Living in a Baja Seafood Village

This remote fishing village has quickly become Baja’s iconic Seafood Village and a MUST NOT MISS stop when traveling to San Quintin

Cristina and I selected this region 15 years ago as where we would build our forever home.

We had lived in the Rosarito Beach area for 6 years but knew we wanted to set roots further south and with some help from our good friend and neighbor Mauro, we discovered La Chorera.

This small village surrounded by ancient volcanoes met nearly every single item on our checklist: a small coastal community on the rocky and rugged northern Baja Pacific coastline that gives you a remote, disconnected feeling yet not TOO far from civilization with LOTS of tidepools interlaced with clean sandy beaches and a year round mild, Mediterranean climate.

The tradeoff for all that was there was, and still is no grid power out here. No phones, no water service, no cable, paved streets or sidewalks – in fact people pretty much just make their own roads wherever they want out here for the most part. Cellular / data service became available in only the past few years and we still have to truck our water in via ten thousand liter tanker trucks over a sandy, rocky road.

But in hindsight is was and continues to be a very small price to pay to be able to live in what feels like paradise to us in this small fishing community where everybody knows everybody and everybody knows everybody’s’ business.

Where the time of day is usually measured by the tide tables, not a watch.

Where kids still play barefoot and learn to shuck an oyster before they learn to read.

Where friends come together to help a neighbor start building a new home.

Where the stars overhead on any cloudless night vastly outnumber the darkness that separates them.

Where generations of families continue to work the sea together in tune with the tides, the currents and the seasons.

And where the freshness of seafood is measured in minutes; at most a few hours, not days or even weeks as is typical with frozen, warehoused seafood products handled by international seafood brokers.

A little over a year ago and with the pandemic in full swing, the local fishing community here at La Chorera was struggling as seafood restaurants across the southwestern U.S. were closing and seafood exports heading north across the U.S. – Mexico border came to a screeching halt.

Many started feeling desperate as here in Mexico there were no pandemic aid payments and few government assistance programs available. And what there was wasn’t much.

So the community here decided to do what they know best; offer fresh, prepared seafood to the general public. With each other’s help they built their food stands out of discarded lumber and shipping pallets.

Early on there weren’t a lot of clients but enough to keep them encouraged to reinvest back into better equipment, better kitchens and hire more help. Over the months that followed, the daily visitors increased from a few dozen to several hundred and it all began to take on the feel of a true seafood village!

Today there is a steady flow of visitors to the area but it really has managed to keep its original charm.

With miles and miles of undeveloped and rugged coastline, these local waters are crystal clear-pristine and our local fishermen carefully select only the very best from a wide variety of super fresh, premium seafood products with their family members preparing and serving them right to your table!

It simply doesn’t get any better!

And in just seven more weeks – on July 18th – La Chorera will be hosting the 2021 edition of the Reto Volcanico; a 25K marathon that attracts endurance runners from the world over, testing themselves against some of the best on a demanding yet incredibly scenic course that winds around the San Quintin Bay wetlands, volcanoes and the La Chorera coastline.

The event provides a GREAT excuse to come out to La Chorera, in case you have never made the trip out before.

How to get here?

Here are some maps for you to follow below. or just input these Google Map coordinates into your GPS that will take you directly to La Chorera:

Google Maps – La Chorera, Baja California