The Royal Family headed to San Pancho?

La Patrona Polo Club open soon!
I never really knew how awesome polo was until one evening a group of our guests at Roberto’s Bungalows were heading to a match at the field in town and asked us to join them. I was hooked the first game at La Patrona Polo Club
I have been taking folks from Roberto’s Bungalows out to the huge new project since it began two seasons ago on tours in the Roberto’s custom golf cart about three days a week and have seen the most beautiful transformation of land one could lay eyes on.
I thought polo was a game where the rich Prince rode around on horses and waved at the Royal family in their pretty hats. I couldn’t have been any further from the truth about the very exciting game of Polo.
The new fields are almost done and we are talking International games. There is a regulation field which if you don’t know is 3 football fields long and a football field and a half wide. The game is kinda like NHL and NFL combined with horses running at top speeds and men and women swinging big long clubs and aggressively going for the ball (and I believe the other players heads) and the goal posts with one thought… WINNING!
I am hooked on the game and wish I was 40 years younger and out there riding and playing this high stress game.
I was invited to watch a few games yesterday on the new field. I was so excited and humbled by the excitement of the huge new field and the hospitality of the people who are putting this whole thing together.
The horses are far beyond beautiful and everyone from the spectators to the riders seems so happy to be involved in this sport.
The people in charge beam with excitement and you can see by the smiles on their faces how proud they feel about this new project. I will be one of the very regular visitors with a big smile on my face during most of the International Games! I even plan on turning my Hawaiian shirts in during the games and wearing the Polo attire. Might even buy me a pair of the awesome players leather boots.
Yup I’m hooked and you will be too.
There is also a huge 4 star restaurant for your dining and drinking pleasures. The restaurant decks overlook the three different fields. The International field, the smaller field for games right at the restaurant and a beautiful night field with stadium lighting on the one side of the restaurant. There is one more field for the jumping horse shows.
This is a huge Eco project and I as a San Pancho resident and a member in our family business I couldn’t be more proud of this wonderful project.

if smil

San Pancho……From bracelets to Falafels at the market

Written by Vallarta Daily News! And some of me!
San Pancho Farmers Market Opens for its Winter Season
Every Tuesday – 9 AM till 1PM or so…..

Area farmers come to the market with organic fruits and vegetables, and many vendors with handmade crafts and lots of different excellent food choices!

San Pancho has kicked off their farmers market for the season, joining other municipalities in the Riviera Nayarit area hosting farmers markets this winter. San Pancho’s market joins other markets such as Sayulita, La Cruz, Bucerias, and Lo de Marcos.

This is the second year for San Pancho’s “Mercado del Sol” farmer’s market held in Plaza del Sol. The market opens every Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM, offering a day of market shopping during the week when most other local farmers markets are held on Saturday.

The Mercado del Sol farmers market currently hosts 70 venders selling organic and handmade foods, arts, fruits and vegetables from the region, and of course live music entertainment to get you in the mood for shopping in the traditional open-air markets that are best experienced in Mexico.

San Pancho is my home and a great place to live, as the peace and tranquility in the town is still uncompromised. San Francisco (San Pancho) is a unique spot, where pristine white beaches meet jungle green, and old Mexico meets a new international fusion.
A great place to stay in San Pancho is Roberto’s Bungalows

Cirque du Soleil theme park coming to The Riviera Nayarit

Roberto’s Bungalows which is about 25 minutes away
is proud to announce that
Cirque Du Soleil Theme Park To Open In Mexico
Cirque du Soleil has announced it’s opening a theme park in Mexico that will feature entertainment provided by the circus’ artists.

The park will be located in Nuevo Vallarta, a resort town near the larger Puerto Vallarta. It will be eveloped with theme park operator Grupo Vidanta and construction is expected to finish in 2018.

“Each experience within the entertainment park will be animated by Cirque du Soleil artists and follow a common storyline,” Cirque du Soleil and Grupo Vidanta said in a statement. The theme park “may” include a water park and nature park.

The park will have the capacity to allow 3,000 to 5,000 spectators for nightly performances. Details are still emerging, but rumor has it the plans also involve a water park and nature park. It will be set in Nuevo Vallarta, a planned community 15 minutes from the Puerto Vallarta airport and about 25 minutes from Roberto’s Bungalows in San Pancho.

Until then, Cirque fanatics can check out Joya, a performance and food show developed by Cirque du Soleil and Grupo Vidanta that debuts on Nov. 21 at the new 600-seat Vidanta Theater near the Grand Mayan Riviera Maya resort.

But the conceptual designs are sweet — the sort of eye-catching and whimsical aesthetics we’ve come to expect from Cirque du Soleil.
Gilles Ste-Croix is a Canadian entrepreneur and the vice president and co-creator of Cirque du Soleil is here with me in the blurry photo taken in San Pancho. What a great man he is, as he has shown us here in San Pancho. He has a heart for the children and this year he will put together 3 cirque de niños shows right here in San Pancho.

