oladulce
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Palapas Alvinos in San Quintin
Has anyone stayed here? Are there people on-site thru the night?
Pabellon down the beach is still ok, but lately we've been the only one's there overnight and although no problems, it's a little creepy being out
there in the open with a big ol camper and ute trailer. It would be nice to have another option since we seem to be in this area going north and
south.
Alvinos is listed on the BajaNomad Interactive Map but I haven't heard much else about it.
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Fred
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Wow, that whole beach to yourself at Pabellon. I love it that way, but understand what you are saying. To each his own......................
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oladulce
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It does sound ideal to have a beach to yourself Fred, but here's the history:
In El niño winter of '92 we were stranded for 2 weeks with 80 other vehicles (RV's, cars, Mexican truckers..) at an abandoned Pemex in SQ, about 2
miles north of Pabellon. Unrelenting rain had washed out the Hwy #1 bridge south at El Socorro and North near Pinos and we were stuck between the
bridges .
It looked like a huge refugee camp at the Pemex.
During that time, nighttime thefts at the campo Pemex became rampant . Since this wasn't too far from the migrant farm worker housing, these were the
most suspect. Even guys sleeping in their trucks would get broken in to and not hear a thing. After the first week the Army posted soldiers round the
clock at the encampment, and the thefts came to a halt.
We've been staying one night at Pabellon on the trip north and south about 4 times/year since then, with only a hint of wariness. Going south in
August, and North in Sept, we were the only one's in the whole place- which was a first.
The Campo Pemex experience and thefts left a lingering uneasiness about the area that we probably wouldn't feel otherwise.
[Edited on 1-11-2008 by oladulce]
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BajaWarrior
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Oladulce,
I remember those rains real well, and while we did not get trapped between arroyos, I remember the arroyos running for years after that.
Just south of Pabellon, and just north of Socorito, where the dunes end, there was a literall 1000' long wall of driftwood that had gone to sea then
returned on the point. You couldn't have packed it as tight as it was, very impressive. We saw all this the summer after that storm, it was still
intact all those months.
Haven't had a bad trip yet....
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oladulce
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Warrior-
The bridge across the arroyo at Socorro was already damaged when we got there and we were in one of the last groups of vehicles that the army led thru
the rising water across the riverbed below the bridge. They shut down traffic after that. I don't remember the debris as much as I recall the moving
water as we crossed there.
I never saw that beach, but to pass time each day while stranded we'd walk over to check the Rio San Simón water level, then down to the beach near
the Pinta hotel. You're right, an impressive amount of stuff came down those arroyos and went out to sea. Eventually (around day 10 or 11, I think)
there was a brief break in the rain which lowered water level enough to allow us to be towed across the San Simon riverbed by a 4wd tractor. In
retrospect, not our smartest decision and we were lucky we didn't end up as part of the flotsam.
Once we got across San Simon, the rain started up again and the army put a stop to the tractor towing of cars behind us. We only made it 10 miles
north and got stuck between damaged bridges and unpassable arroyos again.
Spent another 6 days at Don Pepe's in Vincente Guerrero until they were able to dam up the river North of that town, and repair the bridge.
Doesn't seem like there's much traffic at Alvino's Rv (the old location of "Honey's Camp") judging by the response. hmmm
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vacaenbaja
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Oladulce, You must have been stuck at the same time I was back then. We camped out at the Pemex along with two couples that had diesel 4X4's with
campers. They were surfers and had a weather fax. One gent was a teacher from Texas I believe and the other was a fireman. Also in our group was a
commercial fisherman on vacation towing a 17 foot aluminum boat. He had a nice dog. His name was Craig, I think that he lived in San Diego. He had
caught a lot of yellowtail and it fed us all for a few days. Another member of our "group" had brought back a case of some good tequilla in ceramic
bottles from Jalisco to take home. He broke out a bottle a night to keep our spirits up. You are right after that first night when the locals came
braving the mud and the rain to steal everything that was not bolted down and even had bolt cutters for the bikes and motorcycles that were chained to
the RVs. They cased the camp in the morning and came back prepared at night. After that night we all got together to pull a 24hr guard, Anyone walking
by camp that was not part of the stranded group was watched very carefully. There was one very nice lady in town that offered up her house to all
tourists for a shower and a hot meal. She was prepared for this thing and had plenty of food stored up. She said she did this in appreciation for the
help that the Flying Samaritans and other north of the boarder groups have done in the past to improve things in their area in times of need. That
trip had forever soured me on San Quintin as far as camping goes.
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Fred
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You are talking 1992.......I think this is 2008. I also remember hearing stories about a couple being killed there. But that also was about 15 years
ago. I still love the place. But to each it own. I still go down sandy roads to camp alone to this day.
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oladulce
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| Quote: | Originally posted by vacaenbaja
Oladulce, You must have been stuck at the same time I was back then. We camped out at the Pemex along with two couples that had diesel 4X4's with
campers. They were surfers and had a weather fax. One gent was a teacher from Texas I believe and the other was a fireman... |
vaca-
We're the ones with the weather fax .
Guess you had to be at campo Pemex to grasp where we're coming from about San Q, huh. Whether it happened yesterday or 50 yrs ago, it left a lasting
impression of the southern SQ area.
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