a future outdoor nine different Olympic sport activities.

And on a corner over there is the cherry on the cake.

It will be my racket ball court.

- Well, you're doing a good thing here, Rosy.

You're doing a very good thing here.

- [Rosy] Well, we love it.

For every time I see a child who realizes, you can tell in their eyes, they just light up that he or she realized, look at what I can do.

Like the drawing you know, - [Jorge] Yeah.

- [Rosy] They'll start ugly.

And look, and they show you.

And next week they do it a little better.

And at the end of the month, when they see that they did it fabulous.

You can see their eyes, how they light up and their aura how it illuminates them, that they know they know-- - [Jorge] The have this glow, right?

- That there's something else than being locked up at home and doing nothing.

So their eyes and in their ora they show you.

And that's my drug, that's how I have to keep going.

- The kids we saw in every room we walked into were having a good time.

They seem to enjoy their time here.

I've done multiple segments on places that are for the benefit of people, of children, or philanthropy and so on.

And the one thing that they all have a in common is, is one driven person like yourself.

- Mm.

- And I think it makes me think that we need more driven people in this world that have a...

If there was more people like that that had a self-sacrificing interest in others, man, what a nice place to live, this would be.

- It's an adrenaline, so beautiful to see this growth in our kids.

- But you need people like you, Rosy.

So, thank you.

- Oh, thank you, I appreciate it.

- It's very, it's been very nice talking to Rosy.

There's more Crossing South coming your way folks don't go anywhere.

We're just getting started.

So stay with us.

So we move on leaving Rosy and her wonderful kids in the Rosarito Hills, heading down to sea level on the south part of town, where we met a chef, betting it all on Baja.

You know, the whole food truck scene in Baja has allowed entrepreneurs, young chefs to really launch quicker than would normally be possible, if you had all the overhead of a restaurant.

we're in Rosarito where we've come to a place that came recommended a place called, Sal Y Humo, which is salt and smoke, as in smokiness of food.

And the guy in charge of it is a young chef called Wenceslao, and he's standing right next to me.

How you doing my friend?

- Been better myself.

- So talk to me Wences about your story.

What kind of food are you serving in this food truck?

- So this is a (speaks foreign language).

It's a concept that I started a year plus ago.

The concept is barbecue.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- But we're trying to put a flare of Baja onto it.

We use olive wood, which is local for Ensenada and from the region right here.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- And we're trying to try to showcase Rosarito as a meat, not just lobster, we all know, we love our lobster but-- - [Jorge] You wanna showcase the meat that's available in Rosarito.

Olive oil from Baja-- - Exactly.

- Local produce.

- Mm-hmm.

- And Rosarito has a lot of produce, right?

A lot of ex-pats live here.

- Exactly.

- And they want organic, you know, produce and vegetables and so on.

And you're providing that?

- Yeah, I mean I'm lucky that I'm in the middle of it.

The Valley's really close and so there's no excuse for it.

- [Jorge] Exactly.

- So, yeah we're trying to showcase the best of it.

The concept is backyard barbecue.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- That's how we started.

- [Jorge] Backyard barbecue.

- Yeah, so it's like a backyard, so-- - [Jorge] Right, which is... it looks like a-- - [Wenceslao] Exactly, that's the concept behind it.

That's how we started in my backyard.

- [Jorge] Oh, what's your background?

- [Wenceslao] My background, I was a Banque chef for a big hotel in San Diego.

- [Jorge] Oh really?

- Yes, so I spent my last 11 years.

And then plus-- - [Jorge] So you were a chef at a hotel in San Diego?

- Exactly.

And then after that COVID happened, like everybody knows.

So, I decided to put a little investment on this.

I bought the truck.

- Where are people buying the food trucks?

Is there a food truck, you know, depot, where are people getting all the food trucks from?

Like where where'd you get the actual truck?

- [Wenceslao] I started with Craiglist, Facebook-- - [Jorge] You started looking-- - I started looking every everywhere.

I mean, I was driving on the road and if I see a truck park, I was knocking on the door.

- [Jorge] Yeah.

- Which is, I mean, it's part of the experience too, you know-- - [Jorge] For sure, it's part of the adventure.

- Exactly.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- Yeah.

Well the main adventure here is going to be trying your stuff.

So, I think we're ready my friend.

Let's get to stuff, okay?

- [Wenceslao] All right, perfect.

- Let's show the people what he is got.

Crossing South folks.

Don't go anywhere, we're coming right to you.

With the meats, with the menu, with the stuff, stay with us.

Crossing South.

Baja is a region of immigrants, a confluence of talents and cuisines from across Mexico.

But now you can add to that people who bring their US learned craft and combine it with this region, a region rich in ingredients that turns many chefs, cooks and entrepreneurs into culinary Mozarts.