San Pancho , Mexico – number one – Next hot spot in the world!

This story just in about the beautiful Nayarit Coast. We have been here now for almost 10 years on and off. Roberto’s Bungalows was built in 2005 and we have seen such awesome changes in this village. It is such a wonderful paradise with the future looking very bright! We suggest you travel down soon and experience what we know to be one of the best places to live and vacation. Go online to www.robertosbungalows.com and come stay with us and see for yourself. Go to tripadvisor and look us up and see what others have experienced!
This is a story I read today in the Huffington post by
Nicholas Kontis 02/13/14 07:20 PM ET

Riviera Nayarit Named Top Destination
in “Where to Travel in 2014”
by Arthur Frommer

I first met Arthur Frommer when he invited me to New York to be a guest on his television show. As a young travel entrepreneur, Mr. Frommer immediately made a lasting impression on me. Arthur Frommer treated me as an equal, as a colleague, asking me my opinions and even asked me what destinations I liked and why. It was that one day of filming at Grand Central Station in New York City that changed my life forever as a travel aficionado and propelled me into my life long profession as a travel entrepreneur.

Recently at the Los Angeles Times Travel Show at the L.A. Convention Center, travel enthusiasts had the opportunity to meet various authorities in the field of travel. The key note speaker was none other than travel extraordinaire, father of travel writing and creator of the first modern travel guide books, the incomparable, Arthur Frommer.

As anybody with a pulse on travel knows, “when Frommer speaks, travelers, industry insiders and the world listens.”

At the end of each year, travel experts, the likes of Lonely Planet, Travel & Leisure, and Arthur Frommer make their picks for hot travel destinations for the upcoming year. Mr. Frommer shared his picks for 2014 in a jam packed hall at the L.A. Times Travel Show, at Los Angeles Convention Center.

While Frommer mentioned the Indonesian island of Bali as a travel hot spot, going on the mention that one can live on $10.00 a day in Bali. Also mentioning India, but reminded travelers to watch out for their safety, and Japan made the list due to a plummeting yen, stretching the U.S. dollar, and providing good value. Frommer was clear on his number one, next hot spot in world.

The stretch of land north of Puerto Vallarta, the Mexican state of Riviera Nayarit, with miles of endless beaches, over 300 sun drenched days a year, in a safe part of the world. Not too surprising that the Mexican government is on a mission to build up this 200 mile stretch of land into the next tourist gateway for foreigners traveling to Mexico.

We would love to see you soon!
Some shots from in the Village of San Pancho

San Pancho preforming arts center! Grand Opening

On the 19th of January of 2014 the first show of the year in the new theatre in San Pancho opened to a sell out crowd. We were lucky enough to get tickets ahead of time and got to sit in the front row. We brought a few friends and our mom and dad 87 and 85 years young.
We all enjoyed the Judy Garland show which was her in her dressing room going over her life with everything that had happened to her. The preformance was excellent and the story line was so informative about her whole life. Some very funny parts and some very tragic all mixed into a great performance. I really didn’t know that much about Judy Garland, but by the end of the show I felt like I had heard from an old friend!
Watching our mom smile when Judy would reference the stars names from that era was priceless! Watching our dad was priceless also, as he has Alzheimer’s and I really believe he thought it was Judy Garland!
Thank you to Glades Bibingka and those who helped make this dream a reality. Thank you for all your hard work to make an arts theatre a place in San Pancho. I believe one of the great things that San Pancho will be known for is our love for the arts and the theatre. Thank you San Pancho people for all your help In making San Pancho such a wonderful place to live!
Remember when coming to stay always check with Roberto’s Bungalows for your accommodations!

Sayulita Farmer’s Market

The Sayulita farmers market on Friday’s is not only a great place to get great organic produce, but everything you need to eat from week to week. The market attracts quite a few travelers and locals. The quality of the produce and the food products are top quality. We come over from Roberto’s Bungalows in San Pancho and see many friends from our town enjoying the market. The quality and the freshness of the products are fast becoming the highlight of many of us who live here full time. The coffee, the flowers, the art, the jewelry, the people and so much more are great reasons to visit Sayulita on Friday’s and bring home food for your week that will keep you smiling! We came home and had an awesome organic beet salad that was out of this world along with some fresh dorado.

It’s just another Tequila sunrise

Tequila drinking on the rise
!JUST ANOTHER TEQUILA SUNRISE!

Tequila (Spanish pronunciation: [teˈkila]) or as the Americans say…Ta kill ya!

Tequila is the distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, in the highlands (Los Altos) of the north western Mexican state of Jalisco.

