A couple weeks ago, after 9 months I finally returned to San Rafael. I was one of 4 people who last saw Pancho alive last May and helped make the
decision to load him up and get him to the hospital but as most know, by that time it was too late. I will always wonder if we had done that a day
before if the outcome would have been different.
I first met Pancho in November of 2014 returning up the peninsula camping for a week after the Baja 1000. I was taken by San Rafael and returned maybe
12 to 15 times to camp and fish there for days or a week at a time. Pancho and I became very good friends and like many, I would always make it a
point to take him something he needed or I thought he needed. Every time I would pull in the greeting was always the same, his eyes would light up and
a warm hug with beer in hand would ensue. Although he spoke about as much English as I spoke Spanish, we would sit for hours talking and even tho we
didn't understand each other literally, I always felt the gist of the conversation was understood by the both of us. Sometimes my girl would translate
a little for me but when they were talking, I would just be listening trying to pick out some of the key words to try and get what they were saying.
Pancho was a simple man with few worldly possessions and only wanted what he needed to live day to day. If he didn't have it he would make due with
what washed up on the beach, what he found in the desert or what people would bring or leave behind. Although he had little, what he did have was many
friends and cared for most everybody with respect and sincerity like few I have ever met and in my book, that made him rich beyond what most will ever
know. I remember a couple times I showed up there he was all p'd off at Rancho Jose for some reason but by the end of the stay or the next time I
returned, there was Jose and Pancho yucking it up like nothing had ever happened.
I've heard several stories on how Pancho ended up in San Rafael but never did ask him exactly how that beach came to be where he settled but the
decision he made some 32 years ago obviously made him very happy. A simple man with a simple life and always as happy as the day is long. The time I
knew Pancho was relatively short but I consider him to be one of the best friends I've had in my life.
San Rafael will always be a special place for me but it is not quite the same anymore however it was good to see the fishermen who go there are
respecting the place and are actually using the shack and not just destroying the place. Who knows, although they are pretty big shoes to fill, maybe
someone will step in and San Rafael will again be a place to stop in and have a beer with a crazy old hermit and some good times and not just a pull
over to only see the water.
Panchos grave towards the back of the cemetery in Bahia
Looking from the Shrine on the hill.
Some crazy weather when we were there
Who whom have been there won't recognize this as a welcoming sight?
A newish pic on the wall of the shack
A few things we found on the beach to adorn the grave a little.
This rock was there someone had painted but it was upside down when we first went there. Didn't find it until we moved it arranging the shells. A
really nice sentiment from someone.
And a few years ago when Pancho drug me off in the desert to retrieve this for the baño he was building for the palapa down the beach. That project
was never finished.
Believing is religion - Knowing is science
Harald Pietschmann
"Get off the beaten path and memories, friends and new techniques are developed"
The first time I stopped in to visit Panch he was living in a slide in camper and he had a small ramada. He was always happy to have company. It was
fun to watch his spot grow with donated improvements and we always left him a generous donation for the cold beer and in his last years, fresh, hot
tortillas. I brought my wife one year, a fluent spanish speaker, he really wanted to send us on our way with fish, something that doesn't travel well
on a moto. His local gossip was alway entertaining and often times a year or more behind the actual event, but then his concept of time was different
than most. He lived on top of a hill overlooking a bit of paradise. I rode through last week and didn't bother to stop as his place was overrun with
construction workers - the road crew I presume and there were at least a half dozen or more shack around his once pristine little hill. Another baja
icon gone but not forgotten.
I met Pancho in either the fall of 20012, or spring of 2013 on my first excursion down the road south of B.O.L.A.. I did not spend much time around
there, but overnighted at his camp six times over the years since we first met.
I stopped there on my way north at the end of March last year, and was shocked to hear of his passing so soon after that. He seemed in good health
when I was there!
My Spanish, and his English were about on a par, so there may be errors in what I learned about his life. He never mentioned any family, although he
asked about mine, so I am surprised to hear about a son.
My understanding is that he was from Guaymas, and first arrived in the area as a crew member on a fishing boat. If I got the story right, he first
started staying at the fish camp to guard the gear as the boat made trips to sell the catch, and fuel up.
I believe he decided to stay there, and tried working for ranchers, and boats in the area (second hand info) before taking early retirement at his
beach front abode.
I always enjoyed my stay there, and so did our dogs! I would appreciate any corrections to my understanding of Pancho's story.
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!
Nice story...
