“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” — Henry Miller
Enjoying the relaxed vibes of San Pancho, Mexico
We’ve been living in San Pancho, Mexico – a small beach town about an hour north of Puerto Vallarta – since early January.
Almost a year ago, I wrote about our decision to come and live here for part of the winter.
This is the first time we’ve lived in another country and I think it’s one of the most perfect places I could imagine living, working and playing during the winter months.
It’s so ideal, in fact, that I think it will serve as a template for finding other great places to live and explore around the world.
After almost two months of reflecting on what makes this place so special, I’ve identified 12 criteria that contribute to the magic.
What’s fascinating is that these aren’t just random qualities – they work together as a system, each element reinforcing the others to create a truly extraordinary experience.
1. The Right Distance from a Major City
A one hour drive outside a major city is the perfect distance.
It’s close enough that you can drive in for the day, yet far enough away that it creates a rooted community.
We love being relatively close to Puerto Vallarta, but we feel completely separate from the noise and pace of a bigger city. And we don’t feel like we have to go there to access people, culture, or entertainment because there’s just the right mix of it here.
We’ve met some of the most fascinating people here in San Pancho – chef’s, entrepreneurs, yoga teachers, artists, musicians, and many expats working remotely.
2. Beach Location
The beach is an objectively wonderful place to live.
You get mild weather, warm water to swim and play, and tons of nature and wildlife to see every day. Plus activities like hiking, biking, swimming, and sailing.
Being in a beach town allows us to experience more of the region’s local culture and character, with that small town feel.
San Pancho is a great destination for surfing, hiking, and many other outdoor activities, located on a beautiful beach in the heart of Nayarit, Mexico.
3. Water Access
The ocean provides recreational activities like swimming, sailing, fishing, surfing and sea kayaking. It’s also “whale season” so we’re seeing whales breach and dive daily. We’ve also taken part in the release of newly hatched ridley turtles – helping guide them to the ocean for their (hopefully) long journey to adulthood.
Research consistently demonstrates that proximity to water leads to higher levels of mood improvement and stress reduction compared to other natural environments. The sights, sounds, and even smell of the ocean provide a calming sensory experience that promotes a uniquely positive state of mind.
San Pancho is well known for its beach and there’s always a mix of locals and tourists enjoying the water and watching the sun go down every night.
4. Tourism and Investment
This may seem a bit controversial, but a certain level of expat and tourist activity brings benefits.
There’s likely to be more investment in the town, interesting people coming and going, and more amenities like restaurants, coffee shops, and yoga studios than there’d be otherwise. And because of this, friends are more likely to come and visit you.
San Pancho has a population of around 1,500 that doubles during the high season. Many Americans and Canadians own houses here, but it rarely feels crowded.
5. Cultural Immersion
Our main goal in moving abroad was to immerse ourselves in another culture and a different way of life. I know from traveling abroad that it’s very different to experience a place on vacation compared to living there.
Living here for two months is allowing us to step into the rhythm of everyday life – whether it’s navigating the local farmers market on Tuesdays or seeing the same old man recycling beer cans on the street every morning.
There’s something special about integrating into a town/culture and seeing what the locals see. It also offers the opportunity to slow down, have conversations, and really get to know a place and its people.
6. Warm Culture
Mexico has to be one of the warmest cultures anywhere. We’re constantly surprised by how open and generous everyone is.
It’s like rewinding the clock to a time before everyone had a smartphone and was connected to the Internet. People greet each other, even strangers treat you like a real human. Everyone seems to know each other and it’s easy to make friends.
If you’re sitting at a cafe and someone recognizes you, they will wave and probably make an effort to come say hello. And people happily share their recommendations and tips when they see us looking a little confused.
I love that we’re experiencing a culture that is so warm and open, where there is a real level of trust between people – even if it’s a complete stranger.
7. Lower Cost Amenities
One of the wonderful surprises about moving to Mexico has been that our rental house comes with a house cleaner and a gardener.
The cost for these services is so low that it’s affordable to virtually everyone.
And with the time we save not cleaning the house or caring for the yard, we can do more swimming, resting, sleeping, hobbies, socializing, working and hanging out with friends that come to visit – all things we typically have much less time for when we’re in Portland.
