SO MANY RESTAURANTS

San Pancho features an amazing number of excellent eateries. That a pueblo its size consistently supports so many and such variety attests to the growth of the town, the inhabitants it attracts, and the quality of food on offer. Here are a few that diners seem to favor:

• Maria’s – for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Tasty breakfast; best prepared mahi mahi; friendliest service in town.
• Bistro Organico – for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Gourmet organic; seasonal, local ingredients. Innovative, unique.
• La Playa – for lunch. On the beach. Angus beef burgers, seafood; best sunset view. Dancing every Sunday.
• Ola Rica – for dinner. Classy-comfortable; dependable; a delicious mix of familiar favorites and daily specials.
• Mar Plata – for dinner. Continental cuisine; an upscale steakhouse.

Some places specialize:

• Dolce Amore – for Italian. Huge portions of the best pasta, bruschetta, and salad in town. Lasagne its specialty.
• Baja Takeria – for tacos, burritos, burgers. California style. Raised the bar for all other taco places in San Pancho.
• Jellyfish – for burgers. Unique shakes; juicy burgers with gourmet toppings. Clever presentation.
• Mr. Ribs – for barbecue. Open-air grilling, out on the street. Great sauce, even greater fries.
• Darjeeling – for pizza, teas. Wood oven, thin crust pizzas; exotic hot and cold teas.
• Los Delfines – for dinner antojitos. Classic enchiladas, pozole, and coconut flan. An institution in San Pancho.
• Los Arbolitos – for dinner tacos. Traditional toppings and lots of them. Good food for less.
• Café Manana, Café Paraiso – for coffee and pastries. Lattes, cappuccinos, and more. Hundreds of paperbacks to swap.

Several cooks and caterers also are available on request, as well as a food/liquor buyer (www.groceriesforvacation.com) who will travel to Vallarta for supplies not offered in local shops.

A VARIETY OF SHOPS

San Pancho’s shops include a selection of hardware stores, paint stores, food/liquor stores, plus butcher, produce, and seafood shops. A handful of high-end jewelry and artisania shops dot Avenida Tercer Mundo, the main street, as well art galleries featuring local and foreign artists. Nextdoor Sayulita is home to an interesting collection of artists’ and artisans’ work as well.

San Pancho’s HISTORY

Before the arrival of the Spanish, and still somewhat today, the mountainous region near San Francisco known as the Sierra Madre Occidental was sparsely populated by indigenous Cora and Huichol communities. As the Spanish put down roots and began to develop ports at San Blas to the north and Puerto Vallarta to the south, the region’s population increased but at a slow pace, cut off from urban centers like Guadalajara.

Wealthy landowners soon presided over huge latifundio estates. But in 1931, as part of sweeping land reform after the Revolution, the land that comprises modern-day Sayulita and San Francisco was transferred to communal ejido ownership.

San Francisco remained a sleepy communal village, surviving on subsistence fishing and some mango and tropical fruit cultivation, until the small town struck the fancy of Mexican President Luis Echeverría in the 1970s.

First charmed enough by San Pancho to make it the site of his family vacation mansion, Echeverría then directed a flow of federal funding to San Francisco to build his dream of a “self-sufficient Third World village,” to include a technical university and food processing plant.

While the President’s vision did not come to fruition, since funding ended with his presidential term, the town still benefits today from the cobblestone streets and full-service hospital that resulted from his efforts. Recently designated a cultural center by the state of Nayarit, San Pancho finds its star on the rise once again.