In Mexico there are beaches where laborers are trucked in and they
harvest smooth beach pebbles that are hand sorted by size and bagged
and shipped out to be used in landscaping. Often, many generations of
the same family will harvest these pebbles. Grandmother, mother and
child will work the same beach. What I want to know is this: What
specific beach in Mexico do these laborers harvest the pebbles? If
there is no specific beach, what area of beaches.

Hello bowedoak1-ga,

I have found references to pebbles extracted from beaches at San
Quintín and the surrounding area, in Baja California.

Here is a map of Baja California, which indicates where San Quintín is
located -- on the west coast, near the end of a series of towns going
south from Tijuana:

"Baja Highway Interactive Map"
Cabo Bob's Los Cabos
http://cabobob.com/00BajaHwy/mapframes.htm

The following two pages describe persons hauling bags of pebbles from
"the isolated Pacific coastline north of El Rosario", which, as the
map shows, is just south of San Quintín.  These pages also note that
"The black rocks ... come from that series of oceanic spires that
begin somewhere north of San Quintin and follow, more or less, our
route onto land and into the citrus plains of Baja Sur."

"Dunas de Soledad"
Notes from the Road/Desert Mexico
http://www.notesfromtheroad.com/desertmexicobajasur8.htm
http://www.notesfromtheroad.com/desertmexicobajasur9.htm

A page concerning Laguna Figueroa explains that "the town of San
Quintín lie[s] about 10 km to the southeast", and that there is
"extraction of pebble rock to the south".

"Laguna Figueroa: profile" [scroll down to "Land Use", and
specifically "Adjacent Use"]
Pro Esteros - Baja California Coastal Wetlands Inventory 
http://www.cicese.mx/~proester/inv/SanQuintin/LFigueroa/fprofile.htm

Another page advertises "Mexican beach pebbles" that are "extracted
manually from the tidal zone of San Quintin's beach".

"Products1"
Nuevo Horizonte Stones
http://www.nuevohorizontestones.com/prod.htm

Presumably this explains why a few pages use the term "San Quintin
pebbles":

Searched the web for "san quintin pebbles"
Google
://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=%22san+quintin+pebbles%22&btnG=Google+Search

I hope that this information is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga


Search terms used:

mexican "beach pebbles"
pebbles "san quintin"
"san quintin" baja
"san quintin" pebble
"san quintin pebbles"

[I tried other search terms as well, but the terms I have mentioned
resulted in the pages I have cited.]

Pinpointed exactly what I have been looking for for over a year.

Dear Bowedoak1-ga,

I know that your question was answered. The specific beach is called
"Ejido Chapala" beach at the farthest north point of San Quintin Bay.
A group of 49 people have authorization from the Mexican government to
harvest pebbles at this beach.
My father is a member of this group. This beach at San Quintin Bay is
not the only one, another beach is "Camalu Beach," 80 kilometers north
of San Quintin.

The stretch of beach where these pebbles are found is about 2 miles
long. People collect them between 6 am and 1 pm. They are transported
to Tecate, Baja California, sorted out and then exported to the U.S.

Hope this is useful.

Fernando

Fernando,

is there any more information that you can add? Who picks them? How
does one obtain a permit? Are the beaches private etc. Who can I
contact for more informaiton?