8. Slow Lifestyle
Part of our motivation for living abroad was to remove ourselves from the hectic life that surrounds us in Portland.
We find it almost impossible to do this at home. Everyone is so caught up in striving, working, and arguing about who’s right and who’s wrong, that it’s almost impossible for our nervous system to be relaxed and at ease.
I’m not saying that we’re running from very real issues at home (maybe we are 😉), but we find it nearly impossible to escape the constant conflict and division among people and the stress that comes with it.
Here, it’s refreshingly absent – like an alternative universe.
Every place has a background tempo that dictates the underlying energy of everything within it. I think the only truly effective way to change your tempo is to change your environment.
Mexico, and especially small Mexican towns like San Pancho, operate at a fundamentally different pace than most of the US. The cultural emphasis is on relationships and enjoying life rather than working non-stop and a constant focus on what’s wrong with everything.
9. Similar Time Zone
If you’re from the US and work remote or do business there, it’s advantageous to be in a similar time zone.
This facilitates so many things, from scheduling calls easily to being near family.
It’s also a bonus if you can get back to the US in just a few hours. I’ve flown home twice for client events and it’s a direct 4.5 hour flight from Puerto Vallarta to Portland.
10. Strategic Inconvenience
In the US, we’re constantly driving toward efficiency, which mostly means removing people from the process. This results in a highly efficient society in which everyone feels more alone.
In Mexico, it’s almost the opposite. They seem to throw people at every problem. It isn’t optimized, but there are so many people around and it’s way more connected and fun!
Resisting that drive toward efficiency and convenience is nearly impossible as an entrepreneur, because you seem out of touch for actively opposing things being easier.
But here, friction still exists. There are real humans you “have” to deal with if you want to accomplish anything. You literally can’t go it alone to get anything done. Relationships are the central element of life in Mexico.
Part of this is also having a tolerance for risk. At home, we live in a bubble-wrapped, liability-waiver, hyper-sensitive culture. People have forgotten how to take risks, be adventurous, and rough it up a little.
At home, it seems we overvalue safety to such a degree that we end up devaluing life by setting so many rules and restrictions that we fence ourselves off from really living.
It can be challenging to intentionally expose yourself to risk, though – you have to move somewhere where the environment provides it.
We love how in Mexico there is grit right on the surface and no one is trying to hide it.
We see kids playing unsupervised in the middle of the street at night, loud music blaring and no one seems to mind, entire families out dancing on a Tuesday night, and mom & pop taco shops on nearly every corner – with everyone acting as an integral part of every activity. Everything blends together and people don’t separate themselves in a way that is anesthetized and sterile.
11. Good Weather
Coming from the Pacific Northwest, this was a big part of our decision to spend January and February in San Pancho. The weather defines so much of daily life here.
Every day it gets to 80 degrees or so and every night it dips to around 70. If I’m going to hang up my skis for a couple of months, this is a good reason to do it!
We start almost every morning with a beach walk and swim and we end every evening on the beach watching the sun go down.
12. Art and Food Culture
I didn’t consider this essential, but San Pancho has a wonderfully artsy vibe. There is a weekly farmers market featuring local growers and artists and we can easily find live music in town every night of the week.
This makes it unusually rich in all kinds of art, music, dance, and even food. One of my favorite places is the local cacao shop that uses the highest quality cocoa in Mexico to create some of the best chocolate, cocoa drinks and cocoa butter that I’ve ever tasted. Yum!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Last Sunday we attended brunch at the local polo field where we watched a full match while enjoying mimosa’s and listening to live music.
The Elements Behind the Magic
What I’ve learned is that all of these elements work together as an interconnected system. The distance from a major city creates the rooted community. The beach and mountains provide the natural beauty and limit overdevelopment. The tourism brings investment and interesting people. The culture provides immersion and different values.
Each element reinforces the others to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
The real insight isn’t just about San Pancho – it’s about understanding what creates the conditions for the kind of life you actually want to live, then systematically looking for places that provide those conditions.
What would your criteria be? What kind of life are you trying to create, and what environmental conditions would support that vision?
Live bravely,
Michael
