Amy's Rear View Mirror
Puerto Peņasco, MXMay 2003
(Rocky Point)
Puerto Peņasco, MXMay 2003
(Rocky Point)
Several months ago I joined a local singles club and for Memorial Day Weekend I went on their trip to Rocky Point, Mexico where we stayed at Vina Del Mar Motel.
The club chartered a party bus for us. We left on Friday afternoon and got to MX around 9 PM. After we checked into
our rooms we met at the pool and took a walk down thru the fish market in search of food. We found a little shop and the owner made us a deal on some food. I had a shrimp cocktail which isn't anything like an American shrimp cocktail. It was more like Ceviche ... very good. After eating we returned to the hotel and hung out by the pool talking for several hours.
Saturday morning we met for breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then had a choice ... stay by the pool or take the bus to go to the beach/ATV riding on the dunes for the day. I stayed by the pool and relaxed while getting some sun. We went to dinner at one of the restaurants in the fish market. Then walked to Manny's for an evening of dancing. We got back to the hotel a little after midnight and continued to hang out by the pool for several hours.
Sunday morning we went to breakfast at Cafe Plazas Las Glorias. Again we had a choice of the hotel pool or take the
bus to the beach/ATV riding. I went with several friends shopping in the fish market and then we sat
by the hotel pool for several hours. We went to dinner at Lily's in the fish market and then to Sunset Lounge for an evening of dancing. After getting back to the hotel around midnight we hung out by the pool for several hours getting in every last minute before going home tomorrow.
Monday morning several of us went to the fish market to buy fresh seafood to carry home. I got jumbo shrimp, scallops and red snapper. We left around 10 AM and got home around 6 pm.
History
Rocky Point, Mexico is located on the northern shore of the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California). For years the community known as Puerto Peņasco to the Mexicans has been called Rocky Point by the Americans. Rocky Point in spanish would be Punta (not Puerto) Peņasco. Why the discrepancy? In the 1930's the name was changed to Puerto Punta Peņasco (Port Rocky Point). Americans dropped the Port, and Mexicans the Punta.
Approximately 20,000 years ago from the 'Ajo Valley' to Puerto Peņasco nomadic tribes & their more adventurous members started a 'trading zone' attracting the Hohokan indians from as far away as present day Phoenix, Arizona to get fish, salt, and trade goods. They traded with the local & often nomadic Pina Cateņo & Areņero Indians.
In 1698 Padre Kino met the Peņasco tribes calling them 'The people of the sand.' They were related to the Papago tribe. Kino continued his frequent visits to teach the Penasco's many skills, including the business of pearl diving. However, Kino wasted no time in claiming the pearl beds in the name of the King of Spain.
Leaders & battles came and went during the 11 years of war, until finally on August 24, 1821 was the signing of the 'Treaty of Cordoba' which ended the war which recognized Mexico's independence from Spain.
In the early part of the 1900's Mexico was again on the verge of revolution. Puerto Peņasco with it's harbor, nearby goldmine, and only 60 miles from a U.S. border trade route (Arizona) quickly fit into the Army of the Revolution's plans, and it's northern leader, Francisco Pancho Villa! Pancho Villa, no stranger to the area, had been selling rustled cattle to some of the Arizona ranchers along the border for years.
The 1920's brought 'permenent settlers' from the U.S. who built the area's first hotel near the point. Alcoholic beverages were illegal in the U.S. & the hotels first order of business was to sell beer, whiskey, and wine to the 'tourists'. Soon other U.S. citizens got into the hotel- bar business in Peņasco, including Al Capone. He and several Mexican fisherman formed the nucleus of a town. During the 1930's & 1940's Peņasco's 'Old Town' grew up. Boats started showing up in the harbor, and a small 'fishing town' was formed. They built a wharf where cargo vessels would tie up, a railroad that would unify Baja California with the rest of the country, and a highway to the United States.
Rocky Point provided the ideal place for refuge from storms, thanks to the hill of volcanic origin, which the fishermen knew as "the hill of the whale".
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