2024 - Found San Pancho - Don Lundgren
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We first came to San Pancho in 2022 with no plans to move—just curiosity. But over time, the difference in scale, pace, and daily life began to stand out. What started as short visits slowly became something more, until one simple question changed everything: Why don’t we move here?
We first began coming to San Pancho in 2022. At the time, we had no plans to move. We were simply curious, taking short trips north and paying attention to how the town felt.
One of the differences was obvious once we named it: town size. Puerto Vallarta has a year-round population of roughly 300,000 people, which swells to around 500,000 during tourist season. San Pancho, by contrast, has about 2,500 residents year-round and closer to 3,500 in season. That single fact explained far more than we realized at first.
The physical differences followed naturally from that scale. In Puerto Vallarta, condominiums seemed to be rising on every corner. A massive hotel district lined the coast, filled with multi-story buildings carrying the names of every major hotel brand. Growth there felt constant and vertical.
San Pancho was different. When we began spending time there, there was one large condominium complex in town and another under construction. There were no brand-name hotels, no high-rise buildings, and no sense that the town was racing to become something else. The scale felt intentional—and that difference shaped everything that followed.
Over time, San Pancho felt smaller, quieter, and more personal. Streets were flatter, traffic lighter, and the constant background noise we had grown used to simply wasn’t there. The town felt self-contained in a way we hadn’t experienced before.
Puerto Vallarta was changing fast. Condo construction intensified, noise increased, and the density began to wear on us. Neither of us had lived with an HOA before, and we quickly learned we didn’t like it.
Early in 2024, while sitting on Calle Tercer Mundo during one of those visits, I finally said out loud what had been forming beneath the surface: Why don’t we move to San Pancho? Once spoken, the question didn’t go away. We knew we wanted a house—not another condo—and began what became a nearly year-long search.
In late 2024, we found a house in San Pancho. In December 2024—before we had moved to San Pancho—I began working from Sonoma on a storytelling project with Nicole at Entreamigos. What started as a small collaboration became a source of grounding and purpose. Even from a distance, the work connected me to the town in a way that felt mutual.
In early 2025 we moved in. By then, the town already felt familiar. When we arrived full-time, daily life didn’t feel like a beginning—it felt like a continuation.
Some things took more planning. Errands weren’t always convenient, and spontaneity required a little more thought. But the pace itself was slower. The tradeoffs felt manageable. Days began to feel less crowded, less rushed.
Daily life changed in quieter but more meaningful ways. Pickleball became my entry point into the community. In Puerto Vallarta it had meant long drives and friendships spread across a large metro area; here it was ten minutes away, simple and reliable, and the people I met lived in the same small town.
Around the same time, I met Javier, who was translating a book about San Pancho’s transformation in the 1970s. What began as a casual conversation turned into a friendship. From the first day we met, I began helping him with the book, which eventually became Presidential Magic. Through Javier, I gained another layer of connection—not just to the town’s history, but to the people working to preserve its story.
Evenings often ended along two lively blocks of Main Street near the beach, where street musicians and performers brought an easy, human energy. And many days closed with a small but telling ritual: people gathering on the beach at sunset, then clapping as the sun slipped into the ocean. It was spontaneous, shared, and something that would never have happened in Puerto Vallarta.
Now, more than a year into living here, we’ve created a rhythm that feels easy and welcoming. Nothing about it is dramatic. Nothing is perfect. But it fits our lives in a way that feels sustainable.
We didn’t set out to find a town. We were paying attention to how our days felt, and San Pancho slowly answered the question for us.
