Meet Brian Laudenslager. Brian Laudenslager is originally from Denver, Colorado, but moved to Guadalajara six years ago in 2012 to be an English teacher. While in Guadalajara, Brian would vacation in Sayulita often, whenever he had the opportunity. Eventually, he decided to move here to Sayulita in 2016 after falling in love with a property that came up for sale.

When Brian is not busy working as a property owner/manager or running his high-end, full service concierge company, Brian donates his free time by getting involved in the community in a variety of ways; he does beach and neighborhood cleanups, small charity work, such as food or clothing drives, puppy fostering, and his personal favorite and most important to him: giving swim lessons. Brian currently gives free swim lessons to local children in Sayulita who do not know how to swim.

“I started doing this because I noticed a property owner had a cleaning lady with two small kids that would always be running around near the pool while she cleaned. They didn’t know how to swim, so she contacted me and asked me if I would give paid lessons. I told her that if we could just use her pool for the lesson, then I would teach them and give the lessons for free. I figure since we live in a place so close to an ocean, the kids in the community need to know how to be safe in the water. As a surfer, I hate seeing kids who are scared or feel unsafe in the water. I was so young when I learned to swim, that I don’t even remember how old I was! I do remember, however, that my mom took me to a local instructor with an indoor pool. I would guess I was around three years old. Because of that, I have had the confidence to swim and surf in oceans since I was young. When I first moved to Mexico, I dabbled with surfing on various trips, and then became more serious about it once I moved to Sayulita.”

Brian says his favorite part about giving the lessons is the peace of mind in knowing that the kids are safe, and if anything happened where there wasn’t an adult or lifeguard around, they would hopefully know what to do. “I love seeing how much fun they have when they are swimming freely without any fear.”

Thank you to Brian and the work he does to help our community of Sayulita to be a better, more connected, loving place. He is an example of what being a Pueblo Magico is all about.

If you have a pool you can use and want Brian’s help in teaching free swim lessons for youth, he is happy to help and give back to his community. You can most easily connect with Brian on his Facebook or Instagram @HaciendaCerezaSayulita.

*Written by: Aanya Sheikh-Taheri