Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico Book

Even after I've read it, I'm not quite sure what this book is about. It details the southern part of Baja California. Since this is the area we are going to be visiting (and have visited), it interests me. Why did the author write about the particular places she did, and not places in the northern part of the peninsula? I don't know, and for me, it doesn't really matter. Why did she write about Baja at all? Again, I'm not sure. There were allusions to the reason in the book, but I didn't really grasp the reason. However, I learned about the history of the area since the Spanish conquest in vivid detail and I learned about several hidden areas that I wouldn't have known of otherwise.
I didn't know where this book was going when I started it. It began with a couple of hooks, which never ac6tually went anywhere, but it still looked like it could be boring, but I soon found out that it wasn't. I had to read through the first pages not knowing if it would be worth continuing. It was. The descriptions of the tourists in Baja and the author's meetings with her sources can drag. On the other hand, they do convey flavor. Maybe I just don't always like the flavor, but it does make what you read more real. By the time I was reading about János Xantus camping on the beach for two years in what is now Cabo San Lucas to survey wildlife, I was hooked. Then the history and visual descriptions of various places made the book worthwhile for me.
At the end, I feel like I've read a mystery novel or autobiography where the answer is never revealed. I never understood the reasons the author wanted to explore Baja and wanted to write this book. There are strong hints about those reasons, but either I was too dense to understand or they were never brought out in the book. But that's fine. It's a well-written book with worthwhile information, and the mystery of it alludes to the contrast of Baja with both the United States and with Mexico City.