Los Barriles

Los Barriles is a small town (pop. 1,174 in 2010 census) off the Transpeninsular Highway (KM 105) between La Paz and San José del Cabo. We drove by on a trip to Baja Sur in 2011, went back for two weeks in 2012 and for three months in 2013. Los Barriles translates as “the barrels”; according to legend, conquistadors buried gold in barrels in the hills overlooking Bahia de las Palmas (link). 

The town grew up around sportfishing, which caught on in the 1950s and 1960s (link) when small fishing resorts hosted Hollywood stars like Errol Flynn, John Wayne and Bing Crosby (link). The area has some of the best fishing in the world (link, link, link) and fishing tournaments with significant prizes (link).

Entrance to Los Barriles from the Transpeninsular Highway

Today, snowbirds, part-time residents, retired gringos and tourists mingle with the local Mexican community. Cows and goats wander the roads and ATVs (known as “quads”) are a primary form of transportation. The main street through town is paved, but everything else is dirt. With only a few tourist hotels, Los Barriles is still a bit sleepy and dusty. It’s the anti-Cabo San Lucas – no cruise ships call here and the town is quiet after midnight.

Here is a short photo tour of Los Barriles focusing on the businesses, services, activities and local phenomena that we used or found interesting or important while we lived there.

Los Barriles looking north from the Transpeninsular Highway

Chapito’s is the largest supermarket in town and it caters to gringos. Selection and quantity drop during the hottest months (July-September) when most gringos leave for cooler locations, but increase when gringos return in the fall.

Supermercado Chapito's

Most houses in Los Barriles have municipal water. If you don’t have a filtration system, you can buy potable water (agua potable) from El Dorado water purification plant (chlorination, filtration, UV and reverse osmosis) for MX $12 for 19 liters (about US $1 for 5 gallons).

Agua Potable

You can buy flour tortillas (tortillas de harina) at the tortilleria.

Tortilleria

Most of your hardware needs can be met at Ferreteria Hermanos on the Transpeninsular Highway (we bought small bolts, paint and power steering fluid).

Ferreteria

The power steering pump in our truck was making excessive noise so I asked several resident gringos to recommend a mechanic. Oscar (pronounced Ohs’-kar) thought it was dirty fluid – he drained and re-filled the pump for MX $100 (about US $8); I had to provide the fluid (MX $100). His shop is the unmarked bay (on the left) on the Transpeninsular Highway; a welder occupies the right bay.

Mecánio Oscar

Charlie’s Chocolates sells homemade chocolate candies on the main street. The first time we visited his shop, a van load of gringas (women) had driven two hours from Los Cabos to buy his candies.

Charlie's Chocolates

Once the gringos are back in town, the community market happens on Saturday mornings in the park. The vendors are a mix of Mexicans and gringos, but the majority of shoppers are gringos. We bought organic vegetables, smoked fish, fresh tamales and a few gifts (regalos) for family.

Community Market

I bought some bamboo at the nursery (vivero) on the Transpeninsular Highway.

Vivero

Cows and goats wander through town grazing as they go. The cows are notorious for tipping over garbage cans and eating garbage, including cardboard boxes. The cows belong to the owners of a popular outdoor barbecue that's open on weekends.

Las vacas

The warm climate and proximity of ocean and mountains in Baja Sur favors outdoor activities and the choices are many: sportfishing, diving and snorkeling, kayaking and paddle boarding, kiteboarding and wind surfing, hiking, mountain biking, quad and horseback riding, birding and more. Excellent sportfishing draws a lot of tourists to the local hotels (link, link). This is the weigh station at the Hotel Palmas de Cortez.

Bull dorado

Wahoo

When the water is clear and calm, diving and snorkeling can be spectacular. Parque Nacional Cabo Pulmo, one of Mexico’s premier marine parks (link), is about an hour’s drive south of Los Barriles. I took this picture off Punta Pescadero, a rocky reef north of town.

Graybar grunts (burro almejero) and one bluechin parrotfish (loro barbazul)

Kiteboarding is soaring in popularity and two of the premier sites in Mexico are Los Barriles and La Ventana, south of La Paz, due to consistently strong winds from the north (El Norte) during the winter (link).

Kiteboarding

When the winds are strong, even the frigatebirds come to fly.

Magnificent frigatebirds

Olive ridley sea turtles return each year from July to November to lay their eggs on local beaches. Breeding populations on the Pacific Coast of Mexico are endangered and the government has banned the harvest of turtles and requires excluder devices in shrimp trawls (link). Local non-profit organizations (asociacion civil) working under permits from the federal government run nightly beach patrols to relocate nests to fenced areas and provide environmental education to school groups. The public is invited to participate in the release of hatchlings on the beach (link).

Excavating a protected olive ridley nest

Adults are 2-2½ ft long and weight 80-100 lbs. The median age of reproduction is 13 yrs and females nest 1-3 times a season producing 100-110 eggs per clutch. Hatching occurs in 50-60 days (link).

Rande helping with the hatchling release

Olive ridley hatchling 3-4 hours old

Bahia de las Palmas from our porch.