Puertocitos is a small fishing village on the coast south of San Felipe, situated where the road becomes rougher and settlements grow sparse. In the novel, it helps define a stretch of Baja California coast that is difficult to reach and monitor by land, but accessible by sea. That geography shapes the search for Adán Barrera and the efforts to watch the beaches near his refuge.

Setting and Access

The coast around Puertocitos contrasts with the more developed areas north of San Felipe. North of the village, tourist, fishing, and recreational-vehicle camps crowd parts of the shore; south of San Felipe, the immediate coast is similar before the road deteriorates and settlement thins on the way toward Puertocitos. A ten-kilometer stretch between the towns, beginning about forty kilometers south of San Felipe, has no camps and only a few isolated beach houses. The limited roads and tracks make the area secluded, while the sparse access routes also complicate any approach by a large force.

Role in the Coastal Search

The coast’s remoteness makes Puertocitos a useful reference point as investigators narrow their search for Barrera’s hideout. A fishing boat travels north from Puertocitos through a headwind, anchors offshore at dusk, and uses an infrared telescope to observe the beach in front of two stone houses. From that vantage, the observer sees a blond woman in a white dress walking toward the water. The boat’s departure from Puertocitos links the village to the surveillance operation without making the village itself the site of the hideout.

Place in the Escape Narrative

After the coastal pursuit, Barrera does not go to San Felipe; instead, he reaches a small fishing camp, where the owner recognizes him but pretends not to. The owner rents two cabins, one for Barrera and one for his driver. The narrative does not identify this camp as Puertocitos, but the episode extends the coastal setting established by the village and its surrounding fishing settlements. Puertocitos matters less as a destination than as a marker of the remote shoreline through which the search, surveillance, and flight unfold.