Rosarito is named as one of the beach-resort destinations frequented by affluent Tijuana families. In the novel, it belongs to a transnational social world in which weekends could mean leisure in Baja California as readily as in the United States.

Setting and Use

The account places Rosarito alongside Ensenada as a resort option for the children of Tijuana’s upper class. During the week, these young people attended school in San Diego; on weekends, they returned to Tijuana or went to resorts on the coast. Rosarito is thus presented as part of their familiar circuit of recreation, rather than as a separate or exceptional destination.

The Social World Around the Resort

The young people’s resort outings sit within a wider routine shaped by family wealth and cross-border ties. Fabián, Alejandro, and their peers had grown up together between Tijuana and San Diego, attended private schools, and spent weekends at country clubs, beach resorts, or social gatherings. Rosarito’s place in that routine reflects the ease with which this group moved among settings on both sides of the border.

Narrative Significance

Rosarito helps establish the comfortable, mobile background of Fabián and his peers before the narrative turns to the power and danger surrounding the Barrera brothers. The resort setting belongs to a world of leisure and inherited access, while the boys’ growing awareness of the brothers’ influence points toward opportunities beyond the conventional future of working in their fathers’ offices. The novel uses this contrast to connect their privileged social environment with the criminal power entering their lives.