El Sayulero (Good vibes and updates since 2004)

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.

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.