SFandH
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Malarrimo - meaning?
Someone in another thread claims that "Malarrimo" (as in the G. Neg. beach and hotel names) means "bad to be near". Google translate doesn't know the
word.
Does it mean what is claimed, does it mean something else, or is it just a meaningless name?
Does anybody know?
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chumlee57
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the Malarrimo used to be one of the favorites on the baja and a perfect stop over from the border, if you were headed further south. Unfourtunatly
that was about 15 - 20 yrs ago. I've been there over the past 10 yrs maybe 3 times just for old times sake, but I will typically stay at Terra Sol
closer to the highway and will head into town for a taco stand these days. Back in the day, malarrimo couldnt be beat for good food and the pelican
bar?? pool tables and good tv reception. It's changed owners a few times and the only thing that got any better was the little t - shirt shop next
door. Most people are dissapointed with the place these days, although I'd stay there again, no problem. The reference you are talking about in the
translation of malarrimo is one that a dissapointed patron has made up in order to disparage the place. I beleive Malarrimo is a reference to a baby
whale, but this may be because the sign on the road has a picture of a baby whale above the malarrimo entrance, and I have interpeted that way. Its
always interesting to look up translations
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David K
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Well documented in older Baja books. See Mike McMahan's 'There It Is: Baja!' (reissued as 'My Adventures in Baja'). On page 104, "Bad to get near..."
Mal, bad; arrimar, to get near.
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chumlee57
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my bad gents, I have seen some bad reviews of the malarrimo as of late, just thought it was another negative on the place, I am sure you are correct
in your translations. I'll stay in my lane from now on
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4x4abc
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since there isn't much interest in studying Baja, everyone can become an "expert" if willing to poke around a little and write a book about it
Harald Pietschmann
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David K
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Quote: Originally posted by lencho  | Which are about as credible as our suppositions on this forum unless
one of those authors was able to actually track down the origin of that word.  |
I recognize you as the Spanish language expert here. Can you please verify if this is correct or even close for the meaning of Malarrimo?:
"Bad to get near..." Mal, bad; arrimar, to get near.
Gracias.
As for the historical use of the name, it has been applied to the "hook" of Baja coast and a point there for ages. Sailors knew it was a potential
death trap, thus 'bad to be near.'
In 1888:
The Malarrimo Restaurant in Guerrero Negro is named after the coast there... Just walk inside and see all the Mike McMahan photos of his discoveries
in the 1960s or earlier. It was begun after the highway was completed, in 1974.
Here is from the website www.malarrimo.com/en:
"MALARRIMO" is the name of a lonely beach in BCS where, above North to South, the current named Marina of California whose waters are extremely cold
and turbulent, which made the navigator Sebastián Vizcaíno the great Spanish explorer, indicated in his letters of navigation as a great breakwater
with winds and raging sea that succumbs in the few deep sandbars that as Neruda said it is not known if they leave the sea or want to enter it. To
this mysterious and solitary place called Sebastián Vizcaíno the beach of Malarrimo.
The place of the lost things, because the currents that come from Japan and Alaska, have deposited for years, great amount of objects that floating in
the Sea, arrive and stay on the beach such as: gigantic trunks of the great forests of States United States and Canada, as well as marine objects,
corpses of drowned, blown glass buoys made in Japan since before the plastic existed as floating in the end, a great variety of objects that for years
have traveled in the Pacific Ocean and have been deposited in This huge beach.
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SFandH
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| Quote: Originally posted by lencho |
"Arrimo" is an approach (from the verb "arrimar", to approach), so a strong possibility is that it means something like "bad approach" (probably from
the point of view of sailors).
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I think lencho and other posters who recognized the name is partly derived from "arrimar" have got it. I can understand sailors naming the beach
malarrimo because, I think, the predominant ocean current there is directly onshore. A bad place to be in a sailboat with no motor.
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AKgringo
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This Spanish/English site; https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/arrimo lists one definition of 'arrimo' as protection.
Therefore, willardguy may be correct with his guess of 'bad protection'. You know....kind of like the condom that rotted in your wallet for a year
and a half before you got to use it!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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TMW
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There are treasures to be had by combing thru the junk at Malarrimo beach. We've found cameras that still work, new wet suits, millions of flip flops,
lures and lots of other stuff. To my regret I never found any booze only empty bottles.
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willardguy
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the Swede's call it "close to danger" in a Volvo I would agree!
https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a10474/el-malarrimo...
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David K
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| Quote: Originally posted by lencho | Nope.
Without tracking back to those who coined it, we're just guessing. As I said above, if it's from Spanish it *likely* means something like "bad
approach" (first meanings in the RAE), but considering other meanings of the word it might indicate "bad shelter", i.e. no friendly anchorage along that passage.
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"Bad [to] Approach" is pretty close to "Bad to Get Near," don't you think? Shall we beat this dead horse some more, lol? Thanks, Larry!
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willardguy
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| Quote: Originally posted by TMW | There are treasures to be had by combing thru the junk at Malarrimo beach. We've found cameras that still work, new wet suits, millions of flip flops,
lures and lots of other stuff. To my regret I never found any booze only empty bottles.
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you did good! all i've ever found out there is uninteresting garbage. 
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David K
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| Quote: Originally posted by willardguy | | Quote: Originally posted by TMW | There are treasures to be had by combing thru the junk at Malarrimo beach. We've found cameras that still work, new wet suits, millions of flip flops,
lures and lots of other stuff. To my regret I never found any booze only empty bottles.
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you did good! all i've ever found out there is uninteresting garbage.
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Mike McMahan was famous for his discoveries on Playa Malarrimo. The new lagoon that opened up just west of the Scammon's Lagoon opening was named
after Mike...
Mike published his book in 1973, and there was a 1974 edition (with the above map added).
In 1983, a paperback edition of the same book but with a different title was published.
His Malarrimo findings were historic!
Most know Mike McMahan from his big Baja wall maps (this is an image of the 1972 edition from the back cover of his book):
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windgrrl
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An explanation from Baja Bound:
https://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/guerrero...
When the way comes to an end, then change. Having changed, you pass through.
~ I-Ching
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Bajazly
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My girl in Baja says it has a couple meanings. One is "Ill bring it to you" but in a "joke form" it refers to a guys private part and sounds like if a
lady says it, it's about her private parts.
Believing is religion - Knowing is science
Harald Pietschmann
"Get off the beaten path and memories, friends and new techniques are developed"
Bajazly, August 2019
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David K
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Glad you are enjoying my articles!
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Howard
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I might of lost my virginity in Tijuana in 1963, how does that rank me in time in Baja? 
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing
George Bernard Shaw
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