While I only visited with him a few times and never camped by his place (we did once on the beach 2 miles north), he made such a positive impression!
I think I first learned about Pancho from Zac ('bajaboy' on Nomad) when I met Zac in 2001 at our first Matomi/President's Dat Weekend event. Zac was
going to Pancho's after spending the weekend with us Amigos de Baja. I even hosted Zac's photos of a trip to San Rafael in 2001 (a few of Pancho's
images are in here): http://www.vivabaja.com/zac_pics/index.html
I met Pancho a few months later after searching for a lost mission:
Pancho and me in the center, April 2002.
On Christmas vacation 2002, my kids (age 14 and 12) and I stopped there and Pancho was serving fish tacos and selling beer and sodas. A great dinner
in his home for us and he even pulled out some frozen chicken to fix my daughter who hates fish! What a guy!!
In 2012, we stopped by but he was not home and camped on the beach just north a couple miles.
In 2016, I took my Baja Extreme 2016 guests there and everyone loved Pancho... saw him as far more sincere and generous than Coco, who they had met
just a couple days before. Pancho gave the girls in our group sea shells...
I left him a few of my books that he could sell for some $$ and he wanted me to bring a case down to him and split the money! So kind of him... but
very business-like. I saw him again in January 2017... the last time. The guy was so cool that when the Devil's Road film people were there, asking
about area history, he gave them one of those books and they looked me up the next year! Pancho is in their movie preview at Minute 1:27+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynw-Bn8YWiA
I really miss that Pancho is not with us anymore... as does everyone who got the privilege of meeting him.
I was told by a neighbor that around new years his place was being occupied by his son?
I have never heard of un hijo and he always alluded to being all alone but who knows. A couple weeks ago there were only some pescadores using the
place for a couple days and nights then they left.
Believing is religion - Knowing is science
Harald Pietschmann
"Get off the beaten path and memories, friends and new techniques are developed"
I'm glad you made it back. Pancho will definitely be missed and I'm glad I got to meet him. The lady, son and I passed you at the diversion just south
of Puertocitos while you were headed north. I'll have to swing by the shop and say whats up.
Pancho in Dec '17 with a group of German bicycle tourists. There was also a couple from TJ on a totally overloaded KLR that had melted the clutch
plates together riding to San Rafael the day beore. They said it took them 6 hours to get to Pancho's from LA Bay. There was also a guy with a yellow
FJ and kayak from CA who ended up driving them back to LA Bay for parts.
I'm glad you made it back. Pancho will definitely be missed and I'm glad I got to meet him. The lady, son and I passed you at the diversion just south
of Puertocitos while you were headed north. I'll have to swing by the shop and say whats up.
Pancho in Dec '17 with a group of German bicycle tourists. There was also a couple from TJ on a totally overloaded KLR that had melted the clutch
plates together riding to San Rafael the day beore. They said it took them 6 hours to get to Pancho's from LA Bay. There was also a guy with a yellow
FJ and kayak from CA who ended up driving them back to LA Bay for parts.
You may want to resize this image.
You've just made this thread virtually unreadable.
I'm glad you made it back. Pancho will definitely be missed and I'm glad I got to meet him. The lady, son and I passed you at the diversion just south
of Puertocitos while you were headed north. I'll have to swing by the shop and say whats up.
Pancho in Dec '17 with a group of German bicycle tourists. There was also a couple from TJ on a totally overloaded KLR that had melted the clutch
plates together riding to San Rafael the day beore. They said it took them 6 hours to get to Pancho's from LA Bay. There was also a guy with a yellow
FJ and kayak from CA who ended up driving them back to LA Bay for parts.
You may want to resize this image.
You've just made this thread virtually unreadable.
For sure... thanks for photos but you just need to edit into your tag line the max image for Nomad which is 800x600. Now, your photo tag looks like
this (a space is added so the photo won't show again): [img]https://i.imgur.com/9C2E5mq.jpg [/img]
To fix the size, insert into the first tag =800x600:
[img=800x600]https://i.imgur.com/9C2E5mq.jpg [/img]
Now, with space removed:
Doug will fix if he sees this before the OP can fix.
"If it were lush and rich, one could understand the pull, but it is fierce and hostile and sullen.
The stone mountains pile up to the sky and there is little fresh water. But we know we must go back
if we live, and we don't know why." - Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt
"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them or to them." - Malcolm Forbes
"Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others
cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you." - Jim Rohn
"The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer." - Cunningham's Law
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