La Patrona Polo Club: an Afternoon in San Pancho

There is a man in a straw hat leaning on the rail with an orange ball in one hand, not really watching, because he has seen this a hundred times. Behind him four riders come down the grass at a speed that seems unreasonable for an afternoon in a fishing town, and somebody's child says oh loudly enough that two of the horses flick an ear.

Polo in San Pancho is one of the odder and better afternoons on this coast, and it is nothing like the thing the word polo suggests.

Where it is, and how far

San Pancho — properly San Francisco — is a small town in Nayarit about seven kilometres north of Sayulita, which puts it roughly an hour up the coast road from the Punta Mita gate.

That hour matters. This is not somewhere you drop into on the way back from the beach; it is an afternoon you decide on at breakfast. The road is good and the drive along it is part of the pleasure, but go knowing it is a trip rather than an errand.

What the board says about it

The Riviera Nayarit tourism board's own San Pancho guide puts it better than we could, from somebody who went:

> "In the afternoon, I visited La Patrona Polo Club, one of San Pancho's most surprising spots. Surrounded by green landscapes, it hosts polo matches in a refined, family-friendly setting. I had the chance to watch a game between local teams — it was fascinating to witness the coordination between horse and rider."

That is the only official description there is, so this story stays close to it.

What actually happens on a match day

Grass, horses, four a side, and a crowd that is a mix of people who live here and people who are up for the day. It is not formal in the way the word polo implies anywhere else — nobody is checking what you are wearing — and the board's word for it, family-friendly, is the right one.

The practical point: match days are not every day, and the season moves. The only reliable way to plan this is to have the house manager ring and find out what is on in your particular week, which takes them five minutes and saves you an hour's drive to a locked gate.

Riding, for people who are not watching

There are horses and there are people who teach, and if somebody in the group rides — or has decided this is the holiday where they learn — it is arranged the same way, through the house.

Ask the house, and you will get an answer for the week you are there.

San Pancho, which is the other half of the afternoon

Do not drive an hour for a polo match and drive straight home. The town is the reason the afternoon works.

It is one main street that runs down to the beach, with the shops and the places to eat along it, and it is noticeably less busy than Sayulita seven kilometres south. The board's guide also names Circo de los Niños, a social and artistic project where local young people learn circus and performing arts. If there is a show on while you are there, go — it is the most memorable thing in this story and nobody expects it.

Staying up here instead

We have two houses in San Pancho and both come with the chef in the rate: Casa La Joya, six bedrooms for sixteen, with a private chef, a bartender and a steward on its own staff list; and Casa Invierno, five bedrooms for twelve, chef for three meals.

For most groups the right answer is still one of our houses on the peninsula with this as an afternoon out. But if what you want is a small town rather than a gated one, say so — it is a short list and a very different week.

Start with our fully staffed houses in Punta Mita and ask Rocío to find out whether there is a match the week you are coming.