Why is the 'Finnish district' in Fuengirola called Los Pacos?

The story goes back to the mid-1960s when Teuvo and Varpu Hakulinen bought the land to build on an area that at that time was only a field

Lorena Cádiz

Fuengirola

Monday, 10 March 2025, 19:02

Teuvo Raimo Hakulinen and his wife Varpu Hakulinen arrived in Spain, specifically in Fuengirola, in 1967. Both were Finnish and in their country of origin she owned a pharmacy and he owned a taxi. One day they decided that it was time to change their lives and they embarked on an adventure that undoubtedly changed them, and the lives of many other Finns of their generation and later generations. Raimo and Varpu were the ones who began to build the neighbourhood that today is known as Los Pacos, which is where a large part of the Finnish community resident in this municipality lives.

A Finnish community which is also the largest that exists outside the Nordic countries. In total, there are currently 4,843 residents of Finnish origin registered in Fuengirola, which makes them the largest foreign community in the municipality.

The story of Teuvo and Varpu Hakulinen offers many tales and even curiosities, one of which has to do with the name of the Los Pacos neighbourhood. They were the ones who decided on the name that today remains one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods in the Costa del Sol town. But why Los Pacos?

Salvador Canales, 74, was born and has lived all his life in Mijas, a town that geographically borders Fuengirola. In 1971 he started working for the Finnish couple and it was they themselves who told him the story: "They had just arrived in Fuengirola when they decided to hire some horses to go riding. They went to Paco's stable, which was near the current bullring in Fuengirola. It was Paco himself who acted as their guide on that ride and he took them through lands where there was nothing but countryside, no buildings at all. During the ride, they came across a man drawing water from a well, and they found it most curious," explains Salvador.

After that day, it became clear to the couple that the land could be a good option for investment, which is what they were looking to do when they sold everything in their country. "Paco, the one with the horses, was a blacksmith, but he was also a dealer. Everyone knew him in Fuengirola and many people called him when they wanted to make some kind of transaction: he acted as an intermediary," continues Salvador.

In the end, the Finnish couple turned to him to close a deal with the owner of the land, known as Señor de la Noria. They closed the deal and gained a lot of confidence in Paco, who helped them in many of their negotiations. Because of Paco's integral role, when they started to build on what had previously been a field, they called the urbanisation Los Pacos.

Sale and rental

From this point on, the story starts to resemble the general history of the Costa del Sol. Those lands were not residential at the time, but the couple spoke with the relevant authorities and managed to get their project approved. They built apartments, and where the famous Ferris wheel once stood, they built a swimming pool. All those apartments were sold to Finns, to whom they offered a lucrative business deal that benefited all parties.

Interested parties would buy the apartment and later reach an agreement with the Hakulinen couple, who managed it for them. Specifically, they rented it out by the week, giving a percentage of the profits to the owners and keeping the rest for themselves.

"In 1970, I was working for a rent-a-car company when they told me they were looking for someone to bring and take people around. That's how I started working for them. Finns interested in buying or renting would stay at the Bellavista Hotel in Torremolinos. We would go there to pick them up, bring them to the complex and there we would give them a talk and offer them the chance to close a deal," says Salvador, who for many years worked as both a driver and an administrator for the company founded by the couple.

"I was kind of a jack-of-all-trades", he explains, in a company that at its peak had 120 employees. The Hakulinen's dream turned into an empire, as on the one hand they operated by renting out or selling what they had already built, and on the other hand, they continued to build new developments.

"Pacosol was the last thing they built before liquidating the company," Salvador explains. By that time, they had grown older, the regulations had changed and "they also had problems with a travel agency they set up in their country to bring clients from there". Between one thing and another, they decided it was time to retire.

What they built is "only ten per cent of what is in Los Pacos today". After them came many more developers, some of them also Finnish, who also sold to their compatriots. Hence, a large part of the Finnish community in Fuengirola resides in this area.

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