Upon first hearing about Malarrimo, one feels a strong desire to uncover the relics hidden beneath its sands. The experience of arriving and feeling the resonance of its legend celebrates both the journey and the arrival. However, the true treasures are not the marine artifacts, but the narratives and meanings they conceal, woven into a shroud of mystery that perpetuates their essence and enigma.
The Legend
Bold adventurers, bright-eyed treasure seekers, and rugged seafarers brought the tales of this corner of the world to the front pages:
“Junkyard of the Pacific” (Summary).
Los Angeles Times, June 3, 1963
In a riveting tale, three beachcombers from Los Angeles discovered Malarrimo and christened it the “Junkyard of the Pacific”. During an expedition, the trio discovered an astonishing variety of objects scattered along 29 kilometers of sand: shipwrecks, a crashed plane, a torpedo, and a life jacket from SS President Madison.
The beach, accessible only by four-wheel drive vehicles or by plane, is a difficult terrain where soft sand and fine dust challenge every step. Explorers relate how a treasure hunter could survive for months by feeding on the cans that can be picked up on the beach, or shells containing meat, coffee, dried fruit, military rations (K Portions), and a variety of other edible foods.
The Movie
In 1970, Disney’s “Three Without Fear” (“Tres Sin Miedo”), an action-adventure drama, followed the journey of Dave Rogers, a 13-year-old American boy, and two native Todos Santos orphans, Maria and Pedro. The road movie depicted their 400-mile journey along the inhospitable coast of Mexican California.
Dave left La Paz for his uncle’s ranch, but his plane is forced to make an emergency landing on the desolate coast of Malarrimo. While seeking help for the injured pilot, Dave is bitten by a scorpion and knocked unconscious on the beach. Peter and Mary, furtive orphans on their way to San Quentin, find him and save his life. United by fate, the three face the constant threat of Manuel, Pedro, and Maria’s sinister guardian, as well as the challenges of the natural world.
On their journey, the children found shelter in a cave, facing soul-crushing challenges. Pursued by relentless currents and secrets dragged by the sea, they discovered the strength of friendship and resilience in adversity. Along the way, they left their mark on the magic and mysteries of a place where ancient stories mingle with the persistent whisper of the waves.
Roy Edward Disney, the film’s producer, described Malarrimo Beach as “a paradise full of trash,” ideal for the story of these young adventurers. The beach, with its inaccessibility and mystery, provided the perfect setting for the film.
Link to see the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUls_MNt1Q4
Poetry
Alice in Malarrimo (Juan Melgar)
From the winning poetry book of the “Juegos Florales Margarito Sández Villarino”, 1995.
It will be a place never visited but that you imagined. Blue and yellow, they will have told you. In the afternoon, Alicia, maybe a sea wind will leave the waves to dig its nails into the vine shoots of the hut.
All night, the dawn will have been announced, and when the breeze has not yet cleared the azure coastal serpent of the mist, the stench of rotting seaweed will cautiously crawl to the wrecks to evoke other navigations of old seas.
It will be noon when the giant beats the coast in a single roar without anacrusa (an upbeat line of poetry) because wolves, seagulls, boobies, red-breasted frigates, and even the mute pelicans with the hissing of their feathers will want to join the chorus.
There will be half-buried there the willowy ribs of the whale, a digital clock, two ventruda (big-bellied) buoys with Okinawa mesh, sequoia trunks that will have jumped the cliff to go to sea with the bufeos (dolphins) and polished by the centennial rubbing, the astrolabe (an ancient instrument enabling astronomers to calculate the position of the sun and stars relative to both the horizon and meridian) that the pilot Urdaneta threw in triumph to the tornaviaje (return trip) of his ship.
Everything will be there on that ancient beach, a landfill of spoils, treasures, skeleton bridges, booms, booms, spars, humble skirts, ornate masks, torpedo halyards, anchors, capes, drums, millenary circular anchorages carved in stone by sailors from the West and petrified coconuts that can germinate in a thousand centuries with roots of salt and lava leaves.
Everything will be there waiting, waiting for you
Alicia, for you to bear witness.