Tequila is the smoooooooooth drink that is now taking the world in a whole new direction. From the pueblo of San Pancho where you can find Roberto’s Bungalows it’s a two and a half hour beautiful drive up highway 200 through the jungle of the Nayarit coast into the farmlands into Tequila.

I drove through Tequila a few years ago and it was a beautiful site, as it reminded me so much of the Napa Valley. The rows of the Blue Agave plants are everywhere the flat lands and up and down the mountains just as the rows of the grapes are in the Napa Valley. The city itself was beautiful and spotless. I have friends who have restaurants in the United States who come down and pick their special barrels of Tequila for their customer’s enjoyment. Tequila is becoming the new sipping drink of the elite and tasking it in a whole new direction. The tequila drinker of the past was the one who did the salt, shoot and bite the lime drink over and over until they passed out is looking like a thing of the past. The tee shirt that comes to mind when talking about Gringo drinking tequila in Mexico is “One tequila, two tequila, three tequila… FLOOR”.

The new smooth tequila is fast becoming the NEW drink of the stars. Justin Timberlake has partnered with Sauza tequila to launch Sauza 901 a super-premium tequila, which bears the numbers of Timberlake’s hometown area code in Memphis, Tennessee. The brand will have a presence at Justin Timberlake’s world tour, The 20/20 Experience, with a Sauza 901 bar at every show.

Justin Say’s “My love for tequila began a few years ago after I visited the tequila heartland of Jalisco, Mexico, and saw the passion and craftsmanship that goes into every bottle,” “That trip inspired me to create 901”.

Sean (Diddy) Combs is another Star on the run to make Tequila the next expensive sipping drink.
Diageo and Combs Wine & Spirits have formed a 50-50 joint venture to acquire DeLeón – which can sell for more than $1,000 a bottle – for an undisclosed sum.
Diageo said DeLeón will boost its share of the “ultra premium” tequila market, which includes brands that sell for more than $40 a bottle. Diageo also has another upmarket tequila, Don Julio. Both DeLeón and Don Julio sit at the higher end of the price scale compared to Jose Cuervo, which Diageo stopped distributing in the US in July.
DeLeón has five variants, varying in price from $120 to more than $1,000, and is popular among US musicians and in Hollywood, the drinks company said.

So my suggestion is if you are paying $1,000 dollars for a bottle of Tequila you better sip it. I’m not sure if this is the tequila you should be making frozen Margarita’s out of. So as I see it the days of slamming Tequila are reserved to the crazy American who hasn’t quite got the message yet. Which living down here I can say it probably won’t change much for the tequila drinking vacationing youngsters enjoying throwing up and hanging out with the toilet bowl as your date for the evening for Spring Break each year, or the parents who find that an all inclusive stay gives you a free pass to all the tequila you can drink and we are not talking Justin’s or Diddy’s top of the line tequila.

I think it’s time to book a vacation to Roberto’s Bungalows while you can still get a sip of tequila for free with a trip to Tequila with Earl and Jane and we can be your designated drivers and you can sip your way through a beautiful day in the beautiful City of TequilA and buy a couple of bottles while you can still afford it!

Postcards from San Pancho, Paradise

This is our Downtown!

I have been taking pictures for many years, but never have I had such a great opportunity to hang on the beach and wait for the sun to set each day. Living in San Pancho has opend my eyes to not only the beauty that the ocean and the sky has to offer, but the peace and tranquility that come with it each day. I feel like the art in the sky each day needs to be shared with those who can’t be here. There are many places on the planet that have breath taking sunsets, but I believe I have landed in the Sunset Capitol of the world. I have thousands of photos of the sunsets and would like to share some of them with you. If you are ever in San Pancho, Mexico only about 30 miles north of Puerto Vallarta stop by Roberto’s Bungalows and say hi or come and book your Bungalow.

They are geting Younger and younger!

Getting to be a part of this has been worth the journey!

I wait months for nights like this!

Lagoon shots always bring a new look to the sky!

Thinking of going to Mexico? 5 reasons you should stay home!

Thinking of going to Mexico?
5 good reasons you should stay home!

