Bienvenidos a Los
Barilles, B.C.S!
History
Los Barilles means "the barrels." The area used to be a major
refueling port for fishing vessels, and others traveling the Sea of
Cortez. Many of the towns in Southern Baja have grown up around the
fishing industry. First, fishermen took advantage of the incredible
amounts of fish in the waters off Los Barilles and the surrounding
area, and fished commercially to feed the cities of Mexico. After
the quantity of fish seemed to diminish, Baja fishermen turned to
sport fishing to make a living. Back in the early 1950s, the
highway wasn’t paved all the way down as far as Los Barriles,
and the sport fishing resorts that were built relied mostly on
private airplane traffic for their patrons. Los Barriles is no
exception. In 1953, the Rancho Buena Vista hotel was the first
major sport fishing resort in the area. Soon after, the Bahia de
Palmas hotel opened. Although the air strip in front of the Bahia
de Palmas hotel is still visible, Los Barriles now gets a major
portion of its tourist traffic from highway 1, which passes through
on the road from La Paz to San Jose del Cabo.
Where To Go, and What To Do While Here?
Well, Id say it all depends on what time of the day you happen to
arrive. Los Barilles has a number of fantastic restaurants to
satisfy almost any pallet. Rent a quad from the "quadman" right
down the road, or perhaps take in views of the boats from the
Palmas Hotel. Here are some of my recommendations while in
town...If you happen to visit one, let me know in your log!
Breakfast: - Roadrunner Cafe, Caleb's Cafe, Verdugo's
Lunch: -Taqueria Viejo (my all time favorite), La Curva, or
Buzzard's Bay (right next to the cache in Plaza de Pueblo)
Dinner: -Tio Pablo's, Campestre y Triny (awesome food), or
Maria's
Grocery Store: -Chapitos...just on the left side of the Avenida
Valentin Ruiz, 1/4mile from the cache
Quads: -Quadman... Left side of Valentin Ruiz also (cant miss it,
tons of quads out front)
Banks: -Bancomer on Valentin Ruiz
Gas: -PeMex just up the road past 110km marker on the left side of
Hwy 1...
Hotels: Palmas de Cortez, Hotel Los Barilles
Best Cocktails: -If youre in a time crunch, then head to Buzzards
Bay, where Aldo, or Teo will take good care of you. If you have
some time, head all the way to the bottom of Avenida Valentin Ruiz
to the Palmas Hotel. Head to the back patio, and visit Hector who
makes one of the meanest Margarita's known to Baja. The service and
views of the incoming and outgoing boats are great.
The place really does have everything needed to spend a day in an
out of the way wonderful place in Baja. Please tell of your Los
Barilles experience when logging.
The Cache is located at the entrance to Los Barilles.
Situated at Highway 1 & Avenida Valentin Ruiz just prior to the
110km marker of Hwy. 1. Cache is a small container, with room
for small TB's and coins. Cache maintenance will be taken care of
on a regular basis, as I frequent this location throughout the
year.
Good luck, and thanks for visiting!