San Pancho Living

Whether you’re planning a vacation or fantasizing a relocation to Mexico, these books belong on your reading list.

¡Viva San Pancho! Views from a Mexican Village, written by five American women living in San Pancho.

Nancy Brown, one of the authors, writes, “‘Tranquilo’ is how local people describe San Pancho, and they like it that way. We do, too… ‘So why did you choose San Pancho? What’s it like to live there? And what do you do all day?’ In this book we answer those questions…”

Gringos in Paradise: An American Couple Builds Their Retirement Dream House in a Seaside Village in Mexico, by Barry Golson. He and his wife left Manhattan and Connecticut to build a home in nearby Sayulita, and San Pancho is mentioned a lot.

He writes, “…despite our reluctance to leave family, friends, and the abundance of an anchored life, we began to dream of moving to a sunny place, but one that would be more challenging, better for our sinews, than Florida, Arizona, even California. Oh, and someplace more affordable. That was when the idea of Mexico began to take hold…”

Living in San Miguel and Into the Heart of Mexico, by John Scherber. First-hand accounts of living in a highland colonial city and other regions of Mexico. Realizations and lessons apply to any location in the country.

In “Living in San Miguel,” he writes, “It is about living with a fresh challenge, with the willingness to change by degree. The first word on the list of the new and exciting skills you’ll require is patience, both with yourself and those you will meet in this process. It is about not being done with your life, in all its permutations. It is more about being ready to reopen the dictionary to the words beginning with re: reconstruct, retool, reinvent, relocate, reimagine (a great one), reassess, rethink, relive, reconstruct…”

On Mexican Time and Mexican Days, by Tony Cohen. In “On Mexican Time,” he writes, “This morning I woke up laughing. This is suspect. Am I losing it? From my window I see sun-splashed stones, a butterfly the size of my hand respiring on a jacaranda branch, a smiling girl with a bundle of fresh, sun-dried sheets in her arms. Bright sunlight, sharp shadows. Unfiltered air, knife-sharp. The sky immediate, clouds within reach. At night, star-smeared galaxies just beyond the tip of my finger…”

The People’s Guide to Mexico, by Carl Franz and Lorena Havens, now in its 14th edition. According to Outside magazine, this guide has “achieved mythical status.” Harper’s Magazine pronounces it is “the best guidebook to adventure in the whole world.”

Sliced Iguana, by Isabella Tree. From the back cover, “This is a story of Mexico like no other, capturing the essence of its psyche and illuminating the struggles and hopes of a people and a country on the cusp of change.”

Also see San Pancho in the News: Articles & Blogs and San Francisco, San Pancho—no matter what you call it, you’ll feel at home.