Dispatch Number 3 -Flotsam

Big Malarrimo Beach with all its lore and fame among the beach comer set who scourer remote beaches in hopes of finding something special washed up on shore. If you talk to one of these beach comers they'll tell you Malarrimo is one of the top 5 beaches in the world to find odd things on. So there I was, standing on Malarrimo after 25 miles of challenging dirt road with faint tracks through a sandy river bed that led to a pile of glorified trash. There was not a person in sight. Set in a remote part of Baja California, Malarrimo Beach sits on the north edge of the Vizcaino Desert and catches a Pacific Ocean current all the way from the Philippines. It sits at the mouth of a crooked narrow wash and is referred to as the Junkyard of the Pacific.

There I stood gazing at a sea of plastic bottles. Lots of plastic crap scattered all over in a narrow gap of soft sandstone that let out to the Pacific. At least plastic is colorful, it set a charming scene against the light brown sands. So this was it? Where were the cases of booze; the gas masks; the message in a bottle? It became evident that I would need and incredible amount of patience to find something in this meadow of trash OR I should never read about a place before I visit.

Was it American impatience when I did not find treasure quickly, in the way I would find something on a store shelf? I took a walking stick and began to flip over trash, bottles, foam chunks and things that took a while to figure out what they were. I focused on wine bottles with corks jammed back in them for a message in the bottle -this kept me going for hours, I turned over dozens of them in hope of a message from a far away place. To my surprise there are many conscientious wine drinkers because most of these bottles were empty and re-corked.

I ambled over mounds of sea trash looking at thousands of plastic bottles and containers. No messages except the one that plainly told me that if I litter where it goes, how ugly it looks, and how long the stuff can last even in the harshest of conditions. Malarrimo is fiercely windy with waves to match the intensity of the place. In the morning light the waters of the Pacific were emerald, magnificent hues of emerald. At sunset the waters took on a menacing black and green tint, even the seagulls fought.

My one catch, during my stay at Malarrimo, was a piece of pure Americana -Mickey Mouse's left ear. The big black one from the dome cap we all owned once. I thought of Mafia style murder with an ear sliced off. I came to Malarrimo at great distance and hardship to find one of Mickey Mouse's ears.

Some great reward.

David,
La Paz, Mexico