2025 - Oral Story - San Pancho I Helped Build- Don Lundgren
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I didn’t just want to live in San Pancho—I wanted to contribute. What started as a simple storytelling workshop grew into something bigger: a way to connect people, preserve history, and capture what this place means to those who have lived it.
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That started in December, before we even moved in. Entreamigos was holding its annual fundraiser, and we decided to go. That’s where I reconnected with Nicole, who we had met earlier while looking at houses.
During that conversation, I told her something simple: I wanted to help, and I thought Entreamigos was the place to do it.
I explained that I had been running a workshop called My Life Stories via ChatGPT, and that I thought it would be a great fit for the community. She immediately agreed—it made sense to her right away.
From there, we worked together through December and early January, shaping the workshop—what it would look like, how it would run, and who should be involved. She connected me with Mauricio, who ran the IT Center, and by the time I arrived in January, we had essentially designed the entire program.
What I discovered next was interesting.
The workshop itself was easy to build. I had already run it in Sonoma at the community center, so I knew it worked.
But marketing it? That was much harder than I expected.
I had assumed Entreamigos would handle the promotion and people would naturally show up. But their announcement came late, and we had to postpone the first workshop to February. Even then, only one or two people came through their outreach.
So I tried something different.
I invited someone from my pickleball group. He attended, really liked it, and went back and told others, “This is a great workshop—you should go.” That changed everything.
More people came to the next session. Then they told others. And before long, the workshop started to grow.
In the end, more than half the participants came through the pickleball community—not formal marketing, but simple word-of-mouth and personal connections.
That experience taught me something important: building the workshop is the easy part. Building the audience is the real challenge.
The workshop itself is intentionally simple. I ask people to bring an outline—just a few bullet points about a story they want to tell. In the session, I give a short introduction, and then they sign up for ChatGPT and read their outline into it. It generates a story right on the spot.
There’s no real training. They just do it.
Then we take it one step further. I have them use ChatGPT to generate insights about their story—what it means, what stands out. That part turns out to be surprisingly powerful. People love it.
After that first round, I started thinking about what to do next.
Over the summer, I decided I wanted to expand beyond the expat community and bring the workshop into the local Mexican community—with a Spanish version.
I asked my Spanish teacher if he would run it, and he agreed. But we ran into the same issue again: marketing. We didn’t have a natural network like pickleball, and the outreach didn’t produce attendees.
At the same time, another opportunity emerged - Presidential Magic
I had been working with my friend Javier, who translated a book called Presidential Magic. It tells the story of how Luis Echeverría Álvarez transformed San Pancho between 1973 and 1976.
Back then, San Pancho was a small village, and he poured resources into it—bringing in sewage, water, and electricity, building homes, creating a hospital, starting a university, and launching businesses. Streets were even named after developing countries—like the one we live on, Nicaragua.
It was an extraordinary transformation.
We helped promote the book and organized two presentations at Entreamigos. Both had strong attendance, especially from the expat community. People were curious—how did San Pancho become what it is today?
That led to another idea.
San Pancho Stories
After the workshops, I began asking participants to write a simple story: How did you find San Pancho?
The responses were fascinating.
Everyone had a different story. One person I play pickleball with described arriving in 2003, when the town looked completely different. At that time, there was only one hotel—Hotel Cielo Rojo—and a small public club in town.
Today, there’s a major polo and beach club development outside of town, run by Tierra Tropical. The contrast is striking.
These stories started to do more than entertain—they began to document the evolution of the town.
From there, I expanded the effort. Not just expats, but people from the Mexican community as well. For example, someone connected to the founding of Cielo Rojo is now writing a story.
And that’s when I realized something important.
1976 doesn’t feel that long ago.
I was 32 then, working in Paris for IBM. The people who lived through that transformation are still here. Their stories are still accessible—if we capture them.
But many of them aren’t going to sit down and write.
So we’re taking a different approach.
We’re working with local leaders—like Nieves, whose family is deeply connected in San Pancho—to figure out how to collect these stories orally. Instead of writing, people can simply talk.
Local interviewers will record conversations in Spanish. We’ll convert those recordings into text, and then use ChatGPT to turn them into clear, readable stories—while preserving their voice.
It’s the same approach I used with my own mother.
And it works.
At the same time, my Spanish teacher can take over the Spanish-language workshops, which is important because my Spanish is limited.
The goal is to build something that the community can own and continue.
And when I return to Sonoma, I plan to do the same thing there—building a Sonoma Stories website, where a large part of the community is also Mexican.
This has become more than just a workshop.
It’s a way to capture the story of a place—through the people who lived it.
And for me, it feels like a meaningful way to contribute to San Pancho.
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Start with Contribution - Becoming part of a community begins with offering something of value—and seeing who responds.
Growth Happens Person-to-Person - The workshop didn’t grow through marketing—it grew through trust, relationships, and word of mouth.
Stories Connect Past and Present - Personal stories help explain how San Pancho became what it is today—and why it matters.
Adapt the Method to the People - Written stories work for some; oral storytelling opens the door for many more.
Build Something That Lasts -What started as a workshop is becoming a system to preserve the living history of San Pancho.