I moved to Mexico 3 years ago against the advise of many people from the area where I lived in the United States. I have had 3 wonderful years down here and will spend the rest of my life here. I am part owner of a hotel (Roberto’s Bungalows) in a little village called San Pancho about 30 miles north of Puerto Vallarta.
We get visitors from all over the world come and stay with us and I can’t believe the stuff I hear sometimes from a small percentage of them when they are booking their time to come stay. Usually 99 percent of them are from the United States and are asking about how safe it is.
I came from a town in the Bay area in California and I loved it and it was a safe and wonderful community. The next town and the cities within about 20 miles were not so safe. Now living in the Bay area if you never read the news or watched TV you would think you lived in the safest place on the planet. Well here is where the difference is. If you did read the paper or watched TV you would realize that within a few miles people are being killed and the cities are going to hell in a hand basket. They are trying everything that is possible, but they just don’t have the man power or the funding to keep the cities under control.
Now for the good news I have lived here for three years and traveled here by car from California and all around the area and never had a problem. The Cartel has yet to make me a drug runner or chopped off my head. When people start up with how dangerous it is down here I just ask for them to Google the crime rate in the town in which they live and the surrounding 30 miles or so. It is just folks who really just watch the TV and read the news about the stories about the border problems.
Remember that the reason for the crime and deaths at the border towns in Mexico is the fact that America has a drug problem. If everyone in the United States didn’t need drugs we wouldn’t have a problem with crime at the border. Drugs that pass through Mexico make up a large percentage of a multi-billion dollar industry meeting the demands of American drug abusers. The thing that will blow your mind is that 99.5 % of that is marijuana!
If you heard of a crime in Los Angeles and lived in San Francisco would you never go to LA again?
Well take the border towns out of your vacation plans and come on down to the Riviera Nayarit coast and enjoy the weather and mostly the grace of the wonderful people of this country. They are pleasant and warm and wanting to help you in every way. Stop the crazy thoughts and get down here and see for yourself. This is paradise and we don’t have the crime that exists in the United States.
Oh I know some of you will read this and be saying oh yeah well I just heard that someone got killed in Mexico. For those of you who are always looking for the bad in everything please do us a favor down here.
STAY HOME!

1. If you don’t know the facts about the crime in Mexico Shut Up and stay home!
2. If you believe everything you read or see on TV stay home.
3. If you are not a loving adventure seeking person with a love of people and beauty stay home.
4. If you don’t want to explore and get to know the awesome people of different cultures of the world stay home.
5. If you don’t want to feel the love and make lifetime friendships and surround yourself with beauty and can’t step out of your comfort zone. PLEASE STAY HOME!

I really don’t want to sound like I think everyone from the United States shouldn’t come to Mexico. We welcome you all!
The area in which I live was just chosen as the 6th best place in the world to retire! This is just for the few of you that make all of Mexico sound like a dangerous place.
I want you all to come and see the world with different eyes and an open heart. The people of Mexico are the most gracious people I have ever encountered. They want you to come and feel the love and share the beauty of their beautiful country. Come and relax on the beaches travel the country and see some of the most beautiful sites in the world.
They welcome you with open arms.
I welcome you with an open heart and open arms.

Is it safe to travel and stay in Mexico?

Beautiful Town Excellent place to stay!

Go to Trip Advisor and see our reviews….You will want to stay with us!

Client review on Trip Advisor…..

We completely agree with all the very positive comments others have made here about Roberto’s. Jane, Earl and Cassy are perfect hosts, the bungalows and grounds are beautiful and accommodating, and the location is excellent, right in the middle of everything. We checked in for 3 days and stayed for a week. Very highly recommended!
A word on safety in Mexico. My husband and I just returned from nearly a month in Mexico, with a rented car and no itinerary. We wandered the Riveria Nayarit from San Blas to Puerto Vallarta with no problems or concerns. When we were planning our trip, many of our friends expressed worries about our safety and seemed sure we would be shot, if not sold into slavery. They probably watch too much TV. Throughout our fantastic vacation, we felt as safe as at home, and maybe more so. Even though we speak very little Spanish, we encountered only friendly, welcoming and helpful folks, and never for a moment felt the slightest discomfort, threat or danger. So tell your friends to take a hike, get on a plane and head for Nayarit. And don’t miss San Pancho, or Roberto’s!

Roberto´s Bungalows, San Pancho Vacation Rental´s are located in San Francisco (San Pancho) Riviera Nayarit, Mexico (25 miles North of Puerto Vallarta and a few miles north of Punta Mita, Litibu and five minutes from the famous surfing village of Sayulita. Just past San Pancho are Los De Marcos and La Penita. We are just a few minutes walk from one of the most beautiful beaches on the Riviera Nayarit Coast.

Enter into a private tranquil courtyard, where you are taken back to the Hacienda times of old Mexico to five beautiful rentals. They surround a beautiful lush tropical garden courtyard and large pool.

Our rentals kitchens are open to the tropical courtyard and have blinds for privacy. The large bedrooms and nice size bathrooms all have Air Conditioning and ceiling fans.

Our grounds are safe and very private with keyed entry. Each rental is fully equipped with all the amenities that you will need to enjoy your stay in paradise. Restaurants and everything you might need are minutes away. Roberto´s Bungalows would be perfect for private parties and small weddings.

Sit and chill by the pool in the tropical garden

Time to relax and leave your troubles behind….
Go to Trip Advisor and look up our Reviews…..You will be glad you stayed with us!

Earl and Jane Miller

Riviera Nayarit Gringo

Gringo thoughts from Mexico

San Pancho