El Sayulero

Meet Maura Cathey. Maura and her husband run the bilingual Christian church here in Sayulita, which has been around for nearly ten years since 2008. Maura is the pastor’s wife and also runs Sayulita’s Christian school, which has been around for nearly eight years since 2010. Maura’s school teaches local children from our community. “We are a small school, but function as a real, developed school concerning rules, expectations, and activities, etc. We are not called ‘teachers’, but are more like ‘supervisors’ because we are all mostly concerned parents. I have experience in homeschooling my kids for many years, so that helps me in this position.” Over the years, Maura’s school has served over one hundred students. They usually have around a dozen students enrolled at a time.

Meet Gabriel and Wendy Jones- founders of Sayulita’s “Neighborhood Clean-Up Crew”. Gabe is originally from Canada, born in Winnipeg Manitoba and raised in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. According to Gabe, “these are two of the friendliest, but also coldest winter cities in Canada. I always preferred summers, and I dreamed of living by the ocean.” Gabe realized that dream when he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and met his wife Wendy, who was born and raised in Vancouver. Gabe and Wendy came to Sayulita for the first time on their first wedding anniversary, and immediately fell in love with it. A few years later, they decided to take a break from their busy city lives and move to Sayulita for one year. “Soon after we arrived we realized that we didn’t want to limit ourselves to one year.” As they did, they started working on a plan that would allow them to stay in Sayulita longer. Gabe and Wendy are now seven years in to their Mexican adventure of living in Sayulita, and they love it more each day. “The sense of community, the warmth of the local Sayuleros, and the quality of the people that have chosen Sayulita to be their home is the biggest reason why we love it here.”

Art classes- check. Language classes- check. Kids’ movies- check. These and much more can now be found at Sayulita’s newest non-profit organization, El Centro Creativo. Originally created by Festival Sayulita to provide a creative outlet for locals year-round, El Centro Creativo Sayulita has now, literally, taken on a life of its own. El Centro, as most call it, can be found on Calle Pelicanos at Quintas Trujillo. El Centro is managed by Nick Sherman, Sebastian Ibarra, and Tania Cruz. These individuals have worked tirelessly to ensure that Sayulita has a community space that is inclusive and respectful.