Los Barriles
("The Barrels") is a town (population 1,174) in La
Paz Municipality, Baja California Sur, Mexico. It is
situated along Highway 1, 40 miles north of San José
del Cabo and 65 miles south of La Paz. Punta
Pescadero Airstrip is 9 miles to the north; Rancho
Leonero, a vacation resort, is to the south.
Adjacent to Buenavista, the rural towns straddle the
head of Bahía las Palmas on the Gulf of California,
where winter westerlies average 20–25 knots (23–29
mph). Los Barriles is within the transition area of
the Baja California peninsula's Sierra de la Laguna
where the hills become sandy flats. Mexican starfish
mutation, the Devil Star, found in the Gulf of
California between Los Barriles and La Paz.
Los Barriles Beach
Known for its flyfishing, Los Barriles is also
Baja's kitesurfing and windsurfing capital. In 2006,
the Shakespeare Theatre Association's annual
conference was held in Los Barriles.
Ledged Behind The Barrels
Elder people assure that one day a pirate boat
arrived to hide a few barrels, but instead of being
filled with water, they had gold inside! It is
said that just one person witnessed this event, and
the story says that he had the pirates' permission
to take the gold if they didn't come back on a
certain date... Sadly this person died without
taking the gold neither telling anybody where the
pirates buried the barrels.
Local people are well engaged in this story and some
of them even claim to know where the barrels are
located or know someone who does. One of the
places that are usually related to this tale is a
hill close to El Pescadero, where some fishermen of
the area say that sometimes when they fish during
the night they notice that the hill seems to be on
fire, which in the Mexican culture is related to
buried treasure.
