Puerto Peñasco

The evening was perfect, just before sunset. The sweet smell of sea filled the air. Low tide left puddles of water reflecting orange hues. 

Shallow tide pools now revealed an array of small shells. As we walked gathering shells, tourist boats with mariachi bands sailed near the horizon. Somewhere behind us another band played their tunes. A couple tossed a softball back and forth, while a group of youth played volleyball. 

The four of us wandered away from the water and toward a sandy hill with food stands and shops. We found a small shack where we ordered four chalupas and a torta. The service was good, but slow, and we spent some time waiting in front. 

It was there, sitting in a red plastic chair, where I met Raul, a 78 year old Mexican from Las Cruces, New Mexico. We began our conversation in Spanish, but it flowed in and out of English. He spoke through a salt and pepper goatee and looked great for his age. He has a home in Puerto Peñasco, as well as Las Cruces. I learned all about his business ventures, including the restaurant he owns and the fact that until three years ago he had to make 800 burritos a day! He comes to Puerto Peñasco often to relax and enjoy his second home. 

The Point restaurant.

Port of Puerto Peñasco.

Thus was our first evening in this dusty Sonoran beach town on the Sea of Cortez. We had just driven over ten hours from our home, through four different states, passing mile after mile of Joshua trees, saguaro cactus and empty open desert. We had never done anything quite like this. 

Puerto Peñasco is known as a resort town on the edge of the sea. It is a lure to those from the United States, especially Arizona, as it lies just 60 miles below the Mexican border. From the internet I knew what the beach and water looked like. But it was the town that drew my curiosity. No one really talked about the town of Puerto Peñasco. I knew it wasn't ancient nor Colonial in architecture like many other Mexican villages, but still there had to be an inner heartbeat that made it move. That's what I set out to find. 

Photos at sunset.

The life-blood of the town is the Malecón, a popular street filled with shops and high-pressure shopkeepers trying to sell you things you don't need. This place was pure chaos. “Come in,” they would say, “because we have exactly what you're looking for!” 

Any kind of souvenir you might want, you could find it here: t-shirts, sunglasses, bracelets. We gave in and bought a chess set. There was also the aroma of fish and seafood, a reality given their proximity to the sea. If you needed to book a tour, this was the place to come. You couldn't walk down the street without an aggressive salesman shadowing you. 

The Malecón was even worse at night. Loud music blared everywhere from speakers. There were twice as many people and half of them, it seemed, were drunk. The smell of alcohol, cigarette smoke and fish filled the air. Just a block away were street vendors selling tacos and elotes. On the balcony overlooking the sea a mariachi band played for money. 

Puerto Peñasco hoped to become the next Cancún. So far, that hasn't happened. Venture capitalists have come in, but for many of them things haven't panned out. A drive around the beach area reveals many abandoned hotel projects or other buildings that are now skeletons attracting dust. I've got a friend who is buying rental property down here. He plans on fixing it up and hiring a third party to manage. 

The main street coming into town is busy. Parking stalls in the area are small and sometimes hard to find. Some areas of town are shadier than others. The streets are a combination of dirt or pavement. 

Dirt roads at Cholla Bay.

Mural at Cholla Bay.

On the north end of town is a peninsula called Cholla Bay. We drove there out of curiosity. Before arriving at the quiet settlement the pavement ended and all the roads became sand. Most of them seemed drivable in our car, but we were cautious. 

Most of the peninsula consists of what I assumed were houses. There were a handful of restaurants. Several times we saw trucks hauling a boat behind it with several men in the boat. I don't know what that was about. 

Completing a satisfying lunch at Cholla Bay.

There was no beach, but we saw a place or two where a boat could be launched in the water. There was no view either. Houses aligned the coastline and I am sure that many of them had wonderful views out their backyard. 

We chose to eat at one of the few restaurants. I made it a point to order fish. As a note, the prices here weren't too different from what you'd find in the States. I suppose it's too close to the border and too many rich Americans come and visit. 

Storefront at Cholla Mall.

On our way back into town we came across another unexpected find. Cholla Mall, as it is called, almost looked like a scene from the apocalypse. This long street with shops on both sides boasted no visitors other than those of our family. Shop doors were open with goods inside, but no customers to find. These were the days of Covid-19 and the effects of the pandemic, I'm sure, made customers more sparse than normal. 

We walked up and down the street, poking in and out of shops and surprisingly not getting hassled. We were still looking for a few final souvenirs to buy. As this little strip mall sat on the edge of town, I felt as if it were part of the expansion movement, a shopping complex built to accommodate future growth. If you build it, they will come. Kind of in the same vein as all the abandoned hotels. Perhaps the growth didn't happen or the economy tanked. Or maybe it was Covid. Who knows? But Cholla Mall was pathetically empty. 

I did, however, enjoy one of the murals on the side of a building. The painting consisted of two saguaro cacti and two Native warriors. One wore a headdress of a deer and looked like he was jumping in the air doing a karate move. 

Interesting mural at Cholla Mall.

Most of our time in Puerto Peñasco was spent with the water, not the town. The Sea of Cortez and the desert that comes to its edge is what attracts the people. The biosphere of the sea is unique and has over 1500 different kinds of species. We took a cruise out to an island and saw sea lions and dolphins. 

When back in town we drove around to find a place to eat. The food here is nothing special and was similar to what you'd find at a taco shop in the States. I enjoyed eating in outdoor settings with the din of the town at our ears. 

Puerto Peñasco cemetery.

We drove to a cemetery and took ten minutes to walk through. As expected the entire graveyard consisted of a dirt floor and shrines built above the ground. I found many figures of Jesus and his mother, Mary, and the cross. 

On our final evening we found ourselves again at the Malecón. We just couldn't get enough of the hustling, I guess. We arrived just before sunset and the golden light that comes at that time of day. The same mariachi band played at the sea's edge, serenading seagulls and all others walking past. 

Mariachi band playing on the Malecón.

In an amazing coincidence, we stumbled across some friends of ours who also made the ten-hour drive. We had a good visit and took a picture together. They pointed us in the direction of a taco stand that provided an evening snack. 

Just a block away from the Malecón is the facade of a church that appears colonial-like in it's exterior—the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus. The pastel-colored church is painted yellow with orange trimming and has two bell towers. I'm sure this recent construction is an attempt to make this modern town appear more like the stereotypical old Mexican village. I appreciated that. 

Back at the Malecón we once again found the chaos of the shops and the music and the smells that brought this village alive. You couldn't tell there was a pandemic. We rubbed shoulders with those we passed, smelt their breath and guarded our wallets. The street lamps came on and the sky overhead turned dark. I heard as much English as I did Spanish. The shopkeepers knew what they had. We had bought all our souvenirs by now so we kept our eyes forward and walked toward the car. ♠

Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Church.