Well, let's see the result.

Oh wow.

- [Wenceslao] So this are barbecue glaze ribs with coastline Mac and Cheese.

- [Jorge] You could say this is one dish?

- [Wenceslao] That's one dish.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- [Wenceslao] This is one main dish.

This is how it comes.

- These are the St. Louis style ribs right here.

I don't know what this biscuit is, but I will find out it may be cornbread.

I don't know, I'll find out.

And it's coleslaw salad with Mac and Cheese.

So we'll be the judge of how good these things are.

I've had Mac and Cheese in many ways, in many different places.

So we'll see how good this is.

- [Wenceslao] And this is our burger combo.

- Okay, so this right here, what he brought is a cowboy burger.

It's on his menu.

Look at the beautiful romaine lettuce it has.

It's got a bacon jam, which sounds awesome.

He puts sirloin meat, some melted cheese there.

And he's got the Sal y Humo sauce, which is his own secret recipe sauce as they should.

Okay, so this is their pulled pork burger, apple coleslaw, and Mac and Cheese.

So that's another combo.

So, that's the thing.

That's the thing you're making down here.

And that's when you have the combination of cultures.

you have like your pulled pork, you have your cowboy burger, and we're gonna try 'em.

And they're very different.

You know, when you see the burgers, the style of burgers that maybe locals who grew up in Baja make are very different than the one ex-pats or people who grew up in the states do.

You know, they have that American influence, all these different styles from across the US.

So that's what he's bringing down here.

And we're gonna try it right now.

So let's do that.

All right.

Let's do the pulled pork.

Hmm.

The meat tender.

The barbecue is not overly sweet.

It is a very good tasting burger, man.

Look at the meat right there.

Almost like it smoked.

Well that's why it's called "humo."

Look at it, its super tender, hmm.

an issue I sometimes with have barbecue sauces, is that they're overly sweet.

Not this one.

I like his touch.

Let's try some its Mac and Cheese.

Not the best one I've had, but better than many oh, very good, it's very, very good.

Let's try the cowboy burger.

This is your cattle meat right here.

You got your sarloid in steak.

That was my old Roy Rogers style imitation, anyway.

(upbeat music) Hmm, oh man, that's good.

Pulled pork was good.

This one is better.

If you want my recommendation, I would go straight for the cowboy burger.

Wow, this is so good.

The creaminess, the smokiness.

Look at meat, you even have your bacon for your bacon jammer.

Perfect combination.

It's a fantastic burger.

Not taking away anything from the pulled pork.

I would put the burger right now at number 1.

So, that would be the main choice, if you're coming for the first time.

You wanna try the other one the second time, that's fine.

That's just my recommendation, okay.

So these are St. Louis style ribs.

Now these little fellas are jalapeno cornbread.

So, I was right, I asked now and it's cornbread.

let me just try that first.

A lot of cornbread and it's okay.

Maybe not in the top.

You know, of cornbreads that I've had.

I'm a cornbread cornasaurus.

So, I love cornbread.

but we're not here for the cornbread, for the little biscuits.

So, let's try now, let's go to the rib.

Let's go to the actual superstar of this thing.

Oh boy.

This is very good, hmm.

♪ I want my baby back ♪ Forgive me if I'm not an expert, rib eater.

I don't know if I'm messing up, for you out there, who are, but the me just pulls off.

So tender, so juicy.

Oh there's barbecue sauce, perfect.

I will buy it from the store.

I need to ask him if he makes with the barbecue sauce.

How'd I do, send me emails.

Tell me if I need a better technique or if I did okay.

If you like super sweet barbecue sauce, I guess this will not be the place.

I love the balance.

It's not overbearing, sometimes it's just so... You know, it's almost like you're eating the dessert.

Not this one.

Just sweet enough, delicious.

Another culinary adventure fulfilled to satisfaction, with some delicious ribs and its own patented barbecue sauce.

Okay, lastly, now you guys know how much I like desserts.

He brought me this Walnut chocolate-chip cookie with a European style of making, where it just fluffs up.

I mean look at it.

Okay, let's open it up.

Check it out, Oh my goodness.

Look at that, doing this.

I'm gonna enjoy this.

It's fantastic.

(Jorge chuckles) It's phenomenal.

Thank you so much to whoever made this.

It's Crossing South folks.

We hope you enjoyed it.

We'll see you next time, okay?

I'm gonna continue tearing this apart.

Wow.

So after getting to play around with Rosy and her kids and seeing the benefits she brings to Rosarito's underprivileged children.

and getting to taste how Wenceslao is making Rosarito tastier, we leave wondering what other experience we will get to enjoy, the next time we cross south.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Like to know more about the places you've just seen?

Maps, videos, podcasts, and more, at CrossingSouth.com.

We also do Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

(upbeat music)